Publisher: libreka classics
Drake's Great Armada by Walter Bigges libreka classics – These are classics of literary history, reissued and made available to a wide audience. Immerse yourself in well-known and popular titles!
When Rowland Sinclair is invited to race on the Maroubra Speedway, also known as ‘The Killer Track,' he agrees without reserve. But then a journalist covering the race is found dead; an English blueblood with Black shirt affiliations is killed on the race track, and Rowland himself becomes a target. Add to the mix a strange young reporter preoccupied with black magic, a mysterious vagabond, an up-and-coming actor called Flynn and ruthless bookmakers… Rowland soon finds danger at every turn.Show book
In 1903, a fifteen-year-old girl named Aoi Ichi is sold to the most exclusive brothel in Kumamoto, Japan. Despite her modest beginnings in a southern fishing village, she becomes the protégée of an oiran, the highest-ranking courtesan at the brothel. Through the teachings of her oiran, Shinonome, Ichi begins to understand the intertwined power of sex and money. And in her mandatory school lessons, her writing instructor, Tetsuko, encourages Ichi and the others to think clearly and express themselves. By banding together, the women organize a strike and walk away from the brothel and into the possibility of new lives. Based on real-life events in Meiji-era Japan, award-winning and critically acclaimed veteran writer Kiyoko Murata re-creates in stunning detail the brutal yet vibrant lives of women in the red-light district at the turn of the twentieth century—the bond they share, the survival skills they pass down, and the power of owning one's language.Show book
A novel based on the true-life story of a woman who shaped Texas history by playing an instrumental role in the Texas Revolution. Regarded by many as the “Mother of Texas,” Jane Wilkinson Long is curiously absent from most history books. Now, this painstakingly researched novelization reveals the fascinating life of the little girl who would grow up to become both a spy and revolutionary in Texas’s fight for independence from Mexico. Against her family’s wishes, the wealthy and headstrong Jane, at the age of sixteen, married Dr. James Long, a veteran of the War of 1812, who hoped to use his wife’s fortune to build an army to conquer “Tejas.” In fighting for his lost cause, Long lost his life in Mexico City. His wife, extremely suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his death, set out on a quest to solve the mystery. Her mission would soon lead her into Texas . . . and into the annals of history.Show book
Gold is a fever. Will it lead her to love ... or death? A suspenseful romance set on the turbulent goldfields of 1870s Australia, for readers of The Postmistress and The Woman in the Green Dress. 'There are people in this town with the gleam of gold in their eyes and cold steel in their hearts.' 1873. Eliza Penrose arrives in the gold mining town of Maiden's Creek in search of her brother, planning to make a new life for herself. Instead she finds a tragic mystery - and hints of betrayals by those closest to her. Mining engineer Alec McLeod left Scotland to escape the memory of his dead wife and child. Despite the best efforts of the eligible ladies of Maiden's Creek, Alec is determined never to give his heart again. As lies and deceit threaten Eliza's life, Alec steps in - although he has problems of his own, as he risks his livelihood and those he holds dear to oppose the dangerous work practices at the Maiden's Creek Mine. When disaster draws the pieces of the puzzle together, Eliza and Alec must save each other - but is it too late? 'Suspenseful and compulsive reading, The Goldminer's Sister doesn't disappoint' - Darry Fraser, author of The Good Woman of RenmarkShow book
“Dark family secrets are at the core of this bewitching debut novel . . . a memorable read” from the author of Dead Man’s Embers (Herald on Sunday). Gwenni Morgan is not like any other girl in this small Welsh town. Inquisitive, bookish and full of spirit, she can fly in her sleep and loves playing detective. So when a neighbor mysteriously vanishes, and no one seems to be asking the right questions, Gwenni decides to conduct her own investigation. Mari Strachan’s unforgettable novel “is a richly evocative, warm but unsentimental tale of a child detective struggling to piece together clues about the lives around her. These lives, and the characters who live them, are so vividly drawn and Mari Strachan’s careful unraveling of the secrets they hide is extremely compelling” (Catherine O’Flynn, award-winning author of What Was Lost). “A lyrical debut . . . [Strachan’s] light touch keeps the story unfamiliar and surprising, while Gwenni’s uber-precocious narration revels in a love for language and reveals an unspoiled innocence about the world. It’s small, quiet and nicely done.”—Publishers Weekly “An unsettling account of matrilineal madness, illegitimacy and domestic abuse . . . Strachan’s deft handling of a dark subject is both sober and sparkling.”—The Guardian “One of those books that eases you in gently and then floors you . . . The Earth Hums in B Flat reads authentically, and the fictive truth in the story remains consistent and powerful as Gwenni moves towards the end . . . [of] this is a lovely, original, and imaginative debut.”—Gather.comShow book
From #1 international bestselling author Ami McKay comes The Virgin Cure, the story of a young girl abandoned and forced to fend for herself in the poverty and treachery of post-Civil War New York City.McKay, whose debut novel The Birth House made headlines around the world, returns with a resonant tale inspired by her own great-great-grandmother’s experiences as a pioneer of women’s medicine in nineteenth-century New York.One summer night in Lower Manhattan in 1871, twelve-year-old Moth is pulled from her bed and sold as a servant to a finely dressed woman. Knowing that her mother is so close while she is locked away in servitude, Moth bides her time until she can escape, only to find her old home deserted and her mother gone without a trace. Moth must struggle to survive alone in the murky world of the Bowery, a wild and lawless enclave filled with thieves, beggars, sideshow freaks, and prostitutes.She eventually meets Miss Everett, the proprietress of an "Infant School," a brothel that caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for "willing and clean" companions—desirable young virgins like Moth. She also finds friendship with Dr. Sadie, a female physician struggling against the powerful forces of injustice. The doctor hopes to protect Moth from falling prey to a terrible myth known as the "virgin cure"—the tragic belief that deflowering a "fresh maid" can cleanse the blood and heal men afflicted with syphilis—which has destroyed the lives of other Bowery girls.Ignored by society and unprotected by the law, Moth dreams of independence. But there's a high price to pay for freedom, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.In a powerful novel that recalls the evocative fiction Anita Shreve, Annie Proulx, and Joanne Harris, Ami McKay brings to light the story of early, forward-thinking social warriors, creating a narrative that readers will find inspiring, poignant, adventure-filled, and utterly unforgettable.Show book
