Bridge of Sighs and Dreams
In Nazi-occupied Rome, the lives of two women collide in an arena of deception, greed, and sacrifice.
While political cartoonist Angelina Rosini zigzags through a labyrinth of compassionate allies and cunning spies, Lidia Corsini quenches her greed by turning in Jews to the Nazis. Lidia’s spiral into immorality accelerates as swiftly as the Jewish population dwindles; and soon not even her husband, her son, nor Angelina is immune to her madness.
Bridge of Sighs and Dreams is a story of betrayal, dignity, and purpose that highlights the brutality toward Italian citizens, under both Mussolini’s Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation, and illustrates the tenacity of the human spirit.
Pamela Allegretto divides her time between writing and painting. Her published work includes dual-language poetry books, articles in Italian and American literary and art journals, book and CD covers, illustrations, and cartoons. Her original art is collected worldwide. Read more at: http://www.pamelaallegretto.com
I am a Welsh girl currently living in sunny Turkey 🙂 I started writing a number of years ago, and especially love the research aspect of my historical books. Vikings; Taken is the first in the ‘Great Heathen Army’ series, although it can be read as a stand-alone. It follows the lives of Rosfrith Guader, a mistress of Dunwich Fortress in East Angles, and Ubba Ragnarsson, Viking Chieftain of Ranaricii.
You will meet Dan – a deep thinker, who challenges Welsh Calvinist beliefs which gained converts throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Branded a rebellious non conformist, he is desperate to escape confusing doctrines to discover his identity. Charlotte predicts shame and disgrace as her destiny; after indulging in a relationship fraught with complicated challenges. Separately they join the thousands of emigrants who became the early pioneers in Australia.
Australian/New Zealand author Glennis Browne, through her protagonists lives, examines possibilities in her debut novel, ‘The Fortune Seekers – Dan and Charlotte’. ‘ This is a moving novel portraying crisis, hope, adventure, and love. Repercussions from sexual and marital infidelity, religious bigotry and family estrangement are explored in this compelling tale of 18th century life. What is the meaningful lives Dan and Charlotte are seeking? And is such a destiny achievable? The 21st century reader will discover their own ancestors’ experiences; perhaps providing answers as Browne chronicles possibilities The first of this historical fiction series explores reasons our ancestors left their homelands to emigrate to Australia. Charles Darwin’s theories, church expectations and beliefs challenged Dan and Charlotte, causing life challenging decisions to be made. Discover also what life was like during the gold rush years and what fortune they are really seeking.
The second of The Fortune Seekers Series is in the revision process and expected to be published late 2018. Glennis has an active author Facebook page that supports fellow authors worldwide. She also blogs and twitters regularly; focusing on supporting authors and for her followers she provides interesting , informative titbits about the progress of her novels. You tube videos with photos, videos and novel content are worth searching for. To view You Tube YouTube: https://youtu.be/tGmaalu4RHc To view Xlibris photos – check out http://www.authorglennisbrowne.com/photograph-album/ WORDPRESS website: https://glennisbrowne.wordpress.com/
CeDany is a former Document Specialist who became a full-time mother, then turned to full-time writing. Became Indie Writer/Author from the beginning, as her writings did not copy anyone’s styles. It’s never been done in this fashion, so, unique!
She lives in a wee village by the Clyde in beautiful leafy Scotland with her husband and four children (2 Humans and 2 Kittens – smile!). On 21 January 2017, her beloved son and youngest passed away, aged 26, after spending 3 months and 20 days in hospital. Gone too young, too soon, sadly missed Sonshine called Georges. An aggressive cancer that couldn’t be beaten…
When not writing, she can be found enjoying reading copiously and correcting/editing grammar and perfecting the Epub format, playing virtual farming games, Archery in the back garden, and wondering when she’ll get noticed according to her lucky stars.
Her signature lets you know her favourite subjects – Witches and Vampires as follows: BB, V-V!
CeDany is her pen name as she is a very private person. She would love to hear from readers. Drop her a note on her contact page.
My book is Secrets Of Greenoak Woods – historical romance.
In 1816 Cornwall, Benjamin is a young man tormented by a childhood trauma. He is misunderstood and scorned by the vilagers of St. Merryn, including Mary the woman he loves.
Passionate and vital, Mary will never break the promise made to her dying mother, to always protect her younger sister, but a series of dreadful events leave the sisters with a dark secret that will deliver them straight to the gallows if discovered.
Benjamin finds the courage to offer Mary the protection she needs, but how far will she go to keep her secret safe, marry a man she hates?
His battle for her affections have tragic consequences and everybody’s secrets and betrayals – not just Mary’s – are laid bare.
Wendy J. Dunn
Wendy J. Dunn is an Australian writer who has been obsessed by Anne Boleyn and Tudor History since she was ten-years-old. She is the author of three Tudor novels: Dear Heart, How Like You This?, the winner of the 2003 Glyph Fiction Award and 2004 runner up in the Eric Hoffer Award for Commercial Fiction, The Light in the Labyrinth, her first young adult novel, and Falling Pomegranate Seeds.
Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters
Dońa Beatriz Galindo.
Tutor to royalty.
Friend and advisor to Queen Isabel of Castile.
Beatriz is an uneasy witness to the Holy War of Queen Isabel and her husband, Ferdinand, King of Aragon. A Holy War seeing the Moors pushed out of territories ruled by them for centuries.
The road for women is a hard one. Beatriz must tutor the queen’s youngest child, Catalina, and equip her for a very different future life. She must teach her how to survive exile, an existence outside the protection of her mother. She must prepare Catalina to be England’s queen.
A tale of mothers and daughters, power, intrigue, death, love, and redemption, in the end, Falling Pomegranate Seeds sings a song of friendship and life.
I’ve published 7 books in the historical “Mountain Women” series, a saga of friends and family set in West Virginia from 1900 through 1920. I also have two outliers, a science-fiction and contemporary suspense novels.
One Dark Night by Anna Faversham
It is 1821 and smuggling is rife on the English coast. Lucy Yorton, dragged away from her privileged early life, finds it impossible to know who to trust, while those around her suspect she is a spy and treat her accordingly. Her problems increase when two men enter her life.
Lieutenant Karl Thorsen, sworn to avenge the death of his father, is a King’s man. He is determined to stop the violent smugglers, hang them, and hang and gibbet one in particular.
Daniel Tynton has smuggling in his blood. Undaunted by Thorsen’s threats, he is respected and feared. When he witnesses a murder, he makes a bold decision, and many lives will never be the same.
Danica’s Destiny. This is book six of my Destiny Series about Croatian Immigrants in the US early part of the 1900s. This book takes place 1915. Danica runs away from her Texas home and an arranged marriage to find a new life in New Orleans. So far I have won three awards for my 6 books. All my stories a fictionalized facts. I spent time in Jugoslavia when it a communist country and my descriptions of life and people there are authentic. I have been honored to have brunch with one of the Croatian Ambassadors to the US.
Tragedy, unrelenting guilt, and hostile hallucinations of his dearly departed sister — that’s just typical life for Reuben Radford. That is until one atypical May Day. In the most unlikely of places — the cemetery of their quiet Hampshire town — Reuben meets Maggie Archer. Quirky and spontaneous, she’s like no other woman he’s ever met. By the time they part ways in a promise not to meet again for a year, he knows she could be the love of his life.
There’s just one problem — Reuben and Maggie’s families have left them both with enough emotional baggage to fill a steamship. Not to mention one other little complication— Reuben has a secret. It’s not pleasant. It’s not pretty. And it’s one he’s determined to keep buried at all costs. But if there’s one word to describe Maggie, it’s headstrong. Once she resolves to uncover the truth, she’ll stop at nothing to find it. After all, what does she have to lose? Unlike Reuben, Maggie never believed in love.
Spanning five years of England’s Edwardian era, Across Oceans is the captivating story of first love, lost innocence, and the unexpected moments that change everything. The story will continue in a second novel, Between Rivers.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Kelsey Gietl earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Design and Graphic Design from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and has made a career in fields from event planning and proposal writing to product management and communications. For more information on her books, visit: kelseygietl.com
Jennifer Hallock spends her days teaching history and her nights writing historical happily-ever-afters. She has lived and worked in the Philippines, but she currently writes at her little brick house on a New England homestead—kept company by her husband, a growing flock of chickens, and a border collie mutt puppy who likes to chew computer power cords. My historical fiction/historical romance series is set in the American colonial Philippines. Guerrillas and revolutionaries blanket the countryside. The Americans are fighting to hold onto their first overseas colony, but disease, drought, and recession belie the fruits of the promised “civilization.” But there is always a chance to fall in love! I use inspiration from real events and real history to guide my characters and plot lines. There are dark moments, but always a happily-ever-after.
J.D.R. Hawkins is an award-winning author who has written for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, e-zines, and blogs. She is one of only a few female Civil War authors, and uniquely describes the front lines from a Confederate perspective. Her Renegade Series includes A Beautiful Glittering Lie, winner of the John Esten Cooke Fiction Award and the B.R.A.G. Medallion, A Beckoning Hellfire, which is also an award winner, and A Rebel Among Us, recipient of the 2017 John Esten Cooke Fiction Award. These books tell the story of a family from north Alabama who experience immeasurable pain when their lives are dramatically changed by the war. Her nonfiction book, Horses in Gray: Famous Confederate Warhorses, has recently been published. She is currently working on another sequel for the Renegade Series. Ms. Hawkins is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the International Women’s Writing Guild, Pikes Peak Writers, and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is also an artist and singer/songwriter. Learn more about her at http://jdrhawkins.com.
The vast scope of the human imagination is a personal fascination of mine. Writing fiction has allowed me to discover that there are no limits to my own imagination.
My stories are mostly about women and their trials. Women from all walks of life and in all times in history, and of course — they have issues. You may not always agree with their solutions but alas, I am merely the messenger.
Ed Ireland was born in Philadelphia on September 29, 1954. In January of 1955, the hospital he was born in was torn down. Presumably, they didn’t want anything like that happening again. His adolescence was shaped in Catholic school where the proper use of the common language was the only thing that mattered to the short but strong nuns. In 1972 he joined the military where his wanderlust surfaced. He has since called many places home such as Texas, California, Nevada, Colorado, Pennsylvania New Jersey, New York and North Carolina while on his way to his current home in Miami, Florida. He claims his penchant for wandering is now at an end here in the shadows of Hemingway. Along this great and wondrous trip, he has collected memories of some of the most beautiful scenery this country has to offer. He has also met a veritable kaleidoscope of colorful characters that make up the tapestry of his work. Along with his scenic visions, each character in his works carries some part of people he has known in his life, both good and bad. On the personal side of his life, he is the proud father of two, a rabid Philadelphia Eagles fan, a self-confessed video game addict and a proud supporter of wildlife issues. His particular issue is support for the wolf programs across the country. He encourages support for these magnificent animals and donates a portion of each sale to Runningwiththewolves.org.
I live and work in Chester County, Pennsylvania, an area rich in Revolutionary War and Colonial American history. My enduring interest in 18th Century America began at a young age, inspired by the novels of Dale Van Every and Allan Eckert, whose timeless tales of adventure and romance capture the essence of early American lore. Eager to read more such stories, to my disappointment I had trouble finding them on bookshelves, so I decided to write one of my own. Thus began a journey fueled by my passion to breathe life into history through believable characters, plots woven with adventure, romance and suspense and, of course, plenty of derring-do.
Where Tomorrow Waits unfolds over the haunting landscape of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge war era. Dara, a young girl whom instead of enjoying the carefree life of a teenager, is trapped between the opposing burdens of her mother’s secret affair and her own loyalty to her father. Soon enough, Dara discovers her mother’s selfish secret is just the beginning of her sufferings as it leads her on a path filled with more lies, betrayal, and molestation. As Dara’s father, Muirye, learns about the consequences behind her mother’s actions, he sets forth to make a sacrifice that would ultimately change Dara’s life forever. But before Dara can learn to accept the changes her father has brought forth into her life, she must first survive the Khmer Rouge genocide. Dara is left with a heartbreaking choice— risk her life trying to escape to America, a promised land of opportunity, or stay behind and sacrifice everything to search for her father, who might not even be alive. The choice she makes takes her on a haunting journey that spans three decades of guilt, lies, and what if questions. The deep dark twisting truth Dara accidently uncovers, which her mother had been guarding all her life, is something Dara considers far worse than death. Will Dara ever be able to accept the deep dark twisting truth she has been unknowingly living with all her life, or will death finally grasp her by its fingertips?
Chris J Knoblaugh
Tribute – When twelve-year-old Miguel’s gang member Papa makes promises to Santa Muerte, someone in Miguel’s family loses a soul. The last time, it was Miguel’s gentle aunt. This time, the target is Miguel’s brother, Juan. The trouble is Miguel won’t let Juan’s spirit go. The resulting paranormal possession attracts demons, doppelgangers, and an ancient soul slayer from the depths of Hell — all of whom must be vanquished if Miguel is to live.
Chris Knoblaugh has a B.A.in English Literature with High College Honors, a B.S. in Biology, and an M.A. in Teaching with Reading Specialization. Her novels and stories incorporate myths, cryptids, regional traditions, and historical settings. She teaches middle school language arts in San Jose, California. She enjoys writing for her students and for her tutoring business.
Chris’ stories and books appeal to tweens and adults who enjoy historical settings and regional cryptid tales.
“You should have left me alone.” Charlotte Corday was once called the most dangerous woman on the planet by the FBI until she retired. But it’s not so easy to remain retired when the past is determined to drag her back into the hell she wanted to leave behind her. To uncover the origins of the mysterious Valkyrie program, Charlotte fights through her own dark past, dredged up by those determined to keep her out of retirement… or out of the business permanently… and to find solace in her own razor blade filled mind. Her own words—her own warning—will come to haunt them. They should have listened.
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-venom-protocols Google Play: https://goo.gl/CWkN9A Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/781944 Amazon: https://goo.gl/atQQ3v
I write historical fiction. I live in Cincinnati with my husband and two boys. I received a bachelor’s in English from Wittenberg University, and a master’s in Library Science from Atlanta University. Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, small business owner and author, I worked in Georgia and North Carolina as a librarian for several years. My latest novel is Desere: A Love Story of the American South.
Deseré, a skilled seamstress and slave, lives on a South Carolina cotton plantation. Fair-skinned and astonishingly beautiful, she is owned by a kindly master and given his permission to marry the man she loves, a carpenter enslaved on a neighboring plantation. Yet when her master dies before her wedding and his nephew inherits the plantation and its slaves, Deseré’s marriage is indefinitely postponed, pending consent from her new owner. Lawyer Anthony Sinclair arrives from Ohio on the mend from a broken heart, leaving behind a career derailed by scandal. Owning a plantation presents a vibrant opportunity. Yet torn by inklings of abolitionist beliefs, Anthony struggles with the damning prospect of owning human beings. Upon first seeing the alluring Deseré, Anthony is immediately dazzled by her golden skin, shimmering blond hair and ocean blue eyes. Yet Deseré perceives the tall, dark-haired and handsome “Masta” Anthony as rather stupid. He knows nothing about running a plantation, nor being a planter. But as long as he allows Deseré to marry the man she loves, she will be happy. Anthony, however, desires Deseré for himself. To what lengths will he go to win the forbidden love of a slave? Will owning Deseré be the only way Anthony can ever possess her while her heart belongs to another man?
Blurb: A senator’s son is found dead in his bed, with a look of extreme agony on his face and strange tattoos all over his body. Enter Felix the Fox: neither a traditional detective nor a traditional magician – but something in between.
This is a story of Togas, Daggers and Magic – for lovers of Murder Mysteries, Ancient Rome and Urban Fantasy.
Bio: Assaph has had his nose in a book since he was five, and had to yell at the librarian that he can read already so he could get a card. With a rather diverse taste in reading – from fantasy to philosophy, from ancient times to the far future – his first novel Murder In Absentia is an “historically-themed urban high-fantasy hardboiled murder mystery, with just a dash of horror”.
Assaph now lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife Julia, four kids and two cats. By day he is a software product manager, bridging the gap between developers and users, and by night he’s writing – he seems to do his best writing after midnight.
Dave Michael is a graduate of the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Before becoming a full time author he worked as a handyman, seaman, drama teacher and Community film trainer. Since 1996, Dave lives and works in Eire, where he has been inspired by the landscapes of the West Coast. The historical fiction book, ‘Feather of Hawk’, is his most extensive piece of work and has taken twelve years to develop. When he is not writing, he likes to walk landscape, where he is calmed by nature; watching swallows and hawks fly is one of his favourite pastimes.
On the Ides of March 2017, with the generous help of friends and family, I published my first novel, Pontius Aquila: Eagle of the Republic. It is about Lucius Pontius Aquila, a citizen of ancient Rome. Aquila was a staunch supporter of the Roman Republic and considered Julius Caesar’s dictatorship a threat to the people’s freedom. Historians recorded that he refused to stand with the other officials as Caesar’s chariot passed by during a military parade. He later joined in the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 B.C. The novel includes martial arts, capable women, and romance.
“Miriamne the Magdala” tells the richly detailed story of an ancient Jewish family in crisis. When twelve-year-old Miriamne and her 13-year-old long-lost cousin Yeshua are unexpectedly reunited, sparks fly. But the grave illness of a parent causes turmoil and anxiety within the two related Houses, especially for Yeshua who recognizes that his earthly Mission is fast upon him and his miraculous powers are growing out of control. As the life-and-death situation escalates, he begins to question his allegiance to his Divine Father while Miriamne finds herself torn between her newfound love for Yeshua and her premonitions about his unimaginable fate.
This diaspora novel is a celebration of Indian and African culture as seen through the eyes of a young woman. As a member of an Indian minority in a small African country, Shaza’s life is complicated. She lives in a lively house full of relatives. Later, she meets Idi Amin, the bloodthirsty Ugandan dictator and has a narrow escape… As a teenager, Shaza goes to a convent school. Despite the strict rules, the girls are beginning to discover the opposite sex. Shaza is part of a Muslim family that emigrated from India, the old ways still rule. No one in Kenya dates, they just sneak around. Shaza meets a Hindu boy at a party; Sameer is smitten but they come from two different religions. Shaza is torn between her sense of duty and her longing for Sameer. Will the relationship survive her family’s disapproval and a long separation? They live in difficult times in a turbulent African country; Kenya has a coup d’état where the Indian minority is targeted. The saga follows Shaza’s life from the 1960’s to the 1980’s showing the political upheavals in Kenya and her move to the United States. Nairobi Days is a coming of age story, a love story, a political novel and above all a celebration of life.
Discover the epic story of old Hawaii James Michener never told. The Hawaiian people lived in an isolated Garden of Eden and fought over it for centuries. One day, strangers came from beyond the horizon on floating islands. At first, the Hawaiians thought they were gods. Having no metal of their own, they marveled at the visitors’ iron daggers, axes, muskets, and cannons. One man, Kamehameha, was the first among the Hawaiians to understand that the strangers’ arrival had transformed everything for his people. He would go on to use these new weapons to defeat his rivals, unite the Hawaiian Islands, and found a new kingdom at the crossroads of the Pacific Ocean.
Stephen Shender is a former journalist, political and corporate speechwriter, and marketing communications writer. Once There Was Fire is his first novel.
Flirting with a pretty girl takes another turn when Jake discovers she’s a shackled spirit. Irene was raised in the voodoo faith by her Haitian grandmother, but never expected to become trapped in the spirit world she grew up believing in. When Jake encounters her captor, he is forced into that same spirit world. Jake learns that the girl he’s falling for is fading away because she has been trapped by the sorcerer for too long. Armand has no plans to release Irene and intends to use her soul to help him capture Baron Samedi, the voodoo loa of death, and releasing the dead themselves. But doing so would ravage both worlds. When several of the loa fall under the sorcerer’s control, the spirit world becomes chaotic and unsafe. And as Armand’s plan succeeds, the battle being fought in the spirit world makes its way to Jake and Irene’s home.
Stephen Taylor was once a happy and reasonably well-adjusted person; that was until an urge to write invaded his psyche, this need to be a writer, to tell tales; then these thoughts began to coalesce. A Georgian trilogy was conceived; set in London; a decadent time, a decadent place. No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given. A Georgian romp of story. Long-listed for the Brit Writers Award A Canopy of Stars. A Georgian courtroom drama. Ripples and Shadows. Amazing lives uncovered. Winner of the Great Beeston Book Read. See also Gospels – a Georgian adventure story set in Egypt, contemporary novels, and a children’s story.
Born in Yorkshire, brought up in Manchester (still an avid Manchester City fan); he is now retired and lives near Loughborough with his partner, a widower with a daughter just finished University. He has always admired the skill of the storyteller, and his books aspire to that simple tradition.
I was born and raised in Malta and moved to Sydney, Australia in February 2007. My debut novel ‘The Sheriff’s Catch’ is to be published by Unbound on 15 March 2018. It’s a fast-paced, rip-roaring historical thriller that tells the story of a reluctant member of the Spanish Armada who finds himself shipwrecked in Ireland and subsequently having to flee English troops that want him tortured and killed. The novel has had some very positive advance reviews to date, which you can read on Goodreads. It is also the first instalment of a five-part series called ‘The Sassana Stone’ which is the product of nine years of rewriting and researching.