Showing results for "oconnor" in Historical Fiction

Winter 1847, the Star of the Sea sets sail from Ireland for New York. Among the refugees are a maidservant, bankrupt Lord Merridith, an aspiring novelist, and a maker of revolutionary ballads. Each is connected more deeply than they know.

It is 1938 and for Manod, a young woman living on a remote island off the coast of Wales, the world looks ready to end just as she is trying to imagine a future for herself. The ominous appearance of a beached whale on the island's shore, and rumours of submarines circling beneath the waves, have villagers steeling themselves for what’s to come. Empty houses remind them of the men taken by the Great War, and of the difficulty of building a life in the island's harsh, salt-stung landscape.

The orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousin, Rayber, defy the prophecy of their dead uncle - that Tarwater will become a prophet and will baptize Rayber's young son, Bishop. A series of struggles ensue, as Tarwater fights an internal battle against his innate faith and the voices calling him to be a prophet, while Rayber tries to draw Tarwater into a more “reasonable” modern world. Both wrestle with the legacy of their dead relatives and lay claim to Bishop's soul.

Dublin 1907, a city of whispered rumours. An actress still in her teens begins an affair with a damaged older man, the leading playwright at the theatre where she works. Rebellious, irreverent, beautiful, flirtatious, Molly Allgood is a girl of the inner city tenements, dreaming of stardom in America. Witty and watchful, she has dozens of admirers. But in the backstage of her life, there is a secret.

September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war's outcome is far from certain. An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy. But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical.

Dublin, 1904. Nora Barnacle is a 20-year-old from Galway, working as a maid at Finn’s Hotel. On June 16th, Bloomsday, her life is changed when she meets Dubliner James Joyce - a fateful encounter that turns into a lifelong love. Despite his hesitation to marry, Nora follows Joyce in pursuit of a life beyond Ireland. But as their life unfolds, Nora finds herself in conflict between their intense desire for each other and the constant anxiety of living in poverty throughout Europe.

Inspired by true events, Among Kings tells the inspiring story of William Sheppard, the first African American missionary to the Congo who rescues the entire nation enslaved by Belgian's ruthless King Leopold II. Traveling 1,000 miles up the Congo River with Samuel Lapsley, his white missionary companion, the two overcome deadly fevers, dangerous animals, and cannibal tribes. Sheppard becomes a famous explorer honored by kings, queens, and presidents. Armed with a camera, he exposes widespread Congo atrocities to the world.

Brothers Thom and Archie are the best of friends and never disagree, until the beautiful, young and very headstrong Molly James comes into their life. Molly might be playing a game with the brothers - but when war strikes and they both join up to fight, it isn't a game anymore. Based on the true story of the author's grandfather's wartime experiences, At the Going Down of the Sun explores the intense bond between soldiers and brothers fighting in war, and a love that may tear them apart.

It's 1909 and Mary Richards has worked hard to gain an education and become a teacher in her close-knit, picturesque village in the Cotswolds, but not everyone approves of her modern ways. When her sister Emily becomes engaged to David Christmas, it seems fate will intervene in the form of the best man: his eligible brother Johnathon. Mary finds herself in danger of falling for this handsome, almost too perfect stranger, only married women have to give up their careers as soon as they're wed and there's no way Mary is going to sacrifice her dreams for a man.

Anne Bonny is a young woman of privilege who is anything but comfortable, hell-bent on a voyage of self-realisation with or without the consent of those around her. Novelty-seeking, contrary, stubborn and bisexual, she is also neurodivergent, brave and capable of deep and enduring love. She spent all of two months actually being a pirate. Seaborne is the thrilling and sensuous imagining of the loss, frustration and desires that steer this lonely daughter of a plantation owner towards elopement, two marriages, two pregnancies, violence, trial for piracy and legendary status.

Three extraordinary people begin their life together. Henry Irving, the Chief, is the volcanic leading man and impresario; Ellen Terry is the most lauded and desired actress of her generation; and ever following along behind them in the shadows is the unremarkable theatre manager, Bram Stoker. Bram is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the London streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration.

It is 1865. The American Civil War is ending. Eighteen years after the famine ship Star of the Sea docked at New York, the daughter of two of her passengers sets out from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on a walk across a devastated America. Eliza Duane Mooney is searching for a youngster she has not seen in four years, one of the 100,000 children drawn into the war. His fate has been mysterious and will prove extraordinary.

James Lovell desperately wants to help the American cause, but alone in a cold, dark cell in the Boston Stone Jail, his dreams seem a faint illusion. In icy March winds, pounded by the Americans’ cannon, General Howe evacuates British troops and Loyalists from Boston. James Lovell is forced into a ship bound for Halifax, while his father and family take passage for the British stronghold in the ship’s upper berth. In jail in Halifax, James can only write letters and pray for release, hoping General George Washington will hear his appeal.

It is 1865: the American Civil War is ending. Eliza Duane Mulvey sets out from Lafayette, Louisiana, the town her mother Mary Duane called home. Alone, she walks across a devastated country in search of a youngster she has not seen in four years. One of the hundred thousand children drawn into the war, his fate has been mysterious and will prove extraordinary.

A savage bayonet charge. A flash of musket fire. The soldier fell dead, his face shattered. Arin Murphy stood frozen—an unwilling witness to an 1814 battlefield, reliving a violent moment from her family’s past. The man who pulled the trigger? Her ancestor. To discover who he is and where her slave descendant family came from, she follows his clues from Jamaica to Chile and the Golden Triangle in Thailand. As the world teeters on the brink of catastrophe, Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to unleash chaos.

Despite a fatherhood deferment, thirty-year-old dance instructor Jim Tanzer enlists in the Army in 1943. He expects to serve his country by fighting, but the former dance instructor is assigned to the morale unit. His squad includes Private Mickey Rooney — the Hollywood star who traded the silver screen for fatigues. They crisscross war-torn Europe in Jeeps, performing in combat zones where the USO dared not go. They put on small, spirited variety revues — Jeep shows — for frontline troops desperate for both diversion and camaraderie.

Step into a world steeped in danger and high-stakes suspense in this riveting thriller. The explosion. Iraq. The white lights beckoned her from this life to the next. A hand reached down. Marine Captain Cat Fahey stretched toward it, night after horrific night, as she lay on the park bench in Philadelphia. Once a military legend, now homeless. She knew, without doubt, the hand reaching to her was her ancestor, warning her that the Vice President would be killed in Philadelphia. There was only one person who would believe her. She had to find Key Murphy. The clock is ticking...

Hester, the wife of an acting magistrate, is fighting a cause. Sickened by the hanging of a woman who had been brutalized by her husband, and still deeply affected by her own childhood experiences, Hester feels compelled to help women who face the death penalty.

The continuing secret correspondence between Miss Lizzy Bennet, and Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, during the second quarantine lockdown of 1812. Amid public unrest, lockdown has been lifted for just two days, then re-imposed with greater restrictions than ever. Trapped once more within Hunsford Parsonage and Rosings Park respectively, our esteemed couple-to-be unleash themselves with greater familiarity as tensions rise, old antipathies come to a head and emotions can no longer be restrained.

Key Murphy is a freak, a prodigy. He has visions so real he’s diagnosed with PTSD. Key learns that his visions might be caused by a mutated gene which allows him to experience the memories of an ancestor. Key also has a family link to The Book of Kells. Pages from the book were stolen in Ireland in the distant past. Those pages are believed to contain a fundamental secret of Christendom.