It is the winter of 1856, and Beatrice Alexander has just returned from Upper Canada to her home on the Red River, in what is now Manitoba. Her father’s new wife is threatened by Beatrice and is driving a wedge into the family. Five generations later, in the same house, Christmas promises to be a miserable time. Cass’s mother died of cancer and her father has remarried a woman with an attitude that’s very hard to take. Miraculously, when Cass discovers the star brooch belonging to Beatrice, her visions lead her to Beatrice’s diary. Is she really able to communicate with Beatrice across time, or is it all in her imagination? Margaret Buffie’s great skill as a storyteller creates a splendid, engaging novel that offers readers a rich combination of fine history, suspenseful shifts in time, and unforgettable characters.
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction genre
Gilt
In 1539, Kitty Tylney and her best friend Cat Howard–the audacious, self-proclaimed “Queen of Misrule”–both servants to the Duchess of Norfolk, move to the court of King Henry VIII, who fancies Cat, and when Cat becomes queen, Kitty must learn to navigate the complexities and dangers of the royal court.
The Fitzosbornes at War
In this third installment to the Montmaray Journals, Sophie and her family come together to support the war effort during World War I, meanwhile fighting to protect their beloved Montmaray.
A Book of Tormod: A Templar’s Destiny
The Chosen, Tormod, aided by Aine and Bertrand, returns to France seeking other Gifted members of the Templar Order and striving to recover the relics he is bound to protect, while also hoping to find and rescue his brother, Torquil.
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In 1852, when seventeen-year-old Katharine is sent to her family’s estate to prove that her uncle is insane, she finds he is an inventor whose work creating ingenious clockwork figures supports hundreds of families, but strange occurences soon have her doubting her own sanity.
Farm Boy
The heartwarming sequel to Michael Morpurgo’s bestselling War Horse! Farm Boy is the heartwarming sequel to War Horse, the beloved novel that has now been made into a play and a major motion picture. Albert’s son is all grown up, an old man now. But he has a shameful secret he’s kept to himself his whole life. As he comes to terms with the truth, he tells stories of the farm of his childhood–his war hero dad, skipping school to help with the harvest, and of course the wonderful horses, Joey and Zoey. The charming book speaks to the bond between generations, and captures the spirit of rural life and the love of horses.
The Truth about Verity Sparks
Verity Sparks is good at finding lost things, but will she be able to uncover the truth about her own past? Verity Sparks is a thirteen-year-old orphan working as a milliner in Victorian London. But Verity is no ordinary girl – she has an almost perfect memory and possesses the talent of Teleagtivism. She can easily find things that are lost! When Verity is wrongly accused of theft and dismissed from her job, she goes to live with the Plushes – a slightly Bohemian family who run a Confidential Inquiry Agency. Verity helps them solve cases and slowly becomes one of the family. But patches of the truth about her past begin to surface, along with the special talent that Professor Plush is helping her explore. Who were her real parents? Is she the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter? Who is sending poison pen letters about Verity to the Plushes? Who doesn’t want them to learn the truth about Verity Sparks?
Keeping the Castle
In order to support her family and maintain their ancient castle in Lesser Hoo, seventeen-year-old Althea bears the burden of finding a wealthy suitor who can remedy their financial problems.
The Unfortunate Son
Luc, a youth born with one ear and raised by a drunken father in fifteenth-century France, finds a better home with fisherman Pons, his sister Mattie, and their ward Beatrice, the daughter of a disgraced knight, and even after being kidnapped and sold into slavery in Africa, he remains remarkably fortunate.
Baby’s in Black
Baby’s In Black is based on a true story. Meet the Beatles… during their stint in Hamburg right at the beginning of the band’s career. This gorgeous, accessible book is an intimate peek into the early years of the world’s greatest rock band. The story follows a small group of German artists, led by photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who fall in love with the Beatles’ music and soon become good friends with the original five band members. The heart of Baby’s In Black is a love story. The “fifth Beatle,” Stuart Sutcliffe, fell in love with the beautiful Astrid Kirchherr when she recruited the Beatles for a sensational (and famous) photography session. When the band returned to the UK, Sutcliffe quit, became engaged to Kirchherr, and stayed in Hamburg to study painting at a prestigious art school. His meteoric career as a modern artist was cut short when he died unexpectedly a year later. The book ends as it begins, with Astrid, alone and adrift; but with a note of hope: her life is incomparably richer and more directed thanks to her friendship with the Beatles and her love affair with Sutcliffe.