Historical
title: GOD'S DAUGHTER
author: Heather Day Gilbert
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 4.8.2013 • author id: DaH2597813
word count: 80,000
When a fearless chieftain's daughter, Gudrid, travels with her third husband to unexplored Vinland, she hopes her marriage will grow stronger. But even as she faces down murderous crewmen, hostile natives, and raging sickness, she realizes it's her own relentless longing for Leif Eiriksson that just might tear her marriage apart.
God's Daughter, based heavily on the Icelandic Sagas, explores the life of Gudrid, the first documented European woman to have a child in North America.
Heather Day Gilbert researched Viking culture thoroughly while writing this novel, even referring to Old Norse language while making word choices for the manuscript. She has a follow-up novel planned, based on the wild and inimitable Freydis, another woman of the Icelandic Sagas--and another woman who traveled to the new world. Heather has developed friendships with Viking writers and researchers, including the Viking Answer Lady (vikinganswerlady.com).
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title: Honor in the Dust
author: Karen Stokes
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 5.22.2013 • author id: StK2941213
word count: 110,000
Confederate officer John Hutchinson has fought and lost a war, and returns to his plantation home in South Carolina to find that the genteel, aristocratic world he once knew has been wiped out forever by the desolating armies of General Sherman. Facing a bleak future, he struggles to survive, but an unexpected source of happiness and comfort enters his life when he falls in love with Emma DuBose, a devout, lovely young woman who has clung to her faith in God despite many painful losses and hardships suffered during the war.
John’s younger brother Elias eventually returns home badly wounded in both body and soul, but an even greater sorrow befalls John when he learns of a shocking family secret—a dreadful crime committed on his plantation while he was away in the army.
Having come to Christ in the great revival that swept through the Southern army in the last year of the war, John is shaken in his newfound faith by these terrible sorrows. Will he learn to trust God, overcome his bitterness, and find the strength to build a new life with the woman he loves?
Karen Stokes, an archivist in Charleston, S.C., has published four non-fiction books including Faith, Valor and Devotion, and South Carolina Civilians in Sherman’s Path. Her first work of historical fiction, Belles, was published in 2012. Mrs. Stokes speaks at many venues where this book could be sold, and there are especially promising marketing opportunities in Charleston (one of the most popular destinations in the world) where thousands of tourists visit many Civil War sites and other historic attractions.
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title: One Sitka Summer
author: Lois Lindenfeld
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 7.5.2013 • author id: LiL2760913
word count: 60,000
Fourteen year old Eliza thought she could handle anything. The icy waters of Sitka Bay, a shaman, and a grizzly bear were the least of Eliza Healy’s worries. In 1867 her family was sent to Sitka, Alaska to begin a new church where Russian Orthodox and Tlingit faiths had been practiced for years. Her new friends in this strange place question her faith. God’s presence seems far removed as first her baby brother then her mother become deathly ill. Will her fear of the hardships, new responsibilities and rough gold miners overwhelm her? Will her new friendship with the ruggedly handsome Jed become her “saving” grace? Eliza has six months to discover the answers.
Lois Lindenfeld is a retired teacher. She has traveled extensively throughout the world and has spent over six months in Alaska studying the cultures and history of Southeast Alaska. Union Gospel Press has published five series of 13 lessons and two sets of short stories for take-home papers for Sunday schools since 2008. Mrs. Lindenfeld spent four years overseas as a missionary teacher.
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title: The Testing of Miss Taylor Jones
author: Rita Galieh
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.9.2013 • author id: GaR187513
word count: 100,000
(Working Title: The Testing of Miss Taylor Jones)
A venture into the unknown: a step of faith or an incalculable blunder?
1895: An expedition in search of a creature once thought extinct encounters problems from its inception. First, it must be covert and is to take place in a rugged Australian outback wilderness. And second, two of its members, Miss Taylor Jones, a tenacious female reporter of the San Francisco Gazette, and the virile Dr. Garrett Steele, a professor associated with the New England Museum of Natural Science, clash on arrival. He had expected a man and resents her inclusion.
Both have emotional baggage. Without the luxury of being spoken for, Taylor acts a little too independent for gentlemen to tolerate. Disillusioned in the tenets of the Christian faith after tragedy struck his family, Garrett is determined to make his name in the field of Zoology.
Can Taylor’s gritty faith stand the test as she takes a stand against the agnostic Garrett? And when thrust to the limits of their endurance, will this change Garrett’s preconceived ideas? For when betrayed by a rogue team member, danger escalates their passionate clash of personalities into a relationship neither had bargained for.
(Working Title: The Testing of Miss Taylor Jones)
Rita Stella Galieh co-scripts and co-presents a Christian radio program broadcast Australia-wide. Besides contributing to several US anthologies, she has two faith-based historical novels traditionally published in Australia. She is an artist and now enjoys painting pictures with words. She blogs weekly at http://inspirationalromance.blogspot.com and gets hundreds of hits from all over the world. She belongs to the ACFW, ICFW, CWDU, writers’ organizations and Facebook and attends conferences. Her evangelist husband sells her books and CDs at their services.
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title: Deadly Secrets
author: Gail Kopf
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.23.2013 • author id: KoG2530913
word count: 110,000 words
Cursed with the ability to see into the future, Cassie Fraser struggles to come to gripes with her prophetic visions. Could her dark legacy be a blessing in disguise?
After a secret meeting with President Lincoln, Cassie’s parents are mysteriously killed in a hotel fire. Warned of the tragedy in a dream, she kept silent, fearful she’d be branded as odd or evil. Now Cassie blames herself for her parents' deaths.
When she and her younger brother, Caleb, move to Virginia to live with their relatives, Cassie has the eerie feeling someone is stalking them. Her fears are realized when Caleb suddenly disappears. Enter handsome lawyer Zackary Braxton whose sudden concern for her is unsettling.
Cassie is kidnapped and taken to England by a man who claims to be her father. Trapped in a web of deceit, the tentacles of the Civil War reach across an ocean as Cassie tries to unravel her past and understand her gift of prophecy.
Why were her parents killed? What is the fate of her brother? Why is she marked for death? In the grip of tragedy, Cassie finds not only love, but a strong faith rooted in God, the revealer of secrets.
Gail Black Kopf is the author of Rubicon (Thomas Nelson, 1993) a nominee for the Campus Life Book of the Year Award; Pushing the Limit (American Tract Society, 2001); a contributing editor to An Expressive Heart (Starburst Publishers, 2001); and For Better or Worse (Christian Publications, 2004).
She received the Amy Foundation’s “Roaring Lamb Award” in 2005 and won awards from The Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Fellowship, Campus Life, and Writers Digest. Her Op-Ed and human interest pieces have been published in numerous local newspapers. Currently, she leads the Jailbird Ministry, an outreach to female inmates.
Although trends wax and wane, readers continue to enthusiastically devour historical fiction which now represents 25% of the fiction market. The demographic for Deadly Secrets is women between the ages of 30 and 54. This cohort represents 91 percent of historical fiction readers.
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title: Michigan Yankee Marches with Sherman
author: Catherine Rhodes-Hahn
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.28.2013 • author id: RhC4954613
word count: 112,304
Drafted! In September, 1864, Rufus Seaman's name appeared on that decisive slip of paper drawn from a bucket, conscripting him to serve one year in the Union Army, where he soon found himself not only on a military journey, but on a spiritual quest as well. Michigan Yankee Marches with Sherman is a Civil War novel based on the life of my great-grandfather, Rufus Seaman, and tells the compelling story of his life-changing travels as they unfold. It gives a day-by-day account of the arduous march he makes with General Sherman's forces through Georgia and the Carolinas. During his months of military service Rufus pens ten letters to his wife, Sarah, who, with their two small daughters, waits for his return on their lonely farm back in Michigan. These authentic letters form a vital part of his story. In them he shares with Sarah his desperate need for a closer relationship with God in order to endure the intensely difficult life the novel describes. Sarah joins him in his recommitment to the Lord, and , despite great suffering they come to the end of the book victorious, as they put their trust in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.
This is my first novel, although I did edit my mother's memoirs, which were published in serial form in her hometown newspaper. Michigan Yankee Marches with Sherman is based on years of careful research but also reflects my literary imagination. It should appeal to Civil War buffs during this sesquicentennial of that war, as well as to readers of inspirational fiction.
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title: On the Banks of the Guadalupe
author: Misty Beller
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 11.8.2013 • author id: BeM297102013
word count: 71,500
When the Civil war forces a southern belle and her 15-year-old brother onto a rough-and-tumble Texas cattle ranch, Anna is determined to do whatever it takes to keep them both safe.
Just when the situation is looking a bit better, the ranch owner’s son shows up with his alarmingly blue eyes to put a kink in Anna’s well-controlled plans. When danger escalates in the form of a band of cattle thieves with deadly intent, Anna learns to release control to God’s capable hands… and those of the blue-eyed cowboy God sends to rescue her.
I was born and raised on a farm in South Carolina so my southern roots run deep. So, too, does my love for books, especially Christian fiction. About ten years ago, I made a career change from farm life into the business world, where I’ve developed extensive networking and marketing skills. My desire is to combine these skills with my love for Christian fiction and the simpler farm life, writing historical novels that display God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of my characters.
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title: For Love of God and Africa: The Andrew Murray Story Book One
author: Olea Nel
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.13.2014 • author id: NeO291314
word count: 82,000
A boyish and fun-loving Andrew Murray arrives back in South Africa after being ordained at the Hague on his twentieth birthday. He soon discovers that his preaching lacks the power displayed by his heroes of the faith. He therefore decides to embark on a quest to become a powerful preacher filled with the Holy Spirit.
But not long after his appointment as pastor to the Dutch emigrants beyond the borders of the Cape, he finds that he is being shunted off course by a frenetic round of preaching tours that sap his energy and leave him little time to spend with God. He also finds himself having to cope with an overly demanding church council, as well as walk a tightrope between the Boer farmers and the English community who are bent on land speculation to the detriment of neighboring tribes.
Feeling overwhelmed by the task, and knowing that he was pressed into taking it, he starts to doubt his calling. It does not take him long to realize that he either has to man-up or bow out. He decides that the only way forward is to take over the reins of leadership.
Dr. Olea Nel was born in Cape Town South Africa. After completing her teacher training in Andrew Murray’s heartland of Wellington, she relocated to Australia where she gained a PhD in Sociolinguistics. The topic of her thesis was Language, Ethnicity and Social Change: A Sociolinguistic Study of Afrikaans-speaking Groups in South Africa. Approximately a third of this thesis covers the nineteenth century, giving Olea an excellent background for writing her proposed series on Andrew Murray's life.
In 2008 she published South Africa’s Forgotten Revival through Xulon in the US, and through Christian Book Discounters in Cape Town in 2010. This book received eight excellent peer reviews. Andrew Murray was one of the the key figures in this work.
Olea has just launched a new website on Andrew Murray that can be found at: http://www.onandrewmurray.com As a pastor’s wife, she is often called upon to speak at women’s groups.
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title: Operation Cutback
author: Cristopher McFall
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 8.25.2014 • author id: McC4614214
word count: 111,400
Operation Cutback is a completed historical fiction story set during the latter part of World War II in France. A British spy steals vital weapon plans from the Nazis and is pursued by foes. Fearing capture, she hides the microfilm plans in the body of a wounded American soldier. She believes this soldier will be transported back to London to recover thereby taking the plans with him. However, he is kept locally to recover and her scheme unravels. When the foes start targeting the soldier, he and the spy race across France to deliver the plans (still inside the soldier). Along the way, they must rely on their wits, friends and faith in God. The story is completed and is the first of a planned trilogy. Part two, Operation Cambio, is one-third completed.
Cristopher McFall is a U.S. Army war veteran and former Christian missionary to the Philippines and Republic of Ireland. Cris is an avid World War II history buff and data analyst with a love for details. Cristopher is a published author. His first book, The Worship Leader’s Toolkit (ISBN 978-1-936746-07-1) is a non-fiction tool for new church worship leaders and staff to guide them to greater effectiveness.
John Weeks is a bi-vocational pastor, sales and marketing executive and former professional comedy writer and performer. John also pastors an inner-city, non-denominational church.
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title: Trees by the Living Water
author: Laurie Nesbitt
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.25.2014 • author id: NeLV7V3T14
word count: 54,5000 words
Juliana sat on the donkey her older brother was leading; grateful she didn’t have to walk this time, her thoughts whirling. She had once been a pampered, spoiled child of the Roman Patrician class, until the world turned upside down as she, her mother and brother were suddenly sold into slavery to pay her father’s gambling debts. Sure that she would never see either of them ever again; it had been a shock to see Lucius across the Jerusalem marketplace three years later. Then her owner had beaten and raped her. They escaped over the city walls the next night, aided by her friend Manilus, the blacksmith. But as Manilus lowered her over the wall, his kiss told her he was in love with her. Too late. Another heart-wrenching, forever goodbye.
Last night, they had been awakened in their cave by a strange holy man called Yeshua. He made them the most wonderful meal, healed them both, talked about “the one true God.” And he had incomprehensibly urged them to return to their slave masters. It was ridiculous! Slaves were put to death for running away. Yet here they were, on their way back. They must be out of their minds!
I have been passionate about reading and writing all my life and in university my essays always garnered top marks. Now that I am recently retired as an Elementary School Teacher and Children\'s Counselor, I finally have the time to return to my first love: writing. The idea for this book was given to me in a vision, and it virtually wrote itself. Every single woman to whom I have described the plot of this book has, without fail, exclaimed some version of: \"Oh I\'d love to read that! That\'s right up my alley!\"
I have a Master\'s Degree in Play and Art Therapy for troubled children from the University of British Columbia, and my church affiliation is Penatcostal. My next book (already started) is set in a contemporary setting.
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title: Save a Life
author: Megan Karr
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 1.9.2015 • author id: KaM7737514
word count: 37,444 words
I loved her, but he swept her off her feet; something I wish I could have done years ago. I never had the nerve. I eventually told her, but she had the baby to think about.
I tried to warn her, but she was stubborn. They were happy once, but he destroyed her, like I knew he would. I tried to get her to turn back, but she would not listen to a word of it, at least not at first. What is it like to watch the one person you would die for crumble under the pressure of love and loss? Well, I hope you never find out.
My love, my life, my best friend. She came back to me and there I stood as scared as death. I had to take my chance before it was too late, before she moved past me without even looking back as if to whisper a faint, “I love you.”
No more whispering, not today.
Megan Karr is a student at Missouri State University who is studying creative writing and theatre. She plans to attend a creative writing masters program upon graduation. Megan is passionate about volunteering for crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes in her surrounding area. Megan has self-published a short story/poem book, “Lines and Lyrics” that talks about the different forms of tainted love. Through her writing, Megan seeks to challenge and inspire readers toward courage in love, faith, and purity.
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title: Noah And The World Before Time
author: Eric Johnson
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 4.22.2015 • author id: JoE8011715
word count: 132,000
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In Noah And The World Before Time, Noah experienced what the world before the flood was like. In many ways it was close to the perfect world that God had originally created however after the fall it was filled with sin and violence. As a young man Noah journeyed into the Forbidden Territory where giant reptiles (dinosaurs) roamed and danger awaited around every turn. Noah joined forces with many mighty men to defeat the ferocious flesh-eating leviathan that terrorized his livestock. As Noah grew in wisdom and stature he battled the barbaric Nephilim giants to save his family. He foiled the plans of a treacherous princess and rescued his beloved Aqua from the clutches of evil men.
Later in his life God called Noah to proclaim a message of repentance to the world and then charged him with building the gigantic Ark of Salvation. As Noah prepared for the world-destroying cataclysm his faith and dependence on God guided his every step. Noah’s spiritual journey took him from being a young man trying to find his purpose in life to becoming the God fearing Patriarch who’s family would repopulate the new world after the flood.
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Eric Johnson is an ordained minister who has ministered through preaching and teaching for over twenty years. The appeal of the book will be a broad spectrum of readers because it is not only historical fiction written from a creationist viewpoint, but it is also an exciting romance/action/adventure novel appealing to all ages. A prime market might be reached through the Ark Encounter, a full size Noah’s Ark currently being built in Kentucky, which is expecting over a million visitors per year. The historical fiction coupled with the action/adventure theme would appeal to the Christian Home School market throughout the United States. The action/adventure/catastrophe theme would also appeal to non-Christians and attract them to the story of Noah and the Flood.
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title: Unlocking the Iron Gate
author: Catherine Siska
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.29.2015 • author id: SiCBL67T15
word count: 70,000
During the 1950s, the people of Czechoslovakia and other Soviet Bloc countries were locked away from the rest of the world and not allowed the freedoms and rights of Western society. However, chinks were made in that Iron Curtain by courageous people who refused to let go of their faith, values, and love until, finally, that oppressive system fell down.
In a small village in Czechoslovakia, Zuzana Tesarova must survive under this communist system that wants to restrict her family's religious freedom and speech. Her husband, Jozef, an outspoken peasant, is imprisoned for a short period of time and loses his job. Their youngest son, Pavol, is born into these circumstances and grows up behind the Iron Curtain.
Despite the fact that he must go along with Marxism and Leninism in academia, Pavol becomes a university professor as well as an active dissident in the underground church where he meets people like Jan Korec, a secret Jesuit bishop. Can Pavol maintain his professional life along with his faith?
Then a chance meeting with an American girl named Katie changes Pavol's life forever.
Catherine Siska, a native Texan, has two degrees in German Language and Literature and currently teaches English as a Second Language at the University of Liverpool in England. She has presented at various national and state TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) conferences where this book could be promoted and used in ESL/EFL classes. Catherine is married to Dr. Peter Siska, professor and head of the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at Liverpool Hope, an ecumenical university that promotes Christian faith among its students. Both Catherine and Peter have many academic connections from working at various universities and schools as well as attending conferences in the United States and Europe where they could promote this book. In addition, the couple translated and published the autobiography The Night of the Barbarians: Memoirs of the Communist Persecution of the Slovak Cardinal by Jan Chryzostom Cardinal Korec (1996).
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title: The Gospel of Adam
author: David Bishop
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.24.2015 • author id: BiD6370115
word count: 100000
What if the Bible’s original man, Adam, played a much larger role in humanity’s history? What if after the Garden of Eden, God tasked Adam with restoring humanity to a place worthy of returning to perfection?
This immense challenge puts Adam in the most unlikely situations with some of the most famous, and infamous, characters in history. Not just a witness, but an active participant Adam experiences the flood with Noah, the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and the rise and fall of Adolf Hitler. Can this man who once walked with God in the Garden of Eden succeed in his mission or will Adam’s doubts cause him, once again, to lose faith before he discovers his life’s true purpose?
Weaving history, philosophy, religion, and politics into a single narrative Adam experiences all that it means to be human. From the greatest joys to the most painful losses Adam must learn to appreciate all that is human while striving for eternal perfection.
David L. Bishop devoted most of his life to the study of politics, philosophy, and history before making a course change to pursue writing. Years of academic study, a childhood in a Lutheran household, and a deep-seated desire to understand the “why” questions of life provided a natural environment for the development of this novel, The Gospel of Adam.
Currently available as a self-published novel and being marketed through the use of social media and word of mouth.
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title: Many Sparrows
author: Laura Ziesel
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.23.2016 • author id: ZiL8090716
word count: 132,000
Many Sparrows is a God’s-Eye-View of how the Father relentlessly pursues His children and draws them to Himself, patiently wooing them over lifetimes. Set in turn-of-the-century Montana and pre-WWII British Hong Kong, it is a story of how some accept God’s free gift of grace, while others reject it, of how the Lord rescues us from ashes and makes us new, and how He sovereignly and masterfully weaves together our lives with others’—permitting suffering, healing heartbreak, and sparking joy. Will a life that began in tragedy end in hope and redemption, or will Margaret Gerhardt never come to know the full truth of her past and God’s goodness? The Lord came to save that which is lost; it is never too late to be found.
I hold a B.A. in English and American literature from New York University and have published several articles for Lynchburg Business Magazine and Diabetes Monthly. Born-again in my late twenties, I'm currently a domestic engineer and occasional freelancer. As a blog contributor to fromacrossthemiles.co, I will discuss and promote the book there. My sister-in-law works for the Veritas Forum (veritas.org) and has contact with some of the world's most prominent Christian thinkers and writers (Ravi Zacharias, Marilynne Robinson, Timothy Keller, etc.). Additionally, our good family friends who have encouraged my writing are successful former Hollywood screen writers turned born-again-Christians who have published books on homeschooling and Nebuchadnezzar. My husband's family is close friends with another well known screenwriter for the television series the Equalizer and Charlie's Fire and is composed of missionaries and pastors who would eagerly assist in promoting Many Sparrows.
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title: Silken Strands
author: Rebecca Hope
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 11.7.2016 • author id: HoR5531616
word count: 110,000
One man's utopia is a young woman's worst nightmare. Seventeen-year-old Millie Langston must escape becoming a communal wife in a historic nineteenth-century Christian commune.
Rebecca May Hope is an Adjunct English Professor at North Central University in Minneapolis. She also teaches middle school and high school English classes at a hybrid school. She writes for eNotes as an on-line instructor.
Although most people have heard of Oneida silverware, few people know the story of the Christian commune from which the silverware company sprang. The commune’s social experiments were a century ahead of its time. They raised children communally, practiced open marriage, and introduced young people to sex right after puberty. Thus the lessons of Oneida are highly relevant for modern-day readers, especially young women who face pressure to become sexually active in today’s hook-up culture. Published diaries show that what members really wanted was exclusive, monogamous relationships. Looking at today’s issues in the context of a historical setting confirms the value of the traditional family as God designed it.
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title: The Shamrock and the Thistle
author: Dorothy Laird
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 11.25.2016 • author id: LaDN4K5N16
word count: 120,894
Abaigeal Sutherland arrives at her father’s home in Inveraray, Scotland. Startling changes are occurring in her life and the accomplished dancer finds her father cold and her mother avoiding her. Stunned by the unusual reception, Abaigeal plans to flee to Glasgow again until she goes to the céili, an evening of song and dance. There, she meets Lachlann Muir, talented fiddler, and the son of the local miller. She agrees to secretly meet him and his band the next night. He plays, she dances, and a friendship is born.
Bitter Lachlann Muir finds himself in love with the dancer from Glasgow, despite his father’s disapproval. Lachlann does not realize whose daughter she is and he soon finds himself arrested, kidnapped, and forced onto a boat headed to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Set in 1898 Scotland, this is an unforgettable story which combines romance and mystery, faith and forgiveness. Abaigeal must face her bitterness toward her mother and the community. Lachlann must somehow make it home. Can Abaigeal and Lachlann find faith to keep going when everything around them is pulling them apart?
Dorothy Laird grew up on a family farm in rural Ontario, Canada. Her family is rich in the Scots-Irish traditions of story-telling and music. Being home schooled, Dorothy discovered her love of writing early in life, which carried her through a successful high school and college education. She has a certificate in Religious Studies and is a Certified Professional Photographer. She is an accomplished pianist who has played in churches and with her family band. The Shamrock and the Thistle is her first novel. Her stories reflect her faith in her Lord Jesus Christ and her witness to the world.
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title: The Orient Pearls
author: Denise Griffon
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 1.24.2017 • author id: GrD4490416
word count: 150,000
The Orient Pearls begins in 1932 Berlin and follows Michel, a Jewish man who runs his family’s jewelry business, as he falls in love with and marries Elise, a beautiful maid at the famed Excelsior Hotel. Their best friends are Katharina and Fritz, a Christian couple who share their lives, their love of music and dance, and their concern for the changing politics of pre-World War II Germany.
Everything changes in November 1938 with Kristallnacht (“the Night of the Broken Glass”). Michel has left Germany to get his mother out of Nazi territory, and Fritz, who is a doctor, has been forced to Heidelberg to work at the women’s sterilization clinic. When the SS comes after Elise and her newborn son, she flees to Katharina. But when the SS tracks her there, they arrest her—and mistakenly take Katharina’s baby too.
A brokenhearted Michel believes that Elise and his infant son are almost certainly dead, and he finds passage on the MS St. Louis headed to Cuba. Katharina and Fritz frantically chase a Kindertransport train bound for England, hoping to find their baby. And Elise finds herself traveling to the only place in the world that will accept Jews who have no legal visas … the mysterious world of Shanghai, China.
In the chaos of war, will the families ever be reunited?
The Orient Pearls is, above all else, a tale of romance. It also follows the intimate friendship of the four main characters through an extremely difficult time in history, hopefully inspiring readers to search inside themselves and wonder How might I respond in a similar situation?
For instance: What if your child were taken from you and you had no idea where or with whom? What if you left your family behind in a dangerous country and something unspeakable happened to them while you were gone? What if you lost your best friend to evil? What if the love of your life was gone forever . . . but you might never know for sure? Could you move forward? Faith—both Christian and Jewish--proves to be the mainstay of each character’s journey in this series.
As George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I strongly believe we are in the end days, and I cannot help but feel that lessons from the era of WWII need to be reviewed. Enough said.
The primary target audience for The Orient Pearls would be women ages 30-70 who like history, crave a love story, and are looking for inspiration. Miki Hayden, who has helped me with editing, believes this is a cross-over literary series. A secondary audience would be the literary reader who enjoys historical fiction, both male and female, ages 30-70.
I live in Ohio where I work three days/week as a dentist. This schedule would leave me time to travel promoting the series if I were blessed enough to do so. I am active in many organizations in which I could promote my writing and am gregarious enough to enjoy those types of adventures.
The Orient Pearls recently received a 5 star critique in the Readers’ Favorite Book Review and was a finalist in the 2016 Ignite The Flame contest, inspirational category. Currently, it is a finalist in the historical category in the Chesapeake Romance Writers’ 2016 Rudy Contest, with the final winner to be announced in January of 2017.
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title: The Testing of Taylor Jones
author: Rita Galieh
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 2.10.2017 • author id: GaR187517
word count: 89,000
A man escaping his past. A woman searching for a future.
Relieved at avoiding embarrassment of a broken romance, Miss Taylor Jones, ambitious reporter of the San Francisco Gazette, is sent by her editor, at his nephew’s urgent request, to chronicle a covert expedition in the rugged Australian Outback.
Garrett Steele, of the New England Museum of Natural History, once believed in the tenets of the Christian faith, but delves into the science of cryptozoology hoping to find proof of a creature thought extinct. Horrified at the inclusion of a woman for the team, both he and the expedition leader aim to send her back. Only Taylor’s veiled threat to expose the venture to local newspapers silences them … for a time.
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Although at variance with this woman during their many hardships, Garrett reluctantly admires her faith and resolve to stay the course. And when betrayed by a rogue team member, increasing danger escalates their passionate clash of personalities into a relationship neither had bargained for. Yet when everything Garrett strives for is within reach, is he prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for her?
Rita Stella Galieh has two books traditionally published, besides her Victorian Trilogy independently published. At book signings costumed as a Victorian governess, Rita assumes a British accent and has fun with audience participation in which she shares the era’s amusing and sometimes morbid customs. A graduate of Emmaus Bible College, she also co-presents a Christian radio program with her preacher husband. She promotes her books at www.ritastellapress.com, on Facebook, regular newsletters, Christian magazines, and Twitter.
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title: Beth
author: Courtney Brown
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 5.10.2017 • author id: BrC207717
word count: 64000
1914 saw the Milton family settled at their large family station, Abbadale, in Australia’s Central West of New South Wales. When the eldest Milton, Joe, leaves to fight with two of his five brothers at the beginning of World War One, he leaves behind his pregnant wife Beth and two small daughters.
Beth is left in a farm life she is still adjusting to without the man she had built her life around. Determined to prove her place in the Milton family Beth needs to find an inner strength, hope and peace that cannot come from the circumstances around her. She is finding her independence when a pregnancy complication leaves her on bedrest at her in-laws relying on the people who she wants to prove herself to. The beginning of a series in a coming of age story for Australians Beth must find her own voice and determine her own future in a pre-determined world.
Inspired by untold stories of the loves that were left behind Beth’s story showcases the true love, faith, honesty, loyalty and mateship that made Australians who they are.
Courtney Brown was born in Central West New South Wales, Australia. She holds a Bachelor Arts (English, Editing and Writing) and has judged writing competitions including a young writers competition at the Sydney Writer’s Festival.
Courtney has a passion to place a spotlight on the untold stories of men and women to honour their commitment to love, faith and family.
The book is targeted at adult female readers internationally.
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title: The House on Lowell Street
author: Linda Keane
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 5.10.2017 • author id: KeL6064017
word count: 94000
The House on Lowell Street is a compelling story of the challenges women faced in 1912 when they demanded a living wage and a safe workplace--a struggle that continues today.
     Rose Morrison's comfortable life as a banker's wife, living in a beautiful Queen Anne house on the best street in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is upended when her husband dies suddenly. His secret--and formidable--debts are now hers.
    For the first time in her life, Rose must support herself. She resorts to a common solution of the time, taking in boarders, who introduce her to the challenges of working women when there were few legal protections from oppressive employers. As Rose's sympathy and affection grows for her boarders, she is confronted with confusing moral choices for herself. She recognizes that it is not enough to care; one must also act.
    Which path does God want her to follow: the security of genteel Lowell Street, or the perils of the picket line?
The House on Lowell Street is based on a true event, the strike of the Kalamazoo corset workers in 1912, when labor legislation had yet to be enacted to protect workers from ruthless employers who valued profits over worker safety and a living wage.
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Linda Keane is an award-winning journalist and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. She has been a writer/editor for an independent union and an editor of corporate communications for a manufacturing company. If published, this novel will receive the endorsement of award-winning writer and teacher Sandra Scofield, with whom the author studied at the University of Iowa in 2016.
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title: Sarah's Legacy
author: Daisy Beiler
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 5.24.2017 • author id: BeD1612517
word count: 64000
Polly Dye steps over the thresh hold into the 19th century house her family just purchased and shivers. Did something bad happen here or is something bad is going to happen? When she discovers the original owner's diary under a floorboard, she hopes it will answer her questions about her dark forebodings. Instead, she wrestles with Sarah Davis's continued faith in God in the face of many losses. What good is a God who doesn't protect one from pain?
Torn between pleasing her mother and pleasing her beau, Polly soon experiences losses of her own. She recognizes that like Sarah's children, her faith has been in her godly mother, not in God. When faced with the ultimate challenge, will Polly embrace Sarah's legacy and develop her own faith? And will her questions about the house be answered?
Daisy Townsend has been published in Guideposts, The Upper Room, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and many other Christian periodicals. She self-published Homespun Faith, an autobiographical devotional book, in 2014. In 1998, Daisy was NCCA-certified as a Pastoral Counselor and ordained by the NCCC, serving with them for many years. She and her husband, Donn, served with One Mission Society in Japan and maintain an affiliation. Daisy is endorsed by six pastors/leaders in four denominations/organizations.
Daisy blogs weekly on her Homespun Faith website at www.homespunfaith.com.
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title: The Orange and the Green
author: Dorothy Laird
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 10.10.2017 • author id: LaDN4K5N17
word count: 112835
Catholic Bridget O’Neill longs to make something of herself. Though partially blind, she works at a shirt factory in Derry, Northern Ireland, to help support her family until a friend tells her about a job at the camera shop. Bridget is hired by the shopkeeper and soon finds herself scorned by some of the customers and in love with her Protestant boss.
Protestant Carrick McClure owns the camera shop and is grieving after the death of his mother. He longs to get away for a bit so he hires Bridget and, though he is attracted to her, his religion forbids him to court her. Yet when he learns of a photography contest, he agrees to help her take better pictures. Their secret journeys away from the city turn to stalking, mysterious photographs and threats.
The city of Derry/Londonderry is changing through social unrest and protests for civil rights. Both families are infuriated when they learn of Bridget and Carrick’s courtship. When a parade turns deadly, will Bridget and Carrick’s love survive? Or will the strife and hate around them kill it—and them?
Dorothy Laird grew up on a family farm in rural Ontario, Canada. Her family is rich in the Scots-Irish traditions of story-telling and music. Being home schooled, Dorothy discovered her love of writing early in life, which carried her through a successful high school and college education. She has a certificate in Religious Studies and is a Certified Professional Photographer. She has previously written The Shamrock and the Thistle [not yet published]. Her stories reflect her faith in her Lord Jesus Christ and her witness to the world.
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title: BELOVED
author: Kaye Calkins
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 10.25.2017 • author id: CaK6571417
word count: 79600
She was abandoned; he was born to rule. Can love bridge the chasm that lies between?
Prince Joel discovers an infant abandoned in a field while traveling with his father’s grand vizier. The moment the nine-year-old gazes into the dark eyes of the baby he feels drawn to her. On the Vizier’s counsel, he reluctantly leaves her with a respected village family and departs for his homeland. Years later, he returns to find Miriam a delightful girl on the brink of womanhood.
Miriam grows up in the midst of a loving family and friends. To her surprise, a handsome and fascinating young man arrives to court her. She is shy, but secretly thrilled; he is all her dreams have promised. However, when she learns he’s a prince her world dissolves into turmoil. A prince and a foundling can never marry.
Eventually love wins, but is soon challenged by a treacherous adversary, a long separation, and a broken promise. Only love as faithful as the Heavenly Father’s can triumph.
I have taught Sunday School, bible Studies, and led Home and small groups. I studied one and a half years at a Bible school and 2 years of college.
My story, inspired by Ezekiel 16, pictures the love of Christ and his forgiveness in the
story of a prince and a foundling. This book will appeal to readers of Inspirational and Historical
genres.
Avalon published my first historical novel, and I indie-published my second.
My blog and author’s page in Facebook are growing. I belong to ACFW and am
involved in a critique group.
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title: The Dutch Winter
author: Albert vande Steeg
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 2.10.2018 • author id: vaA9171018
word count: 84000
The Dutch Winter is a story of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands as seen through the eyes of a young boy. He sees the stalwartness of being Dutch, the strength of Calvinistic faith in God's providence while suffering the hunger and oppression of invaders.
The story is about resistance to evil, having compassion for the needy and survival during terror. The story ends with an emotional tribute to the Statue of Liberity in how she symbolizes America.
I am the boy who experienced the Nazi occupation. I also interviewed others who worked in the Resistance or endured the hardships.
I have a published novel, The Black Band, that has received awards from the Public Safety Writers Association.
I write Bible studies for the class I teach. I have done this for over thirty years.
I have written Police Procedure and Policy Manuals, newsletters and editorials and have published poems.
I serve as president of the Ontario Police Museum and Chair Emeritus of Food for Life Ministry, Inc. which gives many opportunties for speaking at service clubs, men's groups and promotional activities.
I have prints of painting that depict the scenes of life during the occupation.
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title: Aliyah; Reconnecting with God
author: Fenton Ward
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 4.10.2018 • author id: WaF9395518
word count: 130000
ALIYAH; RECONNECTING WITH GOD
The fall of the Berlin Wall echoed in Moscow’s academic world. With it, life for its rising political science professor, Yosephe Schroeder, crashed. The subsequent need to revise Russian history embarrassed and shamed him. He had feared it was propagandized but had ignored his suspicions. Why had he not been more like his grandfather and stood for truth? Now that moral compass lay silent in a plain wooden coffin—a Jewish peasant, even in death.
At this low point with his atheism challenged by his grandfather’s beliefs, he immigrates to Israel seeking his roots. With little demand for Russian history professors, he initially works as a mail clerk. He falls for the company’s new engineer, Sosa Rabinowitz, but feels she is socially above him. Eventually, as he moves back into teaching, he pursues her. Meanwhile, he is forced to reconcile with Vladimir, a previous Russian co-worker and new immigrant to Israel. (He had earlier broken their friendship upon discovering that Vladimir was a secret Jewish believer.) Relationships become more entangled when Sasha and Leah, Vladimir’s wife, become close friends.
Through a miracle and study with Leah, Sasha commits her life to the Messiah. Not willing to give Sasha up, Yosephe is forced to seriously consider the claims of Jesus.
The struggles of Yosephe’s life mirror parallels in Jewish history. Each chapter ends with a flashback into a historic event.
At thirty-seven, I sold my firm to attend seminary. Upon graduation, we moved to Los Angeles and started a multi-ethnic congregation of Jewish and International Christians. Nine years later, I left the church to develop Project Ingrafting, a mission organization to reach Jewish people. That activity has continued now for almost forty years. Much of its focus is to correct mistaken assumptions about the Jewish people by Christians and by Jewish people about Christians.
I’ve written a Passover Haggadah for Jewish and International Christians; Passover, A Christian Heritage. Purple Pomegranate published my Jewish evangelism book, What to Say When They Say “I’m Jewish.” Last, Government vs. God, Twenty-First Century Insights into Revelation, a First Century Riddle came out late last year.
In my previous life, I was a C.L.U. with a B.S. in advertising and public relations. Theologically, I have a Master of Divinity in Theology, and a Doctorate of Ministry in Church Growth. As a member of the Lausanne Consultation on World Evangelism, I was a delegate to Lausanne II in Manila, in the Jewish outreach tract. Though most of my work has been as a pastor and a missionary, I have also taught as an Adjunct Professor at Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, California.
The major market for the book would be Evangelicals who enjoy historical novels. This comes from an interest in the Jewish people, though they suffer from a lot of misconceptions about them. With the other books I’ve done Christian radio interviews and book signings. I can also promote it through my website and blog postings.
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title: St. Chretien and the Golden Chalice
author: Nicholas Cucolo
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 3.12.2019 • author id: CuN0700919
word count: 100000
By the brow of St. Odo (It's the Middle Ages), what do you do when your best friend has been burned at the stake, and you know who is responsible? Why, you go after him, of course! However, what if you have been explicitly warned not to by a holy man ("Vengeance is mine, says the Lord"), and then your vengeful adventure is filled with mishaps, such as being waylaid by brigands, poisoned by an enemy and confronted by false witnesses in a trial for your life? To complicate matters, you have to rescue an orphaned child and a damsel in distress (and love blooms). When you meet the holy man a second time, you no longer are a haughty adventurer but humbled and ready to submit to God. Life will not be easy (you are involuntarily conscripted into war), but justice then can be meted out on His terms.
As a high school English teacher and adjunct college professor, Nicholas F. Cucolo has offered his students the breadth of English and American literature with a focus on reading, communication, and writing skills. As a writer, he has written two novels of historical fiction, as well as self-published a futuristic novel. As a church member, he's led worship services, taught Bible studies, and served on the mission field in Greece.
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title: Escape from Cairo
author: Daniel Gilbert
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.12.2019 • author id: GiD3731219
word count: 45000
“Go to that Pharaoh. Go!”
Laura Strong and the other women huddled around the iconic marble slab for some sense of momentary safety, while hundreds of dissidents closed in around them. The Americans were trapped inside Tahrir Square as mighty Cairo plunged into political chaos. Should Laura and her students wait to be rescued? Should she push into the crowd and try to lead the girls to safety?
Fired from her prestigious career at a small Christian college and on the brink of losing everything, Laura Strong and her husband found only one career door open--in Egypt.
But what does God require of an American woman who finds herself at ground-zero of the Arab Spring?
Travel with Laura on her journey to the Middle East, where this out-of-work scientist from Tennessee finds forgiveness and friendship in the middle of a revolution and discovers that faith overcomes fear.
Dr. Dan Gilbert is a professor of business at Tennessee Wesleyan University. He is the author of Magi: A Novel (Paraclete Press, 2007), a fiction award winner announced at the 2006 Festival of Faith & Writing. Dr. Gilbert based his latest novel, Escape from Cairo, on his personal travels to Egypt and Israel. In its current form, the novel is available on Kindle.
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title: Desert Fountainhead
author: Robert Mareck
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.30.2019 • author id: MaR4891719
word count: 70000
Ernesto, a migrant, flees Mexico’s violence but is overcome by desert heat. He is discovered but left for dead by Unruh, the sheriff’s deputy. Chris O’Brien, a desert recluse who was himself fleeing from life after the tragic death of his bride, saves him.
Newly enacted water laws require the village to embrace conservation to achieve ‘safe yield’, but this conflicts with Bill Starret’s grandiose development plan for cliff-side, luxury homes for snow birds. When O’Brien’s new-found love, Carmen, dies violently under the blade of Starret’s dozer, he flees once again into the wildness to wrestle with God, but finds himself caught between shifting rocks. Meanwhile Ernesto leaves jugs of water at his desert rescue site, where Unruh, feeling guilt for having abandoned him, mounts a camera to catch his image and to assess his exposure. When Ernesto asks police help to find O’Brien, he discovers that it was Unruh who left him to die. He finds and rescues O’Brien himself, and relates a near-death experience that proves the wisdom of forgiveness and the ideal of altruism.
The author has advanced degrees in classics and library science and an academic career that spans forty years. He has lived in the border area for nearly fifteen years and has done home visits for a charity as well as organizing a new chapter of the charity within a dozen miles of the border. He is convinced of the moral shortcomings of objectivism, the simple wisdom of altruism, and the healing power of forgiveness. The author leads a faith group and a book group, while retaining contact with library, charity, and policy organizations. The author has travelled to all 50 states and many foreign countries. He has served as the collections officer of a large research library, and has an enduring interest in religion.
Relationships he has developed over a long career suggest the success of this book. Reviews by authorities are anticipated.
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title: The Life We Greet
author: Rhonda Ortiz
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 10.14.2019 • author id: OrR4942319
word count: 91000
Her father’s death broke her heart—and she fears it may break her mind.
Boston, 1792—Beautiful and artistic, the only daughter of a prominent merchant, Molly Chase can’t help but attract people’s notice. Yet she’s hiding a painful secret: reeling from her mother’s death and facing bankruptcy, her father committed suicide and she found his body. Now Molly is hounded by waking nightmares that overtake her unexpectedly, rendering her insensible.
The son of the Chases’ former cook, merchant sailor Josiah Robb is as familiar to Molly as a brother—as dear and as exasperating. What she doesn’t know is that he’s loved her since their first childhood squabble. When he learns of her situation, Josiah takes Molly home to be cared for by his mother. News spreads that Molly is living in the house of an unmarried man, and with it comes salacious speculation about their relationship. But neither Molly nor the Robbs will publicize Molly’s “lapses”: instead of thinking her a loose woman, people would think she was mad.
Together, Molly and Josiah are fighting to rebuild her life. But an imprudent decision gives way to public scandal, threatening not only their reputations, livelihoods, and courtship, but the healing Molly seeks.
Rhonda Franklin Ortiz’s articles on spirituality, family life, and arts and culture have been published by a variety of popular religious media outlets. She has been a repeat guest on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air, and she also was the longtime Art Director for the literary magazine Dappled Things. Rhonda is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Oregon Christian Writers, and the Catholic Writers Guild. A native Oregonian, Rhonda attended college in historic Annapolis, Maryland and now lives in Michigan with her husband and five children.
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title: Maximus: The Quest for Greatness
author: Shane Eash
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 4.20.2020 • author id: EaShMa8320
word count: 59000
Gaius Marius Maximus has climbed the ranks in the Roman legion, but when a wound cripples his career, he returns to Rome to start over. Maximus' father entrusts the family estates to him and betroths him to a senator's daughter. But all his dreams are ripped away when the Great Fire sweeps over Rome. Engulfed in the largest fire in history, Maximus' world is shattered. He struggles to save Rome, his estates, and his betrothed. Who is to blame for the fire? Was it Nero, or the Christians? Maximus tries to crush the followers of The Way, but they show him love. Who is this Paulus that Nero is so intent on destroying? And how will Maximus find the truth if Rome crushes the Way?
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title: One Candle's Light
author: Fay H. Alexander
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 5.7.2020 • author id: AlFaOn10820
word count: 117000
At first, young William Brewster is like most English lads of his day, attending to his chores and lessons, and catching eels for the guests at his father’s post house in Scrooby. But when a Queen’s servant points him toward Cambridge and the excitement of diplomatic service abroad, he witnesses Queen Elizabeth’s treachery, and changes course to become a staunch seeker of religious freedom with a like-minded band of Separatists. They will defy the laws of the land, flee to Holland and incur the wrath of King James, who swears to destroy their movement. How will they escape the King’s fury? How will they navigate a free but hedonistic Dutch culture? Can Brewster and these simple Pilgrims hope to make a way in the New World, with dangers and sorrows of its own? How will they handle conflicts with “strangers†on board the Mayflower and the warring tribes of Native American inhabitants? How do they light a candle of freedom for generations to come while clinging to their faith?
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title: My First Word
author: Kathryn McLane
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.29.2020 • author id: McKaMy15120
word count: 105000
In 1910, Agnes leaves her home in Tabriz, Persia, where her parents are Presbyterian missionaries. A teacher at the mission asks for her hand in marriage, but when her father refuses, the teacher joins the Persian army and is shot by a sniper. His death and the disgrace their relationship brings on her family and the mission haunt Agnes as she travels to America. Agnes goes to college in New York and struggles to adapt to American life. At first, she is afraid to dance and wear a bathing suit at the beach, things she considers unsuitable for a missionary’s daughter. Her relatives in America help to convince her otherwise. At a religious conference, she believes that God’s will is revealed to her: to become a missionary teacher and return to educate Persian women. As she prepares for missionary work, obstacles arise, including relationships with men and family illness. The head of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions gives Agnes the opportunity that she has dreamed of to return to Persia. Then Great War erupts, and she must postpone her plans. Will she fulfill her dream to return to Persia, or does God has a different path for her to follow?
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title: Tendrils of War
author: John Sizemore
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 11.24.2020 • author id: SiJoTe29320
word count: 87750
Tendrils of War College student and future teacher Liz Campbell has the happy dilemma of choosing between two suitors. But that was before Pearl Harbor. In the years ahead Liz faces searing challenges: a husband declared missing in action, a troubled pregnancy, racial strife, personal betrayal, looming financial disaster, and the Vietnam War, which tears her family apart. Then one threat sounds too crazy to share with anyone: that her husband’s old Nazi nemesis has come back from the grave with a vengeance. It’s all too much to bear, were it not for the support of her  community of faith and especially her college roommate Helen, who becomes her lifelong friend. And for 22 years along the way, an Army pal of Liz’s husband harbors a shameful secret.
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title: House of Honor - The Heist of Caravaggio's Nativity
author: Margaret Philbrick
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 2.20.2021 • author id: PhMaHo1821
word count: 85500
Caravaggio’s stolen Nativity painting forms the backdrop in this tale of three sons connected across the years by a masterpiece painting. The devoted son of a Sicilian Mafia family, the prodigal son of an Italian construction magnate, and the fatherless painter Caravaggio each wrestle with family honor and loyalty to their respective fathers when the dark side of the fine art world reveals their true character. The still to be solved real life heist of Caravaggio’s Nativity painting in 1969 invites the reader into the mysterious realm of intrigue where the mafia, the Church and the artist meet.
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title: A Cause Most Splendid: The Battle for the Bible
author: Mark Alan Leslie
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 2.20.2021 • author id: LeMaA 3221
word count: 91000
If history teaches anything it is that religious freedom isn’t always free and some men and women must risk all to preserve it. The year is 1777: “Yours is a cause most splendid, most noble,†Robert Aitken is told. Despite the threat of prison or the hangman’s noose if caught, Aitken is determined to print much-needed Bibles for American colonial troops, churches and families. The Royal Family alone has publishing rights to God’s Word, the British say, and any printing of the King James Bible is not only illegal but a personal slap-in-the-face to the Sovereign. Aitken’s reply: “My King is the King of kings. To Him only will I answer.†And so history is made.
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title: The Bathtub Full of Holes
author: Arielle Eicher
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 4.16.2021 • author id: EiArTh7521
word count: 45000
One airplane was scheduled to go to California; the other was scheduled to go down. When the conniving of an alleged smuggler goes awry, five friends plunge into the trap. But surviving an airplane crash is the easy part. "Plane crashed, pilot dead. One broken leg and a bloody head. Summer moved out, winter moved in: Hope of rescue seems fairly thin." Jack, Maria, Eddy, Camille and Carl are pitted against the elements, faced with medical trauma, and confronted by their own specters of the past and an embezzler desperate enough to kill. Will the bond of loyalty carry them beyond mere survival to see justice served on a fleeing Nazi war criminal?
Arielle Eicher writes to fill a void for truly Christian fiction: something more than secular writing with a mealtime prayer dropped in. With absorbing plot-lines and engaging characters, her stories portray adventure, humor, and life from a Christian standpoint. In addition to "The Bathtub Full of Holes," Arielle continues to write novels, short stories and children's picture books. She has also written numerous skits, some of which have been performed for her church. When not wearing down pencils, Arielle enjoys canoeing, hiking, horseback riding, singing, and needle felting. Her Doberman Pinscher and small flock of ducks provide her much amusement.
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title: Among Kings
author: Joey O'Connor
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.22.2021 • author id: O'JoAm23521
word count: 123000
In 1890, missionary explorers William Sheppard and Samuel Lapsley risk everything to save the Congo nation, forcing the first international human rights trial between Belgium and America. Among Kings is a historical fiction drama about William Sheppard, the first African American missionary to the Congo, who rescues the entire nation enslaved by King Leopold II of Belgium. Traveling 1,000 miles up the Congo River with Samuel Lapsley—his white missionary companion—Sheppard overcomes deadly fevers, dangerous animals, and cannibal tribes to become a famous explorer honored by kings, queens, and presidents. Armed with a camera, he exposes widespread Congo atrocities to the world. His greatest test comes when the king accuses him of slander, leading to the first international human rights trial. His worst fear is not prison but leaving the enslaved Congolese people, his wife and daughter alone in a land ruled by a ruthless tyrant. Among Kings explores themes of good versus evil, love and betrayal, forgiveness and revenge.
Joey O’Connor is the author of twenty books (Thomas Nelson, Word, Baker/Revell Books). He is also a screenwriter with his screenwriting partner, Ken Straw. Joey and Ken’s screenplay, Among Kings (originally titled The Congo Redemption) has won five screenwriting awards in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City and Virginia. Joey is the founder of The Grove Center for the Arts & Media, a Southern California arts organization. He is also the President of the Congo Reform Association, a non-profit whose mission is to use story, film and social media to help end the Congo Conflict and produce a self-sustaining thriving Congo. Joey lives with his wife and family in San Clemente, California. He likes to go to the beach and compete in Ironman triathlons.
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title: RAVENSMERE
author: Marilyn Perks
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 10.20.2021 • author id: PeMaRA27121
word count: 99000
When Regency England-era orphan Geneva Everson discovers her entire history is a lie, her new life as mistress of a mystery-riddled wealthy estate quickly becomes a labyrinth of treachery, danger, and heartbreak, leaving only Geneva’s courage, determination, and faith in a loving God as guide to whom she should love, whom she can trust, and how to forgive.
I am a retired Registered Nurse. I’ve invested five years of daily writing to learn my craft as a writer, including three years of mentoring by award-winning novelist and editor Jeanette Windle. My love of Britain’s Regency era stems from extended holidays in southern England, where I soaked up the pastoral beauty and rich history. The historic Athelhampton House in rural Dorset, including its local history of underpaid farm laborers rebelling in the Swing riots of 1830, and my personal compassion for the poor became the template for my first Regency novel. Ravensmere’s spiritual message was birthed from my own lengthy experience with bitterness and is based on Hebrews 12:14-15: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness…lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.” Only when I repented of my own unforgiveness could God bring healing and renew joy in my life.
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title: So Great a Cloud of Witnesses
author: Scott Brunner
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.30.2022 • author id: BrScSo16222
word count: 89000
On a Sunday morning in June 1974, Smallwood, Alabama, a visiting preacher invites a black man into the worship service of the little fundamentalist church there, washes the man’s feet, and right before congregants' eyes the water in the basin seems to turn to blood. Is it a miracle? Well, maybe – if anyone in the congregation has enough faith to believe God can still do one. But the greater uproar may be over the integration of the “white” church service. “The-water-into-blood” stirs up racial and spiritual havoc in the little town, challenging the faith of the 15-year-old narrator, Spit Mullinax, and ultimately revealing that the true miracle may not lie in the red water at all, but the capacity of a human heart to change.
I am a former commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered program (more than 25 of my commentaries aired there 1998-2001) and author of two published volumes of creative nonfiction – Due South: Dispatches from Down Home (1999) and Carryin’ On (And Other Strange Things Southerners Do) (2001), published by Villard and featuring cover blurbs by Pat Conroy, Fannie Flagg and Rick Bragg. I grew up in churches of Christ that were much like the congregation depicted in my manuscript, so I have a deep knowledge of and experience with both the personalities and doctrines portrayed in the novel I'm submitting. As a native Southerner, I also bear a sense of place that I believe grounds my manuscript in the vernacular voice and motifs and reality of its small Alabama setting and congregation – and indeed, the era – depicted in the story. I have been a worship leader in acapella churches of Christ since I was a teenager. Currently, I am an elder, worship leader, and occasional Bible class teacher at the Arlington Church of Christ in Arlington, Virginia.
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title: In the Arena
author: Benjamin Burdick
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 8.3.2022 • author id: BuBeIn18522
word count: 250000
(Working Title: In the Arena) In 26 AD, Caesarea is the Roman capital of Judea Province and the busiest port in the region. It’s also the center for legionary training, power intrigues, covert deals, and sex trafficking. Miriam has no idea she’s the trophy. The affluence and respect her Jewish family once knew is shattered when she finds herself trapped in a dark realm of sex slavery. Her brother Simon’s drive to overthrow the Romans thrusts him into a world of zealotry and revenge — fueling his pain and threatening his conscience. But when Lucius, a promising Roman centurion, finds himself uncovering a conspiracy, he becomes the target of the same powerful forces that destroyed Miriam’s family. In the Arena tells the story about a Jewish slave girl, a zealous insurrectionist, and a Roman centurion as they each face tragedy, lust, murder, betrayal, and vengeance. Themes reminiscent of Ben-Hur, Gladiator, and Redeeming Love color the story as it races from Caesarea to Galilee, from Africa to Rome, and from Jerusalem to Damascus before returning eventually to the arena in Judea.
My name is Ben Burdick. I’m a former flight instructor, Air Force communications officer, history teacher, and crop-duster turned pastor. Happily married for thirty-three years, I’m the father of five children. I’ve spent decades studying history and the Bible and I’m connected to numerous international ministries. I began writing this book after a trip to Israel where I visited most of the locations in the story. Passionate about Biblical and historical accuracy, I’ve spent nearly six years researching and writing it. However, I also love stories with suspense, adventure, and romance. In the Arena fulfills both passions. I believe it will appeal to Christian adults and readily cross over to the secular market.
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title: Fear and Trembling: A Novel of the Reformation
author: Amy Mantravadi
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 12.8.2022 • author id: MaAmFe32122
word count: 112000
It is 1524, and Europe is in flames. The Church is fracturing, revolution is brewing, and society is changing rapidly. Three authors who shaped this new world with their pens—Martin Luther, Desiderius Erasmus, and Philipp Melanchthon—will now be shaped by it in turn. When the pope and King Henry VIII of England pressure Erasmus to take a public stand against Luther, both authors will be forced to wrestle with literal and figurative demons. Erasmus is haunted by his illegitimate birth and an experience of same-sex attraction that left him feeling ashamed. Luther struggles with the rejection of the Church and his own father, even as he suffers from a crippling anxiety disorder. Melanchthon, Luther’s associate and a long-time admirer of Erasmus, is increasingly caught in the middle, forced to choose between two men he venerates or be torn asunder. Enemies arise: a former colleague of Luther’s challenges him for leadership of the reform movement, a figure from Erasmus’ past warns he might reveal the scholar’s youthful misdeeds, and a Church official threatens Melanchthon with death if he does not recant his views. The three men’s lives and fears are woven together as events spiral out of their collective control. As the story wraps up, all three men are reminded of their mortality in ways that heighten their fears and reveal their priorities. This is a book about the things that terrify us, the battles we wage, and the hope that gives us strength.
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title: The 14th Codex
author: Christopher Mooney
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 3.4.2023 • author id: MoChTh3423
word count: 31400
Betrayal. Reconciliation. Redemption. The 14th Codex is a completed novella, thirty-one thousand words of historical fiction based on true events: the discovery in Egypt of ancient documents tied to the very beginnings of Christianity. The 14th Codex tells the story of a Coptic nun, Sister Sahira Rafiq, as she investigates the first-person testimonies of the earliest followers of Christ: Peter, Paul, Silas, Lydia, Luke, Priscilla, Xanthippe and Timothy; the construction of two great basilicas in Rome; the discovery of the codices at Naj’ Hammadi in 1945; and the quest to find the hidden relics of the founders of the church.
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title: Azusa
author: Annelie Anttila
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 3.14.2023 • author id: AnAnAz4123
word count: 76000
Sarah Anne could never foresee how God would use what she thought was the catastrophe of her life. Little would she know when she ran for her life through the forest outside of Wilmington, what an adventure awaited her, as a vessel in God´s hand during the great revival of Azusa Street in the year 1906. By the age of seven, Sarah Anne is picked up from an orphanage by a wealthy family, with whom she grows up. At her eighteenth birthday party, she accidentally overhears about a murder, committed by one of Mr. Banning´s employees. She is now a dangerous witness, and falsely accused of theft, she flees and finds shelter in the home of Abigail and Onslow Cole. From there, her journey continues to Los Angeles, and we follow her enthralling calling by insight into what is simultaneously happening in the spiritual dimension as God makes way for one of the greatest revivals in history. Through this novel, we follow Sarah as she experiences the supernatural events that occurred during the revival, as she gets to know William Seymour, Ruth and Richard Asberry, and others who were actively serving God during those days.
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title: They Call Me "Reverend Amble"
author: Gary Hauck
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 4.7.2023 • author id: HaGaTh6523
word count: 48000
Yes, it’s true. The little village of Amble, Michigan – is named after me. A Scandinavian immigrant from Norway. A pioneer preacher. A bachelor. I can hardly believe it. I was one of many Scandinavian settlers that came to America in the 1800s looking for a new life. Norwegians, Danes, and Swedes came to homestead in this land that reminded them of the pine forests and fjords back home, but also gave the opportunity for lower costs of living and greater freedoms. For me, it was a matter of ministry. I sought a place in which to happily serve God – and He granted me that desire of my heart. Abundantly. After coming to America in 1871 and attending seminary, it was not long before I moved to Michigan where I planted and pastored up to seven churches at the same time. Altogether, I was the spiritual shepherd of over 1,000 souls. That was something I never could have imagined. And I did this faithfully for more than 53 years. Tragedies, tornados and changing times did their best to stop me. But by God’s grace, none of these succeeded. I retired happily in 1927. This account is a journey through my experiences.
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title: The Oystercatcher of Southwark
author: Erica Colahan-Ruggieri
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 4.7.2023 • author id: CoErTh6523
word count: 85800
Philadelphia, 1897—Mary Paragano suffers a tragedy that affects her family for generations. Disowned by her father, abandoned by her husband, and pursued by a jealous gangster, Mary struggles to protect her children, only to be torn away from them and committed to an asylum. Philadelphia, present-day—While Bella avoids the pain of her recent divorce, she is approached by Sophie, a stranger claiming to be a relative of Jakob—the man who abandoned Mary to her horrible fate 125 years before. Skeptical of each other at first, the women form a deep bond as they piece together what happened that tragic night. The more they search, the more they find and they soon realize things are not always what they seem. Was Jakob a scoundrel and Mary insane? Or does the truth lie somewhere in between? Based on the true events of Mary’s life, The Oystercatcher of Southwark is a journey through the immigrant neighborhoods of South Philadelphia—focusing on the intense love of a mother for her children—and the redemptive hope that God offers to all creation.
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title: Destination Harmony
author: Rebecca Hope
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.10.2023 • author id: HoReDe12923
word count: 100000
For nineteen-year-old Sallie Turner, teaching in utopia for a year is a small price to pay to atone for her role in her brother’s death. So in 1826 she travels to Robert Owen’s experimental commune on the Boatload of Knowledge. Hired as an educator, she can’t reveal her ambition to become America’s first lady ornithologist, but New Harmony gives her greater exposure to scientists than she could otherwise dream of. Not only that, but the carefree atheism of Owen’s charismatic son Dale offers a welcome reprieve from her guilt-induced claustrophobia. Yet whenever tragedy or danger strike—as they do often on the journey—Sallie’s atheism wavers. Once she arrives in New Harmony, she gets caught in the middle of warring factions. Jacob, the town’s helpful and handsome cabinetmaker, offers stability and friendship, but whenever their relationship heats up, he imposes a mysterious cooling off period. Although Sallie’s not sure she belongs with the Literati—who believe that private ownership, marriage, and irrational religion are society’s three evils—she takes their side against Christianity, producing a rift with Jacob. As the utopia begins to crumble and unsavory characters stalk her, Sallie will be lucky to escape with her life.
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title: Every Battle of the Warrior
author: Bill Bethel
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.12.2023 • author id: BeBiEv13023
word count: 117000
Green Beret Charlie Lawrence wants to put the conflict in southeast Asia behind and get on with life, but it’s not that easy. Despite a faith strong enough to refute false theology and stand against popular values, Charlie struggles. He is troubled by traumatic memories. He is rebuffed by job rejections. He is harassed by obnoxious cowboys. He is challenged by conflicting ideas. He is overwhelmed by affairs of the heart. But Charlie’s God cannot be defeated. Can a job with an unorthodox rancher and an agreement to marry an unknown girl be part of God’s plan for victory?  Faith empowers one to share the truth of God’s Word with others, but it’s sometimes harder to apply that truth to yourself. Will Charlie trust God and learn the meaning of Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.â€
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title: Castles in His Heart
author: Janet Crawshaw
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.9.2023 • author id: CrJaCa22023
word count: 84000
Heir to a Scottish earldom? Indeed, but does Sandy respect his heritage or his mother’s faith? In a word, no. He leaves in favor of Cameron’s lure of fast cars and women, splendid dreams which beckon his heart. Enter the striking 1920s American flapper, Dolores Stonehardt. Together, they survive the Depression and the Wall Street Crash and build the most successful car dealership in Birmingham. Will their business survive the Second World War? Will Sandy ever reconcile with his parents? Is his success enough to satisfy his dreams? As Sandy stands under the ruined walls of Coventry Cathedral, how does he deal with the havoc a world at war has made in his life?
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title: I, Judith
author: Cheryl Dellasega
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 1.5.2024 • author id: DeChI,33723
word count: 252
The Book of Judith is part of the Catholic Bible apocrypha that is unfamiliar to many readers, but art lovers are likely to know her story through several famous paintings such as Judith Slaying Holofernes, by early Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. Thought to be set in the first century B.C., most experts believe the story is loosely based on true events which occurred when the Assyrian armies attacked various parts of Judah. As the soldiers drew near to her home in Bethulia, the town panicked while Judith, a beautiful widow with great faith, did not. Her faith leads her to visit the Assyrian Commander Holofernes in his camp where she proceeds to beguile him. One night when he is drunk, she uses his own sword to behead him, leaving his troops without a leader or purpose. My book creates a potential backstory for the events of Judith's life, both before and after her heroic deed. It also raises the question of when it is right to use violence against and enemy and how the events of this world are but a moment in time. It will appeal to readers who enjoy religious, historical and women's fiction, much like the best selling The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.
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title: The Young Knight
author: Lydia Reese
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 6.27.2024 • author id: ReeLy960224
word count: 189827
Archer was never more than an orphan - all his life he seemed to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Facing the bullies of his childhood had taught him tenacity and courage, but those challenges turn out to be the least of the trouble he will face in the coming months. War was sweeping Europe in 1183, the king's empire was crumbling, and as a page boy, Archer would soon take his place as a soldier in the ranks of the army. In this vibrant, medieval tale filled with laughter, tears, first love, and wild action, Archer uncovers answers to the dark mystery surrounding his father's death and becomes tangled in a dangerous plot against the king. Now more than ever, Archer will need the courage to survive being hunted by traitors, become a squire to Prince Richard, play a spy for the Crown, and above all, find the strength of character to choose what he will stand for as a man. Will he become a victim of circumstance? Or will he claim his destiny and change the course of history?
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title: Road to Mercy
author: Diana Wallis Taylor
category: fiction • subcategory: historical • date submitted: 9.27.2024 • author id: WaDiRo24624
word count: 92000
Oliver Thornwell leaves for Vietnam convinced by his wealthy father that his young wife, Kathryn, took money from them to file for an annulment. His helicopter crashes in Vietnam and he is the lone survivor. He is rescued by the native guerilla troops and is nursed back to health by Thuan, a Vietnamese widow. With no way to return home, he accepts his new life and marries her. Devasted by the actions of Oliver’s parents, Kathryn threw his parent’s money on the floor of Oliver’s room to flee their home. Expecting Oliver’s child, and fearing his parents, she raises her daughter, Allison, in secret. 18 years later, Allison decides to contact her estranged paternal grandparents, feeling they should know about her. Through Allison, God moves to bring about reconciliation and forgiveness, restoring a fractured family. Then Oliver’s parents receive the astounding news that after all these years, Oliver is alive and returning home with the help of brave believers from the underground church in Northern Vietnam. Remembering the past and uneasy about his reception, Oliver, now a widower, returns to a daughter he didn’t know he had, bringing a thirteen-year-old half-Vietnamese daughter he cannot leave behind.
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