Ana Kelly: A Saga of Love and Courage

The captivating story of Ana Ludovina Teixeira de Aguilar unfolds against the backdrop of the French invasions of Portugal and the military aid provided by the English, commanded by the Duke of Wellington, who also played a pivotal role in her marriage to Waldron Kelly, an Irish lieutenant.Discover how Ana Kelly’s love for Waldron remained steadfast until her death. Delve into her family’s connection to the Portuguese royal family and the support Queen Victoria provided in the final phase of her life. This is a tale of love and remarkable resilience, intertwined with an intimate yet rigorous historical account.Gripping until the last page, this narrative comes highly recommended by Timeout Magazine as one of 28 must-read European literature books about romance and treason.

The Unknown Warriors

The Unknown Warriors is based on a true story set in the beauty and tragedy of Europe in the years just before the Second World War. Abrienda de Soza, inheritor of a fortune stolen from the coffers of Imperial Russia during the last days of the Russian Civil War, fights to keep her country out of the hands of both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia and preserve a culture threatened by both through any means possible. Nika Molnar, an agent working for Hungarian Intelligence’s Special Unit, seeks to exact vengeance on the man who murdered her father when she was a child. Impeccably researched, The Unknown Warriors captures the feel and nuance of a world soon to be destroyed forever—a uniquely told and deeply compelling story of war, intrigue and betrayal, but also of love and sacrifice played out against the backdrop of a world heading inexorably towards war.

The title is taken from a speech by Winston Churchill. “This is a War of Unknown Warriors, but let all strive without failing in faith or duty…”

Tyke

Against the grim backdrop of WWII London, a destitute young street urchin named Tyke stumbles upon an unconscious railway worker one fateful night. Though tempted by money left unattended, Tyke chooses to save the man’s life instead of stealing the cash. This single act of selflessness sparks a chain of miraculous events that could forever change the course of Tyke’s difficult life.When the railway man, Mr. Thomas, resolves to find and reward his young hero, a city-wide search ensues. Just as hope dims, Tyke resurfaces. As he recounts his tale of hardship, flashes of innate wisdom and integrity shine through, capturing the hearts of all who meet him. With Mr. Thomas’s support, the chance for mentorship, and even a possible new family connection, has Tyke’s luck finally turned?From life-threatening danger to unexpected kindness from unlikely sources, Tyke must navigate threats and opportunities alike on his journey to a brighter future. Will fate continue to smile upon this humble yet exceptional boy? Find out in this poignant tale reminding us heroism can come from the unlikeliest of places.

When the Cows Come Home

In this sweeping family saga, the lives of five Bavarian German families unfold against the backdrop of the twentieth century, spanning from 1937 to 2020. At the heart of the story are Herman Finkelstein, a Jewish professor, and his wife Merla Finkelstein, whose tragic fate during the Holocaust sets the stage for the generations that follow. Their descendants, adopted by Lutheran families after escaping to Switzerland in 1943, have only a vague understanding of their Jewish heritage.The narrative is centered around the Bavarian towns of Berchtesgaden and Oberstdorf, but also ventures to Switzerland and Israel as Germany grapples with its complex past and the specter of antisemitism. Both branches of the Finkelstein descendants find themselves connected through their herds of Hinterwalder cattle, a bond that ultimately brings them together after two generations of separation.Through the purchase of a Hinterwalder bull, the families are reunited and uncover the full extent of their Jewish ancestry. While the novel explores the profound impact of the Holocaust, it also serves as a rich social history, illustrating how the ordinary lives of individuals are shaped by war, political upheaval, and cultural shifts.

Danube Legion

The Roman war machine is on the moveBut behind the Centurions and Legionaries, a vast support network grinds into motion mobilising a new legion towards a hostile river border, its human cogs turning across Roman society: from downtrodden bath slaves, to legionary blacksmiths trying to get through the day, from unscrupulous traders who supply food and materials to corrupt politicians with their own cynical motives.Danube Legion is the darkly amusing story of what happens behind the scenes – the chaotic, the venal, the incompetent and the corrupt. In amongst it all, and driving most of it, is Lady Lassalia, a ruthless merchant out to ensure her place in Roman society.

Trouble and Strife

Sometimes the smallest voices make the deepest impact.Josephine Hadley, a 1930s Canadian housewife, fills her days looking after her children, her indifferent husband and a stream of Depression-era visitors. Her contribution to her guests is a bowl of stew and an open heart. Her small world, however, is soon shattered by a tragic event which forces her to become the breadwinner. Can she run a business without sacrificing herself? And is it possible to act on a long-buried desire without remorse?Johanne Levesque’s first novel, Trouble and Strife, is a poignant and heartbreaking look at a woman’s life in a fast-changing time. With intimate details and a deft poetic touch, Levesque has captured the spirit of an age where war and economic hardship altered the workplace, home and women’s lives forever.

The Green Gates Story

There are certainly many historical accounts of wars, military experiences, and cultural reactions to politics, but many of these works lack a personal and sentimental touch to what it really feels like to endure a battle. In The Green Gates Story, Bernard Fredericks presents a historically accurate, delightfully moving, and honest tale of a British boy who is evacuated from his Liverpool home in WWII. Told from the perspective of a child, Fredericks narrates his memories of an eight-year-old boy who is snatched from the city and transplanted to the country. He shares the triumphs and struggles of a child required to acquaint himself in a new setting and lifestyle. While he manages the heartache of missing his family and friends, the boy is also thrilled and challenged with new adventures as he acclimates to the pace of country-life. From the beginning of his evacuation to his return to home, the boy relates his feelings and doubts about so many events that crop up not only in wartime, but every child's time of coming of age.

Spitfire Spies

Summer 1940 - Great Britain is in grave peril. With the ‘phoney' war turning into a very real war on the ground and in the air, Hitler's troops storm across an unprepared Europe towards the English Channel. Invasion looms. But the British have a weapon in their arsenal that may be a game changer and bring victory against all odds: the mighty Spitfire.So severe is the threat posed by this remarkable fighter plane that Germany sends two operatives - one a reluctant Englishman, the other a loyal Nazi - on an audacious mission to infiltrate and destroy. Will they achieve their goal or can MI5, with the aid of double agents and a brilliant female pilot, turn the tide of espionage to their advantage? With a literary adroitness reminiscent of an aviator in battle, author John Hughes weaves a tale of intrigue, love and betrayal in a fast-paced thriller of a debut novel which wends its way from the Fatherland via the beaches of Dunkirk to the skies over Southern England.

Napoleon: Uprising

Amidst the turmoil of chaos and revolution, a young Napoleon Bonaparte leaves the safety of his Corsican homeland to be thrust into the corruption of the French aristocracy as he pursues a career in the artillery. Facing riot and rebellion throughout France, Napoleon must fight to protect a society that sees him as an outsider. As the world threatens to crumble around him, Napoleon must prove himself in order to protect his family from those who would destroy all he loves. This outsider, shunned and despised, may well prove to be France’s only hope.

Breaking the Flood

In Breaking the Flood, the first of four novels about the fall of Constantinople, Niccolo Gritti, a nineteen year-old scion of an aristocratic merchant dynasty in mid-15th century Venice, recounts his upbringing, his family’s impoverishment and his decision to take ship in a trading fleet to the eastern Mediterranean. Ambushed by corsairs, Niccolo is pressed as a galley slave. Soon, a fellow oarsman identifies himself as Demetrius Angelos, member of a distinguished military family in Constantinople. Demetrius is desperate to return there, threatened as his city is by the bellicose ruler of the Ottomans, Mehmet II. Eventually, the two young men escape the corsairs’ clutches and Niccolo decides to throw in his lot with Demetrius, journeying with him to the decayed Byzantine capital. At once, Bildungsroman and quest narrative, Breaking the Flood is both vivid and haunting, recreating a forgotten world with cinematic and at times hallucinatory clarity.

A Village Betrayed

A poignant story of the impact of war on a defenceless French village during the Second World War. Four courageous villagers join the Maquis, the Resistance in Vichy occupied France, to protect their families. They are swept into a treacherous conflict where one false word or brave action can result in the torture and death of people they know and love.  One old man and a young girl survive the savage destruction that wipes out the whole community.This novel uses the recorded history of the devastation of many rural villages in the Aveyron, Lot and Tarn departments of the Midi-Pyrénées. Oradour-sur-Glane in the Haute-Vienne Department is a famous memorial to the brutality of the Second World War.

The Journey

On Christmas night 1879 my 19-year-old Great Uncle, John Diver left his thatched home, Whinpark Inishowen. He walked the eighteen miles to Derry Quay. He boarded the SS Devonian. The Statute of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation confirms its arrival on 1st January 1880. Why did someone so young embark, alone, on such a hazardous journey?By chance John, a skilled facilitator, met other young people who were forced into that miserable, morose migration of the largely unreported ‘an Gorta Beag’ (small Famine).These included the enthralling James Feely, who found unlikely inspiration from the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. This led to the discovery of his psychic powers. He meets the recently deceased Paul Cullen, Ireland’s first Cardinal, hears divinations from Thomas FitzGerald the 10th Earl of Kildare about a meeting with the most beautiful Empress in Europe and the Three Magi who predicted the miraculous Apparitions at Knock. Who, if anyone, does he dare tell? We meet the troubled Matthew and his resolute sister Mary. After Maggie, their teenage unmarried sister, gave birth they resolved to travel to America to find her displaced infant. What caused one of the siblings to have a change of heart?Church Martin, a gifted musician and mystic, follows that ancient Celtic tradition of using music to enchant and distract an enemy rather than entertain. He demonstrates this by stopping the movement of the ship mid Atlantic to becalm the vessel. Will Church and Mary discover the angst of an unrequited love? Jack Turner is a young man with a hidden past. Will he too find unexpected friendship? The story, a unique blend of fiction and non-fiction, culminates in the friction of a frantic, frenzied pursuit for survival to avoid an enforced asylum admission and deportation.The unfolding personal revelations become a fascinating intrigue - a compelling timeless Irish Tale that is more than a match for The Canterbury Tales.Atlantic Anecdotes and Dark Disclosures en route from the Inishowen Peninsula to the Port of New York.