Category: Historical

Title: Souls of Valor

Author: Trudi Jackson

Publisher: Granite

Release Date: March 26, 2010

ISBN: 978-1599360515

Size: 358 pages, 5.5×8.5, softcover

Genre: Historical

Elizabeth Randolph is a newly baptized member of The Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has left all she knows behind in Boston, Massachusetts to become a teacher in a one room schoolhouse in Grays Lake, Idaho. Elizabeth struggles to adjust to her new home and is starting to succeed when Alex Cannigan, an embittered, former soldier wounded in a battle in the First World War, crosses her doorstep.

Elizabeth attempts to help Alex overcome his pain by teaching him about God. As trust slowly develops between the two, a devastating pandemic sweeps the world killing millions. Alex and Elizabeth both learn that the only way to pull themselves from the darkness is to follow God into the light.

Title: The Sheen on the Silk

Author: Anne Perry

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Release Date: March 23, 2010

ISBN: 978-0345500656

Size: 528 pages, hardcover

Genre: Historical

The Sheen on the Silk is an epic historical novel with a heart-stopping love story at its core, and a deep spiritual quest.

It’s set in the gorgeous, cosmopolitan and enlightened city of Byzantium, in the twilight years of its Empire. Surrounded by the fierce Ottomans to the East, Saladin and the infidels to the South, the barbarian European tribes to the North and the powerful Venetian Empire to the West, Byzantium’s Emperor badly needs an ally. The city has never recovered from its sack by the Venetians in 1204, and now, in 1272, it’s in acute danger. Another Crusade is being mounted, and Byzantium is in its path.

This is the city into which Anna arrives. A handsome woman with an unhappy past, she has just learned that her brother has been imprisoned for murder. Unable to believe that he’s guilty, she will stay in Byzantium until she can find out the truth and secure his release. However, she needs a way to move freely in all levels of society. This isn’t something she can do as a woman and as a stranger. She will pose as a eunuch; this cadre, while past its heyday, still has power and influence. And she will work as a doctor.

As the future of Byzantium grows ever darker, Anna struggles to navigate the complex truths of her brother’s guilt or innocence, the intrigues of the powerful, long-simmering revenge plots… and the even more perilous currents of her heart and her spirit. Only in Byzantium’s darkest hour does she discover the truths that will lead to salvation for Byzantium and the soaring path to the forgiveness and love of God.

Title: Redemption

Author: Susan Dayley

Publisher: Walnut Springs Press

Release Date: January 19, 2010

ISBN: 978-1935217503

Size: 209 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

It is the eighth century BC. No Hebrew will purposely venture into the Assyrian Empire, whose practice of barbarous slaughter casts a shadow of fear over all of Israel. But God calls Jonah, an Israelite prophet, to cry repentance to the evil empire’s capital—the great and terrible city of Nineveh. Fearing the Assyrians and doubting the wisdom of the divine call, Jonah flees in the opposite direction. But in a series of miracles, God gives Jonah a second chance to obey.

Journey with Jonah in a wealth-laden ship of Tarshish, hear his prayers inside the belly of a great fish, witness his struggles working in a desert caravan, and feel his terror as he finally arrives in Nineveh. And while Jonah does eventually preach in the great city, the prophet still has some lessons to learn . . .

With historically accurate details, Redemption is a story of repentance, trust, and God’s love for all his children.

Title: Abish: Daughter of God

Author: K.C. Grant

Publisher: Covenant

Release Date: January 1, 2010

ISBN:

Size: 336 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

Every story must have a beginning. If mine were to be told, it would begin two lifetimes ago: before a queen gave me my freedom and I moved from land to land looking for a place where I belonged. It would begin before death ripped out my heart. But it would not be my story alone. It would tell of a proud people brought low and of a low people exalted, because my tale is only a thread that has somehow become entwined in the tapestry that has unfolded around me.

Will anyone think to tell my part in it?

And so begins the intensely emotional, richly spiritual odyssey of Abish, whose significant contribution to Book of Mormon history is creatively depicted in this finely crafted story of love, loss, and redemption.

This intricate tale of suspense, romance, intrigue, and spiritual triumphs is a story of one woman’s courage in the face of life-threatening dangers, of faith that triumphs over fear, and of an all-encompassing love that changes the lives and spiritual destiny of thousands—Nephites and Lamanites alike.

Title: Upon the Isles of the Sea: Setting Sail

Author: Grace Elliot

Publisher: Covenant

Release Date: December 8, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-59811-815-5

Size: 320 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

1849: Industrialization has gripped the British Isles, and the working class faces hardships of backbreaking labor, meager wages, and tight-fisted landlords. In England, Edward Morgan loses his young family to ravaging sickness. In Ireland, Lauryn Kelly endures injury amidst a devastating famine. In the coal mines of Scotland, Ewen McAllister and his wife, Bess, mourn the deaths of two infant daughters and the wretched future that faces their two living children.

Life in the motherland runs dark with discouragement and despair and many question the hand of God in allowing such misery. But hope soon shines its welcome beacon. Lauryn gains fresh opportunity as lady-in-waiting to an English noblewoman. The McAllisters find their thirst for eternal truth fulfilled in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. And Edward, lonely and heartbroken, finds the courage to leave his past behind.

Driven by the dream of creating a new life in the South Sea colonies, this small group becomes part of the surging tide of immigrants leaving Britain. Facing the perils of life at sea, their lives become inextricably intertwined as they make their journey to a new home. In this sweeping epic, author Grace Elliot skillfully enters the lives of her characters to tell a breathtaking story of renewed life.

Title: Am I Not a Man: The Dred Scott Story

Author: Mark L. Shurtle

Publisher: Valor Publishing

Release Date: November 3, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-935546-00-9

Size: 534 pages, hardcover

Genre: Historical

An illiterate slave, Dred Scott trusted in an all-white, slave-owning jury to declare him free. But after briefly experiencing the glory of freedom and manhood, a new state Supreme Court ordered the cold steel of the shackles to be closed again around his wrists and ankles. Falling to his knees, Dred cried, “Ain’t I a man?” Dred answered his own question by rising and taking his fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dred ultimately lost his epic battle when the Chief Justice declared that a black man was so inferior that he had “no rights a white man was bound to respect.”

Dred died not knowing that his undying courage led directly to the election of President Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation proclamation.

Dred Scott’s inspiring and compelling true story of adventure, courage, love, hatred, and friendship parallels the history of this nation from the long night of slavery to the narrow crack in the door that would ultimately lead to freedom and equality for all men.

Title: In the Company of Angels

Author: David Farland

Publisher: DFE

Release Date: September 1, 2009

ISBN:

Size: 426 pages, hardcover

Genre: Historical

A test of the spirit. A triumph of faith.

A luminous tale that breaks our hearts and sets our souls soaring.

David Farland’s moving masterpiece echoes the drama of Gone with the Wind and the glory of Ghandi, sweeping from the green fields of Denmark to the icy peaks of the Rockies in a saga that elevates and enriches all those who read it.

In the Company of Angels centers on Eliza Gadd, the feisty, sophisticated wife of a Mormon bishop. When her husband answers his leader’s call to abandon his cottage in England and settle in the Rocky Mountains, Eliza’s world comes apart. She may help her husband pull a handcart with everything that they own across the plains of Utah, but she can’t bring herself to bow to a god she doesn’t believe in.

Stalled by setbacks, the pioneers find themselves forced to take their journey perilously late in the season. The lives of Eliza’s children hang in the balance. But how can she reason with people who believe they are in the hands of angels, that their faith can turn back storms, and that their leaders, like the Apostles of old, have the power to raise the dead?

Based on the true story of the Willie Handcart Company of 1856, In the Company of Angels unfolds the triumphant tale of pioneers who struggle against unendurable hardships—persecution, buffalo stampedes, rampaging Indians, lingering starvation, and the early onset of the coldest winter in US history—to find the gentle homeland of the soul.

Title: Alma

Author: H.B. Moore

Publisher: Covenant

Release Date: September 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-1598118645

Size: 6×9, Softcover

Genre: Historical

King Noah is thundering with rage. The former high priest Alma has vanished from the city of Nephi, and every night more of his believers manage to escape. The king blames Amulon and threatens certain punishment unless Amulon recaptures Alma-a seemingly impossible task. But Amulon has a plan. An equally valuable prisoner is at his fingertips: Noah’s wife, Maia, whose newfound faith means bitter humiliation for the king and an opportunity for Amulon to seize power.

Amulon’s disavowed daughter Raquel has plans of her own. Despite her grief, she is determined to begin a new life in the colony Alma and his followers are building. When Lamanites plunder and burn her settlement, Raquel and her young son are forced to flee to the waters of Mormon.

Drama and danger escalate as Alma the Elder organizes the Lord’s Church and baptizes its members, bringing an outpouring of divine grace and power. But even as they rejoice, the believers have profound and perilous trials to face, from the outward threat of Amulon’s treachery to the inward threat of pride and disobedience.

Title: Return of the Outlaw

Author: Craig Curtis

Publisher: Granite

Release Date: August 25, 2009

ISBN: 978-1599360478

Size: 364 pgs, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

Jeff Havens, a young civil war soldier, returns to his home in the west, expecting to be reunited with Anne, the girl he has loved since childhood. After experiencing the horrors of war he just wants to resume his life as if he had never left.

But, things have changed on the home front. Anne is engaged to marry another man. Having no family except his grandfather and an old trusted friend, Amado Lopez, the man who raised him, Jeff leaves again.

Seven years later a letter belatedly reaches him informing him of the death of this Grandfather. He decides it s time to go home.

Jeff learns, however, that many things have changed during his long absence: He has enemies he doesn’t even know, and he finds himself branded an outlaw and hunted like an animal for the very crimes they have committed. They have killed his friends and stolen his ranch, and there seem to be no way to stop them in their ceaseless quest for more land, money and power.

But Jeff vows he will do so or die trying.

Title: The Undaunted

Author: Gerald N. Lund

Publisher: Deseret Book

Release Date: August 5, 2009

ISBN:

Size: 6×9, hardcover

Genre: Historical

The journey was impossible.
But they had no other choice.

At the call of their prophet, they left well-established farms and businesses to strike out yet again into the untamed wilderness. A small band of men, women, and children formed the 1879 pioneer company.

Their mission: stand as a buffer between lawlessness and civilization.

Their road: only what they created themselves, blasting out a perilous trail over slick rock and through desolate cliffs.

Their hearts: UNDAUNTED

When it comes to creating spellbinding historical fiction, nobody does it quite like Gerald N. Lund. In The Undaunted, he transports readers first to the coal mines of Yorkshire, then across the ocean and the plains to the territory of Utah, where, even in 1879, there is pioneering to be done.

A little-known and perhaps even less- appreciated chapter in the Church’s history comes to life in this gripping story of a stalwart group of Saints called to create a settlement to serve as a buffer between the established communities of Utah and the lawless frontier of the Four Corners area. Their challenge will be enormous—but the biggest part of it just may be getting there in the first place.

Title: Heart’s Desire (Two Runs of Stone, v3)

Author: Steven D. Nielsen

Publisher: Granite

Release Date: May 28, 2009

ISBN: 978-1599360416

Size: 360 pgs, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

Series: A Beckoning Call, Windships America

Elizabeth Anne Brown’s only daughter had been buried at sea. Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ had sustained our Lady of Herbs through the intense trauma and difficult voyage, but now huddled alone in her blankets on a snow bound prairie in America, Elizabeth Anne found her faith in God and His true and living Church, wavering.

Meanwhile laying awake on the same lonely prairie a few tents away, Peter and Maren Jensen were warm enough as they snuggled together under their heavy bed roll, nevertheless the cold chill of possibly losing her baby had Maren fretful.

Now listening to oxen bawling for fresh grass and her husband s fitful snores, Maren had her doubts. Expecting their first child had the young bride feeling awkward, ugly and extremely vulnerable. Why does God try women so severely?!!

Meanwhile in far away Manhattan, another group of immigrant Saints crowded the rooms and hallways of an aging four story hotel. Having recently processed through immigration at Castle Gardens, over three hundred church members had clamored down the icy, wet narrow streets of the dark city and up dim lit stairways into heaven.

Whether out on the prairies or on trains leaving New York City, searching among the throng of immigrants, the readers will recognize many old friends from Denmark and England and despite the harsh conditions, adventure and romance blossom as these Saints of God make their way West.

Title: The Light Above

Author: Jean Holbrook Mathews

Publisher: Covenant

Release Date: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-59811-726-4

Size: 304 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

When the Hogge family, exhausted and covered with coal dust, made the trek up the hill to the cottage, they found the Kenny family and a few other friends from the pit gathered around the small, whitefaced form of Sandy, which lay on the kitchen table. . . . As Isabel put her arm around Carrie Kenny’s waist, Carrie laid her head on Isabel’s shoulder and whispered, “He looks like he’s sleeping.”

“The lad is sleeping. He’s sleeping in the Lord,” Isabel responded, offering the only comfort she knew how to give. “And he’s free from the pits.” . . . George offered a short and simple prayer. “God take home to yourself this wee laddie and give his parents comfort, we pray, in the knowledge that he is with Thee and not in the pits.”

From the dark, dangerous, and deadly pits of the Scottish coal mines, to the crowded and bustling streets of Edinburgh, to the perilous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, to the long and arduous trek across the plains to a “promised land,” The Light Above takes readers on an unforgettable journey.

In this exceptionally heartfelt and moving historical novel, gifted LDS author Jean Mathews has created a riveting and well-researched story of the Scottish Saints, whose courage in the face of relentless odds lifts them from the depths of despair and guides them to triumphant faith in an eternal destiny.

Title: One Last Chance

Author: Jerry Borrowman

Publisher: Covenant

Release Date: April, 2009

ISBN: 978-1598116816

Size: 352 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

Artie Call can’t get a break. Orphaned during the Depression, he steals food to survive. When mischief lands him in juvenile court, he’s offered a home by fellow ward member, David Boone, but then suffers under Boone’s unkind and unyielding treatment.

After Artie helps the victim of a robbery gone bad, he’s abandoned by Boone and sentenced to juvenile hall. Then his luck and his life suddenly change. Mary Wilkerson, the feisty widow who was robbed, sees potential in Artie and takes him into her custody. Ray McCandless, the wise yet firm chauffeur, teaches Artie about cars, life, and the connections between the two. Under their care, Artie develops the desire and the ability to leave his past behind and grasp the hope in his future, which shines like Mary’s luxurious Dusenberg. But when cornered by old enemies, will he defend his honor with his life?

Jerry Borrowman masterfully combines emotion, morality, suspense, and humor in this tender coming-of-age story. Readers will struggle and rejoice with Artie as he discovers the value of integrity, the sweetness of family ties, and the reality of the American dream. And they will never forget the triumph that unfolds when a good boy with bad problems is given one last chance.

Title: Tower of Strength

Author: Annette Lyon

Publisher: Covenant

Release Date: April, 2009

ISBN: 978-1598116948

Size: 336 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

It was 1877 when Tabitha Hall Chadwick left Manti as a young bride. Now, nearly seven years later, she returns as a widow with her young son to make a new beginning. Tabitha’s strained relationship with her mother-in-law adds more difficulty to her life as a single working mother. Yet with a stroke of courage, Tabitha makes two purchases that become her passions: the local newspaper business and a traumatized horse.

As she struggles to meet the challenges of her new roles, Tabitha welcomes the friendship of Samuel, a recently widowed British immigrant. Working together to train the abused horse, the two discover a second chance at love. But when Samuel is critically injured during the construction of the Manti Temple, Tabitha faces the pain of old wounds and the risk of new ones.

Weaving themes of loss and renewal, this poignant tale explores a vital choice each of us must make: to seek safety in isolation or to embrace the painful yet beautiful complexities of life and love.

Book Trailer:

Title: Abish: Faith Among the Lamanites

Author: Brenda Andersen

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Release Date: April 15, 2009

ISBN: 978-0882909578

Size: 226 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

Abish, a young Lamanite, wants to believe her father when he proclaims he had a vision from God. Raised in traditions of hatred toward their enemies, the Nephites, she has a hard time swallowing his claims that the Nephite religion is the true gospel. Unable to deny the witness that bears the truthfulness of his words, Abish joins her father in his conversion.

But when their secret is discovered and they are threatened with treason, Abish must flee the city in order to protect herself and the precious knowledge she possesses. She journeys to the king s palace in the hopes of becoming a servant to the queen.

When Ammon, a Nephite missionary, is captured and brought to the palace, the Lamanites are shaken by the miraculous powers he possesses. When Ammon s preaching of the gospel causes extraordinary effects on the palace, Abish suddenly realizes why the Lord has brought her there, and what she has to do.

Abish, Faith Among the Lamanites is a compelling fictional story based on the true story of Abish as found in the Book of Mormon.

Title: Trail of Storms

Author: Marsha Ward

Publisher: iUniverse.com

Release Date: March 11, 2009

ISBN: 978-144012604

Size: 264 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Historical

Series: The Man from Shenandoah, Ride to Raton

READ THE REVIEW.

Jessie Bingham put heartbreak away to tend to her sister’s needs, but when she settled for second best in love, she didn’t foresee that James Owen would come back into her life.

The aftermath of the Civil War creates cruel circumstances for the Bingham family. A brutal attack on Jessie’s sister, Hannah Fletcher, drives the extended family to flee to the West. They are soon joined by Heppie Bingham’s beau George and his brother, Ned, who bring news that the Binghams are being pursued by cronies of Hannah’s attacker. Even after they fight off that onslaught, poverty, bad weather, and Hannah’s frightful secret plague their journey.

Nursing her battered heart when she hears James Owen took a wife, Jessie accepts Ned’s offer of marriage. But a stop on the trail holds surprises that launch Jessie into a tangle of bewildering values and emotions, and high adventure.

Title: On the Road to Jericho

Author: K.L. Morgan

Publisher: TriQuest Publishing

Release Date: January, 2009

ISBN: 978-583081341

Size: 378 pages, 6×9, trade paperback

Genre: Historical

Jethen has lost his faith. Raised a devout Samaritan, he was taken from Samaria in his teens when his father moved their family to King Herod’s Jericho. In the hustle and bustle of his family’s trade, their yearly pilgrimages and Sabbath worship waned. Even though Jethen became acquainted with the ways of the world, he was still a Samaritan despised by the Jews.

Sherai, his childhood friend, took a different path. Married off to a prosperous family in Sychar, she found solace in her beliefs. When her husband proved to be cold and distant, her reliance on God warmed her. Jethen, stopping each year on his travels to sell in Sychar, found himself admiring her devout convictions and gentle goodness.

Years later, at the death of his father, Jethen returns to Sychar, heart-sore and confused. There he discovers Sherai has been unjustly disgraced and has fled from home. Jethen begins a search for Sherai, realizing that without her, his return to Sychar would have no meaning. Will he find her? If he does, will she be able to restore life’s purpose and help him recapture his once simple faith in God?

On the Jericho Road is a powerful biblical novel that ignites deep emotion and offers a new understanding of love, loyalty, and human relationships. A story unfolding over 2000 years ago reveals the impact Christ had on the people he lived among and taught.