Edwinna Crawford would inherit the Barbados plantation if she found a man to marry in the next twenty-four hours. Within her sight Drake Steel, handsome and defiant, was shackled waist-deep in the sea, about to be executed as a pirate. Marrying him would save his life—and could provide her with an intoxicating passion. But it was a bargain with the devil…Historical Romance by JoAnn Wendt; originally published by Popular Library
Over the last century only six men had defied the power of nature and successfully rowed across the Atlantic from west to east. Maud Fontenoy, a 2005 Time (Europe) Hero, changed that forever when she became the first woman to do so. In 2003 Fontenoy, a young woman and seasoned mariner, set out from Newfoundland in her twenty-four-foot-long boat, Pilot, to row across the North Atlantic. Her goal: to prove that a woman could do what men once believed to be impossible. It became a journey both far more harrowing than even she had imagined and one full of unexpected wonders. Her extraordinary story continues to inspire.
Stunningly visual, extraordinarily detailed, powerfully dramatic, here is the first volume of a remarkable new series . . . The First Americans. When humans first walked the world, when nature ruled the earth and sky, a proud tribe is threatened by a series of natural disasters. A bold young hunter named Torka, who lost his wife and child to a killer mammoth, leads the survivors over the glacial tundra on a desperate eastward odyssey to the save their clan. Through attacks of savage animals and encounters with strangers not unlike themselves, they must brave the hardships of a foreign landscape and learn to live in an exotic new world of mystery and danger. They must travel toward the land where the sun rises for a new day for their clan—and an awesome future for the American.
An archaeologist with a secret. Three years had trickled by since Anna accomplished the impossible. Three years of avoiding Briland high society, toiling away in ancient ruins among the dead. But when her brother is detained by marshals, Anna jumps at the chance for another fast-paced adventure. A pirate longing for home. Trevor had tasted nothing but frustration and disappointment in his search for a stolen map. Unable to return without it, an opportunity finally presents itself in the form of a naval captain's arrest. A naval captain caught in the middle. If Markus had known possession of the Pirate King's map would be this much trouble, he would have told Anna to burn it all those years ago. Despite being the key to clearing his name, the map is the least of his concerns. Not with Anna and her mysterious companion dancing around their mutual attraction. With their rescue attempt behind them, Anna learns the only way to truly save Markus involves the map she stole from the Pirate King. Forging their way through the desert and straight to the Briland capital, Anna finds herself fighting more than feelings of distrust for their new companion. Success hinges on their ability to work together, and with Markus's life hanging in the balance, failure isn't an option.
Flavia, Duchess of Tewksbury, knew that her husband would destroy her, as he had his previous wives, if she failed to produce a child for him. Her one chance was to spend a night with a stranger from the New World, Captain Garth McNeil, in hopes that she would conceive. That one night produced not only a son, but a fierce love that saw her through devastating consequences. Historical Romance by JoAnn Wendt; originally published by Warner
“This bracing history charts the myths, the exploration, and the inhabitants of the all-too-real and wild circumpolar ocean to our south.” —The Sydney Morning Herald, Pick of the Week Unlike the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic Oceans with their long maritime histories, little is known about the Southern Ocean. This book takes readers beyond the familiar heroic narratives of polar exploration to explore the nature of this stormy circumpolar ocean and its place in Western and Indigenous histories. Drawing from a vast archive of charts and maps, sea captains’ journals, whalers’ log books, missionaries’ correspondence, voyagers’ letters, scientific reports, stories, myths, and her own experiences, Joy McCann embarks on a voyage of discovery across its surfaces and into its depths, revealing its distinctive physical and biological processes as well as the people, species, events, and ideas that have shaped our perceptions of it. The result is both a global story of changing scientific knowledge about oceans and their vulnerability to human actions and a local one, showing how the Southern Ocean has defined and sustained southern environments and people over time. Beautifully and powerfully written, Wild Sea will raise a broader awareness and appreciation of the natural and cultural history of this little-known ocean and its emerging importance as a barometer of planetary climate change. “A sensitive portrait of a complex ecosystem, from krill to blue whales, and of the ice, winds, and currents that are critical to the circulation of the world’s oceans.” —Harper’s “Wilderness seekers will rejoice in this stirring portrait . . . McCann deftly navigates both natural glories and archival complexities.” —Nature
Lords of the sea. A daring brotherhood, where honor among thieves reigns supreme, and crushing their enemies is a thrilling pastime. These are the pirates of Britannia. When Highland pirate prince Shaw "Savage" MacDougall is invited to a deadly feast, he doesn't know that saving a wee lass could forever change his future. Widowed at a young age, Lady Jane Lindsey seeks refuge from her departed husband's vengeful enemies. For five years, she's held a secret that could cost her everything, including her life. When her safety is compromised, she reaches out to the only man who's protected her in the past and offers him a bounty he cannot refuse. Shaw's life is perfect. Whisky, women and mayhem. He wants for nothing-until Lady Jane presents a treasure he'd never considered possessing. He'll have to risk his lethal reputation in order to save a lass he barely knows, again. And she'll have to trust a pirate to see their arrangement through to the end. But what happens when perilous battles turn to sinful kisses? Who will save them from each other?
The harrowing story of five men who were sent into a dark, airless, miles-long tunnel, hundreds of feet below the ocean, to do a nearly impossible job—with deadly results A quarter-century ago, Boston had the dirtiest harbor in America. The city had been dumping sewage into it for generations, coating the seafloor with a layer of “black mayonnaise.” Fisheries collapsed, wildlife fled, and locals referred to floating tampon applicators as “beach whistles.” In the 1990s, work began on a state-of-the-art treatment plant and a 10-mile-long tunnel—its endpoint stretching farther from civilization than the earth’s deepest ocean trench—to carry waste out of the harbor. With this impressive feat of engineering, Boston was poised to show the country how to rebound from environmental ruin. But when bad decisions and clashing corporations endangered the project, a team of commercial divers was sent on a perilous mission to rescue the stymied cleanup effort. Five divers went in; not all of them came out alive. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents collected over five years of reporting, award-winning writer Neil Swidey takes us deep into the lives of the divers, engineers, politicians, lawyers, and investigators involved in the tragedy and its aftermath, creating a taut, action-packed narrative. The climax comes just after the hard-partying DJ Gillis and his friend Billy Juse trade assignments as they head into the tunnel, sentencing one of them to death. An intimate portrait of the wreckage left in the wake of lives lost, the book—which Dennis Lehane calls "extraordinary" and compares with The Perfect Storm—is also a morality tale. What is the true cost of these large-scale construction projects, as designers and builders, emboldened by new technology and pressured to address a growing population’s rapacious needs, push the limits of the possible? This is a story about human risk—how it is calculated, discounted, and transferred—and the institutional failures that can lead to catastrophe. Suspenseful yet humane, Trapped Under the Sea reminds us that behind every bridge, tower, and tunnel—behind the infrastructure that makes modern life possible—lies unsung bravery and extraordinary sacrifice.
