A World War II nurse finds herself in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there in this dramatic historical novel by the author of The Train. 1947. Ella Elkington wakes up in hospital with minor physical injuries but no memory. She cannot even remember her own name. The doctor treating her tells her that she had a car accident and has been identified by a letter found in a handbag. Asking to see the letter, hoping to find out about herself, she learns the letter is now missing. When the hospital tracks down her brother, he visits her, and Ella has glimmers of childhood memories. After she is released from hospital, with the help of diaries and letters, and her long-time friend Sheila, Ella begins to piece together her past. She learns she was a nurse during the war, who was sent to work in a mobile hospital in France after the D-Day landings. But, haunted by nightmares, Ella struggles to understand how she ended up in the accident—as well as what happened to that letter and the man in her dreams. In order to understand who she is, Ella must face a terrible truth in order to make peace with the past and find a way to live again . . . Ella’s War is a captivating historical drama that will appeal to fans of authors like Lucinda Riley and Victoria Hislop.
This study uses an abundance of primary sources to restore African American female participants in the Civil War to history by documenting their presence, contributions and experience. Free and enslaved African American women took part in this process in a variety of ways, including black female charity and benevolence. These women were spies, soldiers, scouts, nurses, cooks, seamstresses, laundresses, recruiters, relief workers, organizers, teachers, activists and survivors. They carried the honor of the race on their shoulders, insisting on their right to be treated as "ladies" and knowing that their conduct was a direct reflection on the African American community as a whole. For too long, black women have been rendered invisible in traditional Civil War history and marginal in African American chronicles. This book addresses this lack by reclaiming and resurrecting the role of African American females, individually and collectively, during the Civil War. It brings their contributions, in the words of a Civil War participant, Susie King Taylor, "in history before the people."
To ten-year-old Suse Hansen, the fighting in Europe seems far away from the blue skies and quiet streets of her Bay Area home in Mendoza, California—despite newspaper war photographs and the tense radio broadcasts. But Pearl Harbor changes everything. Caught up in the fear and uncertainty of air raid drills, draft calls, and the mysterious departure of her Japanese and Italian neighbors, Suse becomes obsessed with the war. As Mendoza and the rest of America adjust to their new lives, Suse, too, will face challenges of her own as she begins to navigate the uncharted terrain of adolescence. Over the next four years she will confront the complexities of life—the demands of school, evolving friendships, brothers and sisters leaving home, the disturbing thrill of sexual awakening—while trying to understand who she is and what the future may hold for a world consumed by the horror of war. A rediscovered classic, Rumors of Peace is an extraordinary coming-of-age story chronicling the loss of American innocence through the voice of one remarkable young girl.
She looked at the telegram in horror, the words blurring in front of her eyes. She dropped to her knees, feeling that her entire world was ending. The paper slipped from her hands as she put her head in hands, sobs wracking her chest... 1942, New York. As war rages in Europe, Lily Rose is grateful for her perfect life: the love of her wealthy uptown parents in their beautiful brownstone overlooking the park and her dream job as a chef at one of New York's finest restaurants, the art deco dream that is Valentino's. But in her heart, Lily is drawn towards the bohemian Sicilian community in Greenwich Village, where gorgeous fresh fruit spills onto the pavement and the smell of freshly baked cannoli tempt her inside every Italian deli. Part of the attraction is Tom Morelli, talented chef and handsome grandson of Sicilian immigrants, whose deep brown eyes call to her and set her heart on fire. As wartime rationing bites in the city, Lily and Tom stay up late, dreaming up delicious meals that will see Valentino's through the war and distract New Yorkers from the threat of sons and sweethearts being called up. Lily knows he has found the key to her heart. Then Tom receives a devastating summons that changes everything: he is drafted to Italy. He must return to his beautiful homeland to fight a desperate war. Suddenly alone, with only the memory of Tom's last kiss, Lily turns to her parents for support. But when her mother finds out about her relationship, she is furious. When the war ends, Lily's duty is to marry the man picked for her, raise children and never work again. They give her a heartbreaking ultimatum: end her relationship with Tom and give up her job or lose her family and inheritance forever. Lily knows she must follow her heart to Valentino's and to Tom. But when Tom is declared missing in action, Lily is totally heartbroken. If she pursues her dreams, will there be anything left for her when the war is over? From top-ten bestseller Ella Carey comes an utterly heartbreaking historical novel, inspired by true events, about the courage, love and friendships that sustain us in the darkest of days. Fans of Fiona Davis, Rhys Bowen and The Nightingale will be captivated. What readers are saying about A New York Secret "Will entrance you from the very beginning... Truly amazing and one I could not put down. Make sure to put it on your must-read list... Emotional and utterly unputdownable novel, inspired by true events." Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, spanning the years from 1848 to 1889, is rare for its treatment of both the Civil War and postbellum years and for its candor and detail in treating these eras. Thomas, who was born to wealth and privilege and reared in the tradition of the southern belle, tells of the hard days of war and the poverty brought on by emancipation and Reconstruction. Her entries illuminate experiences shared with thousands of other southern women.
FBI Agent Ella Dark has studied serial killers from the time she could read, devastated by the murder of her own father, and has gained an encyclopedic knowledge of murderers. But when a prolific serial killer begins terrorizing the area, Ella suspects there’s more going on than meets the eye. “A masterpiece of thriller and mystery.” —Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ GIRL, UNKNOWN (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller) is book #14 in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. FBI Agent Ella Dark, 29, is given her big chance to achieve her life’s dream: to join the Behavioral Crimes Unit. Ella’s hidden obsession of gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of serial killers has led to her being singled out for her brilliant mind, and invited to join the big leagues. But nothing is adding up about this strange new killer. His kills are random and erratic, following no pattern Ella can find—and the body count is growing by the day. Can Ella uncover the method to his madness before another victim dies? A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the ELLA DARK series is a riveting mystery, packed with suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Future books in this series are now available. “An edge of your seat thriller in a new series that keeps you turning pages! ...So many twists, turns and red herrings… I can't wait to see what happens next.” —Reader review (Her Last Wish) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A strong, complex story about two FBI agents trying to stop a serial killer. If you want an author to capture your attention and have you guessing, yet trying to put the pieces together, Pierce is your author!” —Reader review (Her Last Wish) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A typical Blake Pierce twisting, turning, roller coaster ride suspense thriller. Will have you turning the pages to the last sentence of the last chapter!!!” —Reader review (City of Prey) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Right from the start we have an unusual protagonist that I haven't seen done in this genre before. The action is nonstop… A very atmospheric novel that will keep you turning pages well into the wee hours.” —Reader review (City of Prey) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Everything that I look for in a book… a great plot, interesting characters, and grabs your interest right away. The book moves along at a breakneck pace and stays that way until the end. Now on go I to book two!” —Reader review (Girl, Alone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Exciting, heart pounding, edge of your seat book… a must read for mystery and suspense readers!” —Reader review (Girl, Alone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
From the bestselling author of Miss Appleby's Academy, comes the first in the Black Family trilogy. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries, Anna Jacobs and Catherine King. Ella's happy childhood in the Swan Island district of Durham is abruptly ended when her father dies, leaving the family bankrupt. Ella and her mother leave their home behind to go and live with her grandmother, who runs the Silver Street cafe. After a first, unhappy marriage she settles into domesticity with a local businessman, David Black. But Ella can never quite forget her first love. Now a contented wife and mother, Ella soon finds she must make an impossible choice. Note: this book was previously published under the title Swan Island.
Winner of the PEN Oakland–Josephine Miles Award “A stunning portrayal of a tragedy endured and survived by women.” —David W. Blight, author of Frederick Douglass “Readers expecting hoop-skirted ladies soothing fevered soldiers’ brows will not find them here...Explodes the fiction that men fight wars while women idle on the sidelines.” —Washington Post The idea that women are outside of war is a powerful myth, one that shaped the Civil War and still determines how we write about it today. Through three dramatic stories that span the war, Stephanie McCurry invites us to see America’s bloodiest conflict for what it was: not just a brothers’ war but a women’s war. When Union soldiers faced the unexpected threat of female partisans, saboteurs, and spies, long held assumptions about the innocence of enemy women were suddenly thrown into question. McCurry shows how the case of Clara Judd, imprisoned for treason, transformed the writing of Lieber’s Code, leading to lasting changes in the laws of war. Black women’s fight for freedom had no place in the Union military’s emancipation plans. Facing a massive problem of governance as former slaves fled to their ranks, officers reclassified black women as “soldiers’ wives”—placing new obstacles on their path to freedom. Finally, McCurry offers a new perspective on the epic human drama of Reconstruction through the story of one slaveholding woman, whose losses went well beyond the material to intimate matters of family, love, and belonging, mixing grief with rage and recasting white supremacy in new, still relevant terms. “As McCurry points out in this gem of a book, many historians who view the American Civil War as a ‘people’s war’ nevertheless neglect the actions of half the people.” —James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom “In this brilliant exposition of the politics of the seemingly personal, McCurry illuminates previously unrecognized dimensions of the war’s elemental impact.” —Drew Gilpin Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering
Spanning the decades from WWII to the Yugoslav conflict, Ella Morris is the story of a continent, and of a woman torn between two men. Born in Berlin on the eve of Hitler's rise to power, Ella Andrzejewski escapes Soviet-occupied europe and finds a safe haven in England. Here, she marries George Morris but falls passionately in love with a French student ten years her junior. The ramifications of this love triangle and of Ella's traumatic past will reverberate through the generations, as her children try to find their own troubled peace in a continent still scarred by war.
