In 1913, the United Mine Workers of America led a daring strike against John D. Rockefeller's Colorado Fuel & Iron Company that would end in war. In this novel of the Ludlow Massacre, a young woman learns the true meaning of love, sacrifice, and what it means to be an American. Newly arrived in Colorado, Christian Scott is caught in a web of divided loyalties. Torn between her dedication to her brother, Alex, who clings to his proud Scottish heritage, and her love of Pearl, a spirited orphan whose flight from abuse and poverty lands her on the Scotts' doorstep, Christian experiences heartbreak when the two become enemies. At the same time, she secretly joins with a passionate Greek miner on a dangerous course of resistance against the coal company and the brutal Colorado National Guard that threatens to destroy everything--and everyone--she loves.
1938. As Hitler sets his sights on the Sudetenland, not everyone in Britain is willing to appease him. Convinced that the Fuehrer's land - hunger is insatiable, the head of the SIS recruits Cal Jardine to help him prove zechoslovakia is threatened with invasion. Before heading undercover to Prague, however, Jardine must first extricate himself from France, where his attempts to smuggle guns to Spain have been held up by a group of fanatical fascists. In their struggle to overthrow the French government, they are prepared to kill for the sake of procuring weapons. Finally arriving in Czechoslovakia, working undercover for the SIS proves no less dangerous. As jealousy and mutual suspicions within Secret Service ranks make it impossible for Jardine to tell friend from foe, he rediscovers old friends of dubious loyalty and makes new enemies of untested ruthlessness.
"On April 20, 1914, in the small railroad town of Ludlow, Colorado, striking coalminers and state National Guardsmen waged a day-long battle that ended with the burning of a strikers' tent colony. The "Ludlow Massacre," as it is known, was only part of a seven-month war in which at least seventy-five people were killed. In Blood Passion, journalist Scott Martelle explores this largely forgotten American saga of coalminers rising against political and economic corruption, a fight that embraced some of the most volatile social movements of the early twentieth century."--Cover.
Winner of the 2017 Reading the West Award A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "What keeps you reading is not just the quality of the writing, which is just absolutely wonderful, but also to find out: Is [Dulcy] going to [remake herself]? Can this be successful? Or is she going to be found out?" ―Nancy Pearl, Morning Edition, NPR Dulcy Remfrey has traveled the globe with her eccentric father, Walton, a wealthy entrepreneur obsessed with earthquakes and catastrophe, searching to cure his long battle with syphilis through any crackpot means necessary. Their deep connection is tested, however, when Walton returns from an African expedition without any of the proceeds from the sale of his gold mine. It seems he's lost his mind along with the great sum of money, his health declining rapidly. Her father's business partner (and her ex–fiancé) insists Dulcy come to Seattle to decipher her father's cryptic notebooks—a dozen in all, wrapped in brightly colored silk—which may hold clues to the missing funds. Yet when her father dies before they can locate the money, Dulcy falls under suspicion. Petrified of being forced to spend the rest of her life with her ex–love, Dulcy decides to disappear from the train bringing her father's body home. Is it possible to disappear from your old life and create another? Dulcy travels the West reading stories about her presumed death and settles into a small Montana town where she is reborn as Mrs. Nash, a wealthy young widow with no burden of family. But her old life won't let go so easily, and soon her ex–fiancé is on her trail, threatening the new life she is so eager to create. The Widow Nash is a riveting narrative, filled with a colorful cast of characters, rich historical details, and epic set pieces. Europe in summer. New York in fall. Africa in winter. The lively, unforgettable town of Livingston, Montana. And in Dulcy, Jamie Harrison has created an indelible heroine sure to capture the hearts of readers everywhere. "This gorgeously written historical novel follows Dulcy, a young woman in 1904 who attempts to flee her late father's business problems―and her violent ex–fiance's grasp―by traveling west and posing as a wealthy widow." ―Entertainment Weekly
The Second World War brought for the people of Ludlow and the surrounding countryside a complex mixture of trials and temptations, tragedy and farce. By scouring the local press of the time and interviewing people who remember it all too vividly and express their memories with vigour, indignation and humour, Derek Beattie has produced an honest and powerful portrait of a town at war. The threat of invasion prompted the formation of the Home Guard, whose volunteers were hastily kitted out with ill-fitting uniforms and borrowed weapons: 'It was noted that one man found it impossible to keep his rifle at the slope and his trousers up simultaneously.' Extraordinary things happened: the ploughing up of ancient grassland, the updating of Ludlow's steam-powered fire engine, and girls lowered on stretchers from the castles walls as air raid wardens practised first aid. One man took the blackout so seriously that he covered up the white flowers in his moonlit garden. People found themselves in court for everything from driving into a cow in the dark to receiving stolen goods in the form of Army woollen underpants or selling falsely labelled 'onion powder'. The mayor was fined for obstructing the police, whom he accused of Gestapo tactics, and the rector declared Sunday cinema to be 'a thing of evil'
