"The girls chatted about the lesson, and about the relative advantage of going to service, or learning dress-making and machine-work, but Kate took little part in the discussion to-day; and when they reached the corner where she must leave them, she felt glad to get away, to think out the problem she had been puzzling over all the afternoon. She had not told any of her schoolfellows of the message she had been charged to deliver to her mother, so no troublesome questions or surmises had been propounded by them, and if she could only contrive to banish the whole subject from her mind-forget it entirely, her future would be settled before the next Sunday came round."
Kate is only eighteen when she meets Tom Harper, one of America's biggest pro-football stars. They share an idyllic and glamorous first love. But the bullet that suddenly ends Tom's career also ends their life together. A failed suicide attempt will leave him mentally and physically disabled forever. Kate will be left alone, heartbroken, and pregnant with their son. Soon she will have another chance at love, but it will mean learning to let go of the past and learning to trust again.
AN ANCIENT EVIL RISES...BURNS...KILLS... After a fire consumes the Heller Home for Children, the residents of Morganville, North Carolina thought they knew evil... They were wrong. Unaware of the turmoil in their new hometown, the Littles--David, Kate, and seven-year-old Becca--are moving from New York City to Morganville in hopes of repairing their own lives, which were recently shattered by an act of sexual violence. Before long, David realizes that his family's troubles are worse than he could ever have imagined. An ancient demon lurks beneath the town of Morganville, an unholy creature conjured into existence by the Heller Home tragedy. Its name is Moloch. It is hungry for the souls of the townspeople. But most of all, Moloch wants the children. It will not rest until it has them. All of them.
The disappearance behind the Iron Curtain of the American brothers Noel and Hermann Field in 1949, followed by that of Noels wife and their foster daughter, was one of the most publicized international mysteries of the Cold War. This dual memoir gives an intensely human dimension to that struggle, with Hermann narrating all that happened to him from the day he was abducted from the Warsaw airport to his release five years later, and Kate relating her unrelenting efforts to find her husband. Thousands of potential victims of Hitlers dragnet were rescued in 1939 and during World War II through separate efforts of the Field brothers. Arrested in Czechoslovakia in 1949, Noel was taken to Hungary and used as an example of American perfidy in show trials. Hermann went to Poland primarily to find out what had happened to his brother. After Hermanns abduction, he was taken to the cellar of a secret Polish prison, where he was held for five years. He gives us a detailed account of his battle to survive, alternating despair and horror with mordant humor. Meanwhile, his family had no idea whether he was still alive and if so, where. This moving story, based on detailed notes made by the authors during and shortly after the events described, presents an inside-outside counterpoint, as Hermanns chapters on his inward journey in his cellar world alternate with Kates efforts in London to find him by scrutinizing accounts of political events in Eastern Europe for clues and penetrating the diplomatic corridors of power in the West for help. Hermann had been arrested by a Polish security agent who later defected and became one of the Wests most important informants on Soviet operations in Eastern Europe. The search for the Field brothers was complicated by their history of leftist connections, for this tense period in the Cold War was also the era of McCarthyism in the United States. The book ends with an Epilogue that analyzes the events of fifty years ago in the light of what we know today, as the result of newly available archival material.
It is October 1844. With the death of the evil Colonel Mahon and the end of the greatest potato famine in living memory, it seems peace and prosperity are finally on the way to Ballynockanor. But is this the calm before the storm? As Kate awaits the birth of their baby, Joseph is in hiding in London. Trying to find his way to Ireland and to his beloved wife, Joseph fights against the forces that seek to block their reunion. This fourth book in the Galway Chronicles portrays the impact of the tragic potato famine that would kill or displace a third of the population of Ireland. Set in a place and time in Ireland's history that affects the age in which we now live, this novel follows the fight for freedom by passionate Irishmen and brings the heroism and heartbreak to life for modern readers. From the horror of famine to the plots of ruthless men, All Rivers to the Sea gives a human face to the troubles that brought so many Irish to the shores of America.
The sun shone, the crowds waved and cheered wildly and billions watched on TV all around the world as Kate lovingly kissed William on the balcony of Buckingham Palace - not once but twice! Beautiful and composed, Kate smiled throughout a day that had become a wonderful celebration of a young couple's love for one another. The world, it seemed, still believed in their favourite fairytale - any girl could dream of becoming a princess. Kateis the definitive biography of the nation's newest princess. Bestselling author Sean Smith has retraced the steps of Kate's journey, from her childhood in rural Berkshire and her unhappy time as a victim of school bullies, to her transformation from a plain girl into the beauty she is today. He reveals the true story of how the romance with William blossomed at St Andrews University and how they managed to survive as a couple after the relationship hit the rocks in 2007, becoming stronger with a firm commitment to each other that they were for keeps. He examines Kate's time spent as a royal apprentice and her evolving role as an ambassador for British fashion. The story ends in Westminster Abbey where Kate and William married, describing all the glamour and spectacle of their big day. Fully illustrated, this is the one book you will want to read about the event of the decade.
While Raleigh Park is fictional, there are aspects of it, as in any novel, that will, I am sure, be familiar to many people, as it reflects, to some degree, things that have happened in our lives or the lives of family and friends. Writing the novel was very emotional for me in that after putting in four or five hours or more at times writing the book, I found the story coming alive and mentally lingering in the lives and events of my characters. It was almost as if I had transported myself into the world within the book. On many occasions, I woke up and felt I was, as an example, actually in Portland. This experience was something I never expected from writing a book. I now wonder if other authors have the same experience from their endeavors. I hope that you will enjoy reading my effort, and maybe you will, as I was, become emotionally involved in my story and feel it come alive.
