"Pugh excels at weaving together different historical threads into a single narrative...The book is sure to appeal to fans of the works of Dan Brown and other conspiracy-curious storytellers." Kirkus Reviews1565. Their last mission on behalf of the Lord Chancellor nearly got them killed. Now back in England, former soldier Matthew Longstaff and his Italian wife, Aurélie, are living quietly in the countryside when news arrives from France;...

“Pugh’s first novel is a magnificent achievement. Let us hope he returns to enthral us with another very soon.” David Dickinson, author of the Powerscourt seriesThe Otiosi? As far as Mathew Longstaff knows, they’re just a group of harmless scholars with an eccentric interest in the works of antiquity. When they ask him to travel east, to recover a lost text from Ivan the Terrible’s private library, he can’t think of anything but the reward – home. A return to England and an end to ...

***Book 1 in the River Women series.River People* is a powerful novel with unforgettable characters.**In Nebraska in the late 1890s, seventeen-year-old Effie and eleven-year-old Bridget must struggle to endure at a time when women and children have few rights and society looks upon domestic abuse as a private, family matter.The story is told through the eyes of the girls as they learn to survive under grueling circumstances.River People is ...

47 CE. Rome's iron fist closes around Celtic Britain. One woman dares to fight back...Boudica dreams of being a warrior, but fate has other plans. Forced into a political marriage, she watches helplessly as Rome strips her people of their freedom.When imperial treachery shatters her world, Boudica must make an impossible choice . . . submit to Rome's tyranny, or lead a bloody rebellion against the greatest military force the Celtic world has ever faced....

Late 6th century Britain.Regional kingdoms are engaged in a ruthless struggle for supremacy. To the south, Saxon kings predominate but, in the north, British leaders are combining in a final effort to overthrow their two Angle rivals in Deira and Bernicia. To survive, the Angle warlords must put aside their ancient rivalry.Acha, daughter of one king is chosen to act as ‘peace-weaver’ by marrying the rival leader. But when her intended husband kills her fath...

"Michael was my love … the perfect man, the perfect husband. I had the perfect life. And then it all went wrong."Julia Falconer is an artist married to a successful winemaker in the coastal hinterland of southern Victoria. From the outside, it looks like Julia and Michael have it all ‒ but things are never as they seem. A storm has destroyed a major crop, Michael is devastated, and is taking it out on Julia. And Julia retreats into herself, taking solace in her work, wine … and the...

Can she save herself from a witch's fate?Martha is a feisty and articulate young woman, the daughter of a wheelwright, living in a Herefordshire village in Elizabethan England. With no mother Martha's life is spent running her father's meagre household and helping out at the local school whilst longing to escape the confines and small-mindedness of a community driven by religious bigotry and poverty.As she is able to read and is well-versed in herbal reme...

**** "Sharply drawn characters, rich dialogue, and a clever conclusion bode well for any sequel." —Publishers Weekly **** “Smith skillfully bridges police procedural and espionage fiction, crafting a show-stealing sense of place** and realistically pairing the threats of underworld crime and destabilized regimes.” -- Booklist **For International Espionage Fans of Alan Furst and Daniel Silva, a new thriller set in post-Soviet era Po...

When Hani, an Egyptian diplomat under Amenhotep III and IV, is sent to investigate the murder of a useful bandit leader in Syria, he encounters corruption, tangled relationships, and yet more murder. His investigation is complicated by the new king's religious reforms, which have struck Hani's own family to the core. Hani's mission is to amass enough evidence for his superiors to prosecute the wrongdoers despite the king's protection—but not just every superior can be trusted. And mayb...

The Tower of London is Lucy St.John's world. As the wife of its keeper, she becomes mistress in all but name of England's most notorious prison, tending aristocratic prisoners and condemned criminals alike while surviving plague, political intrigue and the executioner's axe.This is not the life the beautiful, highborn orphan had dreamed of. But betrayals make for strange bedfellows, and fate is not always kind.Perfect for readers of Phi...

In Tracy Clark’s electrifying new mystery featuring Cassandra Raines, the former Chicago cop turned private investigator looks into a suspicious death as a favor to a friend—and makes some powerful enemies . . .Sitting in cold cars for hours, serving lowlifes with summonses . . . being a P.I. means riding out a lot of slow patches. But sometimes the most familiar paths can lead straight to danger—like at Cass’s go-to diner, where new delivery guy Jung Byson wants t...

Set in eighteenth-century Spitalfields, London, Blackberry and Wild Rose is the rich and atmospheric tale of a household of Huguenot silk weavers as the pursuit of the perfect silk design leads them all into ambition, love, and betrayal.When Esther Thorel, wife of a master silk weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel, she thinks she is doing God’s will, but her good deed is not returned. Sara quickly realizes that the Thorel household is built on hypocrisy and lies and so...