Posts with the custom taxonomy term Foreign Setting (Not USA or England)

Roll Back the Clouds by Terri Wangard

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1915 – Ireland

Geoff and Rosaleen Bonnard embark on a once-in-a-lifetime voyage to England aboard the fabled Lusitania in 1915. Europe is embroiled in war, but that shouldn’t affect a passenger liner. As they approach Ireland, a German submarine hurtles a torpedo into the grand ship. Rosaleen makes it into a lifeboat, but where is her husband? She searches the morgues in Queenstown, heartsick at recognizing so many people. Geoff is finally located in a Cork hospital, alive but suffering a back injury. While waiting for him to recover, Rosaleen is thrilled to meet her mother’s family, but a dark cloud hovers over her. The battered faces of dead babies haunt her. She sinks into depression, exasperated by Geoff’s new interest in religion. Will she ever find her joy again?

Selah by Lisa T. Bergren

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1776 – West Indies

Selah Banning has come of age on the West Indies island of Nevis, shaped by experiences far beyond the typical upbringing of a young British lady in 1776. She never anticipated that the most tumultuous time of her life might await her in the year ahead.

Jedediah Reed, a young Methodist preacher with a call to serve the slaves of Nevis, has settled at Selah’s family’s plantation, the Double T. As Selah’s heart is drawn to the same people, their shared purpose brings them together–despite her guardians’ concern with a romance that promises little security for the future.

As Jedediah’s faith and Selah’s abolitionist leanings lead to changes on the plantation, the Revolutionary War continues to build in the States. With the threat of starvation and the conflict with island mogul Angus Shubert growing ever stronger, the future of the Double T and its people hangs in the balance.

Children of the Stars by Mario Escobar

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1942 – France

August 1942. Jacob and Moses Stein, two young Jewish brothers, are staying with their aunt in Paris amid the Nazi occupation. The boys’ parents, well-known German playwrights, have left the brothers in their aunt’s care until they can find safe harbor for their family. But before the Steins can reunite, a great and terrifying roundup occurs. The French gendarmes, under Nazi order, arrest the boys and take them to the Vélodrome d’Hiver—a massive, bleak structure in Paris where thousands of France’s Jews are being forcibly detained.

Jacob and Moses know they must flee in order to survive, but they only have a set of letters sent from the south of France to guide them to their parents. Danger lurks around every corner as the boys, with nothing but each other, trek across the occupied country. Along their remarkable journey, they meet strangers and brave souls who put themselves at risk to protect the children—some of whom pay the ultimate price for helping these young refugees of war.

Heavenly Lights by Barbara M. Britton

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 1573 BC – Israel

Noah bat Zelophehad has tended her father’s herds and flocks since she was a girl. With God’s gift of land, she plans to make her sisters wealthy with livestock. But when a conniving clansman takes a liking to the bold shepherdess, his scheme may snatch her from the fields she loves.

Only one person understands Noah’s gifts with the animals—Jeremiah, the mute shepherd who has been her field companion for years. After the walls of Jericho collapse, God stays silent in the battle of Ai, leaving Jeremiah wounded and Noah’s marital status in jeopardy. But, Noah remains faithful to God and her animals and trusts that she will be able to forge a future with her sisters, even when enemies abound.

Will the daughters of Zelophehad be able to settle their land together, or will Noah get left behind, trapped in the tent of a troublemaker?

Isaiah’s Legacy by Mesu Andrews

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693 BC – Israel

At eight years old, Shulle has known only life in a small village with her loving but peculiar father. When Uncle Shebna offers shelter in Jerusalem in exchange for Shulle’s help tutoring King Manasseh, Judah’s five-year-old co-regent who displays the same peculiarities as her father, she’s eager to experience the royal court. But Shulle soon realizes the limits of her father’s strict adherence to Yahweh’s Law when Uncle Shebna teaches her of the starry hosts and their power.

Convinced Judah must be freed from Yahweh’s chains, she begins the subtle swaying of young Manasseh, using her charm and skills on the boy no one else understands. When King Hezekiah dies, twelve-year-old Manasseh is thrust onto Judah’s throne, bitter at Yahweh and eager to marry the girl he adores. Assyria’s crown prince favors Manasseh and twists his brilliant mind toward cruelty, beginning Shulle’s long and harrowing journey to discover the Yahweh she’d never known, guided with loving wisdom by Manasseh’s mother: Isaiah’s daughter, the heartbroken Hephzibah. Amid Judah’s dark days, a desperate remnant emerges, claiming the Lord’s promise, “Though we’re helpless now, we’re never hopeless–because we serve El Shaddai.” Shulle is among them, a girl who becomes a queen through Isaiah’s legacy.

Daughter of Rome by Tessa Afshar

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40s – Roman Empire

A woman with a devastating secret. A man bent on proving his worth. A chance encounter that catapults them into the heart of history.

When the daughter of a prominent Roman general meets a disinherited Jewish immigrant, neither one can dream of God’s plan to transform them into the most influential couple of the early church. Nor can they anticipate the mountains that will threaten to bury them. Their courtship unwittingly shadowed by murder and betrayal, Priscilla and Aquila slowly work to build a community of believers, while their lives grow increasingly complicated thanks to a shaggy dog, a mysterious runaway, and a ruthless foe desperate for love. But when they’re banished from their home by a capricious emperor, they must join forces with an unusual rabbi named Paul and fight to turn treachery into redemption.

The Brightest of Dreams by Susan Anne Mason

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1919 – Canada

Quinten Aspinall is determined to fulfill a promise he made to his deceased father to keep his family together. To do so, he must travel to Canada to find his younger siblings, who were sent there as indentured workers while Quinn was away at war. He is also solicited by his employer to look for the man’s niece who ran off with a Canadian soldier. If Quinn can bring Julia back, he will receive his own tenant farm, enabling him to provide a home for his ailing mother and siblings.

Julia Holloway’s decision to come to Toronto has been met with disaster. When her uncle’s employee rescues her from a bad situation, she fears she can never repay Quinn’s kindness. So when he asks her to help find his sister, she agrees. Soon after, however, Julia receives some devastating news that changes everything.

Torn between reuniting his family and protecting Julia, will Quinn have to sacrifice his chance at happiness to finally keep his promise?

Jake’s Honor by Linda Ford

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1886 – Canada

Connie has always been the plain one. The responsible one. The dutiful one. She always stood in her beautiful cousin’s shadow, but now her cousin is dead. Connie is left to pick up the pieces and do right by her little niece, Megan, which means delivering the girl to her father. But nothing is as it seems. Jake denies being the father. Worse, the attraction Connie once felt for the enigmatic rancher still exists, though she has always been invisible to him.

Jake Hooper lost his mother, his father, and then his sweetheart, who left him without so much as a word of explanation. When Connie shows up with a child she claims is his, he knows it can’t be true.

Jake determines to take Connie and Megan to Fort Macleod. They aren’t his responsibility. And after all the loss he has suffered, he can’t bear to open his heart again.

But the more time they spend together, the more one charming little girl and her fiery aunt sneak into Jake’s heart. Will he be able to cut ties and leave them on their own? Or will his honor—and his heart—require a different answer?

An Unlikely Witness: Joanna’s Story by Ginger Garrett

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28 – Israel

ALL JOANNA WANTED was a peaceful life at the palace. She wanted to bear children for her husband, Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas, and bring honor to her family. Instead, Joanna became an eyewitness to the most trans-formative, shocking events in human history…events that would force her to choose between the life she once imagined, and a life she never could have dreamed of. When she faces the choice between maintaining the illusion of peace or following the Prince of Peace, Joanna finds herself at the crossroads of her heart.

Will she have the strength and courage to choose the right path?

The Ark Builder’s Wife: Zarah’s Story by Tracy Higley

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2380s BC – Middle East

Zarah’s Husband, Noah, has been preaching about the coming destruction of the world for years, as he builds a monstrous ship in the middle of his grain field. But Zarah, Noah’s wife and mother to their three sons, does not hear from God the way Noah does. Her hidden past, as a captive in a pagan temple, has led her to believe she is damaged and unworthy. Why would God speak to her? But then, son Shem’s wife, Salbeth, is abducted by the same cult of the pagan moon-god that Zarah once belonged to, and only she can find a way to bring the girl back home.

Can Zarah prove her worth to her family by confronting and con-fessing the dark secrets of her past and rescuing Salbeth before the rain begins, and the world as they know it comes to an end?

A Perilous Journey: Phoebe’s Story by Mary DeMuth

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57 – At Sea

Tasked with taking the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, Phoebe embarks on a tumult-filled journey over land and sea accompanied by her closest friend and a mysterious freed slave. Already having suffered persecution for her stalwart belief in Yeshua, Phoebe must overcome deep betrayal, a violent pirate raid, and the loss of every scrap of security she’s ever had, to travel to an unknown location and deliver Paul’s greatest treatise of the faith.

Will she find the resources and the trust she needs to complete the seemingly impossible task? Or will the ever-multiplying obstacles before her strangle her resolve?

Dragonfly Wings by Elizabeth Ann Boyles

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1859 – Japan

deadly conspiracies and thorny Japanese traditions war against an American diplomat and a samurai’s daughter.  Can their budding romance survive? 

Finally, in 1859, the Americans have cracked open Nagasaki’s centuries-old isolation. Sumi Taguchi, the daughter of a samurai, can hardly wait to investigate the outside world. But if she pursues her desires, she must disobey her family’s elder and accept the dangerous consequences. Yet what can she do when her heart says to hold on?

John Cardiff, Nagasaki’s first American consul, aims to make a fortune and marry his New York fiancée. But first, he must establish his trading company and navigate the strange culture. He expected his stay in Japan to be eye-opening and adventurous, but he didn’t plan on an irresistible draw toward the Japanese people and his tutor, Sumi.

An anti-foreign samurai threatens not only John and Sumi’s chance for romance but also their lives. Yet the fanatic may find his opponents are not the weaklings he imagined.

The Healer’s Touch: Tikva’s Story by Connilyn Cossette

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28 – Israel

When Jewish sailor’s wife Tikva received word, more than a decade ago, of a family tragedy, the shock of the news sent her into premature labor, and she delivered a stillborn son. From that time until this, despite chasing after a multitude of healers’ promises and spending all she had on torturous treatments, she hasn’t been able to stop the resulting hemorrhaging. The doctor she saw today, like all the others, had given her lofty promises of a cure but turned out to be yet another charlatan. Defeated, Tikva returns home to her aged mother-in-law, who has heard tell of a miracle-working Rabbi visiting their province. Does Tikva dare hold out one last hope for healing?

The Year of the Barbarian by Elizabeth Ann Boyles

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1850s – Japan

A New York merchant risks all. A samurai’s daughter seeks truth. Pitfalls lie ahead in mid-nineteenth-century Japan.

Sumi Taguchi, a samurai’s daughter, eagerly anticipates the arrival of foreigners from the West, who will end Japan’s centuries-long isolation from the world. Maybe these foreigners will bring answers to life’s troublesome riddles. But to be free to meet these newcomers, she must first avoid a nightmarish betrothal and the fallout from her rash curiosity.

The young New York merchant, John Cardiff, risks his inheritance by sailing to the far side of the world. His fascination with Japan leads to a tantalizing, but dangerous trading venture. As trouble mounts, he dreads the shipwreck of not only his sail ship but his life.

The Piper’s Pursuit by Melanie Dickerson

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1424 – Germany

A plague of rats. A giant beast outside the village walls. A host of missing children. And one young woman determined to save her people.

In 1424 Hamlin, Katerina faces threats from all sides. An outbreak of rats has overtaken the village, a mysterious beast is on a killing rampage of the village’s children, and Katerina’s evil stepfather is a dark presence inside the walls of her own home. Katerina is determined to hunt and kill the Beast of Hamlin herself before more lives are lost.

When Steffan, the handsome but brash duke’s son, comes to town seeking glory and reward, Katerina decides he might be the ally she’s been looking for—even though the only gentle thing about him seems to be the sweet music he plays on his pipe. But there’s more to Steffan than she suspects, and she finds herself drawn to him despite her misgivings.

Together Katerina and Steffan must stop the enemy from stealing the children of Hamlin. But their interference might create an even worse fate for the entire village.

Hope Unchained by Carol Ashby

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106 – Dacia ( Romania)

Can the deepest loss bring the greatest gain?

Rome’s conquering army took Ariana’s family and freedom, but nothing can take her faith in Jesus. When she rescues a tribune’s wife from certain death, her reward is freedom and a chance to free her brother and sister. But first she must catch up with the slave caravan before they vanish forever, and tracking them from Dacia to the coast seems impossible for one woman alone.

Discharged from the legion with a hand crippled by a Dacian knife, Donatus faces a future without hope. When the tribune asks him to escort Ariana on her quest, it’s the only work he can find. It means four weeks with a Dacian woman and a gladiator bodyguard, but it takes money to eat. A man without options must take what he can get.

But a lot can happen in four weeks. Even battle-hardened men can be touched by love and forgiveness, and it’s easier to face an enemy with a sword than to face the truth. When his moment of truth comes, what will Donatus choose, and what will that mean for both of them?

Misleading Miss Verity by Carolyn Miller

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1820 – Scotland

Verity Hatherleigh has a mind of her own—but her actions do not impress her viscount papa. When she gets into one scrape too many, he sends her off to the wilds of Scotland to rethink her headstrong ways.

Anthony Jardine relished his role as curate, but his new duties as laird of Dungally aren’t always to his liking. Though he thought his new inheritance would be a blessing, somehow he’s finding nothing but trouble on these estates. And the intelligent, compassionate, feisty lass who was sent to rusticate in his territory is one of the biggest problems. He’s falling in love with her, but she doesn’t share the faith that’s his foundation—not to mention he’s been lying to her about who he really is. For the truth-loving Verity, that may be unforgivable.

The tangled web these two have woven may spell disaster for their happiness—and for the tenants of Dungally.

The Silk Merchant of Sychar by Cindy Williams

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21 – Samaria, Israel

One woman, five husbands and a weary rabbi at the well who knows everything she ever did.
The day after they bury her husband Leah Marcellus loses her baby. A widow and childless, what man will want her now?

The day after they bury her husband Leah Marcellus loses her baby. A widow and childless, what man will want her now? Her father arranges a second marriage—a profitable business arrangement—sealed on Mount Gerizim, the holy mountain where every true follower of Yahweh worships, but Leah’s heart belongs to another. Her passion only brings trouble – jealousy, murder and lies.

Leah’s skill at the loom and the secrets of dye –the woad, the murex and madder—brings her renown among the Roman women of wealth. Yet death and betrayal soon steal her security. In desperation, Leah sacrifices her peace of mind and risks everything to protect her family.

From the olive groves of Samaria to the bloodied sand of a Roman stadium to the exquisite silks brought from the East, The Silk Merchant of Sychar weaves colour into the biblical account of the woman at the well.

Carry Me Away by Dorothy Adamek

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1877 – Australia

Inspired by the incredible true story of an Australian shipwreck and those who survived to tell the tale.

When the Black Swallow sinks off the Australian coast in 1877, Australian midshipman Tom Darley rescues English passenger Ada Carmichael from the disaster that claims her entire family. News of the only two survivors enchants the world, but Ada needs to hide before secrets and old foes find her. Tom is chasing big dreams of a crumbling house he will convert into a small hotel ~ but the promising start he’s acquired now sits at the bottom of the sea.

Inexplicably entangled, Ada and Tom lean upon each other to make sense of the tragedy that’s displaced them. But when scheming journalists observe their affection they drag Tom into life-altering riches and a news-worthy romance he cannot resist. So he arranges for Ada’s protection where only he might find her ~ the quiet Phillip Island farm of his friends Shadrach and Finella Jones.

And that’s where real trouble finds them. When heroic promises fail to shelter, and love refuses to be silenced, only surrender will pluck Ada and Tom from where life has wrecked them.

The End of the Magi by Patrick W. Carr

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1st Century BC – Western Asia/Israel

Following his vision of the coming Messiah, the prophet Daniel creates a select group of men who will count down the calendar to the arrival of Israel’s promised king. Centuries later, as the day nears, Myrad, a young magi acolyte, flees for his life when his adoptive father and others are put to death by a ruthless Parthian queen.

Having grabbed only a few possessions, Myrad escapes the city, and searching for a way to hide from the soldiers scouring the trade routes, he tries to join the caravan of the merchant Walagash. The merchant senses that Myrad is hiding secrets, but when the young man proves himself a valuable traveler, an epic journey filled with peril, close escapes, and dangerous battles begins.

With every day that passes, the calendar creeps closer to the coming Messiah. And over everything shines the dream of a star that Myrad can’t forget and the promise that the world will never be the same.

A Silver Willow by the Shore by Kelli Stuart

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1930s/Siberia – 1980s/Russia – Present Day/Tennessee

How do you face the future if you don’t know your own past?

When an unexpected pregnancy changes her dreams, seventeen-year-old Annie tries to keep it from her mother and her grandmother. But secrets have a way of coming out.

In a household of strong women, the arrival of a new life sets off a spiral of truth that reveals a past full of whispers and lies—a past that existed in another world under the heavy hand of Soviet oppression. This history has dictated the circumstances of the present, but hope, redemption, and forgiveness will grow in the rocky places of these generational differences.

A Silver Willow by the Shore is the story of the unshakeable love between mothers and daughters and of the impact that past decisions can have on present day circumstances. This novel weaves together the stories of generations of women, from the gulags of 1930’s Siberia, to the quiet oppression of 1980’s Soviet Moscow, to present day Tennessee. It is an unforgettable narrative of the treachery of secrets, and of the light that unites the heart of a family.

Lioness: Mahlah’s Journey by Barbara Britton

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BC – Middle East

While the Israelites struggle to occupy the Promised Land of God, Mahlah bat Zelophehad is orphaned and left to care for her four sisters. But daughters of the dead are unable to inherit land, and it will take a miracle for Mahlah to obtain the means to care for her sisters and uphold the vow she made to her dying mother.

Mahlah must seek Moses, the leader of her people, and request something extraordinary—the right for a daughter to inherit her deceased father’s land. A right that will upset the ox-cart of male inheritance and thrust her into the role of a rebel.

But, God is the protector of the orphan and the widow, and five orphaned daughters need His help. With God, anything is possible. Even changing man’s tradition.

Among Sand and Sunrise by Stacy Henrie

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1909 – Egypt

After three failed seasons, American heiress Syble Rinecroft is more than ready to move forward in a life of independence and adventure. And what better way to begin than by taking a trip to Egypt with her grandmother and her band of widowed friends to find a hidden tomb? There’s only one catch. The archaeologist the widows insist on employing is none other than the irritating Marcus Brandt whom Syble met years ago on another trip to Egypt. If Syble has any hope of finding the tomb and being known for something other than too vivacious to make anyone a suitable wife, she’ll have to learn to work with Marcus.

British archaeologist Marcus Brandt has only ever wanted one thing—a discovery in Egypt that will bring him the acclaim that has eluded his career. Such a thing will surely be found in the tomb he is presently clearing. So when his wealthy patroness and her friends, including Marcus’s grandmother, seek his help in finding a hidden tomb, he’s reluctant to agree to the new dig. Especially when it involves daily interaction with Syble Rinecroft, the annoying adolescent he met eight years ago.

Compelled to do the dig for different reasons, Syble and Marcus finally agree to work together, in spite of their opposite approaches to life. As the days pass, though, they discover there may be more to each other and their growing friendship than either expected to find. And yet, opening their hearts might just cost them their dreams.

Return to the Tower by Mark Fisher

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Medieval – Fictitious Kingdom

A THOUSAND LEAGUES FROM HOME

What’s left of the Company must now follow Tristan from their hidden camp in the druids’ dark realm, cross a thousand leagues of enemy-occupied lands filled with ancient horrors, and return Elyon’s great gifts to the Tower of Dochás in Ériu.

ANCIENT HORRORS AND THE BUTCHER OF BURGUNDIA

Only by returning the Scepter and Augury to the Tower can Tristan defeat the Deamhan Lord and end the darkness threatening to engulf the world. Before him lie an ancient horror released by the arch druid, the fatal enchantments of the red tent, a Cthyllin ice giant, and the arch druid’s ruthless ally—Gundovald, the Butcher of Burgundia.

A RACE TO THE TOWER

But the arch druid Faolukan has built a great fleet in Fjernshavn, and it’s a race to return home before enemy ships disembark their foul hordes on Ériu’s distant shores and destroy the Tower. Faolukan and Gundovald serve a Deamhan Lord who wants not to conquer, but to burn, destroy, and crush that fair country under the boots of his bespelled soldiers and shapeshifters.

If Faolukan destroys the Tower before Tristan arrives with the Scepter—all is lost.

And the darkness wins.

Hadassah, Queen Esther of Persia by Diana Wallis Taylor

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BC – Persia

One of the great heroines of the Old Testament, Hadassah was a beautiful, graceful young woman who put her faith in God and her guardian, her cousin Mordecai.

She dreams of marrying Shamir, a tall, handsome, studious young man who is the rabbi’s son. Her heart beats faster when she hears the sound of his deep voice as he reads the Torah. And she hopes that he will visit Mordecai soon to present a betrothal request.

Then, an upheaval in King Xerxes’s palace changes everything. Queen Vashti has been banished and an edict goes out for all qualified young virgins throughout the empire to be taken to the palace as he searches for a new queen.

Fear strikes in the hearts of many, including Mordecai, as he realizes Hadassah will be taken. To hide her identity as a Jew, he tells her to go by the name of Esther. Since he works as a record-keeper at the king’s gates, he can keep tabs on how she is doing.

My Dearest Dietrich by Amanda Barratt

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1942 – Germany

A staggering love illuminating the dark corners of a Nazi prison

Renowned German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is famous for his resistance to the Nazi regime and for his allegiance to God over government. But what few realize is that the last years of his life also held a love story that rivals any romance novel.

Maria von Wedemeyer knows the realities of war. Her beloved father and brother have both been killed on the battlefield. The last thing this spirited young woman needs is to fall for a man under constant surveillance by the Gestapo. How can she give another piece of her heart to a man so likely to share the same final fate? Yet when Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an old family friend, comes to comfort the von Wedemeyers after their losses, she discovers that love isn’t always logical.

Dietrich himself has determined to keep his distance from romantic attachments. There is too much work to be done for God, and his involvement in the conspiracy is far too important. But when he encounters a woman whose intelligence and conviction match his own, he’s unprepared for how easy it is to give away his heart.

With their deep love comes risk–and neither Dietrich nor Maria is prepared for just how great that risk soon becomes.

A Reluctant Bride by Jody Hedlund

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1862 – Canada

Living in London’s poorest slum, Mercy Wilkins has little hope of a better life. When she’s offered an opportunity to join a bride ship sailing to British Columbia, she agrees. After witnessing so much painful heartache and loss in the slums, the bride ship is her only prospect to escape a bleak future, not only for herself but, she hopes, someday for her sister.

Wealthy and titled Joseph Colville leaves home and takes to the sea in order to escape the pain of losing his family. As ship’s surgeon, he’s in charge of the passengers’ welfare aboard the Tynemouth, including sixty brides-to-be. He has no immediate intention of settling down, but when Mercy becomes his assistant, the two must fight against a forbidden love.

With hundreds of single men congregating on the shore eager to claim a bride from the Tynemouth, will Mercy and Joseph lose their chance at true love, or will they be able to overcome the obstacles that threaten to keep them apart?

Refiner’s Fire by J. M. Hochstetler

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1778 – New Jersey/France

With Americas’ fierce fight for independence hanging in the balance, Elizabeth Howard and Jonathan Carleton are driven thousands of miles and a vast ocean apart. While the Continental Army endures a desperate winter at Valley Forge, French Admiral le comte de Caledonne secretly sweeps Elizabeth away to France out of reach of British assassins. Meanwhile General Jonathan Carleton, the Shawnee war chief White Eagle, returns to his people as General George Washington’s emissary, doubting that he will ever return to the white world. But as the war between America and Britain shifts into the fragile republic’s heartland at Monmouth Court House, sinister schemes draw Jonathan and Elizabeth into their own separate maelstroms. Will the Refiner’s Fire tear them from each other’s arms forever?

From the flames of war exploding across land and sea to the dangerous intrigues of the French court and the Shawnee’s bitter resistance to the Long Knives, Refiner’s Fire continues the breathtaking saga of America’s founding in a gripping story of heartbreak, redemption, and the unyielding constancy of love.

In the Shadow of the King by Melissa Rosenberger

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 10s-30s – Israel

Growing up, Hannah knows her brother Yeshua is odd. Yet she can’t understand why adults lavish such attention on him. She never would imagine her mother’s explanation of ancient prophecies and angelic visitations. Yeshua, the Anointed One of Israel? Hannah scoffs at the idea while watching her brother for signs of greatness. When tragedy devastates the family and Yeshua does nothing more than pray, Hannah’s heart shatters. She rejects Yeshua’s advice to trust him and, driven by fear, takes radical steps to secure her future happiness. Years pass and Hannah finds herself shamed by barrenness in a loveless marriage. And once more, it’s Yeshua’s name on everyone’s lips. Only now, his rebellious actions threaten not only her tenuous standing with her in-laws, but possibly her life. Determined to stop his dangerous exploits, Hannah travels to Capernaum to confront Yeshua. What she discovers there both amazes and frightens her. When Yeshua again asks for her trust, Hannah must make a decision. Should she jeopardize all she has left in the hope that Yeshua will reign? But how can a carpenter triumph where princes and armies have failed before? Can she risk believing Yeshua is who he says he is?

True Freedom by Carol Ashby

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118 – Rome

The chains we cannot see can be the hardest ones to break.

When Aulus runs up a gambling debt to his father’s political enemy, he’s desperate to pay it off before his father returns to Rome. His best friend Marcus suggests they fake the kidnapping of Aulus’s sister Julia and use the ransom money. But when the man they hired kidnaps her for real, Aulus is catapulted into a desperate search to find her.

Torn from his childhood home by Rome’s conquering armies and sold as a farm slave to labor until he dies, Dacius’s faith gives him strength to bear what he must and serve without complaining. After a deadly accident makes him one of Julia’s litter bearers, he overhears Marcus advising her brother to kidnap her. When Dacius almost dies thwarting the kidnapping, a Christian couple take them in to keep her brother from finding them before her father returns.

But pretending to be free again makes returning to slavery more than Dacius can bear, while acting like a common woman opens Julia’s eyes to dreams and destinies she never knew existed. With her brother closing in and her father almost home, can she find a way around Roman law and custom to free them both for the future they long for?

Romanov by Nadine Brandes

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1918 – Russia

My name is Anastasia . . . The history books say I died . . . They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are either to release the spell and deal with the consequences, or to enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her.

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

Love’s Belief by Linda Shenton Matchett

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1943 – Germany

Midwife Pia Hertz and her mother Sabine have been delivering babies long before the Nazis came to power. Now, the Third Reich has implemented mandates that require Jewish babies and other “undesirables” to be killed as part of The Final Solution. Is Pia’s new faith in Christ strong enough to defy the laws of man?

Despite the agony of the injury at the Battle of Drøbak Sound that took his arm, Dieter Fertig is relieved he’s no longer part of Hitler’s army. He returns to Berlin and discovers Jews are being deported by the thousands. When he realizes the Nuremburg Laws require his best friend’s baby girl to be killed, he must find a way to spirit the child out of Germany before the Nazis discover her existence.

Inspired by the biblical story of Shiprah and Puah, the midwives who saved Jewish babies during Pharaoh’s reign, Love’s Belief shows how one person’s actions can change the world.

The Heart of a King by Jill Eileen Smith

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975 BC – Israel

King Solomon was wealthy and wise beyond measure. He could–and did–have anything he wanted, including many women from many lands. But for all his wisdom, did he or the women in his life ever find what they searched for all of their lives?

In this engrossing novel, you’ll find yourself whisked away to ancient Israel, where you’ll meet Solomon and four of the women he loved: Naamah the desert princess, Abishag the shepherdess, Siti the daughter of a pharaoh, and Nicaula the queen of Sheba. As you experience the world of Solomon through his eyes and the eyes of these women, you’ll ask yourself the ultimate question: Did Solomon’s wisdom ultimately benefit him and those he loved . . . or did it betray them?

Beneath an Italian Sky by Stacie Henry

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1908 – Italy

American heiress Clare Herschel made what she hoped was a love match when she married the handsome, witty Emmett Markham, the Earl of Linwood. A little over a year into her marriage, though, Clare finds herself wintering in Sicily—alone. She is sure the mild climate is the answer to avoiding another miscarriage and Emmett’s apparent indifference, so she’s determined to remain in Italy as long as possible. The last person she expects to show up at the villa is her husband, especially when Emmett confesses he’s there to convince her to return to England.

As the only surviving son of a marquess, Emmett has done everything his father has asked of him—even agreeing to run for a seat in the House of Commons. However, this latest task comes with a nearly impossible caveat. He must convince his wife Clare to come back to England with him in order for them to appear to be a happy couple for his political campaigning. Emmett isn’t confident Clare will agree to the plan, though, not when she seems to want nothing to do with him or the life they’d begun building before she abruptly left him for Italy.

When a massive earthquake strikes Messina, Sicily, claiming the lives of thousands, Clare and Emmett must set aside their mutual misgivings about their marriage in order to survive and lend a helping hand to others. But in the wake of the destruction, they begin to realize they’ve been given a chance to decide if their love is stronger than the upheavals of the past.

A Mother’s Sacrifice: Jochebed’s Story by Carole Towriss

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1527 BC – Egypt

You probably know something of Moses—the man who God entrusted with the Ten Commandments. Now discover the remarkable story of his mother.

Stroll the ancient halls of an Egyptian villa and walk the dusty paths of a slave’s village and witness God’s governing hand on two mothers. This captivating story begins when Jochebed gives birth to Moses, just moments after the Pharaoh issues an order to kill every newborn Hebrew male.

How will Jochebed hide her precious son? Does his only chance for survival lay with the Pharaoh’s own daughter? Can Jochebed convince her to raise him to worship the one true God?