Crushed Hopes and Hopeful Beginnings by Carol Ashby

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126 – Egypt

Can God work all things for good if you don’t even think he’s real?

Lusario was content in Cyrene as part of the Philandros household. After he returns from serving the youngest son, Diokles, while he studies in Alexandria, Lusario expects to become a paid tutor for his master, earning the money to buy his freedom. But when Diokles uses him to pay a gambling debt, he must go to Carthago as the slave of a man who hates him. His once-bright future is gone forever. So why does his Christian friend Timon insist things will turn out so much better than he expects?

But Carthago brings new people, like Caelus Martinus, and new possibilities into Lusario’s hopeless world. Could Timon be right? When Lusario sees a chance to escape his fate, will going for it give him a future again, or only hasten his death?

Wells and Wanderers by Christine Dillon

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1700s BC – Ur (Iraq)

Sometimes freedom and family are found in unexpected places.

Inanna, an Amorite chieftain’s daughter, craves to be free as the eagles that fly above her hometown. Utu, her loyal twin, just wants to keep his wayward sister out of trouble. Neither succeeds, and their dreams are uprooted as they’re sold into slavery. During their forced travels, they encounter nations they’d only known from stories, palaces beyond description, and fickle kings claiming to be all-powerful deities.

Yet when serving the wandering household of Avram and Sarai from Ur, they encounter a mystery god intent on upturning national boundaries, calling new loyalties, and directing the eyes of his followers to dreams vaster than the star-filled sky.

But what has this god of unexpected paths and promises to offer two Amorite slaves?

The Hidden Prince by Tessa Afshar

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500s BC – Babylon

From the bestselling author of Jewel of the Nile comes the thrilling tale of a woman who feels she has no future but soon discovers the fate of nations may rest in her hands.

The beloved daughter of Jewish captives in Babylon, Keren is sold into Daniel’s household to help her family survive. She becomes Daniel’s most trusted scribe, while taking lessons and swordsmanship training alongside Daniel’s sons and their best friend, Jared.

But after a tragic accident changes the course of her life, Keren finds herself in a foreign country, charged with a mysterious task: teaching a shepherd boy how to become a lord. When she overhears whispers that hint at his true identity, she realizes she must protect him from the schemes of a bloodthirsty king.

Jared cannot forgive Keren. Still, he finds himself traveling over mountains to fetch her back to the safety of home. When he discovers the secret identity of Keren’s pupil, Jared knows he must help protect him. Love battles bitterness as they flee from the king’s agents, trying to save the boy who could one day deliver their people from captivity.

The Prince and the Prodigal by Jill Eileen Smith

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1842 BC – Israel/Egypt

Joseph is the pampered favorite son of the patriarch Jacob. His older brothers, deeply resentful of his status in the family, take advantage of the chance to get rid of him, selling him to slave traders and deceiving their father about his fate. It seems like their troubles are over. But for Joseph and older brother Judah, they are just beginning.

While Joseph is accused of rape and imprisoned, Judah attempts to flee the memory of his complicity in the betrayal of his younger brother. After decades apart, the brothers will come face-to-face in a stunning role reversal that sees Joseph in a position of great power while Judah begs for mercy. Will forgiveness or vengeance win the day?

Love’s Escape by Carrie Fancett Pagels

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1849 – Virginia

The son of a funeral home owner and his friend, a sea captain, transport the women they love, two enslaved women from Virginia plantations, North.

Letitia, a light-skinned house slave of the prominent Burwell family, learns that her father is the master of the plantation. As she helps them dress and fetches tea for the Burwell women, including her half-sister by blood, Lettie becomes more determined that she’ll not live out her days in servitude. But she’s afraid of what could happen. When her mother dies from a beating that Burwell sanctioned, Lettie seeks any means of escape.

Nathan Pleasant, a bookkeeper and son of a well-respected Richmond funeral home owner, is smitten with the Burwells’ slave. He meets secretly with Letitia. Nathan begins transporting slaves from Virginia and onto the Underground railroad. His dear friend, a ship captain, has also lost his heart to an enslaved woman. When the women’s lives are at stake, the two men risk all by transporting them North. Can they get them to freedom? Who is pursuing them? Once they can shake their shackles of slavery, would the two women even welcome romance with their Underground Railroad conductors? Or will the two men find themselves alone and far from the James River, where they grew up and where their families still live?

A Second Chance by Walt Mussell

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Time Travel 1500s – Japan

Kira Sakamichi is a career-driven woman, trying to achieve success before her mother’s constant interference sentences her to a relationship. But when a grudging drive to meet her mother’s latest “selection” ends in a lake accident, Kira wakes up lost in the past, the concubine of a 16th century samurai, and mother to his six-year-old son. When actions in battle lead to the samurai’s condemnation, Kira learns that she and her son will share the samurai’s fate. Only by understanding the importance of duty and family in both time periods can they survive.

The Thrall’s Sword by Grace Caylor

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700s – Ireland

On the night Sigrid, a seventeen-year-old Norse slave, is to accompany her dead master on a fiery longship to Valhalla, the cruel Jarl Ragnar murders her mother.

When two fishermen rescue her from her fate in the seas, grief-stricken Sigrid joins them on their mission to warn the Irish of the oncoming Viking raiders. As she continues her journey, her hatred for Jarl Ragnar grows and she secretly vows to destroy him.

However, as her new friend Erik teaches her about his God, a surprising power begins to work inside her heart. Yet when Sigrid has the chance to seize vengeance, will sweet revenge or a foreign god free her from despair?

Hope’s Reward by Carol Ashby

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120s – Roman Empire/Traveling

Must the secrets we hide destroy our hope for a future?

For a gladiator slave, each time you step on the sand, it’s kill or die. When Ursus decides to follow Jesus, he must choose to die the next time he’s ordered to fight…or run away. He runs, taking again his childhood name, Matti. But he isn’t just trying to escape. He’s running to Thessalonica, where he hopes to find other Christians like the woman who led him to faith.

When Felicia’s new husband, Falco, almost kills her in a fit of rage, her uncle won’t help her end the marriage with his business partner. He will send her to her sister in Thessalonica, but only if she tells no one she plans to divorce Falco and demand her dowry back before she gets there. When Matti interrupts a robbery too late to save Felicia’s money for traveling by sea, he offers to bodyguard and escort her overland to their mutual destination.

After Matti risks everything to save her from Falco’s assassins, Felicia fears taking the danger to her sister’s family. When his Christian friends take them in, she discovers the deepest desires of her heart. But will the secrets of Matti’s past make a future together impossible?

The Longest Road by Dan Walsh

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1857 – Virginia/Traveling

It’s October, 1857, just a few years before the Civil War. After recovering a month in New York from the shipwreck that almost took their lives, John and Laura Foster finalize plans to return home to San Francisco. Knowing they must return, both are dreading the voyage. Their plans suddenly change when they learn of a tragedy involving their beloved friend and former slave, Micah. His youngest daughter Hannah, still a slave in Virginia, has been mercilessly torn from the arms of her husband and sold to a wicked slaveowner from the Deep South. Her brother Eli knows Hannah will never submit to the evil schemes of this slaveowner. Unsure of how to find her, John and Laura embark on an epic journey—together with Micah and Eli—hoping to somehow rescue Hannah…before it’s too late.

Beholden by Jody Hedlund

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Medieval – Fictitious Kingdom/Country

In a land where being the fairest maiden is a curse…

A beautiful noblewoman with a terrible secret, and a prince subjected to slavery.

Upon the death of her wealthy father, Lady Gabriella is condemned to work in Warwick’s gem mine. As she struggles to survive the dangerous conditions, her kindness and beauty shine as brightly as the jewels the slaves excavate. While laboring, Gabriella plots how to avenge her father’s death and stop Queen Margery’s cruelty.

Prince Vilmar of Scania enslaves himself in Warwick’s gem mine as part of a royal test to prove himself the most worthy of three brothers to become the king’s successor. Amidst the hardships, he doesn’t anticipate his growing compassion for the other slaves, especially tenderhearted Gabriella.

As the annual summer ball looms nearer, Gabriella sets into motion her plan to end Queen Margery’s evil. When Vilmar learns of Gabriella’s intentions, he resolves to come to her aid and fight against Warwick’s queen. But doing so may require him to give up his chance of becoming Scania’s next king, perhaps even cost him his life.

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?

Nameless by Tamara Leigh

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1069 – England

A battle. A crown. The conqueror. The conquered. Medieval England—forever changed by the Battle of Hastings. And the rise of the formidable Wulfriths.

A NAMELESS NORMAN

Born of scandal, Sir Dougray of the family D’Argent defies his illegitimacy by championing the oppressed—until the prospect of winning the hand of a lady persuades him to join the Duke of Normandy in conquering Saxon-ruled England. When an injury sustained at the Battle of Hastings causes the woman he loves to reject him, an embittered Dougray turns his efforts to uprooting Saxons resistant to their new king. But among those he must bring to heel is Em, an escaped slave-turned-rebel whose suffering at the hands of a fellow Norman tempts him to reclaim the man he was before he betrayed his conscience. And captivates him though he vowed never again to fall prey to a woman. Might yet another D’Argent warrior take a Saxon bride? Or will the one who made a possession of Em destroy what remains of her?

A FUGITIVE SAXON

Forced into slavery to ensure her siblings’ survival following the Norman invasion, Em escapes her abusive master and joins the Saxon resistance. Now trained in the ways of the warrior, she is determined to never again suffer the depravity of men. And will not, providing she can stay ahead of the one intent on recovering his property—and the usurping King William’s warrior scout, Sir Dougray, who also seeks to capture her. But when he appoints himself Em’s savior, thwarting an attempt to once more enslave her, she glimpses an honorable man beyond the conqueror and begins to feel that which is forbidden enemies—worse, forbidden one as ruined as she. Or so she believes until his kiss more thrills than frightens. And threatens to break a heart she would not have believed capable of being touched by a Norman.

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?

Sold into Freedom by Carole Towriss

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49 – Macedonia

Taught to hear messages from the goddess from a young age, Elantia’s life is shattered when she is captured from her home in southwest Britannia and sold as a slave in Macedonia. She wants nothing more than to escape and return home—after she kills the man who took the only good thing left in her life.

Tossed aside by the Empire, wounded tribune Quintus Valerius ends up in sleepy Philippi to retire. Manipulated into becoming the prison keeper, he vows to return to Rome as soon as possible to reclaim his reputation and his life. He is intrigued by the quiet Jewish teacher who speaks of truth and peace, but is convinced he can never have either.

When Elantia’s shocking actions shake up the town and her life is threatened, Quintus risks what little he has left to save her—only to put Paulos and his friends in even greater danger.

River to Redemption by Ann Gabhart

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1840s – Kentucky

Orphaned in the cholera epidemic of 1833, Adria Starr was cared for by a slave named Louis, a man who stayed in Springfield, Kentucky, when anyone with means had fled. A man who passed up the opportunity to escape his bondage and instead tended to the sick and buried the dead. A man who, twelve years later, is being sold by his owners despite his heroic actions. Now nineteen, Adria has never forgotten what Louis did for her. She’s determined to find a way to buy Louis’s freedom. But in 1840s Kentucky, she’ll face an uphill battle.

Based partly on a true story, Ann H. Gabhart’s latest historical novel is a tour de force. The vividly rendered town of Springfield and its citizens immerse readers in a story of courage, betrayal, and honor that will stick with them long after they turn the last page.

The Fury of Dragons by Renee Yancy

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432 – Roman Britian

Eleri, a slave in an Irish hillfort, is seized on the day of her baptism by pirates on a slaving raid and taken across the sea to Britannia. About to be auctioned off to the highest bidder for the second time in her young life, she is taken off the block at the last moment by Coroticus, the fearsome British chieftain who led the raid.

Coroticus doesn’t understand why this skinny girl-child has bedeviled him from the moment he laid eyes on her. But when, on the deck of his ship, she speaks to him the identical words carved into his mother’s tomb, all he knows is he can’t let her go.

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Egypt’s Sister by Angela Hunt

egyptssister Egypt’s Sister: A Novel of Cleopatra

50-40s BC – Rome

Five decades before the birth of Christ, Chava, daughter of the royal tutor, grows up with Urbi, a princess in Alexandria’s royal palace. When Urbi becomes Queen Cleopatra, Chava vows to be a faithful friend no matter what–but after she and Cleopatra have an argument, she finds herself imprisoned and sold into slavery.

Torn from her family, her community, and her elevated place in Alexandrian society, Chava finds herself cast off and alone in Rome. Forced to learn difficult lessons, she struggles to trust a promise HaShem has given her. After experiencing the best and worst of Roman society, Chava must choose between love and honor, between her own desires and God’s will for her life.

Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray by Dorothy Love

mrsleemrsgray Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray

1820s-1870s – Virginia

A general’s wife and a slave girl forge a friendship that transcends race, culture, and the crucible of Civil War.

Mary Anna Custis Lee is a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, wife of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and heiress to Virginia’s storied Arlington house and General Washington’s personal belongings.

Born in bondage at Arlington, Selina Norris Gray learns to read and write in the schoolroom Mary and her mother keep for the slave children and eventually becomes Mary’s housekeeper and confidante. As Mary’s health declines, Selina becomes her personal maid, strengthening a bond that lasts until death parts them.

Forced to flee Arlington at the start of the Civil War, Mary entrusts the keys to her beloved home to no one but Selina. When Union troops begin looting the house, it is Selina who confronts their commander and saves many of its historic treasures.

In a story spanning crude slave quarters, sunny schoolrooms, stately wedding parlors, and cramped birthing rooms, novelist Dorothy Love amplifies the astonishing true-life account of an extraordinary alliance and casts fresh light on the tumultuous years leading up to and through the wrenching battle for a nation’s soul.

A classic American tale, Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray is the first novel to chronicle this beautiful fifty-year friendship forged at the crossroads of America’s journey from enslavement to emancipation.

Counted With the Stars by Connilyn Cossette

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BC – Egypt

Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all.

To save her older brother and escape the bonds of slavery, Kiya flees with the Hebrews during the Great Exodus. She finds herself utterly dependent on a fearsome God she’s only just beginning to learn about, and in love with a man who despises her people. With everything she’s ever known swept away, will Kiya turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?

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Captive on the High Seas by Christina Rich

captiveonthehighseas Captive on the High Seas

668BC – Israel

Sold into slavery by her jealous sisters, Ada finds herself captive on the ship of a Greek merchant. Expecting a harsh new master, she’s surprised to find the captain compassionate—and attractive. Yet she can’t fall for the man who owns her—not when she watched her enslaved mother pine after her unyielding father.

Nicolaus only wants to rescue the beautiful, mistreated woman from the auction block. He plans to free Ada, just as soon as he secures his inheritance. Which means racing the ship back to his homeland to best his brother. If he loses, all his cargo will be forfeited—including Ada. But as perilous storms reveal her courage and grace, the question becomes, can his heart stand to let her go?