Northkill by Bob and J. M. Hochstetler

1752-1757 – Pennsylvania

In 1738 Jakob Hochstetler and his family arrive in America, seeking sanctuary from religious persecution in Europe and the freedom to live and worship according to their Anabaptist beliefs, which include the doctrine of nonresistance. Along with other members of their church, they settle in the Northkill Amish Mennonite community on the Pennsylvania frontier between civilization and wilderness. They build a home near Northkill Creek, for which their community is named. For eighteen years, the community lives at peace. Then, while the French and Indian War rages, the Hochstetlers’ way of life is brutally shattered. Early on the morning of September 20, 1757, their home is attacked by a party of Delaware and Shawnee warriors allied with the French. Facing certain death with his wife and children, Jakob makes a wrenching choice that will tear apart his family and change all of their lives forever. Northkill is closely based on an inspiring true story well-known among the Amish and Mennonites. It has been documented in many publications and in contemporary accounts preserved in the Pennsylvania State Archives and in private collections.

Yahshua’s Bridge by Sandi Rog

Yahshua’s Bridge

88 – Rome and Cappadocia

An amethyst stone draws him to his past. An elusive maiden draws him to his future.

Alexander is born into slavery under an abusive master: a master of his own flesh and blood . . . a man he will never call Father. Determined to break away from his master’s hold, Alexander devises a plan to purchase his freedom. But what’s he to do when he finds himself shipped off in shackles to Egypt, disappearing from the lives of everyone he knows and loves?

When the Heavens Fall by Gilbert Morris

whentheheavensfall When the Heavens Fall

1500s – England

Brandon Winslow would rather gamble and frequent taverns than attend church. So how does he find himself at the forefront of the resistance to Bloody Mary’s attempt to eliminate—at sword’s point, if need be—the Protestant faith?

During the reign of Mary I of England—”Bloody Mary”—young Brandon Winslow (son of Stuart, protagonist of Honor in the Dust, the first book in the Winslow Breed series) finds himself in dire straits. After being flogged and then drummed out of the military for seducing the wife of his commanding officer, he sinks into a life of gambling and petty fraud along with Lupa, the fair gypsy woman who nursed him back to health.

After Mary weds Prince Philip of Spain, she begins to work in earnest to establish Catholicism as the only faith in England—and to execute Protestants. When Brandon sees several people burned at the stake in London for their faith, the experience changes him: Even though he has been only a nominal member of the Church of England, he finds himself compelled to stop those responsible for these outrages—and to do so before his uncle Quentin, a pastor, is himself burned at the stake. Unfortunately, the only way to save Quentin and so many others is to make Princess Elizabeth (who is herself in danger of dying at Mary’s hand) queen. And that, of course, would be treason. Punishable by death.

But then, Brandon has always been a gambler . . .

The Protector by Carla Capshaw

81 – Rome

Quintus Ambustus is a slave–Adiona Leonia is a wealthy socialite. He fights for his life in the gladiator’s ring–she plays cutthroat politics in Rome’s high society. He’s sacrificed everything for his Christian faith–she believes in nothing and no one. But when Adiona’s life is threatened, Quintus is chosen as her bodyguard, and their fascination with one another shocks them both. Neither thought to find joy in a match society would condemn…but their feelings cannot be denied. Have they lost too much to believe in happiness? Or will their growing love let them leave the past behind–and build a new future together?

Valeria’s Cross by Kathi Macias and Susan Wales

valeriascross Valeria’s Cross

200s – Roman Empire

Valeria’s Cross is the story of a 3rd century Roman marriage, forged in violence and deceit and built on religious opposition. It is about the many ways that men and women love and fight and grudgingly respect. Yet in the end, God’s faithfulness triumphs.

The Master’s Wall by Sandi Rog

masterswall

The Master’s Wall

76 – Rome

HE FIGHTS FOR HIS FREEDOM. SHE FIGHTS FOR HER LIFE. TOGETHER, THEY FIGHT FOR EACH OTHER.

After watching Roman soldiers drag his parents away to their death, David, a young Hebrew, is sold and enslaved to serve at a villa outside of Rome. As David trains to become a skilled fighter, he works hard to please his master and hopes to earn his freedom. However, an opportunity to escape tempts him with its whispering call. Freedom beckons, but invisible chains hold him captive to the master’s granddaughter, an innocent girl with a fiery spirit. David vows to protect Alethea from his master, the murderous patriarch, and contrives a daring plan—sacrifice his own life to save hers.

The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn

The Hidden Flame (Acts of Faith, Book 2)

33 – Middle East

Abigail loses everything and is left with little promise of a normal life. When she discovers the Messiah and joins his followers, she also discovers new meaning and purpose. Maybe she does have a future after all. But increasing persecution is scattering the burgeoning group “to the ends of the earth.” And Abigail may have given her heart to the wrong man. Two suitors desire the lovely Abigail’s hand in marriage. One is a successful Hebrew merchant and widower looking for a mother for his children. On the other side is the Roman soldier Linux, who is captivated by her winsome charm and could offer the sanctuary–maybe even the love–for which she yearns. But her heart has been captured by neither of these. Stephen, one of the leaders of The Way, has a character and a faith that move her deeply, but his outspoken preaching has marked him for assassination. Will her faith and courage withstand a heartbreak beyond comprehension? And then a glimmer of hope appears, one she never would have foreseen.

The Gladiator by Carla Capshaw

81 – Rome

He won his fame–and his freedom–in the gory pits of Rome’s Colosseum. Yet the greatest challenge for once-legendary gladiator Caros Viriathos comes to him through a slave. His slave, the beautiful and mysterious Pelonia Valeria. Her secret brings danger to his household but offers Caros a love like he’s never known….

Should anyone learn she is a Christian, Pelonia will be executed. Her faith threatens not only herself, but her master. Can she convince a man who found fame through unforgiving brutality to show mercy? And when she’s ultimately given the choice, will Pelonia choose freedom or the love of a gladiator?

A Prisoner of Versailles by Golden Keyes Parsons

aprisonerofversailles A Prisoner of Versailles

17th Century – France

LAVISH and LUXURIOUS VERSAILLES. King Louis XIV’s burgeoning palace is the place to be—and be seen. And the last place on earth Madeleine wants to be.
She’s trapped there as a PAMPERED PRISONER. If she stays in France, she’ll be forced to deny her faith. By escaping the King’s long arm, she may find FREEDOM—but it will cost her everything she holds dear.
Madeleine will need COURAGE, HOPE and total FAITH in God to outmaneuver the Sun King and reach her true destiny—and LOVE—in another country.

Honor in the Dust by Gilbert Morris

honorinthedust Honor in the Dust

1497 – 1500s – England

In the moral confusion of the court of King Henry VIII, young Stuart Winslow has many choices to make — and lives depend on what he will choose.

Born in poverty when his father was forced to choose between the woman he loved and the wealth of his aristocratic family, the determined Stuart Winslow will go to any lengths to improve his social position. When his skills in weapons design and falconry secure a place for him in the court of King Henry VIII, he quickly learns that the court is really a wicked cauldron of vices, power plays, and temptations — some of them very much to his liking.

When William Tyndale, an acquaintance of Stuart’s, makes it known that his ambition is to translate the Bible into the language of the common man, the king opposes Tyndale’s efforts and sentences him to death. If Stuart opposes the king in this, he will share the same fate. Is he willing to risk death at the stake for the sake of Christ? And how will he choose between the innocent Heather, who has long loved him, and the courtwise Nell?

In Honor in the Dust, bestselling author Gilbert Morris beautifully captures the tone of the Tudor period, chronicling the period’s excesses with skill and prudence. But like Morris’s other novels, this book also contrasts those excesses with the godly behavior of characters such as William Tyndale. In this captivating historical drama, Stuart Winslow is caught between two worlds: one that promises material and worldly success and one that promises salvation. Is his faith strong enough to withstand such a challenge?

The Betrayal: A Novel on John Calvin by Douglas Bond

The Betrayal: A Novel on John Calvin

16th Century – France

Set amidst the backdrop of the scholarship and humanism of renaissance France, and its love of luxury, power, and decadence, this fast-paced biographical novel on John Calvin is told from the perspective of a rival whose envy escalates to violent intrigue and shameless betrayal. The Betrayal is the tale of the private war of one man who was determined to sell all for a convoluted allegiance to the King of France and the jealous Doctors of the Sorbonne, even if it cost him his own soul. Get set for royal intrigue, desperate escapes, violent martyrdom, hazard-all romance and loss, high-risk debate, and sword-point confession in this tale, one that is at last a story of how God uses the humility and unflinching faithfulness of one man to break down the barrenness and bitterness of another—all accomplished by grace alone.

In the Shadow of the Sun King by Golden Keyes Parsons

In the Shadow of the Sun King

17th Century – France

Seventeenth century France is an unsafe time to be a Huguenot. By order of King Louis XIV, all French Protestants must immediately convert or face imprisonment—or death. The king’s dragoons ferret out the nonconformists, pillaging villages and destroying homesteads.

When the king’s soldiers descend on the Clavell estate, the family’s fate hangs in the balance. Quickly, quietly, they send their two sons into hiding, trusting that the young age of their daughter will guarantee her protection. But the dragoons will not be dissuaded; they hold the manor hostage looking for clues of their guilt or innocence. However, Madeleine Clavell, the lady of the manor, holds a secret—one possible chance to save the family. She and the king share a past.
Once a beautiful young lady in the French court whom Louis loved, Madeleine travels to Versailles to plead for mercy from the fickle king, hoping to regain his favor and save her family. It’s a gamble, but she is left with no other choice. Madeleine soon faces an agonizing decision—one that changes her family forever.

Written on Silk by Linda Chaikin

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1600s – France

A royal wedding masks the unfolding of Catherine de Medici’s murderous plot against the Huguenots. Will any of the Huguenot princes survive? Life and death rest with two people … Rachelle Dushane-Macquinet, couturiere from a celebrated silk-making family, has come back to the Louvre Palais to create the royal wedding gown. Recruited into the evil Queen Mother’s ring of women spies, she must use her wits to preserve her honor—and the lives of her fellow Huguenots. Marquis Fabien de Vendome has also returned from a buccaneering venture against Spain. The Queen Mother plans to implicate him in an assassination. But Fabien has designs of his own. A man and a woman caught up in history’s deadly swirl and love’s uncertainties seek to escape the venom of Madame le Serpent. Faith in Christ must uphold them, and all who stand alone, in a city gone diabolically mad.

Patrick: Son of Ireland by Stephen Lawhead

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300s – Ireland/Italy

Slave, soldier, lover, hero, saint,—his life mirrored the cataclysmic world into which he was born. His memory will outlast the ages.

Born of a noble Welsh family, he is violently torn from his home by Irish raiders at age sixteen and sold as a slave to a brutal wilderness king. Rescued by the king’s druids from almost certain death, he learns the arts of healing and song, and the mystical ways of a secretive order whose teachings tantalize with hints at a deeper wisdom. Yet young Succat Morgannwg cannot rest until he sheds the strangling yoke of slavery and returns to his homeland across the sea. He pursues his dream of freedom through horrific war and shattering tragedy—through great love and greater loss—from a dying, decimated Wales to the bloody battlefields of Gaul to the fading majesty of Rome. And in the twilight of a once-supreme empire, he is transformed yet again by divine hand and a passionate vision of “truth against the world,” accepting the name that will one day become legend . . . Patricius!

Daughter of Silk by Linda Chaikin

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1600s – France

Pursuing the family name as the finest silk producer in Lyon, the young Huguenot Rachelle Dushane-Macquinet is thrilled to accompany her famous couturier Grandmere to Paris, there to create a silk trousseau for the Royal Princess Marguerite Valois. The Court is magnificent; its regent, Catherine de Medici, deceptively charming … and the circumstances, darker than Rachelle could possibly imagine. At a time in history when the tortures of the Bastille and the fiery stake are an almost casual consequence in France, a scourge of recrimination is moving fast and furious against the Huguenots—and as the Queen Mother’s political intrigues weave a web of deception around her, Rachelle finds herself in imminent danger. Hope rests in warning the handsome Marquis Fabien de Vendome of the wicked plot against his kin. But to do so, Rachelle must follow a perilous course.

The Blessed by Lisa T. Bergren

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1340 – Italy

In The Blessed, Sir Gianni de Capezzano and Daria dAngelo must face the church and avoid being burned as heretics. Trailed by the enemy, and on the run in an unpredictable land, they’re offered tenuous sanctuary where they find love and unknown danger.

Shadow of His Hand by Wendy Lawton

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1938 – Germany

Young Anita Dittman’s world crumbles as Hitler begins his rise to power in Germany, but because she’s a Christian and only half-Jewish, Anita feels sure she and her family are safe from “the Final Solution”. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Shadow of His Hand is an inspirational young adult historical fiction book based on the real-life story of Anita Dittman, a Holocaust survivor. It follows her struggle against Nazi persecution and her growth in her relationship with God through the worst of times.

Beyond the Sacred Page by Jack Cavanaugh

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1535 – England

He has always loved her…and only her. She’s in love with a book and a cause he has vowed to destroy.

1535. A passionate heretic hunter, Pernell Foxe has dedicated his life to protecting the sacred Scriptures from those infidels who translate it into the vulgar tongue and distribute it among the masses. Meg Foxe, his wife, is haunted by her violent past and tortured by nightmares. She finds comfort in her husband’s arms…when he’s home. Then one night, soldiers pound on her door and whisk her away to Whitehall Palace to help calm the tempestuous Anne Boleyn, Queen of England. While there, Meg confiscates a banned New Testament from three of the queen’s attendants, intending to destroy it. But the book falls open, and she is captivated and soothed by the words….

The story of a vulnerable woman, a driven man, and a remarkable book.

Glimpses of Truth by Jack Cavanaugh

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1380s – England/Italy

An extraordinary intellect, the love of a beautiful woman, and a remarkable mission — life holds great promise for Thomas Torr. Chosen by the illustrious John Wycliffe to assist in translating the Latin Vulgate into English, the young peasant senses God calling him to an incredible destiny.

And danger. By order of the Roman Church, possession of an English Bible is punishable by death. Yet now, the Vatican itself seems willing to grant Thomas an audience.

His hopes high for defending Wycliffe’s translation, Thomas journeys from his home in rural England to the grandeur of Rome — and thus begins an incredible adventure, leading from the catacombs of Rome to the hinterlands of Britain. So, too, commences a baptism by fire that threatens to consume all he holds dear — his life, his reputation, and his future with the woman he loves.

A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers

A Voice in the Wind: 1 (Mark of the Lion)

70s – Rome

The first book in the bestselling Mark of the Lion series, A Voice in the Wind brings readers back to the first century and introduces them to a character they will never forget—Hadassah. Torn by her love for a handsome aristocrat, this young slave girl clings to her faith in the living God for deliverance from the forces of decadent Rome.

Recovery of the Lost Sword by Linda Chaikin

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1513 – England

Justin and Regina Brice, fictional characters, have a vision for the greatest need facing their day—the Scripture for the common man. They find themselves in conflict with the teaching of the establishment church, caught up in the turmoil involving Marin Luther and William Tyndale, and risking their lives to assist the translation of the Scriptures into English.

The historical events have been woven into a novel. Recovery of the Lost Sword shows the struggle involved in translating the Bible into English. It tell the story of William Tyndale and those who sacrificed their lives and positions to aid him in bringing the word of God to the common man.

The Captive Bride by Gilbert Morris

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1659 – American Colonies

The Captive Bride follows the Winslow family as they assist in the building of a great nation. With courage and spirit, Rachel Winslow stands up to the enemies of freedom. Can she face unjust imprisonment–even death–without retreat? Book 2 from the bestselling House of Winslow series.

The Honorable Imposter by Gilbert Morris

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1620 – England/American Colonies

The volume that launched the blockbuster House of Winslow series. Gilbert Winslow, forced by his family into the pulpit of the Church of England, becomes a spy among religious separatists. Who will he turn to when the forces of good and evil threaten to pull him apart?