Enthralling Tales
of the Past

The Burning Bride by Margaret Lawrence
Hannah Trevor, a midwife, seeks peace and a chance to rebuild her life after the pain and ugliness of the Revolutionary War. Fear and bitterness lurk in the hearts of many. A series of murders in Hannah's small New England town emphasizes for her the division between rich and poor, and unearths secrets concerning her soon-to-be husband, Daniel, a wealthy leader in the town's militia.

Citizen Washington by William Martin
Published for the 200th anniversary of George Washington's death, this is a fictional biography of the first president by the author of Annapolis. Why did Martha Washington burn a collection of personal letters on the night of her husband's death? A naive young man is sent by an anti-federalist publisher to find out what had been in those letters. The book is an eminently readable saga, with ribald humor and some graphic sex scenes, that brings out some startling contradictions in Washington's character and actions.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
This stunning novel presents an authentic picture of life during the Civil War; portraying the hardships endured by the women left at home as well as the brutality faced by soldiers - on the battlefields, in the hospitals, and on the long journey home. The focus of this critically acclaimed work is two characters - Inman, a wounded Rebel soldier who walks away from the ravages of war, and Ada, the sweetheart he barely knows but longs to reach.

Island of Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw
Roman Britain is a society caught in a clash of cultures: Celtic, Roman, Christian, Druid. Into this confusion comes a culture that is stranger yet: the defeated warriors of the proud Sarmation people. Can their leader help them survive the shock of change? Bradshaw's precise historical detail brings a little-known time to life.

Mother Earth, Father Sky by Sue Harrison
This 1990 title is set in Ice Age Alaska. A young Aleut woman struggles for survival after she witnesses the massacre of her tribe and her family. She flees to an island inhabited only by an old ivory carver who helps her regain her life and her spirituality. This is the first book in a trilogy chronicling the migration of an ancient Native American tribe.

On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Kaye Gibbons
Emma Tate Lowell, daughter of a slave owner, marries a Boston Civil War era surgeon and works alongside her husband treating poor soldiers both from the north and south. This story of her many conflicting experiences shows Emma's compassion and willingness to champion human rights.

One Thousand White Women: the Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
On receiving the Presidential Peace Medal from President Grant, Cheyenne Chief, Little Wolf proposes the peaceful integration of Native American and white cultures through inter-marriage (a thousand white women traded for a thousand horses). May Dodd, sane but immured in an asylum because of two children born out of wedlock, escapes her predicament by signing up for the program. Her journals relate her love for two men - an army captain and her Native American husband - the personalities of the other women in the program, and the conflicts and rigors of nomadic life.

Panther in the Sky by James Alexander Thom
Panther in the Sky describes the forces that shaped Tecumseh and his attempts to unite the Shawnee in the early 1800s. It is a fascinating portrait of Native American life and of the impact of white westward expansion.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
This novel is set in 12th century England during the civil strife between King Stephen and his cousin Maude. The author uses the building of a cathedral as a focal point around which a web of intrigue involving both the church and state is spun.

That Camden Summer by LaVyrle Spencer
In turn-of-the-century Maine, Roberta Jewett, a modern-thinking woman with three daughters, returns to the small village of Camden where she was raised. She hopes to start her life over again after a divorce. The people of Camden, however, do not accept Roberta's lifestyle or actions. Gabriel Farley seems to be the only one who understands her modern views, and in return Roberta starts to feel for Gabriel in a way she never thought to feel about a