An Extra Curly Tale

Hungary managed to avoid war in its homeland for significantly longer than its neighboring countries and remained one of the safest places until late in the war. After the Nazi occupation in 1944, that all changed. The Hungarian army invaded Yugoslavia and Russia, but after massive losses of Hungarian soldiers, Hungary was now in Russia’s crosshairs. The story’s first half chronicles the life of a young girl named Anoosh, who lived in Hungary during World War II. She experiences things no child should ever endure. Anoosh and some friends and family members are eventually forced to leave the only home her family has ever known and start a new life in America.

The simple life of living on a farm in a small village may have been idyllic until the horrors of war came crashing in. The young girl was to suffer what we now call PTSD. Certain sights and sounds would trigger these bad memories well into her old age.

 Follow Anoosh’s fascinating journey. You’ll sometimes smile, perhaps laugh at her special moments with her beloved pets. Her remarkable pig with an extra curly tail will highlight many milestones throughout her story. Other times, you’ll be sad, even angry. It’s a journey worth taking.

You’ll also meet an assassin with a heart of gold, who is essential to the family’s survival in Hungary and Germany. The Tale continues in America, featuring both heartwarming and heartbreaking moments in the Hungarian woman’s life. Many of these people could be someone you know. We hope you enjoy the surprising turns in this extra-curly tale.

Foxfire

It is June 1940. With the German occupation of Norway complete and Paris falling, Europe is in chaos. Refugees are fleeing in all directions, finding all exits blocked. There is one way out: the Arctic harbor town of Liinahamari, a forgotten port on Finland’s northern coast. Among the refugees fleeing up the Arctic Ocean Highway are the Crown Princess of Norway and her three children.

A ship, The Queen of the North, will be waiting for the refugees at Liinahamari, arranged by personal order of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who has developed a fondness for the Crown Princess of Norway that will last until his death. The Queen of the North is scheduled to depart on August 16, 1940. The ship will also be expecting an item of significant interest to the US Navy. Smuggled from a Swedish armament works by an unlikely group of Anglos, Swedes, and Poles, an object is to be concealed in its hold that could very well change the course of the war in the Atlantic...

Based on real events, Foxfire is the story of a military operation that actually took place in 1940. Part spy thriller, part love story, and part celebration of an extraordinary landscape, Foxfire will take you on an epic journey up the Arctic Ocean Highway to a place now lost to history.

The Plum Thief

As Pan American World Airways teetered on bankruptcy, could the shah of Iran provide the capital to restore it to solvency? Or would his financial bailout endanger the lives of Pan Am’s executives because a religious revolution is brewing?

The Plum Thief is the turbulent story of activists who forged a new government in the 1970s by battling Western businessmen in their efforts to topple the shah of Iran. Told from the little guy’s point of view, here’s a tale of indoctrination, as characters in The Plum Thief perform increasingly violent historic events, where heady success is achieved only through peril and risk of death. It’s the story of secret police, clerics with weapons, oil bureaucrats, and the US Congress. It poses the lingering question: Can the rules of faith serve as the rules of law?

The Plum Thief reveals author James Roman’s personal involvement with Iran’s religious revolution, also including such recognizable names as Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Ayatollah Khomeini, and more. Here is historic fact, disclosing how Iran, once America’s steadfast ally, evolved in this new world order.

Far From Me

Based on a true story, Far From Me is a tale of friendship, romance and tragedy set against the backdrop of a country in the grip of an epic fight for survival.

On the 3rd of September, 1939, the lives of two young Australians are changed forever when Neville Chamberlain declares that Britain is at war with Germany.

On his farm in the outback of Victoria, fifteen-year-old Keith is wide-eyed at the news and bursting to hear what his schoolmates make of it. The announcement lands differently on the west coast, where the plans of Johnny and his young bride are put on hold when life in their hometown of Perth is disrupted by a huge influx of US troops and military hardware. Johnny’s loyalties are torn between devotion to his new wife and duty to his country. 

Three years into the conflict, the paths of Keith and Johnny converge when they meet up in Canada during training for the Australian Air Force. Both are carrying scars from unexpected loss.

Their friendship survives the excesses of Montreal nightlife, a treacherous Atlantic crossing and a sobering encounter with the makeshift drabness of wartime England. During bitter fighting at the turn of 1945, they join a rookie crew under the benevolent leadership of a veteran captain and find unexpected comfort in a sleepy market town in Southern England.

The crew graduate to operational missions flying Lancaster bombers. Through countless nerve-shredding moments, they discover the fine margins between survival and disaster before getting to savor the wild, euphoric release of VE Day.

But fate is not finished with them yet.

The Legend of Jane Coleman

This is a story of a stowaway girl on the passenger ship LYON, who was one of the colonists at Roanoke Island. It chronicles her life from ages fifteen to sixty-one, and it describes her hardships in both England and Virginia. The stories’ span of time is from 1587 to 1633.

The story is derived from the passenger list of the people that made up the third attempt at colonization of the New World. The passenger list had two people on it whose first names were either made illegible to historians or purposely omitted by John White, who was the governor of the expedition.

The two names were (blank) Coleman, listed as a woman passenger, and (blank) Marvis, listed as a child under the age of sixteen. Jane Colman was actually both persons who were written on that list.

And the Rest Is History...

Commonplace today, abdominal surgery in its infancy was once little more than a death sentence. Medical textbooks credit a humble country surgeon with the first successful operation of its kind. With limited context and few details, the legend merely whets our appetite for more. What’s the rest of the story?

And the Rest Is History…

Commonplace today, abdominal surgery in its infancy was once little more than a death sentence. Medical textbooks credit a humble country surgeon with the first successful operation of its kind. With limited context and few details, the legend merely whets our appetite for more. What’s the rest of the story?

The Unkindness of Ravens

In 1846, seventeen-year-old midwife’s assistant Caitlin Nee lives on a tenant farm with her family in County Galway, Ireland. She has two great ambitions: to become a wise woman like her mentor Bridie and to win the heart of handsome, mercurial Liam O’Shea. Then one night an unsettling dream about ravens—harbingers of death—proves prescient when a potato blight turns her halcyon world into a living nightmare. Starvation, sickness and loss will soon become a daily reality, and no one is spared from horrific events and heartbreaking choices. Caitlin’s own family—romantic Orla, proud Seamus, pious Colin, fey Mary, and her Mam and Da—will all be tested by the devastating Great Hunger.

The Nees, like many other Irish families, work hardscrabble land for the imperious Lord Wentworth. They live in constant fear not only of dying from want but also of being evicted from their cabins if they can’t pay the rent. For the landlord, hunger and poverty are the fault of the victims rather than neglect and inadequate relief measures on the part of the government. After accidentally hearing a conversation at Wentworth Hall, Caitlin is made aware of the cruel indifference of His Lordship that will result in tumbled homes and mass graves throughout his estate. Will her family suffer a similar fate?

Despite all of the sorrow and devastation around them, love grows ever stronger between Caitlin and Liam. They make plans for a future life together once the famine is over. But when tragedy and rebellion force Liam to emigrate to America, Caitlin must decide whether to stay in Ireland or to follow her heart.

Based on contemporary anecdotes, The Unkindness of Ravens: A Tale of the Great Irish Famine tells the story of a disastrous historical event through the eyes of a strong-willed young lass who embodies the resilience of the Irish spirit.

An Irishman’s Story of Survival

Every life is a tapestry of challenges, with resilience as its weft and weave. Amidst the torrent of trials that threaten to engulf one’s spirit, there stand the unyielding souls who, with a spark of defiance in their eyes, dare to face the tempest and emerge on the other side. They are the survivors, the dauntless hearts who tread the rocky path with an unwavering resolve.

Kevin O’Donnell is a beacon of such indomitable spirit, grappling with life’s relentless waves that seek to subdue him. In the turbulent era of mid-20th century, the world could be a harsh, unforgiving place for a young Irish lad. Yet, within Kevin lies a burning desire to carve out his niche, to transcend the barriers that life hurls his way and grasp the reins of a fulfilling existence.

Can his resolute will and earnest endeavor outshine the adversities that loom? Can he navigate the maelstrom and anchor himself to the shores of a prosperous life? Traverse the chapters of his journey within these pages, and unveil the saga of a young man’s undying spirit amidst the trials of time. Through Kevin’s eyes, explore a testament to the enduring human spirit that resonates with every beating heart that refuses to yield to life’s storms.

Christina’s War

Growing up on a poor farm in Missouri and learning how to sing opera from her war-scarred father, young Christina Cross has no idea the powerful forces of good and evil, of music and war, will one day pull her into the maelstrom of the Second World War, compelling her to make life-or-death-decisions about who she is fighting for and the price she is willing to pay.

Like a masterful opera, Christina’s War deftly transports the reader to early 1940s Paris where Christina and her sister, Nicollet, are sent by their father to live a better life with their Grandfather, Philippe Pétain. Philippe, eager to please the Nazi regime, envisions Christina’s exquisite voice as a means to entertain Hitler and his officers. Yet, unbeknownst to him, Christina’s heart belongs not just to music but to Laurent Gauvion Saint-Cyr, the charismatic leader of the French Underground who had recruited her into the resistance.

When she defiantly refuses to sing, setting Hitler’s fury aflame, Nicollet becomes a pawn in a dangerous game of power and retribution. Now, Laurent must not only fight for their country’s freedom but race against time to save the two sisters from the clutches of a malevolent Nazi officer who revels in torture.

Disasters at Sea

In October 1851, the bustling harbors of Gloucester, Massachusetts marked the onset of a promising venture as the American fishing fleet set sail towards the bountiful mackerel run in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. However, as they neared the waters off Prince Edward Island, Canada, an unanticipated hurricane engulfed them in a tempest of terror and despair, obliterating over 200 schooners and vessels. The calamity claimed the lives of over 100 seamen, a tragic toll that resonated across the waves.

Disasters at Sea unveils the poignant yet inspiring chronicle of the Prince Edward Island residents, who, propelled by compassion, rallied to extend a lifeline to the beleaguered seamen. Their unwavering aid echoed the noble deeds of the Newfoundland residents during the 9/11 crisis. With hearts brimming with empathy, they embarked on a mission of rescue, recovery, and honor for the fallen, manifesting an enduring maritime bond.

This narrative reflects on the ethos of neighborly duty prevalent in the 19th-century Maritime Canada, highlighting a stark contrast against the seemingly indifferent response of the vessel owners in the aftermath, who appeared to evade accountability for the lost souls and shattered vessels. Disasters at Sea navigates through the haunting whys of fate’s discernment amidst the storm, unearthing the profound human spirit that surges even amidst the darkest squalls, painting a timeless tableau of maritime valor and human resilience.

Red Wolf and the Summer Flower

A thousand years ago, two Cherokee teenagers were forced to endure hardship, danger, peril, natural and unnatural disasters, and scorn for simply being teenagers.

They lived in an unforgiving world run by a harsh and dictatorial society but still managed to find meaning in their lives. They found that a good friendship provides strength, and loyalty to one’s friend ensures survival. Then, through a series of unfortunate circumstances, they learned that they had what it takes to be an adult.

This is a story about one short summertime in the lives of a boy called Red Wolf and a girl named Summer Flower.