A mere mile from the blood-drenched front lines, Russian refugee and nurse Charlotte Braninov encounters English Lieutenant Robert Fitzgerald, who helps her save the life of another soldier. Robert's calm, courtly manner lingers in Charlotte's mind, a comforting memory amid the deluge of suffering that surrounds her when she returns to the hospital.

Wounded during an unauthorized mission of mercy and then demoted to a Medical Supply Officer, Robert Fitzgerald once more meets the brave young Russian nurse. When Charlotte volunteers to help the Lieutenant learn about his duties in this new life of service, a quiet friendship blooms and love grows in that harshest of soils, even as the war rages on. But human cruelty and endemic disease claw at their lives. Can love survive in a world torn by warfare, greed, and deception?

MAGNIFICENT STORY!
Told with amazing kindness and compassion. It was a gripping, agonizing, heart-rending book that touched my heart on every page. – Amazon 5 stars

This is Book 2 in R J Lynch's James Blakiston Series set in the northeast of England in the 1760s. Lynch's concern is not with the aristocracy, wayward dukes and spoilt princesses - he writes about the people at the bottom of the social heap, for whom every day is a struggle to survive and yet whose humanity stands out as they love, bicker and sometimes fight. In this book, Kate Greener's love for James Blakiston conceived in Book 1 (A Just and Upright Man) is opposed by James's implacable sister, Hannah and Susannah Bent's belief that James is meant for her. In the midst of all this, a serial killer stalks Ryton. But why? And who?

Life was precarious in 1763. When James Blakiston fell, he fell a long way and now he had two struggles on his hands--to bring the murderer of old Reuben Cooper to justice and to deny his love for the beautiful and spirited but low-born Kate Greener. As he builds a picture of the history of the murderous Cooper family over three generations, a missing coat begins to occupy his attention. How did it get from where it was to where it is--and why? A chance remark opens the door to the murderer at last. And Blakiston rejects love. But will love let him go?

Some review headers:

Evokes the plight of the rural poor in the 18th century

A romp through time that will leave you mesmerized!

Great historical mystery!

Historical Fiction is my genre and I enjoy a good mystery … throw in a little romance ...

For almost four decades, Rhys Le Noireau has been a man out of place, trying to fit pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of his life, together.

When his mother, Astral, is hospitalized in a coma, Rhys, a single, successful architect, is tasked with cleaning out her home and setting her affairs in order.

With his estranged twin sister, Renee, breathing fire down his neck, Rhys turns to Annalise Roach, Astral’s loyal Girl Friday, to guide him through the maze that is his mother’s life.

The items they find hidden within the pages of Astral’s most treasured possession - an ancient family Bible - open the portal to a life lived in another place and time.

A place that fits into his soul and forces Rhys to do the unthinkable.
Abandon everything and return to that place, Scotland Bay.

Fredericka is the daughter of a White plantation owner and his Black house slave. Horace is a literate slave-companion to the son of a New York hotel baron.

This first book in the Pocket Full of Seeds Trilogy follows their flight for freedom through nineteenth-century America. It was a time when runaway slaves were hunted, steamships sailed around the Horn to San Francisco, horse-tugged boats navigated the Erie Canal, a midnight tsunami struck Buffalo, Mormons sought a new Zion, and wagon trains lumbered across a continent littered with unmarked graves.

Most of all, this is a story driven by an unquenchable thirst for libertas.

Isabella Queen of England, often called the ‘She-wolf of France’ has been compared to Cercei in Game of Thrones. Persecuted by her husband Edward II and his ‘favourite’ the infamous Hugh Despenser, she escaped only when she was sent to France to negotiate a peace treaty. No longer prepared to be a victim of corrupt men, Isabella took her destiny into her own hands and refused to return unless Despenser was banished from her husband’s side. While in France she met the exiled Roger Mortimer, one of her husband’s bitterest enemies. With Mortimer and other supporters, Isabella gambled on her husband’s unpopularity to invade England with the determination to dispose of Despenser. But the question then arose: What to do about King Edward?
I love a good historical novel, especially one with a strong woman character and Appleyard does not disappoint. She brings the age to life with great attention to detail. Her characters live and breathe passion, romance, ambition, greed, evil, and duplicity

Born into the royal Wittelsbach family of Bavaria, with its legacy of madness, depression and eccentricity, Ludwig II's extravagant and ruinously expensive building projects, coupled with increasingly aberrant behaviour caused the people of his day to wonder. Was Ludwig mad? Was he a genius? Was he just a lonely man, having looked for and given up on love, seeking for some kind of spiritual fulfilment? Even today, we wonder. What was the impetus behind his compulsion to build? And was he really insane or a victim of his own government's scheming.
A BRAG Medallion winner. Appleyard weaves strong stories about historical figures and occurrences with ease, her ability to connect her readers with the characters is flawless. She builds her characters with care, giving them a depth that transcends paper making them more realistic than a history book could. This is the third book of Ms. Appleyard’s I have read; she brings history alive for her readers.

Can Will and Isobel help two old friends to overcome their fear and start afresh?

Dublin, Ireland, September 1886. Will is reacquainted with his former fiancée when his father’s close friend Dr Ken Wilson dies suddenly. On finding they have received the only invitation to the Wilson residence after the funeral, the Fitzgeralds witness the tensions between Cecilia, her mother and her in-laws and discover her hidden motive for wanting them present.

When Isobel is reunited with an old friend from Ballybeg, his shame at what he has done to survive hampers her attempts to bring him and Alfie together again. With an empty life and low expectations, can Peter regain his self-respect or are he and Alfie destined to be alone?

Please note that this novel contains medical terminology of the time.

Sisi enjoyed a carefree lifestyle in the hills of Bavaria until she was chosen by Franz Josef to be his wife. At the age of sixteen she became Elizabeth Empress of Austria and moved into the imperial palaces of Vienna, where a hostile court disdained her for her low birth, and strict protocol ruled her every act. She had no other purpose than to adorn the emperor's arm on ceremonial occasions and to make babies who were taken from her at birth to be raised by her domineering mother-in-law. Of too sensitive a spirit, and dazzlingly beautiful, she was often ill and anorexic and had to flee the court to distant places in order to heal. She struggled to adjust to her new life in an alien environment until she found a cause into which she could pour her heart and soul: Hungary. Like Sisi herself, Hungary struggled to find its place in the world, where it would not be subsumed by a soulless empire. Having found her salvation, she also found a man she could love in the great patriot, Count An

A great deal has been written about Eleanor of Aquitaine, not so much about her husband. Ambitious, intelligent and energetic, Henry II was one of England’s most effective kings. Unfortunately, he did not do so well with personal relationships. His attempt to claim ancestral rights over the church brought him into conflict with his erstwhile friend, Archbishop Becket. His inability to control his four sons, added to their quarrelsome natures, resulted in their making war on him and on each other and the imprisonment of his queen. Henry survived war, rebellion, treachery and the threat of excommunication. But there was one enemy he couldn’t defeat.

Dark Ages England, 590AD. A Celtic warrior fights for his home. Can he tell friend from foe after his whole world changes?
Civil war brews within the northwest kingdom of Rheged, between the lakeland castle town of Gaeson and the mountain stronghold of Klumeck.
Meet Daniel, a soldier serving the king of Gaeson and the spirited and wise Princess Evelyn. Yet the mystery behind his earliest memories of being lost in the snow demands to be solved.
Then Daniel races to find the answers when secrets are uncovered, challenging everything he knows. Can he still fight, even if the lines of combat might change? As Daniel tries to choose between love, loyalty and what is right, the even greater threat of the Bernician Angles rises.
Fans of Dark Ages and medieval historical fiction are bound to enjoy this epic Celtic tale of adventure with romance. A gripping plot and relatable characters, with clean but realistic and exciting battle scenes.
Can Daniel convince Rheged to stand united? Otherwise, it may not stand at all…


What people are saying about The Boy from the Snow
‘Excellent writing, attention to detail creating memorable scenes and characters, you will be transported to 6th century Britain.’
‘The Boy from the Snow is a lovely blend of action, drama and romance and is a story that should appeal to a wide range of readers.’
‘If you’re a fan of historical fiction and/or tales of war and love, pour yourself a mug of mead and consider checking out Maria Johnson’s The Boy from the Snow. It just might warm your heart.’

A Novel of Brazen Deeds and Fortune.
A young woman masquerading as a man. A devious adventurer with his own code of honor. A mission to stop embezzlers and to settle a grudge. And a cache of diamonds and emeralds.