Leisure Reading — Literature

A proud first century Jew, Judah Ben Hur is wrongly sent to the galleys through a bizarre quirk of fate and betrayal by his best friend, the Roman noble Messala. Miraculously, Judah Ben Hur returns to Palestine an honored Roman citizen, bringing with him a ravenous appetite for settling old scores and toppling a government. In reality, Judah is doomed to destroy his own hardening soul, unless he can come to grips with someone more powerful than his hatred: Jesus Christ.

Set in Lombardy during the Spanish occupation of the late 1620s, The Betrothed tells the story of two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia, prevented from marrying by the petty tyrant Don Rodrigo, who desires Lucia for himself. Forced to flee, they are then cruelly separated, and must face many dangers including plague, famine and imprisonment, and confront a variety of strange characters--the mysterious Nun of Monza, the fiery Father Cristoforo and the sinister "Unnamed"--in their struggle to be reunited.

Hank Morgan finds himself transported back to England's Dark Ages — where he is immediately captured and sentenced to death at Camelot. Fortunately, he's quick-witted, and in the process of saving his life he turns himself into a celebrity — winning himself the position of prime minister as well as the lasting enmity of Merlin.

Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family's land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.

During the Crusades, Wilifrid, a young Saxon knight, embarks on a series of adventures to prove himself worthy of the princess Rowena, fighting the Normans and the Templars?and allied with such figures as Robin Hood and Richard the Lionheart.

The daughters of an American colonel become caught up in the conflict between the two nations contest for supremacy in North America, and embroiled in the war between the Native American allies of the two sides. One of the world's most widely-read American adventure stories.

There is one incontrovertible fact, Vincent van Gogh (the famous and infamous 19th century painter) was shot and died. Was Vincent van Gogh murdered? That question can only be answered with logical supposition: when it is impossible to prove the truth or untruth of a thing then truth matters little. Therefore, what is known as the truth could be a lie and, contrary-wise, what is believed a lie may prove Truth. Let us begin this tale where all good murders begin: a body. Not Vincent van Gogh’s, but a woman’s. The Year: 1879. The place: Le Chat Noir...

In Paris's exclusive Saint-Germain neighborhood is a mansion. In that mansion lives a family. Deep in that mansion. The Bolts are that family, and they have secrets. The Safe House tells their story. When the Nazis came, Étienne Boltanski divorced his wife and walked out the front door, never to be seen again during the war. So far as the outside world knew, the Jewish doctor had fled.

An irresistible blend of romance, intrigue, and suspense, this timeless historical adventure recalls the terror following the French Revolution, when mobs ruled the streets of Paris and hundreds of royals were condemned to face the guillotine daily. The only hope of many was a courageous leader who spirited aristocrats across the Channel to England and safety.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .”

This swashbuckling epic of chivalry, honor, and derring-do, set in France during the 1620s, is richly populated with romantic heroes, unattainable heroines, kings, queens, cavaliers, and criminals in a whirl of adventure, espionage, conspiracy, murder, vengeance, love, scandal, and suspense. Dumas transforms minor historical figures into larger- than-life characters: the Comte d’Artagnan, an impetuous young man in pursuit of glory; the beguilingly evil seductress “Milady”; the powerful and devious Cardinal Richelieu; the weak King Louis XIII and his unhappy queen—and, of course, the three musketeers themselves, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, whose motto “all for one, one for all” has come to epitomize devoted friendship.

When Tom O'Brien discovers a magazine article featuring a ranch family in western Alberta, he is captivated by the resemblance the Tungstalls bear to the Milto family he knew in the past. While it is said that everyone has a double, O'Brien believes an entire family having a mirror image is beyond coincidence, especially when the family he knew existed nearly fifty years ago.