Author and Host Nola Nash speaks with Bestselling Historical Fiction Authors. Facebook Live. Tune in to listen to this fascinating episode with each of these authors, their stories, research, books, behind the scenes, and more.
Streamed live on Dec 16, 2020
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Biltmore House, a palatial mansion being built by the Vanderbilts, American “royalty,” is in its final stages of construction in North Carolina. The country’s grandest example of privilege, it symbolizes the aspirations of its owner and the dreams of a girl, just as driven, who lives in its shadow.
Kerry MacGregor’s future is derailed when, after two years in college in New York City, family obligations call her home to the beautiful Appalachians. She is determined to distance herself from the opulence she sees rising in the Blue Ridge Mountains, however, close its reach. Her family’s land is among the last pieces required to complete the Biltmore Estate. But something more powerful than an ambitious Vanderbilt heir could change Kerry’s fate as, one by one, more outsiders descend on the changing landscape—a fugitive from Sicily, a reporter chasing a groundbreaking story, a debutante tainted by scandal, and a conservationist prepared to put anyone at risk to stoke the resentment of the locals.
As Kerry finds herself caught in a war between wealth and poverty, innocence and corruption, she must navigate not only her own pride and desperation to survive but also the temptations of fortune and the men who control it.
THE SECRET STEALERS
A female American spy in Nazi-occupied France finds purpose behind enemy lines in a novel of unparalleled danger, love, and daring.
Anna Cavanaugh dreamed of a worthy, adventurous life. Instead, the restless young widow and brilliant linguist teaches French at an all-girls school in Washington, D.C. Everything changes when she’s recruited into the Office of Strategic Services by a family friend and legendary WWI hero.
Major General William Donovan has faith in her–and in all his “glorious amateurs” who are becoming Anna’s fast friends: Maggie, Anna’s down-to-earth mentor; Irene, struggling to find support for her clandestine life from her husband; and Julia, a cheerful OSS liaison. But the more Anna learns about the secret missions, the more she longs to be stationed abroad. Then comes the opportunity: going undercover as a female spy in the French Resistance. Anna’s not only returning to an endangered city she adores, but is also getting a chance to live a life with meaning.
Dispatched behind enemy lines, Anna is filled with adrenaline, passion, and fear, and driven to make a difference–for her country, for the allies, and for herself. Anna’s found her purpose. Whatever the risk, she’s willing to take it to help liberate France from the shadows of oppression, and to free herself from the shadows of her old life. Read More
THE SPIRAL SHELL: A FRENCH VILLAGE REVEALS ITS SECRETS OF JEWISH RESISTANCE IN WORLD WAR II
There are times in each of our lives when we make a journey that takes us beyond the physical place we’ve ventured in order to reveal a different, greater sense of ourselves and our place in history. For author Sandell Morse what started out as a research project became an unexpected rediscovery of identity and faith. In this haunting memoir, she uncovers long silenced stories of bravery and resistance among the civilians of a small town in France during WWII, and in turn finds deeper meaning and understanding of her own Jewish heritage. After the war, as the author describes, “truth went underground” and the stories of those who resisted and escaped were left buried and unheard. Morse gradually befriended and gained the trust of several individuals who shared their stories of bravery and resistance during that harrowing time. In a narrative that unfolds and overlaps both past and present, the author in turn discovers truths about her own life and Jewish history, denied her in childhood, and that she now more fully comprehends in light of the brave and selfless actions of those who chose to fight against bigotry, oppression, and genocide.
THE VANISHING SKY
A New York Times Book Review Summer Reading Selection
For readers of Warlight and The Invisible Bridge, an intimate, harrowing story about a family of German citizens during World War II.
"There was no shelter without her sons."
In 1945, as the war in Germany nears its violent end, the Huber family is not yet free of its dangers or its insidious demands. Etta, a mother from a small, rural town, has two sons serving their home country: her elder, Max, on the Eastern front, and her younger, Georg, at a school for Hitler Youth. When Max returns from the front, Etta quickly realizes that something is not right-he is thin, almost ghostly, and behaving very strangely. Etta strives to protect him from the Nazi rule, even as her husband, Josef, becomes more nationalistic and impervious to Max's condition. Meanwhile, miles away, her younger son Georg has taken his fate into his own hands, deserting his young class of battle-bound soldiers to set off on a long and perilous journey home.
The Vanishing Sky is a World War II novel as seen through a German lens, a story of the irreparable damage of war on the home front, and one family's participation-involuntary, unseen, or direct-in a dangerous regime. Drawing inspiration from her own father's time in the Hitler Youth, L. Annette Binder has crafted a spellbinding novel about the choices we make for country and for family. Read More
Soraya Lane
THE LAST CORRESPONDENT
“This fast-paced narrative is packed with subterfuge, action, and romance.” - Historical Novel Society
When journalist Ella Franks is unmasked as a woman writing under a male pseudonym, she loses her job. But having risked everything to write, she refuses to be silenced and leaps at the chance to become a correspondent in war-torn France.
Already entrenched in the thoroughly male arena of war reporting is feisty American photojournalist Danni Bradford. Together with her best friend and partner, Andy, she is determined to cover the events unfolding in Normandy. And to discover the whereabouts of Andy’s flighty sister, Vogue model Chloe, who has followed a lover into the French Resistance.
When trailblazing efforts turn to tragedy, Danni, Ella and Chloe are drawn together, and soon form a formidable team. Each woman is determined to follow her dreams ‘no matter what’, and to make her voice heard over the noise of war.
Europe is a perilous place, with danger at every turn. They’ll need to rely on each other if they are to get their stories back, and themselves out alive. Will the adventure and love they find be worth the journey of their lives? Read More
About Nola Nash:
Nola’s debut novel and the first of her series, CRESCENT CITY MOON, is out now from Pandamoon Publishing. Look for the sequel, Crescent City Sin, this October.
Originally from south Louisiana, Nola Nash now makes her home in Brentwood , Tennessee, with her three children. Growing up in Baton Rouge, she spent long hours onstage or backstage in the local community theaters, or writing stories that refused to leave her head any other way than to be put on paper. Her biggest inspiration was the city of New Orleans that gave her at an early age a love of the magic, mystery, and history. There are few better places for her to dream up stories than walking through the French Quarter or Garden District imagining what those places could tell. Read More