Spanish Peaks Library District

This gripping historical novel is based on the true story of Eyam, the "Plague Village," in the rugged mountain spine of England. In 1666, a tainted bolt of cloth from London carries bubonic infection to this isolated settlement of shepherds and lead miners. A visionary young preacher convinces the villagers to seal themselves off in a deadly quarantine to prevent the spread of disease. The story is told through the eyes of eighteen-year-old Anna...

Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker--a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry's brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father's money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable...

2 CHILDREN FOR SALE The sign is a last resort. It sits on a farmhouse porch in 1931, but could be found anywhere in an era of breadlines, bank runs and broken dreams. It could have been written by any mother facing impossible choices. For struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family's dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication. But when it leads to his big break, the consequences...

When her stetson-wearing neighbor left to seek his fortune, Virginia Simpson remained at home, sustained by hope and an expectant heart. Now that her beloved Jonathan is back, she can't wait to become Mrs. Lewis and begin the life she's always dreamed about. But married life isn't quite what she expected... When an old friend presents a surprising choice for the couple, Virginia must decide from whom to draw her strength. - Back cover.

Ayla and Jondalar finally reach the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the settlement that is home to Jondalar's people. Here Ayla eagerly learns the ways of her new tribe while in turn sharing her knowledge, but finds her unique spiritual gifts make the quiet life she desires impossible.

"Henry VIII, anxious about the consequences of dying without a male heir, is denied permission to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn, but the power struggle between the Church and the Crown is mediated by astute politician Thomas Cromwell, who manages to get the king what he wants while keeping his eye on the prize of a free England"--Provided by publisher.

"It is 1880 and Gracy Brookens is the only midwife in a small Colorado mining town where she has delivered hundreds, maybe thousands, of babies in her lifetime. She is a gifted and important resource for the women of her hardscrabble community, a position earned through wisdom and trust. Most women in Swandyke couldn't even imagine getting through their pregancy and labor without Gracy by their sides. But everything changes when a baby is found dead...and...

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

Twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent, having met banker Tinker Grey while hanging out at a Greenwich Village jazz bar, finds her way into the upper echelons of New York society, and, as she makes new friends and waits for circumstances to bring Tinker back into her life, she begins to realize she regrets some of the choices she has made.

Pearl and her younger sister, May, enjoy life in 1930s Shanghai, until their father reveals that his gambling habit has spent the family's finances. To make good on his debts, he has sold both girls to a wealthy Chinese-American as wives for his sons. Pearl and May have no intention of leaving home, but after Japanese bombs and soldiers ravage their city and both their parents disappear, the sisters head for California, where their husbands-to-be...