In the riveting historical novel, The Making of a Witch by Judy Molland, Alice Molland begins questioning God and her way of life when her mentor and friend is convicted of being a witch and hanged. After her father is killed by Cromwell’s soldiers, twelve-year-old...

Cain's Chameleon by Mark G. Bearss takes place in West Michigan during the early 1940s and follows working-class families as they try to make it through difficult times. Earl “Tuck” Porter is a talented stone mason who isn’t really sure what he wants to do...

Dividing Down the Sunlight by Jason Shearer is a Western in the best tradition of the brutal, hard-living existence of the Nebraskan Panhandle. Set in 1878, it follows the exploits of Charlie Aintree, a manhunter, considered the best in the business. Operating out of Fort...

The Gospel of Caiaphas by Nicole Diamond Austin is a fictional telling of Joseph ben Caiaphas, who has always been infamously portrayed as presiding over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. Austin recreates Caiaphas, from childhood in a priestly household, to his rise as the high...

Song of the Chimney Sweep by Tamatha Cain traces the life of Betty Van Disson, nee Langdon, from a winter night in Florida in 1969 through decades shaped by obligation and secrecy. As a teenager, Betty meets singer Dominicus Owens and imagines a future beyond...

Poinsettia Girl by Jennifer Wizbowski is a historical novel set in Venice in the early eighteenth century. Agata Farusi was a ten-year-old girl trying to come to terms with the untimely death of her mother. Cared for by her loving Nonna (grandmother), in their neighborhood...

Lord Lorenzo Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, has summoned ship captain Niccolo Corsini to his estate. A mysterious fleet of ships flying a white flag with a black cross is decimating cities on Italy’s coast with Florence in its sights. This fleet doesn’t...

Gin Crow by Jason Hill follows Willy Knight, a widowed father living with his daughter Christy in 2005 San Antonio. Willy has spent years studying the death of Helen Ruth after recognizing parallels between her disappearance from public memory and his own wife’s death after...

Therein Lies the Pearl by Catherine Hughes is one of those historical novels that I devour with great pleasure. Set in Normandy and England in the eleventh century, in the years leading up to the Norman Conquest in 1066, it focuses not so much on...

Ballot by Dan Mulvagh is a powerful anti-war novel that follows the exploits of four Australian servicemen (Diggers) called up to serve in the Vietnam War. Mitch Masters' career in motorcycle speedway racing is derailed by a call-up in the 1969 Australian draft ballot. Three...