In 1942 Paris, architect Lucien Bernard accepts a commission that will bring him a great deal of money-- and maybe get him killed. All he has to do is design a secret hiding place for a wealthy Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined German officer won't find it. He sorely needs the money, and outwitting the Nazis who have occupied his beloved city is a challenge he can't resist. When one of his hiding spaces fails horribly,...

During the French Revolution a young English lawyer goes to the guillotine to save a French aristocrat, husband of the woman he loves. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times ..." With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the...

"Wealthy, beautiful Naneé was born with a spirit of adventure. For her, learning to fly is freedom. When German tanks roll across the border and into Paris, this woman with an adorable dog and a generous heart joins the resistance. Known as the Postmistress because she delivers information to those in hiding, Naneé uses her charms and skill to house the hunted and deliver them to safety. Photographer Edouard Moss has escaped Germany with his young...

Set against the backdrop of World War II, this unforgettable novel, inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime, follows three women whose fates become intertwined by their belief in the power and goodness in the written word to triumph over the very darkest moments of war. Berlin 1933. Following the success of her debut novel, American writer Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels himself to participate in a culture...

"A courageous young noblewoman risks her life to hide French resistance fighters; seventy years later, her granddaughter visits the family's abandoned chateau and uncovers shocking secrets from the past. Gisele Duchant guards a secret that could cost her life. Tunnels snake through the hill under her family's medieval chateau in Normandy. Now, with Hitler's army bearing down, her brother and several friends are hiding in the tunnels, resisting the...

"Lieutenant-Colonel Sharpe is a man with a reputation. Born in the gutter, raised a foundling, he joined the army twenty-one years ago, and it's been his home ever since. He's a loose cannon, but his unconventional methods make him a valuable weapon. So when, the dust still settling after the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington needs a favour, he turns to Sharpe. For Wellington knows that the end of one war is only the beginning of another....

"Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and ... queens? Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she's a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is a shapeshifter in a kingdom where Verities rule. It's a secret that could cost her a head--or a tail. Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn after the king...

Despite rumors of impending war, the majestic ship Normandie makes its transatlantic voyage from Washington DC, to France. Aboard is beautiful, American-born Liane De Villiers, devoted to her much-older husband, the French ambassador to the United States, and her two daughters. She meets Nick Burnham, an American steel magnate, a kind man trapped in a loveless marriage. Their passion remains unacknowledged. But when the outbreak of World War II forces...

When Katharine Tulman foils an attempt to kidnap her Uncle Tully, she finds herself caught up in international intrigue. Aware that there are people who want to turn her uncle's mechanical fish into an explosive device, and unsure of who to trust, she decides to fake her uncle's death and flee to Paris in search of Lane Moreau, her uncle's assistant.

A husband and wife enter into a life of hardship in order to repay the debt incurred in replacing a borrowed diamond necklace only to learn, ten years later, the irony of their situation. Includes an analysis of the story and a biography of the author.