Book Spotlight: Murder in Petrograd by Asya M Pereltsvaig

 

Petrograd, 1916. As Russia is swept up in the maelstrom of war, Oswald Rayner, a bookish Oxford graduate, is sent by British Intelligence to Petrograd. His mission is to curb Rasputin’s influence and eliminate the man himself if needed. But Oswald soon realizes that his remit goes against his morals. Will he shirk his duty or be forever haunted by the blood on his hands and the burden of secrecy?

Murder in Petrograd re-imagines the web of forces surrounding Rasputin’s murder in a gripping saga of obsession, politics, loyalty, friendship, love, and fate. Taking the reader from Russia in 1905 to Oxford and California fifty-five years later, the novel delves into the emotional lives of a wide cast of real historical figures to explore the central questions of power, complicity, morality, and destiny. Murder in Petrograd asks whether it is ever morally right to take the life of a human being, however repugnant and dangerous he might be. Blending archival research, immersive period detail, and vivid narrative reconstruction, it bridges scholarship and storytelling with cinematic scope.

 Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/49rOgp

 

Asya Pereltsvaig is a native of Saint Petersburg, Russia. After earning a BA in English and History and a doctorate in Linguistics and teaching at Cornell and Stanford, she turned to doing what she loves most: teaching Russian history in lifelong education and writing historical fiction.

Her debut historical fiction novel, centered on the assassination of Rasputin, is a sweeping saga of murder, love and fate. Her upcoming historical mystery series, Detective Rosen Mysteries, explores social tensions, political instability and the world of crime in the early 20th-century Saint Petersburg.

When she is not writing, Asya is an intrepid traveler, avid reader, and dedicated ballroom dancer.

Author Links:

Historium Press author page:  https://www.historiumpress.com/hp-authors/asya-m-pereltsvaig

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asya.pereltsvaig/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pereltsvaigasya/?hl=en

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@pereltsvaigasya

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001JS2AWS

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/525576.Asya_Pereltsvaig

 

 If you enjoy powerful historical fiction, you’ll love Forgiving Nero. An award‑winning novel of betrayal, survival, and redemption set in ancient Rome. https://books2read.com/u/3GOMvQ

 

Book Spotlight: A King Under Siege (The Plantagenet Legacy, Book 1) by Mercedes Rochelle

 Richard II found himself under siege not once, but twice in his minority. Crowned king at age ten, he was only fourteen when the Peasants' Revolt terrorized London. But he proved himself every bit the Plantagenet successor, facing Wat Tyler and the rebels when all seemed lost.

Alas, his triumph was short-lived, and for the next ten years he struggled to assert himself against his uncles and increasingly hostile nobles. Just like in the days of his great-grandfather Edward II, vengeful magnates strove to separate him from his friends and advisors, and even threatened to depose him if he refused to do their bidding.

The Lords Appellant, as they came to be known, purged the royal household with the help of the Merciless Parliament. They murdered his closest allies, leaving the King alone and defenseless.

He would never forget his humiliation at the hands of his subjects.

Richard's inability to protect his adherents would haunt him for the rest of his life, and he vowed that next time, retribution would be his.

 Buy Link:

 Amazon: https://books2read.com/u/mqA8O6

Read with #KindleUnlimited

Born in St. Louis, MO, with a degree from the University of Missouri, Mercedes Rochelle learned about living history as a re-enactor and has been enamored with historical fiction ever since. A move to New York to do research and two careers ensued, but writing fiction remains her primary vocation. She lives in Sergeantsville, NJ, with her husband in a log home they had built themselves.

 Social Media Links:

 Website: https://mercedesrochelle.com/

X: https://x.com/authorrochelle

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mercedesrochelle.net

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fgxsypqjvxtcldshof36bglm

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mercedes-rochelle

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1696491.Mercedes_Rochelle

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Mercedes-Rochelle/author/B001KMG5P6

If you enjoy powerful historical fiction, you’ll love Forgiving Nero. An award‑winning novel of betrayal, survival, and redemption set in ancient Rome. https://books2read.com/u/3GOMvQ

 

Book Spotlight: Grace by Helen Steadman

 

A young woman answers a cry across the water and loses herself in the echo.

Longstone Lighthouse, 1838.

Grace Darling wakens to the howl of wind screaming over stone and the sight of a ship smashed against the rocks. No stranger to the fury of the sea, she braves the raging waters, risking her life to save nine survivors.

Her valour captures the nation’s heart, and in the aftermath of her daring rescue, she is hailed as a heroine. Painted, praised and relentlessly pursued, Grace is swept out from the shadows of solitude and into the limelight. But fame brings its own tempest, and the lighthouse keeper’s daughter soon finds herself eclipsed by her own legend.

Grace is a haunting portrait of a modest young woman consumed by the voracious gaze of Victorian Britain.

 

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://mybook.to/GraceDarling

Print: https://www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/products/grace

 

 

Helen Steadman mostly writes biographical historical fiction (think herbs, healing, witch trials, swords, shipwrecks and lighthouses) set in the north east of England.

So far, she’s written the Newcastle Witch Trials Trilogy (Widdershins, Sunwise and Solstice), The Running Wolf (about the Shotley Bridge swordmakers) and Grace (about Grace Darling, the Northumbrian lighthouse keeper’s daughter).

And then – because why not – there’s God of Fire set on Mount Olympus, which is absolutely nowhere near the north east of England.

 Author Links:

 Website: https://helensteadman.com/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/AuthorStea60177

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567893132867

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helensteadmanauthor/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Helen-Steadman/author/B076P4VRJD

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2297484

 

 If you enjoy discovering new stories, you may also like The AnaRose Chronicles—a trilogy of award‑winning adventure novellas. https://books2read.com/u/4jzKAY

Book Spotlight: Dear Missing Friend by Susan McGuirk

 

Recommended for readers who enjoy An American Beauty by Shana Abé and When the World Fell Silent by Donna Jones Alward.

 

Three hearts.  Lost love.  One impossible choice.

 

A character-driven historical saga featuring the love triangle of a seaman, a governess and a wealthy speculator. Told through letters, the sweep of 19th century events like the gold rush, whaling voyages, and the streets of Manhattan unfold.

 

At the height of the 1840s whaling era, Catherine McGuirk arrives in Sag Harbor, New York. She has already spurned a marriage proposal from Patrick Lynch on her passage from Ireland and is confident she will find work as a governess, or at least a teacher. The local schoolmaster dismisses her with a smirk. Settling for hotel work has its upside when Cath meets a handsome seaman, Michael Heffernan. Just as she falls in love, he is off on a whaling voyage.

 

Spending her romance alone spurs Cath to continue her correspondence with Patrick. His ascent as a successful businessman in New York is swift, while Michael promises to give up the sea for marriage to Cath. Yet, when the Gold rush calls, he cannot resist.

 

A brokenhearted Cath moves to New York to revive her dream of becoming a governess. Once in Manhattan, she continues to be torn between her own ambition, her missing husband, and her former beau.

Praise for Dear Missing Friend:

"If you're into historical fiction with a strong emotional core, Dear Missing Friend is a genuinely compelling pick. It's the kind of book that stays with you—not because of grand plot twists, but because of the quiet, deeply human moments that shape Catherine's path." 

~ The Gloss Book Club

"This captivating epistolary novel illustrates the hopes and hardships of 19th-century Irish immigrants starting over in America. The book is historically rich and emotionally riveting."
~ The Christian Science Monitor

"Fans of historical novels will find much to like in McGuirk's debut. An ambitious work of historical fiction." 
~ Kirkus Review

 Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4DLPMD

 This title is available to read on #Kindle+.

 

Susan McGuirk posts about heroines of historical fiction books on her blog “The Storied Sisters Society” on Bluesky and Substack.

While working at HBO, she honed her writing skills composing hundreds of in-house film reviews. She also worked at Anthology Film Archives, a historical film museum.

Susan lives with her husband in New York City.

Author Links:

 Website: https://susanmcguirk.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susan_mcguirk/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@susan_mcguirk

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/susanmcguirk.bsky.social

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/susan-mcguirk

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Susan-McGuirk/author/B0GT8HCQT8

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/62168190.Susan_McGuirk

Substack: https://susanmcguirk.substack.com/welcome

If you enjoy discovering new stories, you may also like The AnaRose Chronicles—a trilogy of award‑winning adventure novellas. https://books2read.com/u/4jzKAY

Book Spotlight: Emerging from the Ashes by John Anthony Miller.

 

Love and loyalty in post-war Germany

Oeynhausen, Germany in the summer of 1945

As the Second World War comes to a close, Winnie Kraus is stunned when the British confiscate much of Oeynhausen for their post-war headquarters. Fluent in English, she’s assigned to Major Evan Crane, a British officer tasked with reviewing Nazi documents for upcoming war trials. Combative partners from the outset, their relationship evolves to a mutual respect before becoming so much more.

Jurgen Frank is a German war criminal hiding in the shadows of civilian life. After the British take his home, he’s forced to live on Winnie’s father’s farm. He falls in love with Mira, a beautiful Polish conscripted laborer who only wants to go home. But he knows he doesn’t deserve her—not with the life he’s led.

Four lives haunted by pasts they had hoped to forget as love and loyalty collide in a world ruled by the spoils of war. Together they face the future, cherishing each breath they are blessed to take, emerging from the ashes.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link:

https://books2read.com/u/bwe1ga

 This book is available on #KindleUnlimited

 

 John Anthony Miller writes all things historical—thrillers, mysteries, and romance. He sets his novels in exotic locations spanning all eras of space and time, with complex characters forced to face inner conflicts—fighting demons both real and imagined. He’s published twenty novels and ghostwritten several others, including Another Soul Saved. He lives in southern New Jersey.

 Social Media Links:

 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjamiller/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/authorjamiller

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjohnamiller/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/john-anthony-miller

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/JOHN-ANTHONY-MILLER/author/B00Q1U0OKO

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9787380.John_Anthony_Miller

Publisher’s Marketplace:

https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/jamjam57/

 

 If you enjoy heartfelt historical fiction, you’ll love Crusader’s Path. An award‑winning story of faith, destiny, and redemption set during the Crusades. https://books2read.com/u/3yNPen

Book Spotlight: The Phantom Archer by N.A.Shaw

 "Exciting historical fantasy adventure with twist of fairy tales, mythology, and magical creatures."

“Fables and fairytales are for silly hearts and children...”

 

When Gwen witnesses her friends death by a creature she didn't think existed she finds herself accused of his murder. On the run from the very beast that killed her friend, she finds an ally in the ghostly vigilante The Phantom Archer.

 

He protects her and together they discover that there is a reason the beast is hunting her and far more monsters are going to be on her trail...

Praise for The Phantom Archer:

"A cleverly plotted mystery / adventure packed full of twists and turns. A FINALIST and highly recommended!" 

~ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards

"Absolutely brilliant book. Really enjoyed it, great story and compelling characters."
~ Amazon 5* Review

"A beautifully written novel, with a strong compelling story and characters. Part historical fiction, part supernatural, part murder mystery, it's a perfect blend of all three." 
~ Amazon 5* Review

  Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3ng9z5

 This book is available to read on Kindle+.

 

 

N.A. Shaw lives in Hampshire, where she works full-time while fitting her writing around her day.

She loves history, folklore, and the supernatural and enjoys weaving these themes together in her novels.

 Author Links:

 Instagram: Instagram

TikTok: N.A Shaw Author (@n.a.shaw_author) | TikTok

Amazon Author Page: Amazon.com: Natalie Shaw: books, biography, latest update

Goodreads: N.A. Shaw (Author of The Phantom Archer) | Goodreads

 

 If you enjoy discovering new stories, you may also like The AnaRose Chronicles—a trilogy of award‑winning adventure novellas. https://books2read.com/u/4jzKAY

 

Book Spotlight: The White Deer by Regina McBride

 

In the summer of 1879, on his way to Moscow to study medicine, 19-year-old Anton Chekhov, from a bankrupt merchant class family, stops to spend a restful few weeks in the Ukrainian countryside, staying with his friend, Dr. Mitrofan, who is worried about Anton’s lingering bronchitis. It is here that Anton meets Vera Denisova, also 19, a budding actress, the daughter of theater aristocrats from Volkhov, a neighboring estate. The two spend much of their time wandering Volkhov’s vast property, hoping for a glimpse of a white deer that has been spotted in the back acreage.

As they grow closer, Vera confides in Anton about her secret romance and heartbreak over Petya, a servant her age who was gifted at drawing and who she helped to acquire an apprenticeship as a draughtsman in order to leave servitude for good. Anton is fascinated by her obsession, and a triangle forms between Vera, Anton, and the absent Petya. Anton, too, shares his secrets with her, his conflicted relationship with his indigent family and his frustrated wish to publish stories. Surreptitiously through Anton, Vera learns the truth about her family’s declining financial situation and the impending loss of her beloved childhood estate. Together in the long, extended light of summer days, Vera and Anton struggle to come to terms with their feelings for each other and the new profoundly changed world that is waiting for each of them at summer’s end.

The final section of the novel charts the correspondence between Vera and Anton over the next two decades. Vera has become a successful actress and Anton, a doctor who treats peasants for free, has more than realized his ambition as a writer.

In a final letter to Vera before his death at 44 of tuberculosis, Anton reveals that his play, The Cherry Orchard, was inspired by his time with her at Volkhov.

Praise for The White Deer:

"In this stirring tale, McBride evokes a sense of place with lush depictions of birch stands and daisy fields along with a soundtrack of Tchaikovsky and folk tunes, creating a backdrop for Vera’s tender and chaste friendship with Anton. It’s an evocative portrait of a vanishing way of life."

~ Publishers Weekly

"This transportive novel sweeps the reader up into a vivid, melancholic dream set on a nineteenth century Russian estate. Regina McBride creates her own Chekhovian tragi-comedy that delights as it captures a lost world frozen in time. The White Deer is a gripping must-read for anyone who loves literature and a love story gone awry."

~ Virginia Pye, author of Marriage and Other Monuments

Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mvaor8

Regina McBride is the author of eight books. The White Deer ~ a novel of Anton Chekhov is her sixth novel. She is also the author of one memoir, Ghost Songs, and one book of poetry.

Her novel, The Nature of Water and Air, was a Booksense Pick (Independent Book Stores Selection), a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers book, and a Borders Original Voices choice. It was optioned for a film. Her books have been translated into five languages.

A recipient of fellowships from the NEA and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Regina lives in New York City, where she taught fiction writing for thirty years at Hunter College and continues to teach privately.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.reginamcbride.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010471921681

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginamcbride/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Regina-McBride/author/B001IXMGLE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/71686.Regina_McBride

If you enjoy powerful historical fiction, you’ll love Forgiving Nero. An award‑winning novel of betrayal, survival, and redemption set in ancient Rome. https://books2read.com/u/3GOMvQ

Book Spotlight: Leonor - Queens of Portugal Trilogy by Catherine Mathis

 

A queen’s ambition. A kingdom on the edge. One woman’s hunger for power will set Portugal ablaze—unless she’s devoured first.

Portugal, 1367. The court is a powder keg, and Leonor Teles de Meneses is the spark. Born noble, married off for duty, Leonor aches for more—freedom, passion, a place at the heart of power. Her wit is sharp, her enemies sharper. Her king? He’s both lover and battleground.

As the crown changes heads and alliances shift like sand, Leonor fights for a voice in a world that wants her silent. She’s hemmed in by jealous sisters, a mother-in-law from hell, and a husband who’d rather write poetry than rule. But when the king’s eye lands on her, the stakes soar. Now, every whispered rumor, every stolen glance, every calculated risk could mean everything—or nothing.

Palace intrigue, forbidden love, and betrayal pulse through every corridor. In this world, trust is a luxury, and secrets are currency. Leonor’s choices will tip the scales of dynastic conflict and decide the fate of a kingdom hungry for an heir.

If you crave the courtly drama and rich detail, get ready to lose yourself in a tale of ambition, desire, and survival—where every move could be your last.

 

Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link:   https://books2read.com/u/4E5RKA

 

Catherine Mathis writes stories set in medieval Portugal, bringing legends to life by sharing Iberian Tales.

Mathis was born in Berlin, the daughter of an American spy. She grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. She self-funded her degree from Sewanee, majoring in history with a medieval focus, and she had a career in finance.

Travel brought her the opportunity to return to an earlier love of all things Middle Ages, both as a writer and a reader.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.catherinemathis.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007239702480

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Catherine-Mathis/author/B0F7FZHJ9T

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6987876.Catherine_Mathis

Simon & Schuster Author Page:

 https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Catherine-Mathis/259410463

If you enjoy powerful historical fiction, you’ll love Forgiving Nero. An award‑winning novel of betrayal, survival, and redemption set in ancient Rome. https://books2read.com/u/3GOMvQ

 

 

 

Book Spotlight: Secrets of the Penny University by Amanda Roberts

 

Tilly risks everything on a promise. Amy wants the truth.

“I think something terrible happened here”

2025: When Amy and her husband buy an old property on Oxford’s High Street with plans to open a new coffee shop, the discovery of a mural painted on a wall hints at a story that has lain dormant for centuries. Before long, Amy is seeing and hearing echoes of the past, and a young woman who once lived there. As the penny university reveals its secrets, will Amy’s growing obsession with the past lose her everything she has in the present?

1656: Abandoned by her lover and pregnant, Tilly is sent from the small village of Islip to live with cousins in Oxford where she will work in their coffeehouse. She is soon drawn into the excitement of her new life in the city, until the return of a nightmare from her past changes the course of her future. As the time for her child to arrive draws closer, Tilly is faced with a difficult decision; does she turn her back on everything she has hoped for and settle for a different life? She follows her instincts and gambles.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/31EGQv

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

 

 

Author, bookworm and history lover, Amanda grew up in Derbyshire but has lived in Oxfordshire since 1997. A magazine editor by profession, she has published four novels and a short story.

Her first novel, The Roots of the Tree, was based on a true family story and is close to her heart, but her real love is historical fiction. She has published two dual timeline books set in Oxfordshire (The Woman in the Painting and its sequel Secrets of the Penny University) and Lady of the Quay, the first in a series of historical crime/suspense novels set in 1560 in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Second book in this, the Isabella Gillhespy series, will follow in 2027.

When not writing or attending bookish events, she can be found exploring crumbling ruins – wherever in the world she happens to be – or relaxing with her two ginger cats.

 Author Links:

 Website: https://amandarobertsauthor.co.uk/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/amanda_R_author

Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095191090333

Instagram: www.instagram.com/amanda_roberts_author/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Amanda-Roberts/author/B0FC2L3CWF

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8529791.Amanda_Roberts

 

 If you enjoy heartfelt historical fiction, you’ll love Crusader’s Path. An award‑winning story of faith, destiny, and redemption set during the Crusades. https://books2read.com/u/3yNPen

 

Book spotlight: The Queen’s Tears by Elizabeth St.John

 

A stolen crown jewel and an enigmatic portrait force two women to confront the devastating choices they made for love—and summon the courage to live with the truth.

1619: Barbara, Lady Villiers, at the bidding of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, has stolen the dying Queen Anna’s jewels—and kept the greatest prize for herself. The Queen’s Tears, a brooch of extraordinary value, torments her: too dangerous to sell, too priceless to discard, and possibly her only means of securing her children’s future. When the family fortunes are shattered, Barbara faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to Buckingham—or betray him by confessing the theft to King Charles.

Present Day: Julia Darke opens her Cotswolds bookshop to start life over peacefully. Instead, a Van Dyck portrait of Barbara’s daughter, with tantalising signs of the missing Queen’s Tears hidden in plain sight, brings her face-to-face with Oliver Villiers, the Oxford art conservator she once loved and walked away from.

Reluctantly drawn together to uncover Barbara’s secret, Julia and Oliver follow the trail of the Queen’s Tears—and the closer Julia comes to Barbara’s truth, the harder it becomes to hide from her own.

Inspired by the true stories of Queen Anna of Denmark’s stolen jewels and a missing Van Dyck painting, The Queen’s Tears weaves history, fiction, and family research across the centuries. Readers of The Lydiard Chronicles will find old favourites—and a new heroine following in their footsteps.

 

Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://geni.us/TheQueensTears

 This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

 

Elizabeth St.John's acclaimed historical fiction brings to life her ancestors—remarkable women linked to England's royalty—offering unique insights into Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times. Her novels unfold not just as traditional series, but as an interlocking web of lives: The Lydiard Chronicles—including the celebrated The Lady of the Tower—The Godmother's Secret, and The King's Intelligencer explore everything from the English Civil War to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. Her newest novel, The Queen’s Tears, a dual timeline pursuing a stolen crown jewel, reunites favourite characters from the seventeenth-century with a present-day bookstore owner heroine.

At the heart of her writing is the transformation of real ancestral histories into narratives of historical continuity. She follows threads of legacy through generations, guided as much by wills, letters, portraits, country churches, ruined castles, manor houses, and lost gardens as by imagination. Locations become constant companions through time, while characters whisper across centuries—their decisions resonating in the lives of their descendants to reveal how choices shape legacies. Grounded in historic sites like Lydiard Park and the Tower of London, her work creates a living archival flow that continues to flourish as the past yields its secrets.

Elizabeth divides her time between California, England, and the past, surrounded by books, gardens, and animals, with a slightly bewildered, ever-supportive husband beside her.

 Author Links:

 Website: https://www.elizabethjstjohn.com/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/ElizStJohn

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethJStJohn/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethjstjohn/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/elizabethstjohn.bsky.social

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/elizabeth-st-john

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@elizabethjstjohn

Amazon Author Page: https://geni.us/AmazonElizabethStJohn

Goodreads: https://geni.us/GoodreadsElizStJohn

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethjstjohn/

If you enjoy powerful historical fiction, you’ll love Forgiving Nero. An award‑winning novel of betrayal, survival, and redemption set in ancient Rome. https://books2read.com/u/3GOMvQ

Book Spotlight: The Lark by Laura C. Rader

 

When The Wizard of Oz graced the silver screen in 1939, it changed cinema and popular culture forever. But the true story began decades earlier with the young composer who risked everything to bring it to the Broadway stage. 

At the turn of the century, twenty-three-year-old Paul Tietjens is a gifted classical pianist with dreams of greatness and a non-refundable ticket to Europe to study with the master composers of his time. 

But when the bank calls in the debt on his family’s Missouri farm, Paul forgoes his dream to save them from financial ruin. Desperate to find a new road to success, he moves to up-and-coming Chicago, where he persuades author L. Frank Baum to collaborate on a comic opera of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, setting the stage for the defining cultural touchstone that we know today.

Paul embarks on his opera with high hopes, but scandal threatens his soaring ambition when he falls in love with his best friend’s beautiful but married sister, and his fears grow as the Wizard of Oz demands not only his talent but his soul.

Inspired by Paul’s 1901 diary, The Lark follows Paul as he journeys from the theaters of Chicago to the streets of Manhattan, from his family’s Missouri farm to the beaches of Michigan, fighting to hang onto the chance of a lifetime, his integrity, and the woman he loves. 

Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/m0RDZV

 

Laura C. Rader is the award-winning author of the biographical historical novel Hatfield 1677. When she isn’t writing, you can find her conducting research, playing her 1905 antique piano, and spending time with her family, friends, and pets.

A native of Southern California, she now lives north of Raleigh, North Carolina.

 Author Links:

 Website: https://www.lcrwriter.com

Twitter / X: https://x.com/LauraCR_Author

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LCRWriter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lcrwriter/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@lcrwriter

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/laurawriter2b.bsky.social

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/laurarader8/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/laura-c-rader

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laura.rader0

Amazon Author Page:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Laura-C-Rader/author/B0CZF3SQT9?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/47076598.Laura_C_Rader

 

 

 If you enjoy discovering new stories, you may also like The AnaRose Chronicles—a trilogy of award‑winning adventure novellas. https://books2read.com/u/4jzKAY