Cecelia Holland

En 1190, Ricardo Corazón de León organiza una cruzada junto al rey de Francia, Felipe Augusto, para liberar los Santos Lugares de la ocupación árabe. Leonor de Aquitania, madre de Ricardo, envía entre el sequito real de la expedicion a Edythe, una muchacha de oscuro pasado, para que la mantenga informada de los planes de su hijo. Una vez en Tierra Santa, Ricardo hace honor a su sobrenombre, Pero a pesar de ello la cruzada se desmorona: el rey frances se desentiende de su promesa de liberar Jerusalen y regresa a sus tierras. Por si todo ello no fuera suficiente, Ricardo cae presa de una extraña enfermedad y la unica persona capaz de sanarlo resulta ser Edythe, quien parece tener mucho que ocultar y comienza a correr el rumor entre los cruzados de que en realidad se trata de una bruja. Y, para terminar de complicar las cosas, en el sequito del rey ingles viaja una persona que puede acabar con sus aspiraciones: Rouquin, el primo de Ricardo el secreto mejor guardado de Inglaterra.

En 1151 Leonor, duquesa de Aquitania, continúa sin dar a luz a un heredero varón, a pesar de llevar casi quince años casada con Luis VII, rey de Francia. La duquesa es una mujer inteligente y ambicio

Introducing Grow by Cecelia Holland a gripping novel that takes you on a thrilling journey into the heart of a close-knit northern California community, where secrets smolder and danger lurks in the shadows. In this captivating tale, Jenny Meek, an unexpected heroine, navigates a world fraught with peril. As a pot-growing grandmother, she treads a fine line between the law and her livelihood, all while grappling with the specter of forest fires that threaten to consume her cherished home. But Jennys challenges are far from over, for a sinister string of murders rocks her peaceful enclave, shattering the tranquility she once knew. Amidst the chaos, the return of her long-lost daughter adds a layer of complexity to Jennys life. With the past and present colliding, she must summon her inner strength to confront the truth, protect her family, and unearth the dark secrets that threaten to consume her community. Experience a tale of suspense, resilience, and redemption in Grow a riveting novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last pag

When the Mongols sack Baghdad in the year 1258, the renegade Templar Knight Rikart al-ShahbRikart the Ghostescapes the city. He tries to save two others as wellthe Arab boy Daud and Dinah, the teenage daughter of a Jewish scholarbut they are separated in the chaos. Rikart and Daud make their escape separately, but Dinah is captured by the Mongols. In the time that follows, as the Mongols continue to overwhelm Heart of the Worldwhat a later age would call the Middle EastRikart tries to persuade whichever Muslim or Christian leaders he encounters to unite against the invaders from the steppes. Eventually, he and Daud are reunited and together they liberate a captive Egyptian Mameluke leader whom they believe could lead the needed resistance. Dinah, meanwhile, has been taken into the household of the wife of Hulegu Khan, brother of the Mongol emperor and leader of the Mongol army. Over time, a love affair develops between her and Nikola, one of the great khans sons. All of their lives will come back together at the great battle of Ain Jalut, where the Mamelukes and their allies make a desperate stand against the mighty forces from Central Asia who seek to conquer Heart of the World.

Guided and guarded by an angel, a young Spanish knight saves Paris from the Vikings during one of the darkest eras of Christendom—and turns out to be a girl.

The year is 1846, and war is brewing between the United States and Mexico. Under the pretext of a scientific research expedition, Lt. John C. Fremont arrives in Sutters Fort with Kit Carson, famous Indian Scout, and a few men. Also arriving in Sutters Fort is Cat Reilly, who has been widowed on the long trip west and is now in desperate circumstances. She becomes romantically involved with a Russian count as well as in Fremont and Carsons political scheming and maneuvers. Soon, she is plunged into a political maelstrom as Fremont sets up a California Republic and later brings California into the union.

In 1872, the notorious outlaw King Callahan adopts an orphan after Lilys father is killed in a botched robbery in Virginia City. They flee to Los Angeles, where Callahan tries to make a better life, but his talents all run to robbery. He runs afoul of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which is moving in on the south coast, bringing money, corruption, and inevitable social changes. A railroad detective relentlessly pursues the outlaw, which means he is also chasing Lily. Five years later, Lily has grown up. Part of an acting troupe, she goes to San Francisco, the golden city, a mix of extreme wealth and desperate poverty, limitless opportunity and instant disaster. There, she searches for the mother she only dimly remembers, and encounters again the railroad detective who had pursued her through Los Angeles. The railroad strikes, rioting and uproar that consumed the whole United States in that summer reaches San Francisco and Lily is caught up in the turmoil of a free-wheeling society that is making itself up as it goes along.

In this YA novel, Holland shows us a raging San Francisco during the beginning of the 1849 Gold Rush. Many different types of people are flocking to California. Preachers, con men, miners, Mormons, army deserters, and Native Americans are trying to start over. Here are Frances Hardhardt, an escaped slave whose goal is to never be controlled again as she has been controlled; Daisy, a gorgeous singer who is Hardharts protegee and tool; and Mitya, an Aleut Indian with a troubled past whose talent as a builder creates the central locale of the book, the Shining Light Saloon. That location becomes the glue that binds people and story together in a multicultural drama.

Sixteen year old Jenny Dolf hates being a girl. She resents the restrictions on her life, and she just feels wrong, and trapped, in her females body. When the Revolution breaks out, she takes her fathers musket and poses as a boy named Jack, to join George Washingtons army on the heights of Long Island. From the first terrible losses, to the great victory at Trenton, in savage battles and long hard marches, Jack learns the value, and the cost, of freedom.

The only child of a minor baron on the fringes of Christendom, Maria marries an ambitious knight determined to make himself great. Through their combative, passionate marriage she discovers her own p

The Styths, a powerful and aggressive mutant race from the Gas Planets, Uranus and Saturn, have been launching pirate raids on ships from Mars. Earths Committee for the Revolution has been asked to mediate, to negotiate a truce between the Middle Planets and the Styth Empire. The task of conducting the talks falls to an intelligent, resourceful and unpredictable young woman, Paula Mendoza. Her initial meetings with the Styth warlord and his unruly band of bodyguards and advisers are not promising. But then Paula adopts a less conventional approach. The consequences for her are considerable and she finds herself on the Gas Planets, the only tenuous link between Earth and the Styth Empire...

Of the women in King Richards life, she is the least known-and the most powerful. During the Third Crusade, deaths from fever and starvation are common, but King Richard the Lion-Hearted has a secret ally against these impassable enemies-a mysterious healer by the name of Edythe. She was sent to him by his mother Eleanor, and Richard first assumes that Edythe is a spy. But when her medical knowledge saves his life, she becomes an indispensable member of his camp-even as his loyal soldiers, suspicious of her talent for warding off death, call her a witch.

Eleanor of Aquitaine seized hold of life in the 12th century in a way any modern woman would envy! 1151: As Duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor grew up knowing what it was to be regarded for herself and not for her husbands title. Now, as wife to Louis VII and Queen of France, she has found herself unsatisfied with reflected glory-and feeling constantly under threat, even though she outranks every woman in Paris. Then, standing beside her much older husband in the course of a court ceremony, Eleanor locks eyes with a man-hardly more than a boy, really- across the throne room, and knows that her world has changed irrevocably... He is Henry DAnjou, eldest son of the Duke of Anjou, and he is in line, somewhat tenuously, for the British throne. She meets him in secret. She has a gift for secrecy, for she is watched like a prisoner by spies even among her own women. She is determined that Louis must set her free. Employing deception and disguise, seduction and manipulation, Eleanor is determined to find her way to power-and make her mark on history.