On his seventeenth birthday, New South Wales farm boy, Callan McAlister joins the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and is swept away to war. His first taste of blood comes from an unexpected enemy in the Sinai Desert, before being shipped to Gallipoli. Callan receives a shock while convalescing in peaceful, idyllic Ireland during the Easter of 1916. But the Western Front awaits — all before his nineteenth birthday. Callan falls in love with a lovely English beauty, Ivy Brown, but their path to happiness is neither easy nor pre-ordained. A lowly Australian private soldier is viewed with doubt and disapproval by Ivy’s aristocratic family — not to mention Callan’s chances of surviving the brutality of the Great War. An offer to join the fledgling Royal Flying Corps (RFC) may be Callan’s chance to escape the endless mud-filled trenches, infested with rats, lice, trench fever and foot-rot, and tormented by German machine-gunners and artillery bombardments. But, with minimal training, an RFC pilot’s life expectancy is tenuous at best. Ivy also experiences her baptism of fire as an ambulance driver for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). Callan and Ivy’s struggle reaches its startling climax in an air race to the far reaches of the British Empire where law and justice are the domain of the most powerful and those ruthless enough to go to any lengths to achieve their desires. If you read only one book set against WWI during its centenary anniversary, make it McAlister and the Great War. This novel, ranging across a truly global canvas, explores many fascinating and thrilling historical incidents that occurred during the tragic conflict.

While trolling through the family’s past, Zach and Angela uncover the story of how the first McAlisters came to Australia. It all started in the quite Dorset town of Cerne Abbas during the Napoleonic Wars. Vicar’s daughter, Christina Proud marries smithy, and sometime smuggler, Will Jenkins, who soon falls foul of the law. Will is given a choice — take the King’s shilling or the noose. So, Will joins the army and Christina’s begins her odyssey as a camp follower. The battalion is quickly deployed to Spain to join General Arthur Wellesley’s Peninsula Army, fighting against the French. Threatened by platoon Sergeant Jack Newell and with her husband powerless to help, Christina is befriended by Lieutenant Jonathan McAlister who offers her projection. With the French Army massing at Talavera, the battalion marches into battle. Under the blistering Spanish sun, Christina must now fight for her life and those she loves. Beset on all sides by bandits, partisans, deserters, French cavalry and the squalor of a military campaign gone wrong. Living by her wits and managing to get by with broken Spanish. she tries to make her escape to a safe haven and hopefully a ship back to Blighty. But does she make it? Download and read Christina's account of her ghastly experiences in a foreign land. ================= KEYWORDS/TAGS: McAlister’s Lady, Christina, Jonathan, Will, French, Mary, Newell, Grant, Lady, battalion, Lightfoot, officers, Sergeant, women, Rodney, Major, Toff, Dandy-Jim, Jamieson, Jenkins, ship, wound, Proud, Weymouth, British, French, Annabelle, family, Reverend, declare, orders, musket, wives, river, Bill, Sea-Snake, Chesil Bay, love, Wellesley’s, infantry, Sheriff, Dorset, Ball, East, smuggle, East Indiaman, Portland Bill, General, Spanish, Portuguese, Lisbon, cargo, Lord, ammunition, Lieutenant, Battalion, cargo landers, column of soldiers, lighthouse, barracks, Rosemary, Nazario, Fleming, Monroe, troops, pistol, major, wreck, Cerne Abbas, John, baby, born, birth, contraband, partisans, abandoned, protest, Talavera, Stephen, Jesenia, Colonel, carts, west, casualties, Frenchmen, fusiliers, infection, puss, daughter, Portugal, redcoats, surgeon, Wally, Boyle, enemy, South, Army, treacherous, commission, survivors, ridgeline, Caldecott, musketry, froggies, frogs, pinnaces, sergeant, brigade, weapons, Estela, Grogan, London, Yeovil, bodies, Harold, Spain, Jack, Dorchester, Osmington, Colquhoun, venture, Yeomanry, Marshall, cavalry, England, Australia, powder, Court, trial, Sentence, Cells, Guard, Judge, Wales, Port, camp-follower, camp follower,

Farm girl Marion Marlowe is on her way home when she stops to take in the surrounding countryside. “Same farms, same hills, same animals! Oh, I’m just sick of country life and a farm life!” Little does she know that her circumstances are about to change! A magnificent singer, she breaks into song and might readily be forgiven for glorying in her superb natural talent. On arrival at home, she finds Dolores, or Dollie as she was called, weeping in the yard. She tells Marion that her father, not for the first time, wants her to enter a loveless marriage with the detestable Silas Johnson, which she has refused to do. Time passes and a mysterious Mr Carlos Lawson appears at the farm, which causes unease with Marion. She also overhears a conversation between Silas and her father and realises that Silas has a hold on her father and is wanting Dollie in exchange. Despite her misgivings she confides in Carlos Lawson and instantly regrets what she has done. While helping the orphan Bert Jackson escape from the orphanage after one beating too many, she discovers that Dollie, too, has runaway. Only she hasn’t runaway but been abducted by the black-hearted Carlos Lawson and the two have gone to New York. Marion sees the rescue of her sister as a valid excuse to escape the confines of the farm and plans to go to New York in search of her sister. She then packs and leaves for the city on a quest to find her sister. What adventures will her quest lead this inexperienced farm girl on, alone and almost penniless in New York city. To whom will she turn? Will they listen or simply dismiss her as a naïve farm girl? And what will happen if the money runs out before she has found her sister? Join Marion Marlowe on this, the first of her many adventures in 1900’s New York city. YESTERDAY’S BOOKS FOR TODAY’S CHARITIES. 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charity. ============= KEYWORDS-TAGS: Marion Marlowe, Dollie, From Farm to Fortune, , abducted, Adele, arm, Aunt, Bert, bitter, blushing, Body, brain, Breasts, cabman, chief, clutches, companion, control, courage, crowd, daisy, daughter, detective, Dollie, Emile, Emile Vorse, exhibition, Farm, farmer, father, features, figure, flashed, flush, garments, gentleman, God, Gray, handsome, headquarters, homespun, hotel, housekeeper, hypnotised, hypnotized, innocent, instinctively, Jackson, Jenkins, jewels, kin, lashes, Lawson, lodging-house, Marion, Marlowe, married, Matt, Miss, monster, New, City, noble, Norwood, officer, officers, parlor, passengers, Passion, pity, pleasure, Police, Poor, power, prison, Professor Dabroski, pussy, queen, question, Ray, Ray, scream, sharp, Silas Johnson, Sile, sister, society, Stanton, station, station-house, straight, sunbonnet, superintendent, Susan, topazes, train, uncle, villain, whip, whisper, window, seduction, seduce, kidnap, capture, hostage, snatch

The beautiful Marlowe twins, Marion and Dollie are in New York, living in a cheap boarding house and almost penniless. Marion had just found and rescued Dollie from the clutches of Professor Dabroski, the hypnotist, who had abducted her from her home in the country. In rescuing Dollie she had crossed swords with Emile Vorse, a fiend in the attire of a gentleman. Discovering who they are, their landlady tries to throw them out, but assistance arrives from an unexpected ally, who puts the landlady in her place. With her money returned the Marlow sisters and their new ally, Miss Allyn, depart Mrs Garvin’s shabby establishment. Ensconced in new rooms, the next day Dollie responds to an advertisement for a trainee typist and Marion wonders the city looking for work. Silas appears, as if from nowhere, and tells Dollie and Marion that he has bought the mortgage to their parents farm. He assumes that because Dollie’s reputation is somewhat tarnished, she would readily agree to marry him. He was wrong. With three months grace the sisters start laying plans to rescue their parents. But $9.00 is a long way from $500, especially in 1900’s New York. What adventures will the sisters plans lead them on and into in their attempt to earn enough to pay the $500 mortgage hanging over their parents’ lives without breaking the law? YESTERDAY’S BOOKS FOR TODAY’S CHARITIES 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charity. ============= KEYWORDS-TAGS: Marion Marlowe, Courage, New York, broke, penniless, , Allyn, answer, aunt, Bert, block, boarders, boarding-house, body, breasts, bum, Carlotta, city, companion, concert, country, diamond, dollars, Dollie, Emile, exceptional, father, fellow, fiend, fireman, flush, forgive, furious, garments, Garvin, gentleman, German, girl, Haley, handsome, happily, heroine, home, hope, house, hundred, indignation, jacket, Jackson, Jenkins, Johnson, kindness, kiss, landlady, laugh, little, loan, love, luscious, man, Marcus, Marion Marlowe, marry, Matt, Miss, money, Moore, mortgage, New York, office, officer, Olio, orchestra, Otto, paper, passion, pleasant, pleasure, pocket, policeman, Poor, preacher, Professor, pussy, Dabroski, prompt, pussy, Ralph, Ray, room, Rosen, rush, sad, Samantha, Silas, sing, sister, sisters, sneer, song, started, starve, store, streets, thief, tremble, trouble, twins, typewriter, unconscious, vigorous, Vondergrift, Vorse, whisper, young, accost, kidnap

A girl, as poor as a church mouse, arrives in the city from the country without a friend in the world. One night, Vandergrift, the manager of the Fern Garden Hall of Song heard her singing on the street. Enraptured by her beauty, he found her voice, too, was wonderful, and, of course, he stopped to listen. It was just before his opening and he needed a singer, inasmuch as his present prima donna, ‘Carlotta,’ was engaged to sing in the rival garden just across the street from his place. Well, to make a long story short, he made terms with this girl at once—offered her a big price for one night, thinking that the offer would dazzle her so much that she would feel too grateful to listen to any other offers. Well, he billed her that night as ‘Ila de Parloa,’ and her song was great; she was the hit of the evening. The very next morning she took her money and bolted, and Vandergrift lost track of her entirely.” Who was this mysterious beauty and where did she go? Did Vandergrift find her again or did she find employment elsewhere? 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charity. ============= KEYWORDS-TAGS: Marion Marlowe, Entrapment, sing, hall of song, beer garden, , accusation, accuse, Allyn, apartment, ass, astonishment, audience, beautiful, beauty, Bert, Blackwell’s, breakfast, breasts, Brookes, business, bum, buttocks, calm, Carlotta, cat, carriage, Celestials, cheeks, Chinaman, Clayte, Clayton, company, creature, cry, dead, deliberate, divan, Dollie, dreadful, dressing-room, Everett, extraordinary, false, fingers, flash, flush, furious, girl, glance, Graham, Green, handkerchief, Heaven, hideous, Hospital, house, Howard, husband, Ila de Parloa, innocent, instant, Island, Jack, jealous, kiss, lamp, laugh, laundry, Lindsay, Lindsay, lips, lucky, magnificent, man, manager, Marion, Marlowe, message, mischief, money, Moore, Nurse, opium, Oriental, perfect, performance, pussy, prisoner, property, Ralph, Ray, revolver, self-control, sharply, shriek, signorita, singer, sister, smoke, stage, sword, touch, trifle, vengeance, victim, weapon, whisper, wicked, woman, world, young, grace shirley

It is 1900 and Marion Marlowe is now a nurse at the Charity Hospital. She had passed through many trials since she came to the city, acting the part of heroine on several occasions, yet each time withdrawing herself and her noble deeds as rapidly as possible into the background so as not to attract too much attention. Her sister, Dollie, has also moved into the city where she has found work as a secretary with a company of lawyers. An old friend Bert decides to visit Dollie and calls upon her at the office, where social calls are frowned upon. She finds Bert has been rescued from poverty and has been adopted by a wealthy gentleman, who offers him the world. He is in town to find Marion and intends proposing to her – now that he is being educated and will soon be wealthier than he could imagine. However, Bert is disappointed to find Marion is already spoken for. Dollie has not quite realised that her employer, Mr Atherton, is sweet on her and could be blindly walking into what could become a messy social situation. Marion finds Dollie at lunch with her employer, whose intentions she challenges. Only then does Dollie realise what is going on. Dressed down and found out, Mr Atherton retreats. An old gentleman overhears the exchange and congratulates them on their win. But who is George Colebrook? What happened between him and Marion and what has he played in their past and what role will he play in their futures? 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charity. ============= KEYWORDS-TAGS: Marion Marlowe, Noble, Deeds, Works, Allyn, Archie, Ass, Atherton, Belle, Bert, Beauty, Body, Breasts, Brookes, cat, carriage, doctor, Dollie, employer, friend, girl, Greenaway, heart, Horseless Carriage, Charity Hospital, hospital, Island, Jackson, laughing, lawyer, lawyer, love, Manhattan, Marion, Marion’s, Marlowe, money, Motor Car, nurse, poor, prison, pussy, Ralph, Ray, Reginald, sister, sweetheart, wife, woman, young, Grace Shirley

The book which inspired the Sharpe Novels! Just as in the Sharpe Novels by Bernard Cornwell, the Prince’s Own 95th Rifles was a real regiment, and there was a real Rifleman Harris for it is his recollections which are published in this volume. There was indeed a soldier who joined the rifles and was soon made a sergeant. By the end of the wars he had, unusually, risen to be a commissioned officer (see Ch. XV.). It is believed that it is this story which inspired the character of Richard Sharpe. Harris’ story starts after he had been recruited and was now, in-turn, on a recruiting drive. In this volume he recounts anecdotes about his officers; believe me all enlisted men have such stories about their officers. He also recounts occurrences of desertion and the penalties if caught, cases of treachery and accounts of camaraderie. There is even an account of how he held a perfectly rational conversation with a fellow rifleman during the heat of battle, no easy feat when you’re using a muzzle loader. All of these are retold at some point during the Sharpe Novels. Also recorded are the battles in which the part he, and the 95th, took part. Here you can read of the battles of Roliça, Vimiero, Slamanca and the retreat to Corunna. Read also of the stories of “A cobbler and the cannon ball”, “A lubberly artilleryman”, “Major Travers and his wig” and how the 95th routed Boney's Invincibles. If a soldier survived the Peninsula War, he would have had the opportunity to augment his meagre wages by plundering what items of value the enemy left behind. In many cases this meant picking over the dead. Hence there was the opportunity to finish the war a lot wealthier than he could have imagined. The wives and dependants of the soldiers were also allowed to pick over the dead at the end of each battle. In most cases it would mean cutting off brass buttons and removing belts. If they were lucky they may find an officer’s sword or pistols. Many would convert their pickings to cash, or use them to trade, for food for themselves and any children they may have with them. Harris himself was illiterate. He is thought to have been born in Portsea, Portsmouth into a family of shepherds and this was his way of life until he joined the army in 1803. His recollections were recorded for him, after the war, at some stage in the middle of the 1830s by an officer who knew him, Captain Henry Curling, editor of this volume. Curling then kept the manuscript until 1848, when he succeeded in getting it published. So, we invite you to download this very interesting, first-hand account, of an enlisted man who inspired the story of Richard Sharpe and the Sharpe Novels. =============== HISTORICAL NOTE: The Prince’s Own 95th underwent a few reinventions and amalgamations during the Peninsula Wars ending the Napoleonic wars as The Rifle Brigade. They were still in existence during WWI and at the outbreak of WWII they were part of The 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade and performed with distinguished service during both World Wars. On 1 January 1966 the regiment was amalgamated with the 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) and the King's Royal Rifle Corps to form The Royal Green Jackets. The 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets' final operation was in Basra, Iraq, on Operation Telic in 2006/7. Thereafter they were reorganised and amalgamated in 2007 with a few other regiments to become The Rifles. =============== KEYWORDS/TAGS: Richard Sharpe, Sharpe Series, Sharpe Novels, Bernard Cornwell, Rifleman Harris, Peninsula Wars, Napoleon, Boney, Recruiting, Army Reserve, penalty for desertion, General Craufurd, cowardice, treachery, Trial, General Whitelock, Irish recruits, shillelagh, Protestant, Catholic, Danish expedition, home, Embark, Spain, Portugal, Lord Hill, wine, in the field, the wounded, enemy, Manœuvres, advance, Battle of Roliça, devotion, Battle of Vimiero, cobbler, cannon ball, handicraft, lubberly, artilleryman, heat of action, battle-field, Vimiero, military family, scapegrace, surprise, fortune, General Napier, Boney, Invincibles, cold steel, Church plunder, haphazard shot, Booty, Portuguese, chivalry, General Kellerman, hornet's nest, Beat to quarters, Salamanca, Heavy marches, gallant, military agriculturist, gentleman farmer, Death or glory, The Duke, Wellington, brothers Hart, North Mayo, militiaman, Marshal Beresford, gunpowder, False alarm, Retreat, Skirmish, pursuers, escapes, rounds, French general, New year's day, mutineers, inflexibility, endurance, wilderness, Dangerous ground, magic lantern, in need, Sir Dudley Hill, stragglers, Spanish welcome, English ships, Other ranks, demon runner, Winning, commission, Flushing, Walcheren fever, expedition, attack, survivor, veteran battalion, independent companies