Steal Away

Set during the Civil War Era, this heartwrenching novel of two girls--one African American, one white--and their flight North to freedom, was called powerful, moving, and thought-provoking by Publishers Weekly. An American Bookseller Pick of the Lists in Orchard hardcover.

"Wright proves herself to be one of the most complex and fascinating poets writing today." -Library Journal

For readers of The Underground Railroad, The Known World, Bound for Canaan and The Book of Negroes comes the harrowing story of fifteen-year-old escaped slave Cecelia Reynolds, who slips away to freedom in Canada only to return to her childhood home as a free woman many years later. “Karolyn Smardz Frost deftly situates Cecelia in history. Her evocative descriptions of landscapes and cityscapes capture the various times and places of Cecelia’s story.” —Winnipeg Free Press In this compelling work of narrative non-fiction, Governor General’s Award winner Karolyn Smardz Frost captures Cecelia’s epic story of courage. She was a teenager when she made her dangerous bid for freedom. Escape meant that she would never see her mother or brother again. She would be cut off from Fanny, the young mistress with whom she grew up, but who also owned her. This was a time when people could be property, and when a beloved father could be separated from his wife and children, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Cecelia found a new life in Toronto’s vibrant African-American expatriate community. There she fell in love with her dashing rescuer, and initiated a correspondence with her former owner that would endure for more than two decades. Widowed, she braved the Fugitive Slave Law to cross back into the United States. When she eventually returned to the Kentucky she had known as a child, she found her home much changed in the wake of war. Reunited with her mother, Cecelia also renewed her complicated relationship with her former mistress. After years apart, the two lived within a few blocks of each other until Fanny’s death. Smardz Frost’s impeccable research and vivid description takes the reader through the Civil War, the shameful backdrop of slavery and the very real and stirring tale of one woman’s struggle for freedom—and her return to her former home on her own terms, despite the risk involved.

When Dana uncovers a skeleton hidden in the wall of her home, she also uncovers a dark secret that stretches back years. When twelve-year-old Dana Shannon starts to strip away wallpaper in her family’s old house, she’s unprepared for the surprise that awaits her. A hidden room—containing a human skeleton! How did such a thing get there? And why was the tiny room sealed up? With the help of a diary found in the room, Dana learns her house was once a station on the Underground Railroad. The young woman whose remains Dana discovered was Lizbet Charles, a conductor and former slave. As the scene shifts between Dana’s world and 1856, the story of the families that lived in the house unfolds. But as pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, one haunting question remains—why did Lizbet Charles die?

“This is a powerful story of grief, love, forgiveness, and holy mystery, and I loved it. Billy Coffey is a master storyteller.” —Lauren Denton, USA Today bestselling author of The Hideaway Owen Cross grew up with two loves: one a game, the other a girl. One of his loves ruined him. Now he’s counting on the other to save him. Owen Cross’s father is a hard man, proud in his brokenness, who wants nothing more than for Owen to succeed where he failed. With his innate talents and his father’s firm hand guiding him, Owen goes to college with dreams of the major leagues—and an emptiness full of a girl named Micky Dullahan. Owen loved Micky from the first time they met on the hill between their two worlds: his middle-class home and her troubled Shantytown. Years later he leaves her for the dugouts and the autographs, but their days together follow him. When he finally returns home, he discovers that even peace comes at a cost. And that the hardest things to say are to the ones we love the most. From bestselling author Billy Coffey comes a haunting story of small-town love, blinding ambition, and the risk of giving it all for one last chance. “In one evening, a single baseball game, Coffey invites us into a lifetime. With lyrical prose and aching description we join Owen Cross on a journey of love, loss, faith, the unexpected—and America’s favorite pastime.” —Katherine Reay, author of Dear Mr. Knightley and The Austen Escape

A bitter con woman and a jaded detective reluctantly join forces to stop a killer... When Beverly Laborde becomes a con artist extraordinaire to extract vengeance on the man who shut down her grandmother's antiques business and sent her to an early grave, she comes face to face with the handsome but haunted Vermont police detective, Adam Dutton, who doesn’t know whether to arrest her or ask her out on a date. But Beverly and Adam soon face an even worse problem than their inconvenient growing attraction toward each other: they have both incurred the wrath of the wealthy and formidable Reginald Forsyth. Forsyth’s criminal tendrils seem to reach into all areas of Vermont politics and the Northeastern Antiquities League, and he’ll do anything to keep his dark secrets safe. Beverly is sighted in Forsythe’s crosshairs for getting the best of him when she scams him out of a valuable Paul Revere heirloom. Adam also becomes a target for covering up for Beverly and working to take Forsythe down. Separately and together, Beverly and Adam enlist the help of a sympathetic antiques dealer and the mysterious “Mr. X,” but will it be enough to prove that Forsythe is guilty not only of theft and bribery but of possible murder? Forsythe throws his best at them, from threats and kidnapping to near-drowning, but Beverly and Adam prove that even though they may not be able to outgun their nemesis individually, together they may just have a fighting chance. Named winner of the Virginia Indie Author Project from Biblioboard and Library Journal Praise for BV Lawson's mysteries/thrillers: "Worth putting on your reading list." - The Library Journal "Lawson's protagonist is greatly compelling." - Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize "Lawson’s book was so good, I read it twice from beginning to end." - Readers Favorite Reviews The complete chronology of the Adam Dutton & Beverly Laborde mystery/thriller series for those who enjoy reading in order is: Steal Away Hide Away Burn Away Keywords: mystery novel, detective novel, crime fiction, murder mystery, mystery series, police procedural, amateur sleuth, female sleuth, heist novels, thrillers, traditional mysteries, crime thrillers, murder, mystery series, private investigator, detective books, crime series, thriller series, crime thriller series, vigilante justice, detective series, private investigator series, PI series, private eye series, crime authors, thriller authors, psychological thrillers, mystery boxed sets, crime box sets

This pamphlet, whose name references the song often sung to signal a nighttime religious gathering of slaves, explores the origins, history, meaning, use, and modern-day practice of the spiritual. Known for their unique expression of Christian understanding, strong rhythms, and an emphasis on call and response, spirituals are being used more and more in Episcopal Churches today. The pamphlet closes with a short commentary on each of the seven spirituals included in the Hymnal 1982 -- publisher's website.

Thomas Johnson and Charles Spurgeon lived worlds apart. Johnson, an American slave, born into captivity and longing for freedom--- Spurgeon, an Englishman born into relative ease and comfort, but, longing too for a freedom of his own. Their respective journeys led to an unlikely meeting and an even more unlikely friendship, forged by fate and mutual love for the mission of Christ. Steal Away Home is a new kind of book based on historical research, which tells a previously untold story set in the 1800s of the relationship between an African-American missionary and one of the greatest preachers to ever live.