The Iron Ring

In 1978, Nattalia Lea became the first woman to graduate from the University of British Columbia with a bio-resources engineering degree – an era when less than 0.5% of Canadian professional engineers were female. Then 26 years later, in 2004, after four engineering job terminations and a 16-year journalism stint, this working-class woman makes a comeback into Alberta’s oil patch boardrooms. Lady with the Iron Ring is the heartwarming, witty and tell-all memoir of a woman with a mission who didn’t recognize it as one at the time.

After he loses his kingdom and everything he owns in a dice game, the young king of Sundari embarks on a magical quest to atone for his mistake and to learn about honor, goodness, and the preciousness of life.

When engineering students in Canada are soon to graduate, the solemn “Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer,” penned by none other than Rudyard Kipling, charges them with their Obligation to high standards, humility, and ethics. Each budding engineer then receives an Iron Ring to be worn on the small finger of the working hand as a reminder throughout their career. Through the story of the 1907 Quebec Bridge disaster, in which seventy-six men died, author Dan Levert teaches a powerful object lesson in what can happen when that Obligation is forgotten. Woven from transcripts of the inquiry into the collapse, the report of the commissioners, and other sources including the coroner’s inquest, On Cold Iron plays out like a fast-paced thriller. Levert recounts the original 1850s proposals to bridge the St. Lawrence near Quebec City, through the design and construction of what was to be the longest clear span bridge of any kind in the world, to its shocking collapse during construction in August 1907. The missteps, poor policies, hubris, and wrong-headed actions begin to build like a death by a thousand cuts, until its inevitable and horrifying culmination. The meticulously researched and deftly delivered story of this terrible historical event makes fascinating reading for anyone, but even more, it is a powerful cautionary tale and a clarion call for the obligation and responsibility of an engineer.

"Dalrymple gives a master class in how to raise the stakes for her complex, well-drawn characters as they fight to disentangle themselves from impossible situations." —Lisa Regan, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Crime Fiction Author "The venomous psychopath and the unctuous megalomaniac in 'The Iron Ring' are formidably harrowing new foes. All the blistering trials that Dalrymple, a most diabolical plotter, subjects Lizzy Ballard to would corrupt even the most sterling of characters, and readers will be left wondering if this big-hearted heroine can resist the temptation to wreak a little havoc of her own." —Robert Blake Whitehill, Bestselling Author of The Ben Blackshaw Series "'The Iron Ring' rockets from the Philadelphia suburbs to the canyons of Sedona, peaking with a mind-bending fight scene that you have to read to fully appreciate." —Sherry Knowlton, Author of the Alexa Williams Suspense Series She has a promise to fulfill … but she never anticipated the evil that awaited her at the end of her journey. Will keeping her word cost her everything? Lizzy Ballard is headed to the Red Rock Country of Arizona on a mission of vengeance … and although she doesn’t know it yet, the Vivantem forces are no longer her biggest problem. She and her allies have attracted the attention of a reclusive billionaire, a man who is determined to enlist them to his own cause … willingly or unwillingly. Even Lizzy’s enemies at Vivantem seem to be no match for his power. With the lines of communication cut, Lizzy struggles to understand exactly who the enemy is. And when Lizzy faces the killer, even her special ability can't protect her. Will Lizzy grab the iron ring, or be left on the field of battle? Find out in this third installment of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers Trilogy!

They've sailed on the Santa Maria, defended famous cities from Vikings and Mongols, and come face-to-face with some of the greatest figures in history. Now, at long last, Dak, Sera, and Riq travel back in time to the moment it all began. Their missio

When Tamar, the young king of Sundari, loses a dice game, he loses everything--his kingdom, its riches, and even the right to call his life his own. His bondage is symbolized by the iron ring that appears mysteriously on his finger. To Tamar, born to the warrior caste, honor is everything. So he sets out on a journey to make good on his debt--and even to give up his life if necessary. And that journey leads him into a world of magic, where animals can talk, the foolish are surprisingly wise, and danger awaits...

Scholastic's next multi-platform mega-event begins here!History is broken, and three kids must travel back in time to set it right!When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel -- a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring -- they're swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course.Now it's up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!

In 1978, Nattalia Lea became the first woman to graduate from the University of British Columbia with a bio-resources engineering degree – an era when less than 0.5% of Canadian professional engineers were female. Then 26 years later, in 2004, after four engineering job terminations and a 16-year journalism stint, this working-class woman makes a comeback into Alberta’s oil patch boardrooms. Lady with the Iron Ring is the heartwarming, witty and tell-all memoir of a woman with a mission who didn’t recognize it as one at the time.