Faith and Fiction Book Descriptions

The President's Secret Service by Ronald Kessler

Never before has a journalist penetrated the wall of secrecy that surrounds the U.S. Secret Service, that elite corps of agents who pledge to take a bullet to protect the president and his family. After conducting exclusive interviews with more than 100 current and former Secret Service agents, bestselling author and award winning reporter Ronald Kessler reveals their secrets for the first time in this non-fiction book.

The Very Thought of You Rosie Alison

This is a wartime story of a child evacuee from London, Anna Sand, and her years spent at Ashton Park, a manor house in Yorkshire, home of childless Thomas and Elizabeth Aston. There Anna witnesses the disintegration of the Ashtons' marriage and Thomas' love for a young teacher before she returns to London with her father, her mother having been killed in the blitz.

Inside the Kingdom Carmen Ben Ladin

A sister-in-law of Osama Bin Laden who fled her marriage in 1998, Carmen Ben Ladin describes what it was like to live in the gilded cage of her wealthy Saudi Arabian family. It was only after Sept. 11 that her 14-year fight for freedom from Saudi Arabia made sense to the people around her. This is the autobiography of the half-Swiss and half Persian author.

The Wolf at Twilight Kent Nerburn

Nerburn finds himself back on the Lakota reservation where he traveled more than a decade before with a tribal elder named Dan in this fictionalized account of actual events. This touching, funny, and haunting journey that goes deep into reservation boarding-school mysteries, the dark confines of sweat lodges, and the isolated Native homesteads far back in the Dakota hills in search of ghosts that have haunted Dan since childhood.

Wish You Well David Baldacci

Twelve-year-old Louisa Mae and her younger brother must move with their invalid mother from New York City to their great-grandmother's farm in the VA mountains after the death of their father. On the farm Louisa finds her first true friend, learns lessons in loyalty, tragedy, and redemption in this fiction book.

Winter Garden Kristin Hannah

How can a woman know herself...if she doesn't really know her mother? The only real contact this Russian mother has with her daughters is when she tells them a fairy tale at bedtime. Many years later, when the father becomes ill, he extracts a promise of his wife: that she will tell her daughters the end of the fairy tale begun years ago and never finished. The story moves from war-torn Leningrad to modern-day Alaska in this psychological fiction book.

Half the Sky Nicholas D. Kristof/Sheryl Wu Dunn

In this collection of case studies is discussed the oppression of women in the developing world, sharing example stories about victims and survivors who are working to raise awareness, counter abuse, and campaign for women's rights. Half the Sky is a passionate and persuasive plea to all of us to rise up and say "No more!" to the 17th century abuses to girls and women in the 21st century world. This stirring book is at once a savage indictment of gender inequality in the developing world and an inspiring testament to these women's courage, resilience, and their struggle for hope and recovery.

Honolulu Alan Brennert

This is historical fiction telling of four "picture brides" from Korea and how they make their way in Honolulu amid opportunity, prejudice, and abuse, but united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.

The 19th Wife David Ebershoff

It is 1875, and Ann Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States in this addictive, remarkable historical fiction book.

Gardenias Faith Sullivan

It is 1942, only a month after the USA has joined WWII and everything is in an upheavel. Arlene has left Minnesota and her husband, taking her nine-year-old daughter, Lark, and her sister, Betty, with her to pursue a new life in wartime booming San Diego. This is the third book in the fictional Cape Anne Series.

Pearl of China Anchee Min

This historical fiction blend celebrates the life of Pearl S. Buck from her childhood as a blonde outsider in China to her eventual political exile from the country she had come to cherish as her own. The author tells the story through the eyes of Pearl's lifelong friend Willow. The author blends real historical figures with fictional characters.