Here are 100 books that Candle in the Darkness fans have personally recommended if you like
Candle in the Darkness.
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I’ve found that the most tumultuous time in our nation’s history provides a poignant backdrop for fiction. As a firm believer that all people are God’s masterpiece and are created in his image, this time period can be difficult to read. However, I also believe there is a lot of potential to see how good can overcome evil, how faith can lead to healing, and how we can be overcomers. I’ve chosen books for this list that handle history with nuance and sensitivity, showcase fierce characters, provide embedded layers of faith, and leave you thinking long after the final page. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Jocelyn Green does an amazing job of highlighting the complications of the Civil War with multi-faceted characters who have to examine their faith, their loyalties, and their own pasts and prejudices. With an intricate plot and a cast of layered characters, Widow of Gettysburg was one that kept me enthralled.Not only is the amount of research and details from history clearly evident, Green is a master at making both history and story leap from the page. This was one I couldn’t put down.
For all who have suffered great loss of heart, home, health or family; true home and genuine lasting love can be found.
When a horrific battle rips through Gettysburg, the farm of Union widow Liberty Holloway is disfigured into a Confederate field hospital, bringing her face to face with unspeakable suffering-and a Confederate scout who awakens her long dormant heart.
While Liberty's future crumbles as her home is destroyed, the past comes rushing back to Bella, a former slave and Liberty's hired help, when she finds herself surrounded by Southern soldiers, one of whom knows the secret that would place…
In ancient Rome, sensible women don’t investigate murders, but Livia Aemilia’s father is dead, and her innocent brother has been accused of the crime. What’s a girl to do? Find the criminal herself, obviously.
Livia and her spunky maidservant pound the ancient Roman pavements in search of the killer, with…
I’ve found that the most tumultuous time in our nation’s history provides a poignant backdrop for fiction. As a firm believer that all people are God’s masterpiece and are created in his image, this time period can be difficult to read. However, I also believe there is a lot of potential to see how good can overcome evil, how faith can lead to healing, and how we can be overcomers. I’ve chosen books for this list that handle history with nuance and sensitivity, showcase fierce characters, provide embedded layers of faith, and leave you thinking long after the final page. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
A heartfelt and poignant tale of faith and perseverance with authentic details sure to resonate with historical fiction fans, this tale of grace and forgiveness is both tender and endearing. In many ways, reading this book was like going home. I was delighted to see the historical details during the search for Booth (something I spent months researching as I dug through the trial records for my own series). It's a beautiful story of grace and forgiveness.
The War brought them together ~ Would it also tear them apart?
While en route to aid Confederate soldiers injured in battle near her home, Southerner Caroline Dunbar stumbles across a wounded Union sergeant. Unable to ignore his plea for help, she tends his injuries and hides him away, only to find her attachment to him deepen with each passing day. But when her secret is discovered, Caroline incurs her father’s wrath and, in turn, unlocks a dark secret from the past which she is determined to unravel.
After being forced to flee his place of refuge, Sergeant Andrew Gallagher…
I’ve found that the most tumultuous time in our nation’s history provides a poignant backdrop for fiction. As a firm believer that all people are God’s masterpiece and are created in his image, this time period can be difficult to read. However, I also believe there is a lot of potential to see how good can overcome evil, how faith can lead to healing, and how we can be overcomers. I’ve chosen books for this list that handle history with nuance and sensitivity, showcase fierce characters, provide embedded layers of faith, and leave you thinking long after the final page. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
This book is set just after the war and deals with the aftermath of a devastated land. Rich in detail with characters that tug at the heartstrings, it is a story of complex loyalties and dealing with betrayal. A beautiful and powerful story of tender hearts left wounded by a very difficult time. I listened to the audio version of this story and found it to be one I wanted to stop everything I was doing to savor.
From bestselling author Tamera Alexander comes an exquisite historical novel set against the real history of Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee, that explores the struggles of real people of the post-war South and the journeys of a man and a woman scarred by betrayal.
Olivia Aberdeen, destitute widow of a man shot as a traitor to the South, is shunned by proper society and gratefully accepts an invitation from Elizabeth Harding, mistress of Belle Meade Plantation. Expecting to be the Hardings' head housekeeper, Olivia is disillusioned when she learns the real reason Elizabeth's husband, Confederate General William Giles Harding,…
In ancient Rome, sensible women don’t investigate murders, but Livia Aemilia’s father is dead, and her innocent brother has been accused of the crime. What’s a girl to do? Find the criminal herself, obviously.
Livia and her spunky maidservant pound the ancient Roman pavements in search of the killer, with…
I’ve found that the most tumultuous time in our nation’s history provides a poignant backdrop for fiction. As a firm believer that all people are God’s masterpiece and are created in his image, this time period can be difficult to read. However, I also believe there is a lot of potential to see how good can overcome evil, how faith can lead to healing, and how we can be overcomers. I’ve chosen books for this list that handle history with nuance and sensitivity, showcase fierce characters, provide embedded layers of faith, and leave you thinking long after the final page. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
When you’re taught to believe the other side is full of evil people, what do you do when you come face-to-face with a gallant enemy? This story was fascinating because the heroine disguises herself as a soldier, only to become a prisoner of war. When her foe becomes her ally, her loyalties are put to the test. I love how this book deals with the “us versus them” mentality and breaks down the walls we try to erect between us.
Nineteen-year-old Carrie Ann Bell is independent and spirited. The only thing she really fears are the Union soldiers fighting against her Confederate friends. When her youngest sister runs away from home, brave Carrie Ann is determined to find her and bring her back. Disguised as a soldier, she sets off--only to find she's fallen into the hands of the enemy.
Her childhood friend Confederate Major Joshua Blevins has warned her against these Yankees: they're all devils, ready to inflict evil on unsuspecting young women. When Colonel Peyton Collier arrests her for her impersonation of an officer, it seems to confirm…
I have always been passionate about Black authors and Black children being writers and writing about their experiences or their children’s experiences since I was a young adult. Ever since the Trayvon Martin incident years ago, these Black history stories and books have been so meaningful to the Black community. I used to read just Urban fiction AA books back in high school, but ever since I became a writer/author I have taken a liking to reading children's books about self-love, fear, and going to college, especially for young black children. I read these books to remind me that we are strong-minded people. That no one can take our light from us.
This book shows young girls, especially young Black girls, that you can be a ballerina and that you can be anything you set your mind/heart to. I personally enjoyed it because it showcased young Black ballerinas having fun. It taught me that we can be just about anything in life. I would prefer this book to a friend or a parent to give to their young daughter(s) and teach them that being a ballerina is beautiful.
This book was inspired by Ava Holloway and Kennedy George, two ballerinas. Their photos were taken by Marcus Ingram and Julia Rendleman in front of the monument of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, in Richmond, Virginia. Ultimately, those photographs went viral, and this moment propelled the duo into a summer of activism and dance. Posed in traditional ballet attire, the friends had no idea that a chance encounter at the Lee Monument would catapult them into the spotlight while serving as a beacon of hope for millions of young activists around the world.
After spending nearly two decades working in technology and Intelligence—working with law enforcement from all different agencies—I developed an appreciation and understanding of the worst that humans can do to each other. My specialty was domestic counterterrorism and foreign policy—and I did everything from developing software for chem/bio work to White House briefings. I have studied profiling and analysis in academic and real world settings – I have two Masters degrees – Strategic Intelligence & Criminal Justice – from American Military University, both with a minor in Terrorism Studies. While the academic background is great, the real-life experiences are what taught me the most – and find their way into my stories.
This book has intrigue, drama, romance, good cops, corrupt cops/politicians, and so much more. Believable fight scenes, intricate relationships, mystery, and mayhem are all high points in LynDee Walker’s first book in the Nichelle Clark series.
Nichelle is a reporter in Richmond, Virginia who covers the crime beat and has great shoes – and some amazing adventures. My enjoyment came from the believable scenarios even when in the middle of some wild times.
There’s good story resolution and a satisfactory outcome that leaves you interested enough in the characters to want to read the next book.
A SUSPICIOUS ACCIDENT. A DETERMINED REPORTER. AND A RUTHLESS CRIMINAL WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO TIE UP LOOSE ENDS.
"...five stars out of five." —Hot Mystery Reviews
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When two rookie cops are killed in a fiery crash near Richmond, Virginia, crime reporter Nichelle Clarke is sent in to investigate.
But as Nichelle digs deeper into the case, she discovers this was no ordinary accident.
People and evidence soon begin to disappear. Someone is one step ahead of her. A master criminal with a deadly secret, covering their tracks with ruthless efficiency.
I have taught history at the University of Alabama since the year 2000, and I have been working and writing as a historian of American slavery for more than twenty-five years. It is not an easy subject to spend time with, but it is also not a subject we can afford to turn away from because it makes us uncomfortable. Slavery may not be the only thing you need to understand about American history, but you cannot effectively understand American history without it.
As the domestic slave trade became more expansive alongside the growth of the cotton economy, it attracted the increased ire of antislavery activists in the United States and England alike. Using sketches and paintings of the slave trade made by British artist Eyre Crowe in the 1850s as an entry point, Maurie McInnis explores the landscape of the slave trade in major American cities such as Richmond and New Orleans. In the process, she also opens a fresh window onto the world of transatlantic abolitionism.
In 1853, Eyre Crowe, a young British artist, visited a slave auction in Richmond, Virginia. Harrowed by what he witnessed, he captured the scene in sketches that he would later develop into a series of illustrations and paintings, including the culminating painting, "Slaves Waiting for Sale", Richmond, Virginia. This innovative book uses Crowe's paintings to explore the texture of the slave trade in Richmond, Charleston, and New Orleans; the evolving iconography of abolitionist art; and the role of visual culture in the transatlantic world of abolitionism. Tracing Crowe's trajectory from Richmond across the American South and back to London -…
In middle school, I wrote my first novel calledChildren of the House. It pulled inspiration from the likes of Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, William Shakespeare, and Leo Tolstoy. I was attempting to explore family dynamics while also describing bloody stains on the hallway carpet that would never quite go away. When I read, I would travel from literary fiction to horror with ease until I began to realize the distinction was unimportant. Horror reflects the struggles of the every day in a heightened fashion. Books of this genre often have more freedom to explore the deepest issues that plague us and to do so in a way that will reach a wider audience.
Ghost Eaters is a deep dive into the horrors of addiction. While the focus is largely on substance abuse, the book also explores love addiction and grief in fresh ways. Erin, the protagonist, loses her graduate school friend and love to an overdose. As she tries to explore the details of Silas’ final days, she finds herself mixed up in a new drug—one that allows the user to communicate with the dead. Discovering what happened to Silas, leads Erin to learn far more about herself and her own addictive personality than it does about Silas or his final days.
A Gothic-punk graveyard tale about what haunts history and what haunts the human soul. An addicting read that draws you into its descent from the first page. Chuck Wendig, New York Times best-selling author of The Book of Accidents. From the acclaimed author of The Remaking and Whisper Down the Lane, this terrifying supernatural page-turner will make you think twice about opening doors to the unknown. Erin hasn t been able to set a single boundary with her charismatic but reckless college ex-boyfriend, Silas. When he asks her to bail him out of rehab again she knows she needs to…
I love mysteries, especially series with a female sleuth. I discovered Miss Marple when I was a midwifery student and was instantly hooked. Over the years, I have sought out mysteries with women Sherlocks and am always thrilled to find a series. I was so enchanted that I wanted to add to the genre and now write the Modern Midwife Mysteries featuring Maeve O’Reilly Kensington, a modern nurse midwife. Try any of the books I’ve recommended. You’re in for a treat!
I would love to meet the iconic Dr. Kay Scarpetta in real life. She is amazing.
Patricia Cornwell has written twenty-seven brilliant novels about this intriguing chief medical examiner. In this debut work, Dr. Scarpetta has to track down a serial killer.
Attention to detail, tight plotlines, and friendship and family drama had me locked in from the start. I was instantly transported to Dr. Scarpetta’s universe. It’s a great one.
The first book in the Kay Scarpetta series, from No. 1 bestselling author Patricia Cornwell.
'America's most chilling writer of crime fiction' The Times
A serial killer is on the loose in Richmond, Virginia. Three women have died, brutalised and strangled in their own bedroom. There is no pattern: the killer appears to strike at random - but always early on Saturday mornings.
So when Dr Kay Scarpetta, chief medical officer, is awakened at 2.33 am, she knows the news is bad: there is a fourth victim. And she fears now for those that will follow unless she can dig…
Not only am I an avid reader of the urban love/romance/erotica genre, but I'm an award-winning, bestselling author in the genre, having written under multiple pen names. I've worked with enough traditional editors and freelance editors to know a well-crafted, entertaining, engaging read of this nature when I not only write one—ha!—but read one. As an author, I rarely offer book reviews—you'll only find one review from me on Amazon—but that's because I'm brutally honest and hard to win over, and I respect my relationship with my fellow literary artists too much to risk it on a not-so-favorable review. So, you know when I say it’s good, it’s good.
The main character, Yarni, is living proof that all that glitters isn't gold, including love. But that sometimes all it takes is a little spit and shine to make it appear platinum. New York Times Bestselling Author, Nikki Turner, debuts into the literary industry with this title, one of her bestselling urban love stories to date.
Yarni, a sweet and innocent girl from a well-to-do family, by chance meets Richmond's notorious drug kingpin, Des. The spark between them immediately blossoms into an astronomical love, which separates Yarni from her family and friends. But when Des is sentenced to life in prison, Yarni will learn that being a hustler's wife isn't all that easy with her sole provider behind bars.
A decade after its original release Nikki Turner’s debut novel, A Hustler’s Wife, is back and in digital form for the very first time. Nikki Turner takes readers along for the ride as Yarni struggles to survive.…
