Read an excerpt from One Fine Voice by Rebecca Langston-George

One Fine Voice

By Rebecca Langston-George

Publication Date: January 6th, 2026

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 143

Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction / American Historical Fiction

All her life, Esther Hopkins has been told she has a mighty fine voice.

Still, she can't believe her luck when just days after moving to town, she's invited to sing a solo at the 1923 Independence Day picnic.

But the group sponsoring the picnic is not the benevolent fraternal order they claim to be. Worse, they've recruited her father, the town's freshly ordained Baptist minister, to become their chaplain.

When they target the immigrant family of her new best friend, Esther must risk her father's anger, the KKK's revenge, and her family's safety to follow her conscience, salvage her friendship, and find the strength to speak truth to power even if it costs all she holds dear.

Excerpt

Chapter 11

I marched with such purpose toward the feed store that even when the sweet scent of pink blossoms beckoned from the park, I did not stop to dawdle and daydream. Let some other girl stand on that stage and sing. 

If I hadn’t been so focused on what I was going to say to Anne-Marie, I’d have noticed it a block away. Big sloppy red words had been inserted in Lombardi’s window sign. Lombardi’s Foreign Feed. Buy American!  Dribbles of dried red paint dripped down the letters like a bloody nose. 

How could someone do such a thing! I ran to the door. A cross had been scratched deeply in its wood. The knob wouldn’t turn. Lombardi’s Feed was locked. I knocked and knocked but no one answered. “Anne-Marie!” I shouted toward the upper story window “Are you in there?”

No one responded, but I could see a shadow stir near the upstairs curtain. I pounded on the door. “Mr. Lombardi! Anne-Marie! I need to talk to you.” I ran back to the front window, pressing my face against the glass beside the hateful scrawling. Inside Mr. Lombardi pushed aside the maroon curtains. When he peeked around the door he held his hand out, barring me from entering. 

“What happened? Are you okay?” I demanded.

“A prank,” he said. “A foolish prank. No one is harmed.” But his eyes, wary and tense, scanned the town square behind me as he spoke. 

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Lombardi. I’ll help you clean it,” I offered. 

He waved his hand. “No, child. Thank you, but no.” 

“Can I see Anne-Marie, please?  I need to tell her something.”

He shook his head. “That is unwise. I will tell her you asked for her.” He withdrew his head to close the door.

I wedged my hand into the door frame. “Wait! Please, who did this?” 

The old man smiled forlornly and took my hand in his, pushing it gently back. “Go now. Be safe.”

I backed away as he closed the door. He hadn’t answered my question, but if I was honest with myself, I already knew the answer. 

A strange feeling inched down my spine as I left. A prickle at the nape of my neck crawling down my shoulder blades. Eyes watching up and down the street. Eyes on me. The haberdasher next door arranging his hat sign watched as I walked by. The druggist a few doors down swept the street in front of his pharmacy, eyes tracking me. Mr. Holland, leaned against the Chief, nodding as I passed, but piercing me with his stare. I fought back the urge to run. Placed one foot in front of the other until I reached the safety of our porch. 

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Rebecca Langston-George

Rebecca Langston-George is the author of nineteen books for young readers including the globally popular For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story. Though she’s long been known for nonfiction, One Fine Voice is her first middle grade historical fiction. 

A retired teacher credentialed in both single subject language arts for upper grades and multiple subjects for younger grades, Rebecca is a popular school presenter for all ages, encouraging students to investigate and tap into their personal interests when writing.

She serves on the board of The California Reading Association and is the Co-Regional Advisor for SCBWI Central-Coastal California, helping other writers achieve their dreams.

Rebecca splits her time between California’s scenic coast and its agricultural heartland, writing (and mostly rewriting) at one mile per hour on a treadmill desk.

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Read an excerpt from The Green Baize Door by Eleanor Birney

The Green Baize Door

By Eleanor Birney

Publication Date: January 27th, 2026

Publisher: Parlor & Dock Press

Pages: 295

Genre: Historical Mystery

An atmospheric historical mystery where every character has their own agenda, and their own truth.

In the fashionable mansions on Chestnut Hill, a simple green baize door separates the masters’ world from the servants’. That door is thrown wide when an elderly housekeeper is found brutally murdered on the first day of the new century. Marie Chevalier, the housekeeper’s poor but ambitious granddaughter, and James Lett, the mansion owner’s kind but indolent son, suspect the killer is connected to one of their families—but which one?

From drawing rooms to alleyways, their separate investigations lead them through the sometimes lavish, sometimes brutal, landscape of turn-of-the-century New England. When long-buried secrets begin to unravel the fragile threads that hold both households together, Marie and James must find a way to bridge the gulf between them—if only to prove that the murderer belongs not to their own world, but to that strange and foreign land on the other side of the green baize door.

Inspired by real-life events, The Green Baize Door is a richly layered historical mystery that explores themes of class identity, family loyalty, and the sometimes blurry line between virtue and vice.

Excerpt

The Opening

Chapter 1 — November 24, 1899. Six Weeks Before the Murder

The carriage was a country vehicle in the least flattering sense of the word. Wind and wet sputtered through great gaps between the windows and doors, and the cabin contained several well-used fur blankets that reeked of mildew and wet dog. The exterior had once been painted beetle-black, but rust from the undercarriage was gradually overtaking it, mapping the darkness with winding orange rivers and flaking continents. Inside, the walls and seats were upholstered in a bristling raspberry velvet that, over its many years of service, had gone a grayish brown where the springs pressed through.

James Lett, Jamie to his friends, wiped at the foggy window pane with his handkerchief and peered outside. "At this speed," he said, turning to the carriage's only other occupant, "we may as well have walked from the station. Does the fellow think he's being paid by the hour?"

Manassas Edmunds, Chief Financial Officer of the Keystone Lumber Company, shrugged. "Better to go slow than to get stuck in the mud and have to wait for rescue."

Jamie frowned. The old fellow wasn't wrong; the rain, which was coming down in torrents, had saturated the iron-rich embankment, and with each step, the horses sank to their fetlocks in mud as thick as potter's clay. Jamie sighed and slumped back into his seat. "Remind me, what's our itinerary?"

"We ride to Conifer tomorrow morning," Manassas answered. "You do the inspection tour while I review the ledgers."

"Mph," Jamie grunted. Inspection tours were typically less inspection and more tour, as it took a special kind of idiot to show the owner's son their blunders. It would be awkward, but at least it would end with a feast—they usually did. Famished and half-frozen as Jamie was, the thought of a hot meal could tempt him almost anywhere.

"You'll be fine," Manassas reassured him. "Your father just wants you to show your face. Let the men see the heir apparent."

Jamie turned back toward the window to hide his annoyance. He knew perfectly well what his father wanted, and, if you asked him, the Captain, as the men called him, was being damn foolish. Union agitators, and the rash of strikes that followed them, had been splashed across the front pages of the newspapers for months—first with the miners in Idaho and now with the newsboys in the City. It had the old man spooked, but if trouble was brewing, giving the millworkers a glimpse of his face would hardly hold it at bay.

If anyone else had been in the carriage, Jamie would have said as much outright, but Manassas was a company man to the marrow. He had been his father's friend and bookkeeper for as long as Jamie could remember and was incapable of entertaining the notion that the Captain could be wrong.

For the hundredth time that morning, Jamie wondered how he had allowed himself to be talked into this trip. A man whose appetite for nature was sated by a half-hour's walk in Central Park had no business boarding the eight o'clock Mohawk and Malone for an expedition into the wilds of Upstate New York. And yet, here he was, inching through a muddy wasteland in a carriage that should have been sold as scrap a generation ago. Jamie sighed and settled deeper into his seat. There was nothing to be done for it now, and he would have to get through the next few weeks as best he may.

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Eleanor Birney

Eleanor Birney writes historical mysteries about class, moral ambiguity, and people who aren’t satisfied with life on their side of the green baize door.

She received a BA in History from UC Berkeley, and works as a legal research attorney, a day job that feeds her love of precision, research, and puzzles.

Growing up in foster care gave her a lifelong fascination with the way society steers people into assigned places—and how some of those people refuse to stay in them.

She lives in Northern California with her family. The Green Baize Door is her debut novel.

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Book Review: Quillan Creek and the Little War:Time Stones Book I by Ian Hunter

 

Quillan Creek and the Little War: 
Time Stones Book I 
By Ian Hunter

Publication Date: 3rd August 2018

Publisher: MVB Marketing-und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels

Print Length: 281 Pages

Genre: Historical Fantasy 

Jessie Mason lives with her nose in the pages of history. But she is about to discover that the past is a dangerous place where she doesn't belong, and knowledge alone is not going to save her.

In Jessie’s troubled life her aunt is the only constant and comfort she has. But when she inexplicably disappears, and Jessie uncovers her mother's Time Stone, that unhappy life turns unreal and terrifying.

She is summoned to a world in crisis, 250 years in her past, to three unlikely companions, and the aged Onondaga shaman, Nishkamich, who promises an education in the powers of the stones which they each possess.

Over one glorious summer, Jessie reluctantly settles to village life and the developing bond with her prickly friends, until they are forced to accept that their stones are being hunted through history.

But in the depths of winter, their friendship, their wits, and the very limits of their endurance, will be tested by an unforgiving Nature as war finally erupts around them.

Praise

"...the kind of book that one would forgo sleep to finish." 

The Coffee Pot Book Club

"...fantastical and riveting." 

booklife 

"...an exciting adventure for readers with unforgettable companions." 

The Book Commentary 

Book Rating:

📚📚📚📚📚⭐ = A book in a million

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.

📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.

📚📚📚 = It was enjoyable.

📚📚 = It was okay.

📚 = Um...! 😕

My Review

Quillan Creek and the Little War: 
Time Stones Book I 

📚📚📚📚📚

I went into Quillan Creek and the Little War (Time Stones Book I) expecting an interesting historical fantasy aimed at a younger adult audience, but wow — did this book deliver. The story opens with an evil force hunting the Time Stones, ruthless in their quest and willing to travel to whatever century they need to in order to find them. And then, quite suddenly, in walk — or rather fall — the heroes of this tale.

Jessie, Tiponi, Abe, and Kesejowaase are thrown together — quite literally through time — and what follows is as much about learning to survive one another as it is about surviving the world they find themselves in. All four feel equally important, and it was refreshing to follow such different people as they each struggled with their own fears, responsibilities, and difficult choices. I especially enjoyed seeing how their personalities sometimes clashed and sometimes complemented one another, and how their doubts and mistakes made them feel genuinely real rather than idealised heroes.

One of the strongest aspects of the story is the sense of responsibility that hangs over every decision. Power, knowledge, and choice are never treated lightly, and there is a constant awareness that actions have consequences that cannot easily be undone. Nishkamich, the shaman, quickly became one of my favourite characters — his quiet wisdom and urgency add depth to the story and help guide the others through a world filled with uncertainty and danger.

By the final pages, I felt as though I had genuinely travelled alongside these characters and shared in their uncertainty, courage, and hard decisions. 

You can pick up a copy of this book on Amazon

Ian Hunter

Books have been an important part of my life as long as I can remember, and at 54 years old, that’s a lot of books. My earliest memories of reading are CS Lewis’, “The Horse and His Boy” – by far the best of the Narnia books, the Adventures series by Willard Price, and “Goalkeepers are Different” by sports journalist Brian Glanville. An eclectic mix. My first English teacher was surprised to hear that I was reading, Le Carré, Ken Follett, Nevil Shute and “All the Presidents’ Men” by Woodward and Bernstein at the age of 12. I was simply picking up the books my father had finished.

School syllabus threw up the usual suspects – Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Hardy, “To Kill a Mockingbird” – which I have reread often, and others I don’t immediately recall. By “A” level study, my then English teachers were pulling their hair out at my “perverse waste of talent” – I still have the report card! But I did manage a pass.

During a 35 year career, briefly in Banking and then in IT, I managed to find time, with unfailing family support, to study another lifelong passion, graduating with an Open University Bachelors’ degree in History in 2002. This fascination with all things historical inspired me to begin the Time Stones series. There is so much to our human past, and so many differing views on what is the greatest, and often the saddest, most tragic story. I decided I wanted to write about it; to shine a small light on those, sometimes pivotal stories, which are less frequently mentioned.

In 1995, my wife, Michelle, and I moved from England to southern Germany, where we still live, with our two children, one cat, and, when she pays us a visit, one chocolate labrador. I have been fortunate that I could satisfy another wish, to travel as widely as possible and see as much of our world as I can. Destinations usually include places of historic and archaeological interest, mixed with a large helping of sun, sea and sand for my wife’s peace of mind.

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Book Review: The Relic Keeper by Heidi Eljarbo : #HistoricalFiction #blogtour #YardeBookPromotions @HeidiEljarbo @maryanneyarde

 

The Relic Keeper
By Heidi Eljarbo

Publication Date: 18th November 2025

Publisher: Independently Published

Page Length: 162

Genre: Historical Fiction

Italy, 1620.

Angelo is an orphan, lonely and forgotten. Having been passed on from one family to the next, he ends up as a common thief, subject to and under the thumb of a ruthless robber called Tozzo.

Angelo knows no other life and has lost hope that any chance of providence will ever replace his lonely, misfortunate existence. When he loses his master, his livelihood is shaken. Tozzo’s plunder is hidden in a safe place, but what will happen if someone comes after Angelo to get their hands on the stolen relics? More than that, he feels threatened by words he’s heard too many times; that he’ll always remain unforgiven and doomed.

One day, a priest invites Angelo to help with chores around the church and rectory and, in exchange, offers him room and board. Padre Benedetto’s kindness and respect are unfamiliar and confusing, but Angelo’s safety is still a grave concern. Two older robbers have heard rumors about the hidden treasures and will stop at nothing to attain them.

With literary depictions and imagery, Angelo’s story is a gripping and emotional journey of faint hope and truth in seventeenth-century Italy—an artistic and audacious tale that crosses paths with art collector Vincenzo Giustiniani and the powerful Medici family.

Book Rating:

📚📚📚📚📚⭐ = A book in a million

📚📚📚📚📚 = I could not put this book down. I Highly Recommend it.

📚📚📚📚 = A really great read.

📚📚📚 = It was enjoyable.

📚📚 = It was okay.

📚 = Um...! 😕

My Review

The Relic Keeper 

📚📚📚📚📚 - I Highly Recommend it.

The story opens with Angelo, a young orphan trying to survive under the control of Tozzo, a cruel man who uses him to steal relics from churches. Life has been harsh and unforgiving for Angelo, and he has learned to trust very few people. His world changes when he meets Padre Benedetto, a kind and patient priest who offers guidance, shelter, and a chance to see that there might be more to life than mere survival. From there, Angelo’s journey takes him to Rome, where he encounters new experiences and the world of art, including a breathtaking painting that leaves him awestruck and forces him to confront emotions he has long kept buried.

What really works in this novel is the emotional depth and focus on character. Angelo’s growth feels natural, and Padre Benedetto’s quiet wisdom and compassion create a strong emotional anchor throughout the story. The way Eljarbo portrays the priest’s influence makes it easy to see why small acts of kindness can have such a lasting impact. At the same time, Angelo’s experiences in Rome add a sense of wonder and discovery, giving the story both heart and a touch of beauty that contrasts with the boy’s hard early life.

The book isn’t perfect. Some moments move more slowly than others, and the historical details occasionally require careful attention to follow, but they also enrich the story and make Angelo’s journey feel grounded and authentic. Even though the plot is mostly driven by character rather than action, it stays engaging because Angelo’s personal struggles and small victories are compelling to follow.

The Relic Keeper is a heartfelt and immersive read. It balances emotion, moral growth, and moments of awe, giving readers a story that is both moving and inspiring. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction with strong characters, hope, and a quietly uplifting message.

You can pick up your copy of this book on Amazon. If you subscribe to #KindleUnlimited you can read this novel for free.

HEIDI ELJARBO grew up in a home full of books, artwork, and happy creativity. She is the author of historical novels filled with courage, hope, mystery, adventure, and sweet romance during challenging times. She’s been named a master of dual timelines and often writes about strong-willed women of past centuries.

After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She lives with her husband on a charming island and enjoys walking in any kind of weather, hugging her grandchildren, and has a passion for art and history. Her family’s chosen retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summer and ski the vast white terrain during winter.

Heidi’s favorites are her family, God's beautiful nature, and the word whimsical.

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