ARIES BOOKS A Publisher with a Difference
Fiction
DESTINY IN SYDNEY
by D. Manning Richards
Adventurous and opportunistic, Scottish marine Lieutenant Nathaniel Armstrong is in charge of convicts on one of eleven ships sent in 1787 on a perilous voyage from England to the other side of the world to establish a British penal colony. He lusts after fiery Irish convict Moira O’Keeffe and surprises himself when he falls in love with her. Together they nearly starve in Sydney Cove while learning to farm the harsh land and deal with the Aborigines, whose lot is disease and unequal warfare.
Armstrong descendants deny their convict heritage and oppose the Chinese who come for the gold rush. Three Fong brothers suffer violence and despair as they fight to forge a place for themselves.
Duncan Armstrong, rich and powerful, helps pass the White Australia Policy in 1901 to keep out the Chinese, while his cousin Eleanor works for women’s suffrage and a “fair go” for the Aborigines.
-------
Published on July 1, 2012, as a paper book and ebook.
-------
Please click the URL link below to visit the author's website:
http://www.dmanningrichards.com/
-------
Please click the "AMAZON" button below to "Look Inside" the novel and read, for free, many of its pages before deciding to buy:
*************************************
GIFT OF SYDNEY
by D. Manning Richards
Gift of Sydney is an epic novel of the struggle to forge the multicultural, world-class city of Sydney, Australia. It is the second in the series of novels about the history of the city and Australia.
In 1903, the wealthy and powerful Armstrongs are concerned about their “convict stain.” The Fongs rail against the White Australia Policy that is driving Chinese out of Australia and preventing their relatives from immigrating. The Hudsons suffer under government programs that manage them as part of the vexing “Aboriginal problem.” The country is rich from wool and gold but insecure. Its principal protector and trading partner, Britain, is 15,000 miles away.
The three families all suffer in the world wars and the Great Depression, but experience a profound change when the racist White Australia Policy is finally rejected and a humanitarian policy opens the doors to accept the desperate Vietnamese boat people.
Once again, Richards's storytelling is impeccably researched, fast paced, action-adventure driven, and full of family saga emotion and drama. His two extraordinary novels together have the authenticity and authority of the finest historical fiction that strike a resounding chord of hope for all humanity.
-------
Published on October 1, 2014, as both a paper book and ebook.
-------
Please click the URL link below to visit the author's website:
http://www.dmanningrichards.com/
-------
Please click the "AMAZON" button below to "Look Inside" the novel and read, for free, many of its pages before deciding to buy:
*************************************
AMSTERDAM ASCENDANT
by Judith W. Richards
An action-adventure, historical saga of the tumultuous years of the late 1500s when Calvinist sea captain/privateer Maarten van der Voort, a member of the infamous Dutch Sea Beggar patriots, battles Spain and its hated Inquisition. After years of war, Amsterdam finally breaks free of the Spanish Catholic yoke.
Battle-weary Maarten returns home to practice his religion in peace and build a family trading business. But the going is not easy. Again and again, the Van der Voort family's faith, loyalties, and ethics are tested, sometimes with dire consequences, as Amsterdam lurches toward its Golden Age.
-------
Scheduled for publication in 2015.
*********************************
GOLDEN AMSTERDAM
by Judith W. Richards
In this sequel to Amsterdam Ascendant, the Van der Voort family endures floods, plagues, speculative bubbles, and sea perils, as it helps shape Amsterdam and its vast trading empire. To Maarten's disbelief, religious intolerance reappears
-------
Estimated publication date is late 2016.
*********************************
*********************************
