Showing results by author "Steven Wilkens" in All Categories

A horrific yet heart-warming story of how an Irish family was forced off their tenant farm after three years of crop failure. They were offered a chance to migrate to Canada. The voyage would be one of death, disease, and heartbreak. Through it all a young boy, Finn captivated those around him.

A chance meeting of an older man and a young boy changes both and has a positive impact on so many others

It is 1915 and the world is at war. Jake Johnson, a down-and-out sea captain is returning to Europe as a passenger on the old British steamer STAR OF DUBLIN, when German operatives suddenly take over the ship by force. They are after the secret cargo in the forward holds. They plan on meeting up with an armed commerce raider to transfer that cargo. Once they have the cargo, the STAR OF DUBLIN will simply vanish will all hands. In rounding up the passengers and crew, the Germans missed one, Jake Johnson. Unarmed and alone, Jake must figure out a way to retake the ship. If he can do that, he ...

They had met as small children and became best friends. When the familes moved apert Gene and Ruby lost contact until Ruby walked back into Gene's life years later. Harvest Moon is a beautiful love story of a very average couple. It illustrates how even an ordinary life is extraordinary when viewed in retrospect. The story takes the reader from iceboxes to refrigerators, horse farming to mechanized farming. Gene and Ruby handled everything life threw at them together, at least until Ruby was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The year is 1945. After six years of war, Hitler is finally on the verge of defeat. The Americans' Manhattan Project is nearing completion, and the plans for using its product to conquer Japan are ready to be put into full swing. Enter the URSHEL KING, a tramp steamer staffed with one of the most hardy and experienced crews on the seas. On the eve of his most dangerous mission, Captain Andrew Beckler, the leader of this unique group, finds himself falling in love with Lieutenant Becky Hewitt. He carries her love and the confidence of his crew with him as they steam to sea in an attempt to ...

Throughout the night, the whaler was pounded by waves and ice. By morning the fast moving storm had abated, leaving Baffin Bay cold but tranquil. Even more surprising than the dramatic change in the weather was the ghostly-looking derelict that suddenly appeared among the towering icebergs. Failing to respond to hails, the strange ship was boarded in hopes of salvage. What the whaler's crew found aboard however, was something of which they wanted no part. Who the stranger was, how she came to be there, and what happened to her would be answered by a recovered journal. This is her story.

Austin Howell a young Confederate soldier is wounded and left for dead. Rescued by slaves, he finds he knew nothing of their lives. He is also surprised to find that not all slaves are looking forward to emancipation. He suddenly finds himself in a totally different kind of war. His every move becomes a matter of life and death with the lives of those he has grown close to hanging in the balance.

Josef and Katrina Stein had always been passionately in love. After surviving the atrocities of the Holocaust they migrate to the United States without their beautiful daughter, who had perished in a camp. Although they deeply loved each other, internal demons were tearing them apart. Katrina blamed Josef for the loss of their daughter, having begged him to leave Europe before the Nazis came. He said they couldn't, but never explained why. Katrina also had a horrific dark secret from the camp. If Josef ever found out, would he ever forgive her?

Nana's Willow begins eleven years before the birth of the main character Shannon Monroe, with the meeting of her parents. The story is set on a farm in Kansas and follows the life and times of the Monroe family during one of the most horrific and colorful centuries in US history, 1889 to 1989. Born into a loving family, Shannon enjoys the ideal life until events a world away change everything. World War 1, the Spanish Flu epidemic, The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl all take their toll on her. Yet when all seems lost, hope survives.

Isaiah lived a life of solitude after withdrawing from society. A deadly crash when a teenager left him disfigured and shunned by the public. He had given up any hope of happiness, friendship, or even anything to look forward to. Tomorrow would be a repeat of today, just as today was a repeat of yesterday. He was the last of his family, the others had all passed. When a sudden and deadly winter storm hit and knocked out his power, he went outside to start his generator when he heard the chilling sound of a car crash. Isaiah’s life was about to change.

An unforgettable tale of the civil rights struggle of the mid-sixties. A story of love and tragedy. A story of faith and endurance. Odetta had no intentions of making a stand for what was right. She lived simply, quietly, working as a civil servant for a white. She shopped at black owned stores and worshipped in an all-black Baptist Church. Although she would occasionally dream of traveling the world, she knew that would never happen without making waves, and she wasn’t one to make waves. That was of course until the summer of 1965. In a span of just a few weeks she would experience the ...

Ruth Zimmerman was sad, lonely, and depressed. She had lived a good life, but it was all gone. Everyone and everything she had ever loved was taken from her. She felt shunned by God and whatever remained of her life would be pointless. She wondered if she could even bear the pain of it all. Suddenly, she is paid a visit by a stranger and a miracle takes place that turns her heart and mind completely around.

A top Russian scientist is running for his life. Having spent the final year of the Tsar's reign working on the development of a horrific secret weapon. The Bolsheviks are determined to capture or kill him.His only hope is to flee with his family across 1700 kilometers of harsh Russian landscape on foot. Hiding by day, running by night while scrounging for food to keep them all alive. When the British get wind of the weapon and the hunt, they turn to Captain Jake Johnson and the crew of the Arianna Nichol to get them out.

When a young reporter wanted to do a story on billionaire Charles Henderson McCormick, she discovers that he is a man without a past. She even has trouble locating him. He is aware of what she is after and wants nothing to do with her or the story. When she finally does locate him, he has a change of heart and will do the story but on two conditions. First it has to be on his terms. Secondly, it can not be published until his death. Getting this story becomes the adventure of a lifetime and forever changes the reporter's life.

The greatest gift is love. For everyone there is someone, someone you may have known all your life, like a neighbor or a friend. Or someone you are destined to meet when you least expect. That chance meeting, that first glance, is it luck or Divine intervention?

Redemption is the sequel to Nana’s Willow and continues the saga of the Hunter family. Lt. Andrew Hunter finds himself in Vietnam commanding a squad of Marines. The tour is violent, bloody, and ends in horrible tragedy. After returning home he sets out to visit members of his squad that survived and visit the mother of one that didn’t. On the way he picks up a special passenger and together they travel the road to redemption.

John Liggett had just buried his wife and was struggling to get on with life. His grandson Grant seemed rudderless, with no sense of direction, purpose or sense of responsibility. When Grant is expelled from school for two weeks the two are forced to spend that time together. To pass that time, they decide to restore the old family tractor that has been rotting away in the back of John's garage. When Grant won't talk about what happened at school, John turns to an old friend to learn that there is much more to Grant than he had imagined. Over the course of their two weeks the men restore ...

At 12 Jason loses his parents suddenly in an automobile accident. He is taken in by his paternal grandparents. Grandmother is a tender, loving woman while grandfather is a war veteran suffering from PTSD and is very withdrawn and quiet. Jason dearly loves his grandmother, but doesn't even know grandfather. When Grandmother passes away just a couple of years later Jason and his grandfather must find a way to co-exist. A bad situation becomes worse when grandfather breaks his leg and must rely on Jason. When things hit rock bottom miracles begin to happen.