Mary's Bookcase

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

The Cleansing (A Novel of Ancient Rome. Based on a True Story) by Victoria Alvear

The Cleansing

A Novel of Ancient Rome.

Based on a true story.

By Victoria Alvear

Publication Date: January 20th, 2026
Publisher: Hypatia Press
Pages: 314
Genre: Historical Fiction

Based on a true story, this is not the enlightened Rome of myth. This is a city choking on fear, where blood flows on both the battlefield and altar, and where generals and politicians alike are desperate to appease rageful gods.

When 50,000 Romans fall in a single day at the Battle of Cannae, priests claim there can be only one reason the gods abandoned Rome: a Vestal Virgin has broken her vow of chastity. And they accuse Opimia (Mia), the strongest, most defiant of the six sacred Vestal priestesses.

Forced as a child into serving Vesta, the goddess of fire, Mia has always chafed against Rome’s control of her every move—especially after being separated from her childhood love, Attius. Now, accused of a crime she did not commit, she must defend herself in a hostile court to avoid being buried alive for her “crime.”

Betrayed by the high priestess, hunted by Rome’s political and religious elite, Mia must either accept her fate — or join with the Sybil of Cumae to expose the truth behind a world built on superstition, fear, and lies.

A story of personal awakening amid public catastrophe, The Cleansing is a haunting journey through a city at war with itself — and a woman who risks everything to survive it.

Praise for The Cleansing:

"Original, deftly crafted...[and a] historical thriller with an impressive level of literary excellence."

~ Midwest Book Review

Buy Links:

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Barnes & Noble Paperback

Bookshop.org

Victoria Alvear

Victoria Alvear has written multiple books and novels set in the ancient world, including A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii, A Song of War: A Novel of Troy, Cleopatra’s Moon, and others.

She is known as Vicky Alvear Shecter for her children’s books, which include Warrior Queens, Anubis Speaks!, Hades Speaks!, and Thor Speaks!.

Victoria has served as a docent at the museum of antiquities at Emory University for nearly twenty years.

Connect with Victoria:
Website • Twitter / X • Facebook • Instagram • Threads • Bluesky
Amazon Author Page • BookBub • TikTok • Pinterest • Goodreads

Unbelonging by David J. Jepsen

Unbelonging

By David J. Jepsen

Publication Date: April 15th, 2026
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 270
Genre: Historical Fiction

Seattle, 1945. The war is ending-but for many, the hardest battles are just beginning.

In a city transformed by global conflict, four families struggle to find their place amid rising tensions, buried prejudice, and shifting identities. Victory overseas has brought hope, but at home, fear, suspicion, and inequality continue to shape everyday life.

A female defense worker, newly awakened to injustice, risks everything as she steps into the dangerous world of labor activism-threatening not only her future, but the safety of those she loves. A decorated Black war hero returns home expecting honor and opportunity, only to face a different kind of battlefield, where racism and exclusion deny him the freedoms he fought to defend. A Japanese American, released from internment, discovers that the end of war does not mean the end of hatred, and that rebuilding a life in a community that no longer trusts him may be the greatest challenge of all. A hopeful British war bride arrives chasing the promise of a new beginning, only to learn that the American dream is complicated, fragile, and not equally shared.

As labor strikes ripple through the city, racial tensions simmer, and the first shadows of Cold War hysteria begin to take hold, Seattle reveals itself as a place both beautiful and deeply divided. Old prejudices harden even as new voices rise, demanding change.

This powerful, emotionally charged novel strips away the myth of an open and enlightened city, exposing the human cost of exclusion and the quiet courage of those who refuse to accept it.

A sweeping story of resilience, identity, and the search for belonging-welcome to the City on the Sound, where no one is quite sure where they belong.

Praise for Unbelonging:

"Just a great read and anyone who picks it up is guaranteed to learn a thing or two: from Guadalcanal to local labor disputes."

~ Mr. K, Amazon 5* review

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link

David J. Jepsen

David J. Jepsen is a historian, writer and educator teaching Pacific Northwest and U.S. history at Tacoma Community College. His novel about racial and labor conflicts in Seattle following WW II, titled Unbelonging, was released in April 2026.

He was lead author of Contested Boundaries: A New Pacific Northwest History (John Wiley and Sons, 2017), and he wrote and directed the award winning documentary Labor Wars of the Northwest, nominated in 2019 for Best Feature Film Made in Washington by the Gig Harbor Film Festival.

David writes a weekly post for the Washington State Historical Society titled “This Day in Washington.” He holds a master’s degree in history and a bachelor’s in communications from the University of Washington.

He lives with his wife, Jackie, in Gig Harbor, WA.

Connect with David:

Website • Facebook • Facebook Author Page • Instagram

Historium Press Author Page • LinkedIn • Goodreads

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Book Review: Tides of Treachery (Beyond the Faerie Rath Book) by Hanna Park

Tides of Treachery

(Beyond the Faerie Rath Book)

By Hanna Park

Publication Date: 30th June 2026

Publisher: Baisong Press

Power was never the danger. Want was.

On Samhain night, with treachery seated beside the throne and the dead stirring beneath the House of Faces, Macha felt him at her back—steady, lethal, far too close. She was meant to hold Ulaid together, not crave the man sworn to protect her. But desire turned every choice into something dangerous.

Ruairi had already crossed death once. Macha was far more dangerous.

Macha stood before him with fire in her eyes while Ulaid cracked apart around her, and every vow he’d sworn strained toward breaking. He was her blade, her shield, the last thing standing between her and the darkness rising through the court. He was never meant to want her like this.

The dead had always spoken to Breda. She never expected them to speak his name.

As the House of Faces began to fracture, the whispers pulled her toward truths long buried within Ulaid—and toward a shadowed man who felt more like a warning than salvation. The dead were no longer content to whisper.

Cian lived with the damage he helped create—and the woman he could not save.

Old magic bound him to grief, guilt, and a past that refused to stay buried. Love had failed them before. It might fail them again.

As Samhain descends, loyalties fracture, the dead grow restless, and Ulaid begins to unravel.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have so many thoughts about this book.

First of all, I never trusted that druid. Not for a single second. The man beheads someone almost as soon as the story begins, so Hanna Park wasn't exactly encouraging me to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I loved how steeped in Celtic mythology this was. It felt as though magic was everywhere. Not the sparkly, harmless sort either. Some of it was beautiful, some of it was dark, and some of it was genuinely unsettling.

The House of Faces? Absolutely not. Fascinating? Yes. Would I willingly walk into it? Not a chance.

I think what surprised me most was how attached I became to Macha and Ruairi. I enjoyed them separately, but together they completely won me over. There is so much longing between them, and I spent half the book willing them to stop dancing around their feelings and just admit what was obvious to everyone else.

And poor Ruairi. That's all I'm saying.

This wasn't a book I rushed through. Not because I wasn't enjoying it, but because I kept stopping to think about things. There are secrets buried all over this story, and I was constantly changing my mind about what was really going on.

Anyway, I've finished it now and feel slightly bereft.

If you're looking for a fantasy full of Celtic mythology, old magic, danger, romance, and characters you'll become far too invested in, give this one a try.

Pick up your copy of Tides of Treachery HERE.

Hanna Park

I began my writing career in the pre-dawn of a winter morning while my husband snored like a train. We could call my husband the catalyst. If it weren’t for him, I would never have gone to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, feed the cat, and sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. It was there, in those moments of wondrous quiet, that I did something I had never thought possible. I opened my laptop, and while the coffee went cold, I wrote a story. My husband had no idea that these sojourns to the loveseat in front of the fire would become a daily occurrence, that writing would become an obsession, but the cat knew. She knows everything.

I write stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you love. Thank you, friends, for reading!

In the beginning, there was an empty page.

I am a writer who lives in Muskoka, Canada, with a husband who snores, a hungry cat, and an almost perfect canine––he’s an adorable little shit.

Website

Check out Voices on the Wind (A Novel of Malta in WWII, Part I — Assault) by Helena P. Schrader

Voices on the Wind

(A Novel of Malta in WWII, Part I — Assault)
By Helena P. Schrader

Early 1942: the fate of the Suez Canal and access to Middle East oil hangs on the fate of an island just 17 miles long by 9 miles wide: Malta.

Determined to destroy the British forces threatening Rommel’s supply lines, the Axis powers drop more bombs on Malta than London endured throughout the Blitz. The population is forced underground, while the RAF struggles with inadequate resources to fend off defeat. Meanwhile, Britain’s Atlantic lifeline is fraying....

Voices on the Wind follows the fate of four of Malta’s defenders: Senior Intelligence Officer and former Battle of Britain ace, W/Cdr “Robin” Priestman; WAAF SigInt Officer Candice Weld, sent out from Bletchley Park to “man” the only X-machine outside the UK; F/O “Ned” Nettleton, a Beaufort torpedo bomber pilot engaged in suicidal attacks against enemy shipping; and Chief Officer Stevie Mackay of the British Merchant Navy, fighting to keep Britain’s own lines of supply open.

Praise

What emerges from these pages is more than a story of military operations. It is a portrait of service, endurance, and sacrifice viewed through multiple perspectives, each contributing to a richer understanding of a critical moment in history.

Yarde Book Promotions

Through a collective of narrators working in different areas of the war effort, mainly in and around Malta, "Voices on the Wind" by Helena P. Schrader explores a frequently overlooked aspect of history, delving into the defence of Malta during the Second World War.

The Coffee Pot Book Club

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link

Helena P. Schrader

Helena P. Schrader is the author of 21 historical novels and six non-fiction history books. She earned a PhD in History from the University of Hamburg and served as a U.S. diplomat in Europe and Africa. She has won numerous literary awards, and two of her titles—Cold Peace, the first book in the Bridge to Tomorrow series on the Berlin Airlift, and her Battle of Britain novel, Where Eagles Never Flew—achieved Amazon #1 Bestseller status in aviation and military historical fiction.

Schrader masterfully blends meticulous historical research with compelling storytelling. Her success can best be measured not by the many awards or positive reviews, but by the fact that witnesses of the history she describes praise the authenticity of her works. Battle of Britain ace, W/Cdr Bob Doe enthusiastically declared that Where Eagles Never Flew got it “smack on the way it was for us fighter pilots.” Traitors for the Sake of Humanity: A Novel of the German Resistance won recognition for its extraordinary sensitivity to a complex topic from the survivors of the military conspiracy against Hitler and the widows of some of those executed.

The dramatic siege of Malta in WWII attracted Schrader’s attention years ago, and she has visited the island several times to conduct research, visit the important sites, and gain a greater understanding of the people. As she became drawn deeper into the material, the temptation to combine a novel about the siege of Malta with another of her lifelong loves, the British Merchant Navy, became irresistible. Schrader has been an avid sailor all her life and served as a petty officer in the British Merchant Navy on sail training ships in her youth.