In the spotlight today is A Theory in Vienna by Heidi Gallacher

A Theory in vienna

By Heidi Gallacher

Publication Date: October 28th, 2025

Publisher: The Book Guild

Pages: 305

Genre: Historical Fiction

‘I bring to light a truth, which was unknown for many centuries with direful results for the human race.’ – Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis. 

 

Imagine you’d discovered something. Something that could save hundreds of thousands of lives. But they wouldn’t let you tell anyone. Wouldn’t it drive you mad?

 

Young Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis uncovers the real reason thousands of young women are dying after childbirth. Yet, in mid-19th century Europe, his simple methods are ridiculed. Semmelweis faces the battle of his life to convince others that the cause is simple…

 

Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, A Theory in Vienna brings the remarkable story of this man to life.

Praise for A Theory in Vienna:

'A booked based on truth, and this novel didn't disappoint.'

~ Andrew, 5* Amazon Review

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Heidi Gallacher

Heidi was born in London in the Sixties. She grew up in South Wales, UK and moved to Paris as a young adult where she taught English for two years. She currently lives in Switzerland and recently completed an MA in Creative Writing.

    Her first short story was published in Prima magazine (UK) in 2018. Heidi now writes historical fiction. Her first novel, Rebecca’s Choice, is set in Tredelerch - an old house in Wales that belonged to her family generations ago. This novel won an award from the Coffee Pot Book Club in 2020, Debut Novel Bronze Medal.

Her second novel, A Theory in Vienna, is set in 19th century Vienna and Budapest. It tells the incredible story of unsung hero Ignaz Semmelweis, whose life-saving discovery was ridiculed at the time.

Heidi enjoys travelling (the further North the better!), singing and writing songs, and spending time reading and writing at her Swiss chalet where the views are amazing.

Author Links:

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Read an excerpt from An American SLAVE in Barbary: The Odyssey of Winston Prescott Jones by Larry Kelley

An American SLAVE in Barbary

The Odyssey of Winston Prescott Jones

By Larry Kelley

Publication Date: December 11th, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 459

Genre: Historical Fiction / American Historical Fiction

A Homeric American Novel

An American Slave in Barbary: The Odyssey of Winston Prescott Jones is the story of a first-generation American student whose commercial ship is captured in the summer of 1801 by Moslem pirates. 

He spends the next sixteen years as a captive in Algiers. He rises to become a confidant to the Dey of Algiers, who is desperate to know what made the American shopkeepers and farmers believe they could defeat the British war machine, and how they intended to rule themselves.

In the genre created by Homer, it is a tale of suffering, sin, and redemption, and a young man's epic journey to regain his freedom.

Excerpt

Now, as the sun lowered in its westward descent toward the Atlantic, my thirst and my need to know if my brother might have survived left me no choice.  I walked out the dunes, across the flat beach, down onto damp sand that descended at a steep angle into the surf.  Without worrying if anyone could see me, I made my way toward Sale. I reasoned that unless, by an unlikely twist of fate, I was found by some friendly villager who wished to take me in and hide me, I would turn myself over to the mercies of the Moroccan authorities of Sale and or their agents, in exchange for a cup of water.

As I reached the portion of the beach near the outskirts of the city, two natives in a horse-drawn cart rode toward me near the waterline. The cart held an unarmed man driving and, next to him, a man armed with a scimitar, pistol, and ammunition belts strapped across his torso.  The cart stopped abruptly in front of me.  The armed man leaped out of the cart and ran toward me with his sword drawn, pointing at me. “Infidel, don’t move! Come here,” he yelled at me in Arabic as he motioned that I move toward the back of his cart.  

As he led me there, I saw in the rear bed two of my shipmates and close friends, Moore and Etheredge. “Jones!” they cried in unison. As I climbed into the back of the cart, they reached out their hands to mine with tears welling up in their eyes.  

My new jailor was remarkably a man I recognized as one who boarded our ship when we were captured in the Mediterranean and was among the pirates who sailed it off into the storm.  As he ran a chain through the ring in my ankle iron, which I still wore from our original capture, I said, “Lads, do you know if my brother, Robbie, made it ashore?”

Their looks told me what I feared had to be true.  They shook their heads while looking down at the floor of the cart.

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Larry Kelley

Larry Kelley's life was changed by 9/11. He desperately wanted to find out who these people were who attacked us, what ordinary citizens could do to join the battle, and how those plotting to kill us in future attacks could be defeated.

Kelley has written scores of columns on the dangers of Western complacency. In his tenure as a political commentary writer, he has made a significant impact.

His feature articles have appeared in the Piedmont Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Human Events, and Townhall Magazine. Two of his articles were featured on the cover of Townhall Magazine.

His first book, Lessons from Fallen Civilizations, is the result of ten years of research, and received critical praise as a saga that begins on the plain of Marathon in 490 BC and whose main character is Western Civilization.

Author Links:

Website • Author Page at Historium Press • Facebook • Twitter / X

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Read an excerpt from Secrets in the Woods by Susan D. Levitte

Secrets in the Woods

By Susan D. Levitte

Publication Date: October 17th, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 269

Genre: Historical Fiction

On October 8, 1871, fire turned night into a living hell.

While Chicago's blaze claimed the headlines, a fiercer and more devastating inferno swept across Wisconsin's Green Bay peninsula-obliterating farms, forests, and families in its path.

Here, among immigrant settlers carving new lives from the wilderness, survival came down to split-second choices: to run, to hide, to fight the flames. Mothers shielded children with their bodies, fathers vanished into smoke, and neighbors faced the firestorm with nothing but faith and will.

Inspired by forgotten accounts and newspaper fragments, Secrets in the Woods brings to life the untold human drama of one of America's most harrowing nights-a story of resilience, loss, and the fragile hope that rises from the ashes.

Praise for Secrets in the Woods:

'This book will stay in your thoughts long after you finish it!'

~ Patricia Cords, 5* Amazon Review

Excerpt

We hadn’t had a normal day for so long. Every day was now filled with all available hands batting back flames, watching for flames, or preparing for the flames. Normal fall chores were neglected so we could find more water, scratch together food that could be eaten on the hoof, treat wounds and burns, and rotate chores in the hopes of being able to step back into normal when this was over. 

That Sunday was the same. Small fires were popping up in the woods, and the trees continued to burst into flames, sending the firefighters to protect the nearest property. Even the little girls who had cared for Atlan were put to work fighting the flames at their homes

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Susan D. Levitte

Susan was born and raised as the fifth generation to live on the family land in Northeast North Dakota (nearly Canada). She moved to Wisconsin in 1997, living in Door and Manitowoc County and now resides in the pastoral Kewaunee County. Married to Quentin, they share their home with Olive and Penny, their silly Labrador retrievers, and Gil, their ever-lazy cat.

As a devoted reader of historical fiction and nonfiction, she brings her passion for history and desire to educate readers into her work. With twenty-five years of experience in global advertising and marketing, she holds a master’s degree in communications and currently contributes her expertise to the Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport.

Author Links:

Website • Author Page at Historium Press  

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