Victorian Military

In his New York Times best-selling novel Dances with Wolves, Michael Blake created an unforgettable saga of white and Native American cultures. Now in Marching to Valhalla, Blake unfolds the story of the final months of General George Armstrong Custer, a story that illuminates the epic sweep of his entire life - his career, his passions, his legacy to the American West.

In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.

John Godfrey, the Baron of Ashbury, has spent most of his life as a soldier. He was never meant to become a baron. But circumstances have changed and now that he’s back home, he has to face another battle: saving his failing estates. The solution to his problems is easy. He needs to marry an heiress. His feelings toward his fiancee’s best friend, however, are extremely complicated. He should marry the lady of his heart. But can a beautiful, clever and free-spirited lady truly love the broken shell of a man he’s become?

Facing court-martial for disobeying orders, Lieutenant Samuel Kingston despairs when avaricious aristocrats imprison his father for a crime born of Samuel’s clash with one of their own as a boy. The young Anglo-Irishman’s only hope of freeing both is accepting a commission assisting William Walker and his filibusters win Nicaragua’s bloody civil war.

Ireland, 1856. Samuel Kingston can’t shake his guilt over his father’s death. Blindsided when his aristocratic enemies freeze his funds and steal incriminating papers, he becomes desperate for cash. To save the family estate, he makes a bold deal with Cornelius Vanderbilt to smuggle weapons to Costa Rica and arm the foes of the filibuster, William Walker.

Honor and conviction clash with loyalty and love in this epic Civil War novel that pits brother against brother. Winner of the coveted John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction, Noble Cause chronicles the clash of a Confederate cavalry officer with a Union spy as they defend their beliefs, their country, and their honor.

Lieutenant Maxwell Davies returned from the Crimean War wounded and broken. He no longer fits into high society and wants nothing more than to escape and hide the depth of his pain and trauma from the world. Miss Josephine Brewer is an outcast of society due to the scandalous nature of her birth. The illegitimate daughter of a gentleman and his mistress, she stands between two worlds - neither of which she completely belongs to.

Sarah Hubbard makes her living as a seamstress in her solitary home beside Willoughby Run, a creek near Gettysburg. Her loyalties are firmly on the side of the North so when Confederate soldier, Jesse Mitchell, seeks refuge at her home she cautiously agrees to help him. Jesse promised his sister-in-law to bring her husband, Jonas, home safely. With all the death he's witnessed fighting for "The Cause," protecting Jonas has become a matter of honor. He is prepared to die for his brother and his country. He appreciates his luck in finding a caring woman behind enemy lines.

Carrie and her little brother, Jay, find a wounded soldier on their land after a battle which later became known as "The Battle Above the Clouds." Adam, a Union soldier, has been shot twice in the arm. Though Carrie is reluctant to take Adam to their cave where her family hides their livestock from both armies, she cannot turn her back on him. But her Aunt Lavinia, bitter over what Yankees have done to their land, urges Carrie to allow Adam to die. Carrie refuses, but cannot remove the bullets.