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1634
RETURN TO THE
NEW WORLD
Upper North America, 1628: Françoise Grenier’s life had been a combination of bad circumstances, worse luck and even poorer choices. Orphaned near Paris at the age of twelve, she became a street urchin. At fifteen she fell in with an older man who convinced her to follow him to the new world of Québec where he would marry her. Instead he abused her. Only when he failed to return from trading with the natives and she heard they had killed him, did she find herself liberated.
Taken in by the few women of Québec, she was just recovering when English privateers captured the failing colony, sending its few inhabitants, including Françoise, back to France. One of the ladies gave her a letter to deliver in France which led her to a new life, allowing her to return to help rebuild the colony five years later. It was here she prospered, beginning one of the early prominent families of Canada, helping to forge a great nation from the frozen wilderness.
If you enjoyed Fearful Passage North, The Allards Series, and the author’s ability to bring history to life, you will love this one. Read More 
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Bishop Union School

Bishop Union School, The Burton Collection
Book Eight: Bishop Union School. Set on the east side of Detroit, the Bishop Union School was already in poor condition when Clara Shands came to teach in 1898. Generally referred to as simply “Bishop,” it had already acquired a well-deserved reputation as the end of the road for poor students. Although some prominent Detroiters did emerge from the institution, most of its students were doomed to fail before they began. This made a perfect setting for young gangs and it was the early setting and prep school of sorts for a group of New York immigrants who would eventually become the infamous Purple Gang. Read More 
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Detroit Interurban Railway

New Interurban races the horses
Book Eight: The Detroit Interurban Railway. Detroit prepares to enter the 20th century with the advent of this marvel of modern transportation that premiered in September 1898. Henry Ford was working for the electric company and met Oscar Kreis at the opening of the Railway which will help force Detroit into the modern era. The tales of the railway in Book Eight are based on fact, (at least according to my grandmother). Read More 
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Book Eight, The Schvitz Bath House

Shvitz Today
Book Eight: the Schvitz bath house near Paradise valley in Detroit. (Near Beaubien, Oakland and Hastings in Detroit). It is here that Simon Shands and his colleagues in crime, Sol Bernstein and Harry Auerbach meet to plan the future of their crime empire, including Dice in the black neighborhoods and clubs with gambling and girls in the others. Read More 
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