Tag: Historical

Letters From Lucca

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by Kim Baccellia

Genre: YA Historical Fiction, WWII Mystery

 


Check out the cover reveal of this gutwrenching historical where Sammi Clark travels to Italy to redeem her beloved Grandmother’s name, only to find the truth is more complex.


Letters From Lucca

by Kim Baccellia

Genre: YA Historical Fiction, WWII Mystery



On the heels of Sammi’s grandmother’s whispered deathbed wish, a package of letters from Italy arrives at her post box. Reading them makes Sammi recall whispers she heard in childhood of her grandmother’s wartime involvement, a past that Sammi’s father and aunt would rather see remain closed. As if things couldn’t get any worse, her long-time boyfriend, Hunter, dumps her.

However, an opportunity arises that sends her to Italy to defend her grandmother, even if the truth might shatter all she believes. In a helpful twist, Joseph, her best friend’s Italian cousin, offers to help her. Despite the obvious growing attraction between Joseph and her, she tries to suppress it as she embarks on her mission to vindicate the grandmother she loves.

 

**Releases Feb 3, 2026 – PreOrder Now!**

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Award-winning author Kim Baccellia grew up in Sacramento, California, the oldest of seven. She has a business associate degree from Sacramento City College, a BS degree in elementary education from Brigham Young University, and studied post grad bilingual/bicultural education at CSUF.

She’s been a telemarketer, library helper at the Harold B. Lee library at BYU, assistant manager, sales clerk, tutor, bilingual teacher, and homeschool mother.

Award-winning author. Author of YA paranormal CROSSED OUT and CROSSED FIRE. YA dystopia CANDLE IN THE WIND. Also the author of the urban diverse fantasy EARRINGS OF IXTUMEA. Short Christmas Magic in the Holiday analogy MISTLETOE AND MAGIC. Re-releasing YA fantasy series under new titles in 2026! Currently working on a historical romance set in Tuscany.

 

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King Daniel Historical Fiction by Susan Wolf Johnson

Published on by mariacatalinaegan2 Comments

Historical Fiction
Date Published: July 2016
Publisher: BalboaPress
 
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On a summer’s evening in 1972, while the band plays amid the sizzling heat at the Tampa Yacht Club,Gasparilla pirates and their ladies eagerly await the arrival of their newly crowned king, Daniel Westcott. But to their dismay, Daniel never shows up.
By the wee hours of the next morning, the townspeople are scratching their heads as members of the Westcott family deliberate whether or not to call the police. As the story unfolds, King Daniel has disappeared without a trace.
Praise for King Daniel:
“Nautical twists abound as King Daniel excites with its page-turning thrills and familial revelations….” – Foreword Reviews, 5 Stars
 
“The disappearance of a Tampa Bay blue blood rattles the skeletons in his family’s closet….A gripping tale of a missing patriarch in 1970’s Florida; an auspicious debut.” – Kirkus Reviews
 
“In this thriller, Susan Wolf Johnson delivers an ambitious, sprawling melodrama about the bitter end of a Southern patriarch and the damage a family can inflict on itself for generations.” – BlueInk Review
 
“This intriguing novel centers on the disappearance of Daniel,the newly anointed ceremonial king of Gasparilla, a series of pirate-themed festivities similar to Mardi Gras but held in Tampa. The author does a great job with character development for Daniel’s family: his distraught and distracted wife, Natalie; his mentally-challenged daughter, Julia; and his pregnant, unwed granddaughter, Becca. The story unfolds slowly, with a huge array of characters and a narrator who speaks directly to the reader rather than fading into the background. The mystery surrounding what happened to Daniel takes a back seat to the internal strife each of the characters battles.” – Booklife

 

About the Author

Susan Wolf Johnson earned her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts.  She has taught creative writing and composition at the University of South Florida for fifteen years.  Her short stories and book reviews have appeared in the Mississippi Review, the Dallas Review, the Florida Review, The Sun, New Letters, and the Charlotte Poetry Review.  She lives in Tampa, Florida with her family.  King Daniel is her first novel.
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Cremation and Catholics ~ My grandfather’s death in 1939

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In 1939 when my maternal grandfather died in faraway Denmark a Catholic cremation was not an option. Transporting a body to Mexico was not an option either.  You can see the telegrams of some of the back and forth between The Catholic Church in Denmark and my family.
In the end the cremation was not accompanied by any Catholic support or ritual
Today The Vatican set the rules. Cremation OK but no scattering of ashes.
Vatican bans cremation ashes scattering in new guidelines