Anyone who has come under the spell of Elisabeth Ogilvie's novels to bound to wonder about this writer who, for more than fifty years, has crafted one memorable book after another: historical fiction, mysteries, young adult stories, even a gothic novel. Most are set in Maine or the Scottish Highlands, and for many readers it is Ogilvie's beautifully realized settings that make them pick up her novels again and again. Equally fascinating are her characters: vivid, individual, appealingly imperfect, deeply rooted in their families and home ground. Now, at last, we have a book about this prolific yet unassuming author who would rather live quietly on her Maine island than seek the limelight. A Mug-Up with Elisabeth is the definitive resource on her life, her work, her characters, and her settings--including Criehaven, the inspiration for Bennett's Island, which is arguably one of the most evocative locales in American fiction. On Bennett's Island, many a tale is told and many a crisis resolved around the kitchen table while the islanders pause for a "mug-up" of coffee. In these pages, readers can enjoy a mug-up with Elisabeth Ogilvie herself.

Seeking refuge, Elisabeth McCartney returned to her centuries-old family home, never dreaming stepping over the threshold would take her one hundred years into the past—and into the sweet, sensual embrace of Dr. Jonathan Fortner. He wants forever, but she knows forever is the one thing they don't have. Because even if she can prevent the tragedy she knows will strike him, they are separated by two worlds, denied by destiny. Unless love can find a time of its own.…

Hard times come for all in life, with no real explanation. When we walk through suffering, it has the potential to devastate and destroy, or to be the gateway to gratitude and joy. Elisabeth Elliot was no stranger to suffering. Her first husband, Jim, was murdered by the Waoroni people in Ecuador moments after he arrived in hopes of sharing the gospel. Her second husband was lost to cancer. Yet, it was in her deepest suffering that she learned the deepest lessons about God. Why doesn’t God do something about suffering? He has, He did, He is, and He will. Suffering and love are inexplicably linked, as God’s love for His people is evidenced in His sending Jesus to carry our sins, griefs, and sufferings on the cross, sacrificially taking what was not His on Himself so that we would not be required to carry it. He has walked the ultimate path of suffering, and He has won victory on our behalf. This truth led Elisabeth to say, “Whatever is in the cup that God is offering to me, whether it be pain and sorrow and suffering and grief along with the many more joys, I’m willing to take it because I trust Him.” Because suffering is never for nothing.

From the quintessential author of wartime Germany, A Time to Love and a Time to Die echoes the harrowing insights of his masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front. After two years at the Russian front, Ernst Graeber finally receives three weeks’ leave. But since leaves have been canceled before, he decides not to write his parents, fearing he would just raise their hopes. Then, when Graeber arrives home, he finds his house bombed to ruin and his parents nowhere in sight. Nobody knows if they are dead or alive. As his leave draws to a close, Graeber reaches out to Elisabeth, a childhood friend. Like him, she is imprisoned in a world she did not create. But in a time of war, love seems a world away. And sometimes, temporary comfort can lead to something unexpected and redeeming. “The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”—The New York Times Book Review

In photographs only seen briefly as part of studio press kits distributed upon release of a new film, these long-lost stills of Hollywood’s leading ladies have been reverently rendered into color portraits that not only evoke a treasured past of beauty and glamour, but also seem comfortably familiar to the contemporary eye. These posed photos have been chosen not only for their bespoke sensuality, but also for how the discrete addition of color has elevated a black and white still to a kind of artistic grace, prompting rediscovery of classic Hollywood’s most beautiful women. Actresses portrayed here include Julie Andrews, Anna Mae Wong, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, Carroll Baker, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Angie Dickinson, Eva Marie Saint, and many others.

Killing is too merciful for someone who should suffer, so murder for hire doesn't give the client nearly as much satisfaction as watching the adversary's world transform into a living nightmare. The agency charged a fortune but could deliver the ugliest fates imaginable: financial ruin, being reviled by friends and family, imprisonment, and abject humiliation. The agency prospered, by schadenfreude, until their operatives encountered a seemingly easy mark in an inconsequential place. They learn, at great cost, that kindness is not weakness, that truth endures past deception, and that destiny favors the righteous.