Bücher von Aimie K. Runyan

From the author of The School for German Brides and A Bakery in Paris, this captivating historical novel set in nineteenth-century Paris tells the story of Claire Eiffel, a woman who played a significant role in maintaining her family's legacy and their iconic contributions to the city of Paris.Claire Eiffel, the beautiful, brilliant eldest daughter of the illustrious architect Gustave Eiffel, is doted upon with an education envied by many sons of the upper classes, and entirely out of the reach of most daughters. Claire's idyllic childhood ends abruptly when, at fourteen, her mother passes away. It's soon made clear that Gustave expects Claire to fill her mother's place as caregiver to the younger children and as manager of their home.As she proves her competence, Claire's importance to her father grows. She accompanies him on his travels and becomes his confidante and private secretary. She learns her father's architectural trade and becomes indispensable to his work. But when his bright young protégé, Adolphe Salles, takes up more of Gustave's time, Claire resents being pushed aside.Slowly, the animosity between Claire and Adolphe turns to friendship...and then to something more. After their marriage in 1885 preserves the Eiffel legacy, they are privileged by the biggest commission of Eiffel's career: a great iron tower dominating the 1889 World's Fair to demonstrate the leading role of Paris in the world of art and architecture. Now hostess to the scientific elite, such as Thomas Edison, Claire is under the watchful eye not only of her family and father's circle, but also the world.When Gustave Eiffel's involvement in a disastrous endeavor to build a canal in Panama ends in his imprisonment, it is up to Claire to secure her father's freedom but also preserve the hard-won family legacy.Claire Eiffel's story of love, devotion, and the frantic pursuit to preserve her family's legacy is not only an inspired reflection of real personages and historical events, but a hymn to the iconic tower that dominates the City of Lights.

In this intriguing historical novel, a young woman who is sent to a horrific ?bride school? to be molded into the perfect Nazi wife finds her life forever intertwined with a young Jewish woman about to give birth.Germany, 1939As the war begins, Hanna Rombauer, a young German woman, is sent to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother's death. Thrown into a life of luxury she never expected, Hanna soon finds herself unwillingly matched with an SS officer twenty years her senior. The independence that her mother lovingly fostered in her is considered highly inappropriate as the future wife of an up-and-coming officer and she is sent to a ?bride school.? There, in a posh villa on the outskirts of town, Hanna is taught how to be a ?proper? German wife. The lessons of hatred, prejudice, and misogyny disturb her and she finds herself desperate to escape. For Mathilde Altman, a German Jewish woman, the war has brought more devastation than she ever thought possible. Torn from her work, her family, and her new husband, she fights to keep her unborn baby safe. But when the unthinkable happens, Tilde realizes she must hide. The risk of discovery grows greater with each passing day, but she has no other options. When Hanna discovers Tilde hiding near the school, she knows she must help her however she can. For Tilde, fear wars with desperation when Hanna proposes a risky plan. Will they both be able to escape with their lives and if they do, what kind of future can they possibly hope for?

Set amid the promise and challenge of the first Canadian colonies, Aimie K. Runyan's vividly rendered novel provides a fascinating portrait of the women who would become the founding mothers of New France. In 1677, an invisible wall separates settlers in New France from their Huron neighbors. Yet whether in the fledgling city of Quebec or within one of the native tribes, every woman's fate depends on the man she chooses-or is obligated-to marry. Although Claudine Deschamps and Gabrielle Giroux both live within the settlement, their prospects are very different. French-born Claudine has followed her older sister across the Atlantic hoping to attract a wealthy husband through her beauty and connections. Gabrielle, orphan daughter of the town drunkard, is forced into a loveless union by a cruel law that requires her to marry by her sixteenth birthday. And Manon Lefebvre, born in the Huron village and later adopted by settlers, has faced the prejudices of both societies and is convinced she can no longer be accepted in either. Drawn into unexpected friendship through their loves, losses, and dreams of home and family, all three women will have to call on their bravery and resilience to succeed in this new world... "A gripping 17th c. sleigh ride through the joys and sorrows of the brave and resilient women who colonized Quebec. Runyan has crafted a fine, character-driven study of a landscape rarely chartered in Historical Fiction. Brava!" --Juliet Grey, author of the acclaimed Marie Antoinette trilogy