Anfinwen wrote:Is anyone else familiar with Bethlehem Books?
They have a number of really great "children's" titles that seem to be almost exclusive to them. There are several set in WWII which hearkens to the era of Narnia. I really love these:
Enemy Brothers was actually written by an English woman during WWII. The story focuses in the Ingleford family, who have taken in lots of refugees. However, Max is different. They believe him to be their long lost brother (who has unfortunately been raised in Nazi Germany). It's a great glimpse of life in that era, and it has a lovely plot.
The Reb and the Redcoats by the same author is about the Revolutionary War, and it is great too.
The only one I have is
The Reb and the Redcoats, but they certainly look like an interesting publisher.
Constance Savery, that author, is a favourite of mine--I have all her books now,* though I think maybe
Enemy Brothers is the best. That's hard to say, as a number of them are really good. She tended to have similar themes in her stories--twins or triplets; wards inordinately scared of guardians; dislike of step- (mothers, brothers, sisters, etc.).
Emma, a fragment begun by Charlotte Bronte (only the first chapter, I think), which Savery finished, is quite recognizably her work because of these themes.
*I thought I had them all, I really did. Turns out there's one more (published under a pseudonym) as well as some unpublished manuscripts. Strangely enough, though Savery was English, her literary heir is American, and quite a bit of ephemera is located at the University of Oregon. One of these days I'm going to have to trek down there and read all of those manuscripts.
More information, with a very comprehensive listing of her works, can be found here
http://www.constancesavery.com.