Most Popular Books by Taylor Caldwell

Mankind falls under a sentence of death in this fable of a world without faith from a #1 New York Times–bestselling author. First there were the changes in weather. Lack of rain was turning the plains of Iowa, Kansas, and Idaho into arid blocks of parched earth. In the North, it was already January, and no sign of snow. All over the world, the seas were shrinking, and creeks and rivers looked like dried scars. But for Pete, the terrified son of a midwestern farming family, the first great omen came one unseasonably warm winter night when the moon simply vanished from a cloudless sky, and the clocks stopped. Soon, Pete’s family farm becomes a prison as a strange sulfurous fog rolls across the land. In its wake, poisonous and mindful weeds grow wild, choking to death anything—and anyone—within reach. The only sign of life on the streets is a relentless army of scorpions with a sting that kills. But when the government finally moves in, it’s not to protect; it’s for a reason far more deadly and absolute than anyone can imagine. Now, Earth’s survivors face something even more frightful than nature: the evil of men. Author Taylor Caldwell’s “beautifully written” dystopian novel is an unforgettable story of courage, passion, and the will to believe (The Washington Post). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Taylor Caldwell including rare images from the author’s estate.

The “darkly exuberant and passionate” saga of a man who flees Victorian England in disgrace—only to build an empire of corruption in America (The New York Times). The son of a wealthy English merchant, John Turnbull’s destiny appears to be a life of gentlemanly leisure. His path: graduate from his fashionable school and marry his beautiful cousin, Eugenia, whom he loves. Yet, one wild night, a jealous classmate tricks him into making a fateful mistake. Forced to give up his former life, Turnbull sails for America. He soon falls in with the unscrupulous businessman Mr. Wilkins. Together, they steal patents, smuggle contraband through the Southern blockade during the Civil War, run guns to Japan, and finance the opium trade. But as Turnbull amasses a fortune large enough to vanquish his most powerful enemies, he doesn’t realize his gravest threat comes from within his own family. Packed with fascinating period details, The Turnbulls is a mesmerizing family drama from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Captains and the Kings and Dynasty of Death.

From a #1 New York Times–bestselling author: Lucifer and the Archangel Michael debate the fate of humanity in the final nights before the apocalypse. Upon the end of days, Lucifer, the Fallen One, that Infernal of Infernals and Murderer of Hope, wonders if his Father will bother to raise another race after Armageddon. After all, he’ll only have to tempt them—again—to certain death. Their choice, not his. On God’s behalf, Archangel Michael responds. So begins a series of letters between two brothers, at once cordial and combative, about their purpose, their fears, their familial estrangement, and their Father’s great folly: the human race. Equally defensive, unrepentant, objective, and, for a time, amused, they challenge each other on science and spirituality, physical love and emotional love, the crucifixion and the crimes committed by man. They deliberate the virtues of empathy and vengeance, redemption and punishment, and the laws of the Bible versus its lies. Their civil discourse soon becomes a heated trial of wills. Based on a close reading of the Old and New Testaments, Dialogues with the Devil was conceived by author Taylor Caldwell “to give Lucifer his day in court.” A dramatic and insightful examination of family, morality, and faith, it is a singular work of fiction from “a wonderful storyteller” and one of twentieth-century America’s most popular and prolific authors (A. Scott Berg, National Book Award–winning author of Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Taylor Caldwell including rare images from the author’s estate.

Historical: Biographical novel of Judas Iscariot.

Someday the town of Hambledon might forget the lies they told about their brilliant young doctor. But they could never forgive the truths he told about them. From this compelling story of a doctor at war with the world he has been taught to heal, Taylor Caldwell has fashioned a novel of an unforgettable, angry idealist -- a novel in which the drama of new medical frontiers becomes part of a sweeping chronicle of love, death, desire, and redemption.

The story of a Boston heiress who wishes for nothing—except happiness—by a New York Times–bestselling author who “never falters when it comes to storytelling” (Publishers Weekly). Caroline Ames is rich beyond imagining. But after a childhood with a cold, rejecting father, she is irrationally terrified of poverty, seething with hostility, and incapable of giving or receiving love. Those who cross her path tend to find themselves at the very least suffering, if not thoroughly broken. A Prologue to Love introduces three generations of the Ames family during the Gilded Age and the early twentieth century—painting a compassionate portrait of a difficult woman, those who have hurt her, and those she has hurt. It is a vivid, profoundly moving novel that explores the damage that everyday evil can do—and what it takes to overcome it.

A young queen is torn between her heart’s desire and the fate of her kingdom in this “first-rate” fantasy from a New York Times–bestselling author (Library Journal). On his deathbed, the four-hundred-year-old emperor of Atlantis has reason to worry. Signar, the savage ruler of a powerful outlying state, is scheming to seize control of the empire, and not even its advanced technology can save it. But something else can . . . From the frozen north country of Althrustri, Signar will halt his invasion if he can take the emperor’s daughter, the beautiful Empress Salustra, as his bride. Such a marriage contradicts the deepest feelings of Salustra’s heart, the secret wisdom of her lineage, and her sacred trust as Atlantis’s queen. But the emperor has a plan: Salustra will seduce Signar and then sentence him to death. In spite of every effort to harden her heart, Salustra soon finds herself falling in love with the lustful barbarian. Her loyalties gravely divided, the empress must make a decision that will change the course of history. Written by author Taylor Caldwell when she was a young girl and revised and published decades later, The Romance of Atlantis transforms the legend of a lost kingdom into an “extraordinary” tale of passion and intrigue (TheColumbus Dispatch).

A collection of New York Times–bestselling novels about wealth, power, ambition, and the American Dream from “a wonderful storyteller” (A. Scott Berg). From one of the most prolific and widely read authors of the twentieth century, these three mesmerizing turn-of-the-century sagas are now available in one volume. Captains and the Kings: Joseph Francis Xavier Armagh is twelve years old when he gets his first glimpse of the promised land through a dirty porthole on an Irish immigrant ship. In America, his long journey will eventually catapult him from the bigoted, small town of Winfield, Pennsylvania, to the highest echelons of society, and grant him entry into the most elite political circles. And even as misfortune follows the Armagh family like an ancient curse, Joseph will exact his revenge against the uncaring world that once took everything from him, settling for nothing less than the pinnacle of glory: the crowning of his son as the first Catholic president of the United States. Sweeping from the 1850s through the 1920s, this “spellbinding tale” was the basis for the 1976 Emmy Award winning television miniseries (Hartford Courant). Testimony of Two Men: Hambledon, Pennsylvania, is still reeling from the sensational murder trial that shattered the peace of the bucolic hamlet less than a year ago. Accused of killing his beautiful young wife, Dr. Jonathan Ferrier hired the best attorneys money could buy and was acquitted. Many townspeople believe he bought his freedom, but Robert Morgen, a young, idealistic doctor, is determined to make up his own mind about the accused’s innocence or guilt. Is Dr. Ferrier a cold-blooded murderer or a brilliant physician unjustly accused and wrongly maligned? This powerful story touches on faith, religion, and the then-new field of mental health as it explores the evolution of modern medicine. The Sound of Thunder: The son of a socialist German shopkeeper, Edward Enger has one dream: to turn his father’s modest delicatessen into an empire. With an astute head for business, he achieves success beyond his wildest imagination. Yet something is keeping him from enjoying his extraordinary good fortune. As a boy, Edward thought he would love Margaret Proster all the days of his life . . . until she moved away. Now she is engaged to another man, someone very close to Edward. He vows to take on this latest challenge, along with more mortgages, more debt, and speculative investments on Manhattan’s burgeoning Wall Street. As his family life begins to unravel, a day of reckoning nears. Soon Edward will have to confront a painful event from his boyhood—a secret buried deep inside that he has never told another living soul.

New York Times Bestseller: A man who gained the world but lost his soul faces a critical midlife crisis in this suspenseful and inspiring novel about love and forgiveness. On a stormy, windswept night, Guy Jerald tried to kill himself. But he did not die. Now, the fifty-five-year-old Pennsylvania powerbroker and business titan—a living example of the American Dream—lies in a bed in a psychiatric hospital. He is on suicide watch, barely able to recognize his wife and two adult children. But a visitor from his distant past will open the floodgates. During one of the most harrowing battles of World War II, Guy saved the life of fellow soldier James Meyer. Now, James is a celebrated British psychiatrist determined to repay the favor and bring his old friend back from the brink. As the source of Guy’s pain emerges, James must come to terms with his own unfulfilled goals and a mounting crisis that will test him in ways he never could have imagined. Shifting between the past and the present, Bright Flows the River is a story of faith, friendship, and the road not taken, in which a powerful, successful man may finally get the chance to become the person he long ago dreamed he could be.

A tale of family horror in the tradition of The Bad Seed and The Omen from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Dialogues with the Devil. To his mother, Angelo is the most beautiful and brilliant child in the world. She caters to his every whim and dismisses his malicious outbursts as childish pranks. But as Angelo grows older, his behavior only becomes more disturbing. A pet dog disappears. A playground run-in leaves one of his teachers with a broken arm. Still, his mother refuses to believe that anything is wrong with her precious angel. His father and his aunt, however, have begun to suspect that behind Angelo’s cherubic smile lurks a dark and twisted monster who preys on the innocent. But how do they reveal Angelo’s true nature before it’s too late? A mesmerizing portrait of evil personified, Wicked Angel is a psychological tour-de-force from an author who “never falters when it comes to storytelling” (Publishers Weekly).

From the New York Times–bestselling author, a tale of family tensions and foul play at a snowed-in Connecticut country house . . . Laura and Henry Frazier, David Gates, and Alice Bullowe are in Connecticut for Christmas. The family is staying in a country home Laura inherited from her aunt, Clara, and Alice, also a niece of the late Clara Beame, is more than a little disappointed by the terms of the will. As an edge of hostility threatens to spoil the party, the drama only grows as manipulative games are played, a blizzard roars outside, a surprise guest arrives—and the holiday turns more scary than merry . . . “One of the few mysteries where no one at all seems to be off limits as the murderer.” —Dead Yesterday Praise for Taylor Caldwell “Her sense of timing and her ability to keep even the most alert reader guessing is something readers don’t find very often.” —Hartford Courant “This bestselling author can tell an engrossing story.” —Publishers Weekly

In the final chapter of the saga that began with Dynasty of Death and The Eagles Gather, a global munitions empire must take sides in World War II. Peter Bouchard journeyed from afar to intervene in the power struggle between Armand and Christopher Bouchard. At stake was control of the family’s vast conglomerate spanning the armament, airplane, and automobile industries. Now Peter and his wife, Celeste, have returned from Europe, where the winds of war are blowing once again. Peter warns that the coming conflict will be one of the darkest chapters in human history—but the Bouchards have always profited in dark times. Henri Bouchard has grown into a ruthless tycoon, but when he sees the threat to America, he throws himself into the war effort with single-minded determination. As he battles bureaucracy and rival powers within his own family, he finds himself drawn to Celeste, the woman he once loved. This, one of Taylor Caldwell’s most subtle romances, awakens Henri’s compassion even as it threatens his grip on the Bouchard dynasty. A “sprawling . . . lush” novel that captures the clamor and uncertainty of the years before the Second World War, The Final Hour is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy that stands as one of Caldwell’s finest achievements (Kirkus Reviews).

New York Times Bestseller: In the “undeniably powerful” sequel to Dynasty of Death, a new generation of Bouchards battles over the family empire (The New York Times Book Review). In the decade after World War I, Jules Bouchard prepares to leave controlling interest in his global munitions enterprise to his son Armand. But the inheritance comes with a warning: Armand’s ruthless brothers, Emile and Christopher, will be gunning for him. It’s not long before Christopher commits financial treachery in an effort to unseat his brother. Worse, he hatches a plot involving his sister, Celeste, whose innocence he had vowed to always protect. While Christopher’s machinations and Armand’s countermoves threaten to tear the family apart, hope emerges from a distant relative who seems to possess the noble character of his ancestors. But are his intentions as honorable as they seem?