***A TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR***'A joy from start to finish' - ANDREW TAYLOR 'Thrilling... Deserves to be huge' - EMMA STONEXThis is the confession of Laurence Jago. Clerk. Gentleman. Spy. July 1794, and London is filled with rumours of revolution. The war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with America are on a knife edge. Laurence Jago, Foreign Office clerk, is ever more reliant on opium - the Black Drop - to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter, whose contents could lead to the destruction of the British Army, has been leaked to the press and Laurence is a suspect. Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk - a supposed suicide - and it seems clear where the blame truly lies. But Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence, and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, can Laurence find the true culprit without ending up on the gallows himself?

Challenges narrow perceptions of Blackness as both an identity and lived reality to understand the diversity of what it means to be Black in the US and around the world What exactly is Blackness and what does it mean to be Black? Is Blackness a matter of biology or consciousness? Who determines who is Black and who is not? Who’s Black, who’s not, and who cares? In the United States, a Black person has come to be defined as any person with any known Black ancestry. Statutorily referred to as “the rule of hypodescent,” this definition of Blackness is more popularly known as the “one-drop rule,” meaning that a person with any trace of Black ancestry, however small or (in)visible, cannot be considered White. A method of social order that began almost immediately after the arrival of enslaved Africans in America, by 1910 it was the law in almost all southern states. At a time when the one-drop rule functioned to protect and preserve White racial purity, Blackness was both a matter of biology and the law. One was either Black or White. Period. Has the social and political landscape changed one hundred years later? One Drop explores the extent to which historical definitions of race continue to shape contemporary racial identities and lived experiences of racial difference. Featuring the perspectives of 60 contributors representing 25 countries and combining candid narratives with striking portraiture, this book provides living testimony to the diversity of Blackness. Although contributors use varying terms to self-identify, they all see themselves as part of the larger racial, cultural, and social group generally referred to as Black. They have all had their identity called into question simply because they do not fit neatly into the stereotypical “Black box”—dark skin, “kinky” hair, broad nose, full lips, etc. Most have been asked “What are you?” or the more politically correct “Where are you from?” throughout their lives. It is through contributors’ lived experiences with and lived imaginings of Black identity that we can visualize multiple possibilities for Blackness.

The Drop Book Series is a compilation of three books. The original books were written years ago as a homeschooling project for the sole purpose of introducing two young children to the gift of living in the Divine Will based on the writings of Luisa Piccarreta. The books were not written by theologians and are only a reflection of personal understandings and experiences of the gift of living in the Divine Will.

A member of a New England family, Charles Tracy, becomes a paid agent of the Germans in 1916, during the height of the First World War, with notably tragic consequences for the family.

A gunshot leaves a dead man in an East End alley. A beautiful woman lies dead on the lawns of Windsor Castle. The only certain aspect of a beadles death is its precipitation by gravity. A mere bump into a gentleman sends an old man to his death amidst Piccadillys evening throngs. Did the gunshot echo through time and claim the three other souls or had their time simply run out? One mans calibre matches these crimes. A mathematicians ingenious deviance compounds Londons smog as he surpasses his past transgressions and discovers the means to control the future. But his plan is plagued by one man brave enough to play in the web in his criminal parlour. Coerced to alter his modus operandi, this man works on more than one case simultaneously, navigating smoke and mirrors, while trying to earn back a trusted friend, trusting reluctantly in a mysterious Indian and evading death at every corner of London. Can this man emerge a victor in a fight to save something as whimsical as the future of the world? But above all else, will he emerge alive body, mind and soul? Who is this man? He is Sherlock Holmes!

Black Drop is a fast-paced story crafted around Theodore Roosevelt’s 1903 visit to Portland, Oregon. The new president has threatened big business and Congress by adopting a progressive program aimed at equalizing wealth and power, reducing abuse of workers, rejecting racial discrimination and preserving the environment. It appears these efforts have triggered an assassination attempt. Against the backdrop of mounting excitement over the impending presidential visit, Sage Adair and his colorful, like-minded friends race to prevent Roosevelt’s murder. And, since life is never simple, Sage also learns of young boys who need rescuing from a horrific fate. As the presidential train and the boys’ doom rush ever closer, every crucial answer remains elusive. Once again, actual historical events lie at the core of this fourth book in the fascinating Sage Adair historical mystery series.