Cover of Sacred ground
Read Time: ~5.7 hr

Sacred ground

by Barbara Wood (2001)

About this book

When a massive earthquake strikes California no one could have predicted the astonishing discoveries that were to follow: as a swimming pool sinks into the earth, it reveals the entrance to a previously unknown cave. Archaelogist Erica Tyler knows this could be one of the finds of the century, and when she arrives at the scene her instincts are proved right: she finds an age-old cave painting, whose vibrant colours and symbols mark the world of the shaman; a pair of spectacles that predate known European colonisation; and further strange and astonishing artefacts. But most astonishing of all are the human remains of someone known only as the 'First Mother', dating back almost 2000 years... However, angry local homeowners want the cave filled in and their lives back to normal as soon as possible and Jared Black, formidable campaigner for the Native American Heritage Commission, wants the site claimed for the relevant tribe. Erica refuses to back down as a childhood of foster homes meant she grew up never knowing her real identity and she won't let the First Mother be consigned to history in the same manner...

Setting / LocationCalifornia
Story EraModern Era
Protagonist / CoreSacred ground Lead Character

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

Cover of Flight to yesterday

Flight to yesterday

Velda Johnston

Musically talented, but not the prodigy her doting mother believes her to be, twenty-year-old Sara Hargeaves is content to pick up extra money playing cocktail piano at a local San Jimenez hotel lounge--and even happier when she attracts the attention of handsome Dr. Manuelo Covarrubias. When attraction quickens into passion, Sara goes to play for Manuelo's plastic surgery patients at his fashionable California sanatorium. Cherished, looking forward to marrying her sophisticated lover, Sara is stunned when her world falls apart overnight. Manuelo jilts her--and then he is murdered. Dubbed by journalists a "young Jean Harris," Sara is wrongfully jailed for Manuelo's murder. Now, four years later, she escapes from prison to be with her dying mother--only to arrive too late. Befriended by an attractive young law student, Mike Rolfe, Sara must risk her new chance at love and happiness by returning to the sanatorium. Hunted by the police, hounded by memories of the past and present regrets, Sara knows her only hope of lasting freedom lies in uncovering the truth about who really killed Manuelo four years ago, while avoiding an all-too likely reunion with her dead ex-lover. (book cover description)

Cover of Not dead yet

Not dead yet

Peter James

For LA producer Larry Brooker, this is the movie that could bring the fortune that has so long eluded him. For rock superstar, Gaia, desperate to be taken seriously as an actor, this is the role that could get her an Oscar nomination. For the City of Brighton and Hove, the publicity value of a major Hollywood movie being filmed on location, about the city's greatest love story--between King George IVth and Maria Fitzherbert--is incalculable. For Detective Superintendent Roy Grace of Sussex CID, it is a nightmare unfolding in front of his eyes. An obsessed stalker is after Gaia. One attempt on her life is made days before she leaves her Bel Air home to fly to Brighton. Now, he has been warned, the stalker may be at large in his city, waiting, watching, planning.

Cover of Secret sabertooth

Secret sabertooth

Joseph "PaleoJoe" Kchodl with Wendy Caszatt-Allen

PaleoJoe, his eleven-year-old assistant Shelly, her classmate Dakota, and new friend Sarra fly to California to investigate a mystery involving Sarra's brother, saber-tooth fossils, and the La Brea Tar Pits.

Cover of Be Cool

Be Cool

Elmore Leonard

After one triumph and one flop, Mafia loan-shark-turned-Hollywood producer Chili Palmer is desperate for another hit... of the celluloid sort. When a similarly relocated former mob associate takes a hit of the bullet-in-the-brain variety while they're power-lunching, Chili begins to see all kinds of story possibilities. The whacked recording company mogul's midday demise is leading Chili into the twisted world of rock stars, pop divas, and hip-hop gangstas, which is rife with drama, jealousy, and betrayal -- all the stuff that makes big box office. Tinsel Town had better take cover, because Chili Palmer's working on another movie. And that's when people tend to die. Leonard's sequel to the highly successful *Get Shorty*.

Sacred ground by Barbara Wood | Literally Just Books