Tinder Street Saga Books

A simple trip to town, a chance meeting with a pretty young woman, and a few words was all it took for Lucas Wirtz to flee his family farm and the abusive father who dominated it. Following Rachel McNally to the big city, he had no idea how much his life and the world around him would change. Chronicling the days leading up to World War I and the events that followed, Tinder Street is the first book in a saga that will take readers from rural farms to a major industrial city in the Midwest, across an ocean where German U-boats lurk waiting for a target to come within range of their deadly torpedoes, to the bloody trench warfare of France, and home again. And of how, back at home, the soldiers of a victorious Army try to put their experiences behind them and pick up the pieces of the lives they once had, to look toward a future bright with promise. Lucas was one of those soldiers, a man who hated the thought of killing, but did his duty. A duty that would haunt him long after the last shots were fired. This is also the story of the simple working class people who built America. Farmers, factory workers, streetcar conductors, midwives, and public servants. Their joys and sorrows, their wins and losses, and how these people who struggled together to build a better life for themselves and their children changed a place named Tinder Street to Tender Street, a reflection of one family’s devotion to their neighbors. Tinder Street is the first book in New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell’s Tinder Street Saga, a story he has wanted to write and has researched for years.

The Roaring Twenties. A prosperous era of flappers, bootleggers, speakeasies, bathtub gin, and women pushing the conventions of society. These are the things the newspapers are talking about. But that is only a small part of what is happening. Not everyone is celebrating the good times. For most people, life goes on as it always has, though maybe with a few new conveniences. With the Great War behind him, Lucas Morgan is content to return to Tinder Street and start raising a family with his wife. Still haunted by nightmares of things that happened on the bloody battlefields of France, Lucas tries in vain to help his younger brother Samuel overcome his own demons from those same battlefields. Life continues its ebb and flow on Tinder Street in the first half of the decade. Automobiles are quickly replacing horses, Elizabeth McNally and her daughter Rachel are busy tending to their midwife duties, and the McNally children are now young adults. Thomas McNally has left the production department of the News Bee and is making a name for himself as a crusading reporter focusing on the criminal element running rampant in Toledo. His younger brothers are facing their own challenges and triumphs as they make a place for themselves in a world vastly different from that of their parents and those who have gone before them. Meanwhile, Jacob Wirtz has coaxed his estranged wife back to the family farm following the death of his abusive father and hopes to pick up the pieces of his shattered dreams. But he discovers that they are two very different people who want very different things from life. Through it all, the McNally family tends to their own and their neighbors on Tinder Street in a tale of life and love, change and tradition, sharing tears of heartbreak and joy. The Good Years is the second book in New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell’s Tinder Street Saga, a story he has felt compelled to write and has researched for years.

The Roaring 20s are in full swing and people are living the good life, making money, and having fun. Henry Ford just introduced the forty-hour work week and there is plenty to celebrate. Nobody seems to have a care in the world, except for Elizabeth McNally, who can’t shake the feeling that there are things to fear just over the horizon, even though she can’t explain why. The McNally family is prospering; Thomas, the oldest McNally son, is still being a thorn in the side of Toledo's gangster element with his fearless newspaper coverage of their crimes, while his brother Peter’s garage is doing well, and brother Patrick is about to be handed his dream job. Meanwhile, sister Abby is beginning her career as a schoolteacher, and Thomas's wife Veronica has made a name for herself in her own right as a feature reporter for the News Bee. Babies are being born and the midwife team of Elizabeth and her daughter Rachel sometimes have their hands full trying to keep up. But things aren't always what they seem, and there is a dark side to the good times. That message is brought home to Thomas when he narrowly escapes death from a bomb planted in his car. Not so lucky are the women being assaulted and murdered by a vicious attacker the press has dubbed the Toledo Clubber. Who is this mystery fiend, and has he crossed paths with two members of the McNally family? When Veronica is thrust into a different kind of story, trying to learn the secrets of a mysterious psychiatric facility, she too finds herself threatened. And who is the mystery woman who has rented the apartment above Peter's garage? At least things are going well for the Wirtz family on their farm in Michigan. Or are they? When an unexpected visitor shows up, bringing a reminder of Jacob's past, will it change their lives forever? Boom And Bust is the third book in New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell’s Tinder Street Saga, a story he has felt compelled to write and has researched for years.

The 1930s are the darkest days of the Great Depression. Factories are closing their doors, millions of people are out of work, men are riding the rails searching for elusive jobs that seldom exist, and a thriving way of life that has been cherished is disappearing. Desperate people are doing desperate things just to survive, while labor strikes and veterans’ protests are turning violent. Roving gangs of outlaws have become celebrities to many people, who asked themselves why a man robbing a bank with a gun is any worse than a banker in a suit stealing someone’s life savings, home, or farm with the stroke of a pen? Prohibition has led to a rise in organized crime, and people are being murdered in brazen daylight ambushes on city streets. Times are just as hard for the McNally family and their neighbors on Tinder Street. Patrick has lost his job as a company pilot, work has dwindled at Peter’s garage, and he is repossessing more used cars than he is selling. Thomas has seen his salary slashed at the newspaper, and Abby may lose her position as a school teacher. To make matters even worse, a debilitating illness will rock the very foundation of the family. Things are not good on the Wirtz farm up in Michigan, either. Jacob and Susan are dealing with an incorrigible son who seems hellbent on making everyone’s lives miserable in any way he can, creating unbearable tension at home and divisions with their neighbors. But there are things to celebrate even in the worst of times. The newly elected president has dedicated himself to turning things around, a new generation of babies is being born, Margaret’s twin sons are young men now, making their way in the world, and at least one member of the family has found unexpected love! And through it all, the McNally family bonds remain strong as they face new challenges together. The Hard Years is the fourth book in New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell’s Tinder Street Saga, a story he has felt compelled to write and has researched for years.

Just as people all over America in the second-half of the 1930s, the people of Tinder Street are struggling to survive. They have their triumphs and their challenges, their joys and their heartbreaks, but the McNallys and their extended family never give up and continue to help their neighbors and even strangers in need. Hardworking family men who once brought home steady paychecks stand in long lines trying to find any kind of day labor that might earn them enough to put food on the table. Even those who find steady work earn pennies on the dollar compared to what they had before the Great Depression turned the world as they had known it upside down. It is a gloomy time where people hope for better days ahead, meanwhile fearing the talk of war in Europe, and wondering if America would be drawn into the fray. The Wirtz family on their small farm in Michigan is facing difficult times themselves, but at least Jacob Wirtz is able to grow enough food to get by. Even in the face of devastating personal losses, they knew that they could survive. But that faith was tested when a terrible act of vengeance wipes away everything they knew. In addition to the hard times that everybody is experiencing, Lucas Morgan struggles to put aside the terrible memories of his service in the Great War to help his oldest son realize his dream. Can he do it, or will the demons of the past stand in his son's way? And Samuel Wirtz, still living with his own demons of alcohol and abuse, finds himself in a position he never expected. Will he rise to meet the challenge, or slink away in the night, as he has always done in the past? Readers will experience what it was like for the generations who came before us and how they prevailed through hard times and unimaginable setbacks in A Changing World , the fifth book in the Tinder Street saga, a story New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell has felt compelled to write and has researched for years.

As America pulls itself out of the Great Depression, war clouds are hanging low over Europe, and Adolph Hitler’s Nazis seem unstoppable in their brutal march across the continent. Meanwhile, the growing threat from Japan is ignored by many in Washington. That all changes with the deadly attack on Pearl Harbor. Suddenly the country is thrust into a war that many believed would never happen and others feared was inevitable. Now the McNally family of Tinder Street finds themselves in a world turned upside down, with their young men donning uniforms and going off to face the enemy. Among them are two young sons of Lucas Morgan, a man haunted by his own memories from the trenches of Fance in the last war. From the steaming jungles of the South Pacific to the blood-soaked beaches of Normandy, on the ground, in the air, and at sea, they rise to the call. And before it’s all over, some will fall. Meanwhile, life continues on the home front as the people of Tinder Street and their extended family do their part for the war effort, raising victory gardens, holding scrap metal drives, building the equipment and supplies the Allies will need to win, while dealing with love and loss. And one young woman from Tinder Street will defy social norms and soar above the clouds to realize her dream and to do her part for her country. Readers will experience what it was like for the generations who came before us and how they prevailed through hard times and unimaginable setbacks in The War Years , the sixth book in the Tinder Street saga, a story New York Times bestselling author Nick Russell has felt compelled to write and has researched for years.