V.S. Alexander Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

VS Alexander
Author V. S. Alexander is an ardent student of history and has a strong interest in the visual arts and music.

Some of his literary influences include writers such as: Daphne du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, and Oscar Wilde, as well as any novel written by the magnificent Bronte sisters.

While writing his historical fiction, he keeps a three ring binder for his notes and research and he often fills it by the time the book goes to the first draft.

His debut novel, called “The Magdalen Girls”, was released in the year 2016. He writes literary fiction and historical novels.

“The Magdalen Girls” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2016. Dublin in the year 1962. Inside the gated grounds of the convent of The Sisters of the Holy Redemption lies a Magdalen Laundries. The laundries, formerly places of refuge, have now become into some grim workhouses.

Some of the inmates are “fallen” women, prostitutes, unwed moms, or petty criminals. Most are just ordinary girls whose sole sin is being too independent, too pretty, or tempting the wrong guy. Teagan Tiernan, age sixteen, is among them, and was sent by her family after her beauty provoked a lustful revelation from one young priest.

Teagan befriends Nora Craven quickly, and she is a new arrival that thought there could be nothing worse than living in some squalid tenement flat. Stripped of all their dignity and freedom, the girls have been denied contact with the outside world and given new names. Sister Anne, the Mother Superior, has secrets of her own, and inflicts dehumanizing and cruel punishments but in the name of love. Teagan and Nora find an ally in a reclusive woman named Lea, and she helps them endure and plot their escape. They find the outside world has got dangers too, especially for the young women with soiled reputations.

This is a masterfully written novel of life during the era’s notorious institutions, that is told with compassion, candor, and vivid historical detail. Alexander delivers an inspiring tale of friendship, unyielding courage, and hope. The book gives a history lesson about a part in history not often talked about and is still an engaging story that some readers found broke their hearts while they read it.

“The Taster” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2018. Amid all the turbulence of the second world war, a young German lady finds a precarious haven that is closer to the source of danger than she ever thought. One that is going to propel her through all the extremes of terror and privilege under the dictatorship of Hitler.

Early in 1943, Magda Ritter’s parents send her to some relatives living in Bavaria, with the hopes of keeping her safe from all the Allied bombs that are strafing Berlin. The young German women are expected to work for the Reich or to marry in order to produce healthy and strong kids. After one interview with the civil service, Magda gets assigned to Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat. Only after just a few weeks of training does she find out her assignment: she is going to be one of several ladies that tastes the food of the Fuhrer, offering herself up in sacrifice to ensure he is not poisoned.

Perched up high in the Bavarian Alps, the Berghof appears to be worlds away from the realities of battle. Magda, despite initially being terrified, gets used to the dangers of her job, however, she knows better than to voice any misgivings she has about the war. Her love for a conspirator inside of the SS, as well as her growing awareness of the atrocities the Reich carries out hooks her right into a plot that is going to test her loyalty and her wits in a quest for freedom, safety, and vengeance.

The novel is ambitious in scope and vividly written, and examines harrowing moral dilemmas of war within an emotional story filled with some acts of extraordinary courage. Alexander has clearly done his research for this novel, as it is chilling in its realism. Fans found this to be captivating, suspenseful, and engaging the entire way through. Magda is a strong character that is sure to make the novel worth reading.

“The Irishman’s Daughter” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2019. Ireland in the year 1845. No place on planet Earth is more beautiful than Carrowteige, County Mayo, to Briana Walsh, with its rocky cliffs and sloping fields that are perched above the wild Atlantic. The tiny farms that surround the ancient Lear House are managed by her dad, who is agent to the reckless and wealthy Sir Thomas Blakely.

Tenant farmers sell of the rye and oats that they grow in order to pay rent to Sir Thomas, surviving on the potatoes that flourish in what remains of the land. However, when the potato crop falls prey to the devastating blight, the families that Briana has known her entire life are left without any food, any resources, and zero mercy from the English landowner. He is a man that seems to be indifferent to all things except for profit.

The hard-working farmer that Briana hopes to marry, named Rory Caulfield, shares both the despair and the anger of the locals. There is talk of violent reprisals against the callous gentry and all of their agents. Lucinda, Briana’s older sister, dreams about a future far beyond Mayo. Even while disease and hunger settles in over the country, displacing and killing millions, Briana realizes she has to find a way to guide her family through one of the darkest hours that Ireland has ever seen. Toward love, hope, and their new beginning.

Alexander delivers another well written, outstandingly researched, and beautiful novel and is about a rarely discussed time in Irish history. Briana was a wonderfully written character that you could feel both her pain and her compassion, and some readers found themselves crying with her at different points in the novel.