Marie Jakober Books In Order

Publication Order of Sandinista Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Marie Jakober was a published Canadian author of fiction and award-winning novelist known for writing in the science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction genres.

Marie was born in Canada on August 27, 1941. She grew up in the northern Alberta region with her family. They lived in a log cabin and she would go to school through homeschooling by correspondence. She also always had a natural ability to tell stories and her skill at doing so brought her some recognition on an international level when she was 13 years old, when Marie’s poem “The Fairy Queen” was published.

Marie would attend Ottawa’s Carleton University and graduate. She gave lectures, went on tours, and participated as a panel member on many panels. Her first novel to be published was titled Mind Gods and came out in 1976.

Marie received awards for many of her works. Her book Sandinista was awarded the Novel Award by the Writer’s Guild of Alberta in 1985. She also would get attention for Only Call Us Faithful, her 2002 novel. The book was given the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in 2002 for the category of civil war fiction. Jakober also received the Georges Bugnet Award in 2006 at the Alberta Book Awards for her novel Songs of Liberty, about the civil war. She lived in Calgary, Alberta and passed away on March 26, 2017.

Marie Jakober is the author of the 2000 novel, The Black Chalice. If you are interested in books that seem to blend fantasy seamlessly into a vivid place you can picture easily, check out this creative novel for yourself!

The time is the year 1134, some place located in Germany at a monastery where the mood could be characterized as bleak. There the main character Paul of Ardiun starts off the chronicle he must write. The religious superiors above him have ordered him to do so, and so he begins it without really having a choice in the matter.

The chronicle tells the story of Karelian Brandeis, a knight that he actually knew in real life. He served him once upon a time as his squire. But the knight fell unexpectedly to a sorceress who had seductive and evil ways about her, and he was lost. So it was that a king’s downfall came and a civil war broke out among the people.

Paul has no real problem putting this tale down in print, other than his personal ties to the memories surrounding the knight. However, before he can get down any sentences regarding the story, the sorceress from the story appears. Out of thin air, she is suddenly visible and has apparently come to inform Paul that he has been and always was a liar.

Enraged, the sorceress casts a spell over him that makes him compelled to write only truth when he sets pen to paper. However, now Paul is beset with the notion of what truth really is. He’s always retold stories of memories in his head to meet the standards his faith requires. He judged other people, women, even Karelian.

Now with the burden of truth upon him, Paul is forced to look at what the truth really is. Will the story that comes out match up with the one that he has always believed? Read this fantasy book to find out!

Only Call Us Faithful is a novel about the Union Underground written by author Marie Jakober. This is where readers get to meet Liza Van Lew for the first time.

Liza lives in Richmond, Virginia. The place is deep in the center of the Confederacy. It’s a difficult place to be for many who feel that in 1861 they are still more loyal to the Union and its goals. Liza has been an outsider here for some time. It makes sense, even to her. She never ended up getting married to a man, and when her father died, she released all of the slaves and gifted them freedom. She is seen as eccentric to many, but now her friends and neighbors are even raising an eyebrow at her.

The Rebels don’t have any trust in this woman and her act of being so female, fragile and innocent. They’re right to doubt, since Liza has been organizing and running a spy ring in Richmond. The Confederates are suspicious, but without catching her doing it, they can’t really do anything. However, the war is continuing and there’s an increasing level of risk as time goes on, and as every bit of information shared means that she has a chance to be caught.

Liza is committed to the cause, but being a spy and a lady at the same time and living two lives has been taking a toll on her. When the war is done, maybe the secrecy and all of the risks will finally stop and she can rest. It’s all a lot to handle and she doesn’t know just how long she can keep up this charade. Her nerves are shot as she worries that the next person coming to her door might be a soldier, waiting to escort her swiftly to prison for the rest of her days.

No one thinks that Elizabeth Van Lew is capable of running such an involved spy network, except for perhaps the military. In her plain house located on Church Street, she is collaborating with different agents and communicating with the military command for the Union. Officially operating in enemy territory, Liza is doing what she thinks patriotic while also attempting to help prisoners of war in the Union Army that were stuck in prisons in Richmond by bringing them medicine and food. But if caught, it’s unlikely that Confederate leadership and the Confederate Army will agree.

If you are a big fan of the Civil War, a history buff, or just love historically influenced novels and historical fiction, this novel is a must read! Pick up a copy of Only Call Us Faithful and read to the end to find out what happens in this tale of bravery, conviction, and trying times inspired by real events in history.