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By Katie Tallo. 2020
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER“Dark August is a tightly-paced cauldron of a thriller about small town corruption, murder and mayhem, in the vein…
of Sharp Objects and All The Missing Girls. A macabre and confidently twisty debut.” — Lisa Gabriele, internationally bestselling author of The WintersAn electrifying, page-turning debut about a young woman haunted by her tragic past, who returns to her hometown and discovers that there might be more to her police detective mother’s death—and last case—than she ever could have imagined.Augusta (Gus) Monet is living an aimless existence with her grifter boyfriend when she learns that her great grandmother—her last living relative—has just died. Ditching her boyfriend, Gus returns to the home she left as a young girl. Her inheritance turns out to be a dilapidated house and an old dog named Levi. While combing through her great grandmother’s possessions, Gus stumbles across an old trunk filled with long-lost childhood belongings. But that’s not all the trunk contains. She also discovers cold case files that belonged to her mother, a disgraced police detective who died in a car accident when Gus was eight. Gus remembers her mother obsessing over these very same documents and photographs, especially a Polaroid of a young ballerina.When Gus spots a front-page news story about the unearthing of a body linked to one of the cold case files from her childhood trunk, she can’t resist following her mother’s clues. As she digs deeper, determined to finish her mother’s investigation, her search leads her to a deserted ghost town, which was left abandoned when the residents fled after a horrific fire. As Gus’ obsession with the case grows, she inadvertently stirs up the evils of the past, putting her life in danger. But Gus is undeterred and is committed to uncovering long-buried secrets, including the secrets surrounding a missing geology student, the young ballerina in the Polaroid, a prominent family’s devastating legacy, and a toxic blast that blew an entire town off the map. But is Gus ready to learn the truths that culminated on one terrible August night, more than a decade earlier, when lives were taken, and secrets were presumed buried forever…? Dark August introduces a bold new voice and will leave readers guessing until the final startling conclusion.By Marlene Stanton. 2020
Smart, sarcastic TV reporter Mercy Pepper struggles with feelings of guilt after her cameraman dies while on assignment with her.…
A news tape that he had hidden in his personal effects contains a secretly recorded conversation, and Mercy picks up the scent of corruption. She soon finds herself mired in the muck of provincial politics—the power brokers and the opportunists and those willing to go to extreme measures for a piece of the pie. With a keen observer's eye and sharp, sparkling wit, Stanton, a former news reporter, delivers a compelling crime/mystery story with a satisfying dash of romance.By Ian Hamilton. 2024
By Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. 2000
Obsession, infatuation, and sexual deviance fill this controversial psychodrama Titillating and taboo, Venus in Furs tells the story of one…
nineteenth-century gentleman of means, Severin von Kusiemski, and his voracious lover, Wanda von Dunajew. Severin falls so deeply in love with his mistress that he asks the bemused paramour to enslave him. Severin gets his wish: The beautiful Wanda, who has “a real talent for despotism,” takes to her role with unsettling aplomb. Days pass, and as she debases and brutalizes Severin, Wanda transforms into the whip-cracking dominatrix of his dreams. But even while Severin settles into his fantasy, events are unfolding that threaten to disrupt the power balance. This classic tale of sexual domination is as thrilling today as it was when it was originally published more than a century ago. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.By Margery Williams. 2005
Margery Williams’s magical nursery tale of a stuffed rabbit and his quest to become real Christmas morning, the room filled…
with the hustle and bustle of preparation, a rabbit stitched of velveteen sits perched on top of the little boy’s stocking. Those first two hours are the best of the young rabbit’s life: filled with hugs and play. But like most children, the boy is fickle and easily distracted—after Christmas morning, the Velveteen Rabbit is forgotten. Shy and intimidated by the new mechanical toys who sneer at him for being simple, the sawdust-filled rabbit sits quietly at the top of the toy closet, aching to be loved the way he was that wonderful Christmas morning. He’s soon taken in by the wise old Skin Horse, who sets him straight on the way to become real. It’s not about expensive mechanisms or shiny paint jobs. No, becoming real is all about the unadulterated love of a child. The Velveteen Rabbit is a timeless story about the importance of love, honesty, and friendship. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.By William Makepeace Thackeray.
This classic story of two nineteenth-century social climbers is the basis for countless films and TV series, and one of…
the UK’s “Best-Loved Novels.” Before the Real Housewives, there were Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley. Ruthless and cunning, Becky may have been born in a lower class, but now that she’s graduated from school, she’s ready to climb up to a better life—and do whatever it takes to get there. Her friend Emmy, however, is the opposite. She may have mastered music, dancing, and embroidery like any young woman of her class, but she utterly lacks a backbone. Together these friends navigate the perils of Regency society as they search for love and happiness. Social battles are waged against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, and when the smoke finally clears, there’s no telling who will come out victorious. A satirical masterpiece, Vanity Fair was #14 on The Guardian’s list of the 100 Best Novels and #122 in the BBC’s “Big Read” poll for the UK’s best-loved novel. It has inspired numerous adaptations, from early silent films to a 2004 movie by Mira Nair starring Reese Witherspoon as Becky.By John William Polidori. 1990
This classic vampire story has inspired generations of authors, from Bram Stoker to Charlaine Harris. A young English gentleman of…
means, Aubrey is immediately intrigued by Lord Ruthven, the mysterious newcomer among society’s elite. His unknown origin and curious behavior tantalizes Aubrey’s imagination. But the young man soon discovers a sinister character hidden behind his new friend’s glamorous facade. When the two are set upon by bandits while traveling together in Europe, Ruthven is fatally injured. Before drawing his last breath, he makes the odd request that Aubrey keep his death and crimes secret for a year and a day. But when Ruthven resurfaces in London—making overtures toward Aubrey’s sister—Aubrey realizes this immortal fiend is a vampyre. John William Polidori’s The Vampyre is both a classic tale of gothic horror and the progenitor of the modern romantic vampire myth that has been fodder for artists ranging from Anne Rice to Alan Ball to Francis Ford Coppola. Originally published in 1819, many decades before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and misattributed to Polidori’s friend Lord Byron, The Vampyre has kept readers up at night for nearly two hundred years. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.By J. Sheridan Le Fanu.
Family secrets and sinister plots abound in this beautifully atmospheric Victorian gothic thriller from a celebrated Irish author. For Maud…
Ruthyn, life is lonely in a mansion with no family besides her melancholic father. But when Madame de la Rougierre is hired to be her governess, Maud finds herself in the clutches of a mysterious and malevolent woman. When her caregiver is eventually dismissed, Maud is relieved to have the woman out of her life. But it isn’t long before she encounters the madame again. With the passing of her father, Maud is sent to live with her Uncle Silas at Bartram-Haugh until she can inherit the family estate. Feeling increasingly trapped in her uncle’s home, Maud is shocked to learn that Madame de la Rougierre is at her uncle’s service. And when Madame is instructed to escort Maud to London, the young girl begins to see through the shadows of deceit: No one intends for her to leave Bartram-Haugh alive. J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s most famous novel, Uncle Silas is an eerie psychological thriller and has been translated into several languages as well as adapted for film. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.By Winifred Holtby, Marion Shaw. 1954
When Sarah Burton returns to her hometown as headmistress she is full of ambition, determined to create a great school…
and to inspire her girls to take all they can from life. But in the aftermath of the First World War, the country is in depression and ideals are hard won. Lydia Holly, the scholarship girl from the shacks, is the most brilliant student Sarah has ever taught, but when her mother's health fails, her education must be sacrificed - there is nobody else to care for the children.Robert Carne of Maythorpe Hall stands for everything Sarah despises: his family has farmed the South Riding for generations, their position uncontested. Yet Sarah cannot help being drawn to this proud, haunted - and almost ruined - man.South Riding is a rich, panoramic novel, bringing vividly to life a rural community on the brink of change.By Gail Bowen. 1991
As a child Joanne was friends with Sally Love and her parents, but the friendship languished after Sally's father died…
and she moved away, eventually becoming a very controversial artist. When the Mendel Gallery opens an exhibition of Sally's work, Joanne is eager to attend and to renew their friendship. But it's not so easy being Sally's friend anymore, and soon Joanne finds herself ensnared in a web of intrigue and violence. When the director of a local private gallery is brutally murdered, Joanne finds that the past she and Sally share was far more complicated, and far more sordid, than she had realized.From the Paperback edition.By Elizabeth Taylor, Jonathan Keates, Jonathon Keates. 1976
A finely nuanced exploration of responsibility, snobbery and culture clash from one of the twentieth centrury's finest novelists.'How deeply I…
envy any reader coming to her for the first time!' Elizabeth Jane HowardWhen Amy's husband dies on holiday in Istanbul, she is supported by the kindly but rather slovenly Martha, a young American novelist who lives in London. Upon their return to England, Amy is ungratefully reluctant to maintain their friendship, but the skeins of their existence seem inextricably linked as grief gives way to resilience and again to tragedy. Reversals of fortune and a compelling cast of characters, including Ernie, ex-sailor turned housekeeper, and Amy's wonderfully precocious granddaughters, add spice to a novel that delights even as it unveils the most uncomfortable human emotions.By Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Russell Taylor. 1991
In a Summer Season is one of Elizabeth Taylor's finest novels in which, in a moving and powerful climax, she…
reveals love to be the thing it is: beautiful, often funny, and sometimes tragic.'You taste of rain', he said, kissing her. 'People say I married her for her money', he thought contentedly, and for the moment was full of the self-respect that loving her had given him.Kate Heron is a wealthy, charming widow who marries, much to the disapproval of friends and neighbours, a man ten years her junior: the attractive, feckless Dermot. Then comes the return of Kate's old friend Charles - intelligent, kind and now widowed, with his beautiful young daughter. Kate watches happily as their two families are drawn together, finding his presence reassuringly familiar, but slowly she becomes aware of subtle undercurrents that begin to disturb the calm surface of their friendship. Before long, even she cannot ignore the gathering storm . . .By Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Bailey. 1971
On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where she will spend…
her remaining days. Her fellow residents are magnificently eccentric and endlessly curious, living off crumbs of affection and snippets of gossip. Together, upper lips stiffened, they fight off their twin enemies: boredom and the Grim Reaper. Then one day Mrs Palfrey strikes up an unlikely friendship with an impoverished young writer, Ludo, who sees her as inspiration for his novel.By Antonia White. 1981
With uncompromising clarity, in her careful, delicate prose, antonia White looks at the pains and joys of growing up, of…
falling in and out of love, the borderlands between love and loneliness, sanity and madness, belief and the loss of faith. First published in 1954, STRANGERS is here extended to include her autobiographical story, 'Surprise Visit'; together they present some of Antonia White's finest writing.By Elizabeth Taylor, Charlotte Mendelson. 1968
'You know,' Midge began, and paused. She was rather taken aback, and could not at once think of anything to…
say. 'Perhaps there's nothing so dangerous as having led a sheltered life.' Cressy has grown up in a world of women, presided over by her eccentric, artistic grandfather Harry Bretton. Rebelling against the wholesome, organic values of her home life, Cressy decides to leave home in search of more ephemeral pleasures. Taking a job in an antiques shop, she meets David, a self-satisfied journalist, also looking for means of fleeing the family nest. But as Cressy cannot fend for herself and David is securely tied to his mother's apron strings, this act of escape for both of them proves a powerful form of bondage.By E. C. Bentley. 2009
On Wall Street, the mere mention of the name Sigsbee Manderson is enough to send a stock soaring—or bring it…
tumbling back to earth. Feared but not loved, Manderson has no one to mourn him when the gardener at his British country estate finds him facedown in the dirt, a bullet buried in his brain. There are bruises on his wrist and blood on his clothes, but no clue that will lead the police to the murderer. It will take an amateur to—inadvertently—show them the way. Cheerful, charming, and always eager for a mystery, portrait artist and gentleman sleuth Philip Trent leaps into the Manderson affair with all the passion of the autodidact. Simply by reading the newspapers, he discovers overlooked details of the crime. Not all of his reasoning is sound, and his romantic interests are suspect, to say the least, but Trent’s dedication to the art of detection soon uncovers what no one expected him to find: the truth. Delightfully irreverent yet ingeniously plotted, Trent’s Last Case is widely regarded as a masterwork of the mystery genre. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.By Nancy Pickard, Virginia Rich. 1993
When a dinner guest of Eugenia Potter is found poisoned, supposedly from Mrs. Potter's famous twenty-seven-ingredient chili, the flabbergasted hostess…
knows she must act quickly before someone else is murdered.From the Paperback edition.By Sarah Dunant, Elizabeth Von Arnim. 1922
A discreet advertisement in 'The Times', addressed to 'Those who Apppreciate Wisteria and Sunshine...' is the impetus for a revelatory…
month for four very different women. High above the bay on the Italian Riviera stands San Salvatore, a mediaeval castle. Beckoned to this haven are Mrs. Wilkins, Mrs Arbuthnot, Mrs Fisher and Lady Caroline Dester, each quietly craving a respite. Lulled by the Mediterranean spirit, they gradually shed their skins and discover a harmony each of them has longed for but never known.First published in 1922 and reminscient of 'Elizabeth and her German Garden', this delightful novel is imbued with the descriptive power and light-hearted irreverence for which Elizabeth von Arnin is renowned.By Roberta Kray. 2011
If you don't care about her, who will?Hope Randall leads a quiet life, but that peace is about to be…
shattered. When a stranger turns up on her doorstep, bringing news of a half-sister she never knew she had, he's going to change her world for ever. Connie's in deep trouble and the mysterious Flint needs Hope's help in finding her. Returning to London, Hope is forced to confront old demons - and new ones. To find her sister, she'll have to toughen up and fast. But when she enters the dark underworld of the East End, it's not only the notoriously savage Street family she'll have to worry about: there's also a psychopath on the loose, attacking working girls. If Connie's going to be saved, Hope may have to get close to the enemy ...By Melinda Mullet. 2018
Distillery owner Abigail Logan discovers that high spirits are no match for a cold-blooded killer as the Whisky Business Mystery…
series puts a fatal twist on stiff competition. It’s been a year since globe-trotting photojournalist Abi Logan inherited Abbey Glen, a whisky distillery in the heart of the Scottish countryside. To her surprise, the village of Balfour already feels like home, and her new business partner, Grant MacEwan, continues to be too charming to resist. But Abi has a history of relationship disasters, so she struggles to avoid an ill-fated romance with Grant. Steering clear is hard enough on a day-to-day basis, but when the two head off to a whisky industry competition together, Abi panics. Five-star resort, four glorious days of nonstop whisky tasting, and a fatally attractive Scotsman—what could possibly go wrong? The night before the award presentations, with foreign and domestic whisky makers at one anothers’ throats, two judges are found dead under mysterious circumstances. What started with three dream-come-true nominations for Abby Glen’s whisky soon turns into a nightmare for Abi. With a killer on the loose, she must call on her investigative skills to stop another murder—before she gets taken out of the running herself. Melinda Mullet’s delightful Whisky Business mysteries can be read together or separately. Enjoy responsibly: SINGLE MALT MURDER | DEATH DISTILLED | DEADLY DRAM