Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 56895 items
Set Fire To Sicily
By Jane Heritage. 1997
Marcello D'Estari, bastard son of a nobleman and a courtesan, is the most effective, most unmanageable and most amorous of…
the spies of the Venetian Republic.To safeguard its position as the greatest Mediterranean power, Venice needs intelligence, and to gather intelligence it needs spies and informers - courageous, reckless men who can pass unnoticed among peasants and courtiers alike, who can speak the polyglot dialects of the Mediterranean ports, who can befriend noblemen and seduce their wives, and who can, if necessary, kill.Marcello rarely enjoys the killing.Set Fire To Sicily is his first recorded mission.The Servant Girl
By Maggie Hope. 2013
She is the downstairs maid; he is the Master’s son...Forced to become a kitchen maid at Fortune Hall, Hetty Pearson…
strikes up an unlikely friendship with the younger son of the house, Richard.But Hetty is just a poor servant girl: what hope does she have of either winning Richard’s heart or escaping his older brother’s more base attentions?Note: previously published as THE JEWEL STREETS by Una HorneA heart-warming Cockney saga from multi-million copy seller Mary Jane Staples. Perfect for fans of Maggie Ford, Kitty Neale and…
Katie Flynn. You won't be able to put it down! READERS ARE LOVING SERGEANT JOE!"Another fun read with some surprising twists and turns" - 5 STARS"A lovely story, and so funny I couldn't help but burst out laughing at times" - 5 STARS"Excellent read" - 5 STARS"A brilliant book...Mary Jane Staples brings her characters to life! Excellent!" - 5 STARS"Awesome - a lovely fun read" - 5 STARS***********************************************************************SHE'LL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO KEEP HER FAMILY SAFE FROM HARM...Everyone likes Sergeant Joe. From the family with whom he has lodgings to the bookseller who employs him in a little lucrative and harmless forgery. He is a universal favourite.When he bumps into Dolly Smith - quite literally - he meets a girl who makes quite an impression on him. Dolly is quick, lively, and full of cockney cheek. She is also a little frightened - running from a vicious-looking thug and a sinister foreigner who seem to think she has stolen something valuable. When Joe takes Dolly under his wing he thinks he is just helping her in a momentary predicament. Little does he know his life is going to change forever... For Dolly, bewitching and beguiling - is involved in something quite dangerous...September Starlings: a tender but true to life saga about families and all they entail
By Ruth Hamilton. 1994
This moving and captivating novel will keep you glued to the page and invested from the off. From the SUNDAY…
TIMES BESTSELLER, Ruth Hamilton, perfect for fans of Catherine Cookson, Dilly Court and Josephine Cox.'Very much the successor to Catherine Cookson. Her books are plot driven, they just rip along; laughs, weeps, love, they've got the lot, and they're quality writing as well' - SARAH BROADHURST, RADIO FOUR'This book breaks your heart, it is rare to find a book which stirs so many emotions.' - ***** Reader Review'I couldn't bear to turn off my Kindle... Another great read from Ruth.' - ***** Reader Review'Great story. Found myself not wanting to stop reading.' - ***** Reader Review****************************************************ONE WOMAN'S FIGHT TO FORGE HER OWN FUTURE...Laura Starling, now wealthy and successful, has survived a bitter past.She fled from a tyrannical mother into the clutches of a sadistic man. She endured poverty, fear and pain. Then along came Ben Starling, older, wiser, who smoothed her path and gave her love and security.But now Ben has become a stranger who has slipped beyond her reach. As her stability threatens to disintegrate once more, a thin, waif-like girl from Liverpool thrusts her way into Laura's life - a girl who is to prove a link with the past.But no one can help Laura make the decisions that will alter the course of her existence. As the September starlings gather, Laura realises she must take courage and forge her own future...FROM THE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TEA PLANTER'S WIFE The Separation, Dinah Jefferies' stunning debut novel, is the…
heartbreaking tale of a family fractured by lies and one mother's love reaching across the distance of years and continents.A country at war with itself,a family divided and betrayed,a bond that can never be broken...Malaya, 1955. Lydia Cartwright returns from visiting a sick friend to an empty house. The servants are gone. The phone is dead. Where is her husband Alec? Her young daughters, Emma and Fleur? Fearful and desperate, she contacts the British District Officer and learns that Alec has been posted up country. But why didn't he wait? Why did he leave no message? Lydia's search takes her on a hazardous journey through war-torn jungle. Forced to turn to Jack Harding, a man she'd vowed to leave in her past, she sacrifices everything to be reunited with her family.And while carrying her own secrets, Lydia will soon face a devastating betrayal which may be more than she can bear . . .Selected Writings
By Gerard De Nerval. 2006
Poet, visionary, short-story writer and autobiographer, Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855) explored the uncertain borderlines between dream and reality, irony and…
madness, autobiography and fiction with his groundbreaking writings. This comprehensive selection of his works includes 'Aurélia', the memoir of his madness; the haunting novella of love and memory 'Sylvie' (considered to be a masterpiece by Proust); the hermetic sonnets of 'The Chimeras'; as well as Nerval's experimental fictions and selections from his correspondence, which demonstrate his lucid awareness of how nineteenth-century psychiatry consigned his fertile imagination to the status of mental illness. Together these pieces confirm Nerval's place as a pioneering modernist, a precursor of the French Symbolists and a vital model for such writers as Marcel Proust, André Breton, Antonin Artaud and Michel Leiris.Selected Tales
By Brothers Grimm. 1982
Selected Tales contains some of the most timeless and enchanting folk and fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, translated…
with an introduction by David Luke in Penguin Classics.These folktales collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the most memorable stories in European culture - conjuring up a world of spells and bewitchment, outwitted villains and cruel stepmothers, animal bridegrooms and enchanted princesses. Tales such as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Little Red Cape' and 'The Robber Bridegroom' depict the dangers lurking in dark forests, and others, including 'Briar-Rose' and 'Snow White' show young beauties punished by unforgiving sorceresses. Other tales include 'Thickasathumb', which portrays a childless young couple whose wish for a baby is granted in an unexpected way, while 'The Frog King' tells of a rash promise made by a haughty princess to share her bed with a frog, and a fortune is won in 'The Blue Lamp', when a soldier gains a kingdom with the help of a magic lamp.David Luke's vibrant translation is accompanied by an introduction discussing the key themes of the tales and the literary background of the Brothers Grimm. This edition also includes new further reading and a chronology, with notes and a glossary.Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) are nowadays simply known as 'the brothers Grimm'. Both brothers were state-appointed librarians in Kassel, and later members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Berlin, where Frederick William IV of Prussia had invited them to settle. Two of Germany's greatest scholars, Jacob is regarded as the founder of the scientific study of the German language, and with his brother Wilhelm initiated the Deutsches Wörterbuch, a dictionary of all words in modern High German since 1450.If you enjoyed the Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm, you might like Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, also available in Penguin Classics.Since their first publication in the 1830s and 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe's extraordinary Gothic tales have established themselves as classics…
of horror fiction and have also created many of the conventions which still dominate the genre of detective fiction. As well as being highly enjoyable, Poe's tales are works of very real intellectual exploration. Attentive to the historical and political dimensions of these very American tales, this new selection places the most popular -- `The Fall of the House of Usher', `The Masque of the Red Death', `The Murders in the Rue Morgue; and `The Purloined Letter' -- alongside less well-known travel narratives, metaphysical essays and political satires.Selected Tales
By James Henry. 2001
Throughout his life, Henry James was drawn to the short story form for the freedom and variety it offered. The…
nineteen stories in this selection span James's career, from brief tales to longer works, all exploring his concerns with the old world and the new, money, fame and art. 'Daisy Miller', the work that first brought him fame, depicts a bold, unsophisticated American girl abroad, and 'In the Cage' portrays a young telegraphist's romantic fantasies about customers who send telegrams from her post office. In 'The Birthplace' a Stratford tour guide embellishes the Shakespeare legend, while in the late masterpiece 'The Jolly Corner', an elderly American returns from Europe and encounters a strange apparition. Haunting, witty and beautifully drawn, James's tales are as complex and resonant as his novels.Selected Stories
By D. H. Lawrence. 2007
This collection of short stories traces D. H. Lawrence's development as a writer. His early tales often draw on personal…
experiences, as in 'Odour of Chrysanthemums', a work he described as 'full of my childhood's atmosphere', while the horror of the First World War haunts 'England, My England'. Later stories, such as 'Things', powerfully express his evolving ideas about the duality of our lives. With their complex characters, these stories illuminate emotional lives and, above all, illustrate Lawrence's passionate belief about the destructive forces in modern society and their effect on love.With an Introduction by Louise Welsh and Notes by Sue WilsonSelected Stories: Selected Stories Of Rudyard Kipling
By Rudyard Kipling. 1987
This collection opens with The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows, the first story Kipling published as a young journalist in…
india, and ends with an acknowledged masterpiece, The Gardener, written 50 years later in the aftermath of the great war.Selected Short Stories
By Honoré De Balzac. 1977
One of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelve of…
his finest short stories - many of which feature characters from his epic series of novels the Comédie Humaine. Compelling tales of acute social and psychological insight, they fully demonstrate the mastery of suspense and revelation that were the hallmarks of Balzac's genius. In The Atheist's Mass, we learn the true reason for a distinguished atheist surgeon's attendance at religious services; La Grande Breteche describes the horrific truth behind the locked doors of a decaying country mansion, while The Red Inn relates a brutal tale of murder and betrayal. A fascinating counterpoint to the renowned novels, all the stories collected here stand by themselves as mesmerizing works by one of the finest writers of nineteenth-century France.Selected Short Stories (Collins Classics Ser.)
By Rabindranath Tagore. 2005
Poet, novelist, painter and musician, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is the grand master of Bengali culture. Written during the 1890s, the…
stories in this selection brilliantly recreate vivid images of Bengali life and landscapes in their depiction of peasantry and gentry, casteism, corrupt officialdom and dehumanizing poverty. Yet Tagore is first and foremost India's supreme Romantic poet, and in these stories he can be seen reaching beyond mere documentary realism towards his own profoundly original vision.Selected Short Fiction
By Charles Dickens. 1976
This witty and amusing collection of short pieces shows Dickens liberated from the more formal and sustained demands of the…
novel and experimenting with a diverse range of fictional techniques. In his tales of the supernatural, he creates frighteningly believable, spine-tingling stories of prophetic dreams and visions, as well as more fantastical adventures with goblins and apparitions. Impressionistic sketches combine imaginatively heightened travel journals with wry observations of home and abroad, while in his dramatic monologues, Dickens demonstrates his talent for exploring the secret workings of the human mind. These short works display Dickens's exuberant sense of comedy and character as his imagination is given free rein.Secrets of the Shipyard Girls: Shipyard Girls 3 (The Shipyard Girls Series #3)
By Nancy Revell. 2017
THE THIRD SHIPYARD GIRLS NOVEL FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, NANCY REVELL. ‘Nancy Revell knows how to stir the passions…
and soothe the heart!’ Northern Echo ***********Sunderland, 1941As the world war continues the shipyard girls face hardships at home, but work and friendship give them strength to carry on.Gloria is smitten with her newly arrived bundle of joy, but baby Hope’s first weeks are bittersweet. Hope's father is missing at sea, and with their future as a family so uncertain, Gloria must lean on her girls for support.Meanwhile, head welder Rosie has turned her back on love to keep her double life secret. But her persistent beau is determined to find out the truth and if he does, it could ruin her.And there is finally a glimmer of hope for Polly and her family when Bel and Joe fall in love. But it isn’t long before a scandalous revelation threatens to pull them all apart.Praise for The Shipyard Girls series:‘This author is one to watch!’ Sun ‘A brilliant read’ Take a Break‘Well-drawn, believable characters combined with a storyline to keep you turning the pages’ WomanSecrets of the Railway Girls (The railway girls series #2)
By Maisie Thomas. 2020
The second novel in the uplifting railway girls series. Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell and Margaret Dickinson.--------------------------------- Manchester, November…
1940As the war continues and secrets threaten the railway girls, they will discover the true meaning of friendship.---------------------------------For Dot, her job on the railways is everything. Transporting parcels around the country gives her pride that she is doing her bit for the war effort, but a growing friendship causes problems when home and work collide.Joan loves her boyfriend Bob dearly, but when tragedy strikes, her heart is torn apart, and she is forced to make a decision that could hurt those she loves most.Meanwhile Mabel has finally found a place to call home and her relationship seems to be going from strength to strength. However, the relentless bombing in the Christmas blitz is about to destroy everything she holds dear, and she will need her friends' courage and generosity now more than ever.Brought together by their work on Manchester's railways, the three women find that with the support and encouragement of each other, they can get through even the most challenging of times. --------------------------------- **Maisie's brand new novel THE RAILWAY GIRLS IN LOVE is available to pre-order now. Just search: 9781787463981** Readers LOVE the Railway Girls . . .'Beautifully written with a quiet charm' Jaffareadstoo 'Suberbly written . . . a gripping read' Ginger Book Geek 'Stunning . . . perfectly paced' Frost Magazine 'Poignant' Donna's Book BlogA beautiful story of love and survival for fans of Ruth Hogan and Sally Page.-----A LOST CHILD. A LONG-KEPT SECRET.…
THE HOUSE THAT HOLDS THE KEYSpring 1937: Teresa is evacuated to London in the wake of the Guernica bombing. She thinks she's found safety in the soothing arms of Mary Davidson and the lofty halls of Rochester Place, but trouble pursues her wherever she goes.Autumn 2020: Corinne, an emergency dispatcher, receives a call from a distressed woman named Mary. But when the ambulance arrives at the address, Mary is nowhere to be found. Intrigued, Corinne investigates and, in doing so, disturbs secrets that have long-dwelt in Rochester Place's crumbling walls. Secrets that, once revealed, will change her life for ever . . .Who is Mary Davidson? And what happened at Rochester Place all those years ago?Set between the dusty halls of Rochester Place and the bustling streets of modern-day Tooting, this emotive, intricately layered mystery tells the spellbinding story of two people, separated by time, yet mysteriously connected through an enchanting Georgian house and the secrets within its walls.-----'A moving, page-turning story - beautifully written and heartfelt' Amanda Prowse, To Love and Be Loved'A rich and tender story of fortitude, family and friendship' Ruth Hogan, The Keeper of Lost Things'Simply spellbinding, very addictive, and so beautifully written' Sophie Irwin, A Ladies Guide to Fortune Hunting'Richly atmospheric, evocative and moving - a triumph of storytelling' Abbie Greaves, The Silent Treatment'Full of intrigue and loss, this beautifully written gothic tale makes for a spellbinding read' Rhiannon Ward, The Quickening'This atmospheric tale of family, friendship and long held secrets is a compelling read' My Weekly'An intriguing story which skilfully entwines the past and present' Heidi Swain, A Taste of Home'Absorbing, moving and multi-layered... A book to curl up with' Emma Curtis, Keep Her Quiet'Beautifully written with a story that draws you in' Jane Corry, We All Have Our SecretsThe Season: (Debutantes: 2): LOVE, HATE, ALLIES, ENEMIES. The Season begins
By Charlotte Bingham. 2001
An immensely readable drama of period society that you WILL NOT be able to put down. Authored by the million…
copy and Sunday Times bestselling author Charlotte Bingham, perfect for fans of Louise Douglas and Dinah Jefferies.'Bingham's imagination is thoroughly original' - DAILY MAIL'Charlotte Bingham...always tells a rattling good story...Pure escapism!' - Woman and Home'Pure delicious escapism' - ***** Reader review'The characters are so well developed with such an engaging story line. I wish there were more books in this series.' - ***** Reader review*********************************************************************************ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR...Portia and Emily meet to launch their daughters on an unsuspecting Society for the London Season. Both are determined that their offspring, Phyllis and Edith, will catch the eye of their friend May's son, a future Duke.Meanwhile, their arch-enemy Daisy Lanford, fallen on hard times due to his own extravagance and penchant for lovers, is busy launching American heiresses. However, Phyllis, having formed an unholy alliance with Edith, is intent on spoiling the American girl's chances.As always, the Season is fraught with dangers for both the young and the middle-aged, while the old observe, knowing it has all gone on before.It will be a minor miracle if all three girls find husbands before the end of the Season, and their mothers renewed happiness...The Seaside Angel
By Evie Grace. 2019
***ORDER NOW*** A heart-warming tale of courage and sisterly love. Perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin._______________________________Margate, 1884:…
When seventeen-year-old Hannah Bentley fled the family home, she never dreamed she’d find her feet working as a nurse on the children’s ward at the Royal Sea Bathing Infirmary. She adores her patients and the sea air, and looks forward to a time when she’ll have put away enough money so her younger sister can join her. But when her sister suddenly turns up unannounced, she brings more trouble than Hannah bargained for. As Hannah is forced to risk everything to keep her sister out of trouble, she must somehow find the strength to save herself too…Praise for The Seaside Angel‘Grace’s skill is in bringing her characters vividly to life while maintaining an authentic historical background... It’s warmhearted and moving.’ Peterborough Evening Telegraph‘Evie Grace brings to life the hardships experienced by 17-year-old Hannah Bentley.’ Woman‘Delivering wonderfully vivid characters alongside expertly crafted detail…A heart-warming, relatable and redemptive read.’ Woman’s OwnA delightfully touching and uplifting saga from the Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis, perfect for fans of Maeve Binchy,…
Fiona Valpy and Rosamunde Pilcher.READERS ARE LOVING SEARCHING FOR TILLY!"I loved this story. Her style is flowing and she really knows how to make her characters come alive." - 5 STARS"This is one of the best books I have read, certainly another amazing one by Susan Sallis. It cleverly spans generations while pulling the generations together into one story. Mystery, with a touch of supernatural intrigue. Very clever, would read again. " - 5 STARS"Brilliant as usual" - 5 STARS*****************************************CAN REVELATIONS FROM THE PAST HELP THEM START A NEW LIFE?Three women came to the remote Cornish cottage that summer: Jenna, only twenty-six and grieving for the loss of the love of her life; her mother Caro, whose husband Steve had also died; and Laura, who had been married to Caro's beloved brother Geoff. The Widow's Cottage, the house where they were staying was called, and it was poignantly suitable.In that tiny Cornish community they discover strange memories of their ancestors, and especially of Tilly, Caro's mother, whose family history seemed to mirror so much of their own.They become swept up in the dramatic story of Tilly and her family, a story which takes them on an epic journey across the West Country and to the solution of an amazing family mystery.