Publisher: The Big Nest
The novel chronicles the rise of Edward Henry Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley. Edward achieves this through luck, initiative and a fair bit of chutzpah.
The beautiful Ilesa Harle and her father, the Honourable Mark Harle, the Vicar of the village of Littlestone, are finding it difficult to ‘make ends meet’, owning little of value other than the run-down Vicarage that they live in and the two fine pictures by the famous painter of horses, George Stubbs, that they have inherited. The lovely Ilesa, therefore, lives a simple sheltered life with her father unlike her glamorous and worldly half-sister Doreen, who has been widowed and has inherited her husband’s vast riches And Doreen aims to further her ambitious social career by marrying the dashing and aristocratic Duke of Mountheron, who curiously is a collector of George Stubbs’s paintings as well. The trouble is that Doreen has been caught in the arms of one of her lovers by an unsympathetic man who is sure to tell tales to the Duke and then ruin her prospects of marrying him. Doreen begs Ilesa to cover for her and tell the Duke lies that she was at the Vicarage at the time in question when she was not there. But, when the Duke arrives at the Vicarage and then invites the Vicar and both daughters to stay with him in his fine house called Heron Court, Doreen is beside herself with jealousy – and even more so when it becomes obvious that the Duke is falling in love with ‘the wrong sister’. Harle and her father, the Honourable Mark Harle, the Vicar of the village of Littlestone, are finding it difficult to ‘make ends meet’, owning little of value other than the run-down Vicarage that they live in and the two fine pictures by the famous painter of horses, George Stubbs, that they have inherited. The lovely Ilesa, therefore, lives a simple sheltered life with her father unlike her glamorous and worldly half-sister Doreen, who has been widowed and has inherited her husband’s vast riches And Doreen aims to further her ambitious social career by marrying the dashing and aristocratic Duke of Mountheron, who curiously is a collector of George Stubbs’s paintings as well. The trouble is that Doreen has been caught in the arms of one of her lovers by an unsympathetic man who is sure to tell tales to the Duke and then ruin her prospects of marrying him. Doreen begs Ilesa to cover for her and tell the Duke lies that she was at the Vicarage at the time in question when she was not there. But, when the Duke arrives at the Vicarage and then invites the Vicar and both daughters to stay with him in his fine house called Heron Court, Doreen is beside herself with jealousy – and even more so when it becomes obvious that the Duke is falling in love with ‘the wrong sister’.Show book
A shy English Rose blossoms into an exotic bird of paradise in this thrillingly romantic twist on the tale of Cinderella. With her slender, graceful, almost elfin beauty, Odetta may not look like a Cinderella but it’s she who must stay at home while her aristocratic friend is dressed by the great couturiers and dances at Society balls. That is, until she’s whisked to Paris as her friend’s lady’s maid – and, on a crazy impulse, borrows a fabulous dress and a mask and slips unnoticed into a Venetian Masked Ball. As she’s marvelling at the whirling waltzes, Chinese lanterns and glamorously costumed guests, a tall, handsome masked and cloaked man asks, ‘Are you waiting for some laggard partner or have you just dropped down from the sky to bemuse us poor mortals?’Cinderella has gone to the ball! No longer ‘Miss Nobody from Nowhere’, she lives the dream, playing the part of a French Princesse and quickly finding her feet in the fashionable world… But just as quickly she loses her heart to her masked hero – and her impossible dream becomes a nightmare because her new life and love is all a lie.Show book
After their family mansion burns to the ground, the lovely Erlina Sherwood and her little brother, the sixth Baronet of Sherwood, go to the neighbouring estate to ask if they can stay at Meldon Hall as they now have nowhere to else go. It is just about the only habitable residence in the village left after the Marquis of Meldon on inheriting the family seat disavowed his house and estate and everyone in or near it.Because of his neglect, Meldon Hall has fallen into disrepair and since local workers and even the Vicar have not been paid most of the local houses in the village are falling down and most of the villagers have left the area in despair.Expecting only to find The Hall’s caretaker in residence, Erlina is taken aback to find a strange man sitting alone in the darkness of the shuttered drawing room and after her initial shock she realises that it is the Marquis himself and he has been blinded in a racing accident. Soon she is discover the secret reason why the embittered and blind ‘Wicked Marquis’ has so cruelly neglected his people and property. Meeting his greedy unscrupulous cousin and his beautiful lover, she also realises that there are people in the world who are far more wicked than the Marquis and she suddenly finds that she is falling in love with him.Show book
The Earl of Wentworth has a fiery and unpredictable temper and is about to fight a duel in Hyde Park with a Frenchman who has insulted him, when he is restrained by his friend, Sir Thomas Babbington, and a helpful Policeman. At the same time the beautiful Temia Brandon is returning home from her Finishing School in France and is longing to see her horse, Lightning, again. Temia discovers that her father has been hiding a dark secret for many years and is now being blackmailed by the odious Lord Alphonse who threatens to reveal the secret and ruin the family’s reputation. Lord Alphonse next proposes to Temia with her father’s approval and she has no alternative but to run away from her home in Northamptonshire to the bright lights of London. Through a strange set of coincidences Temia’s and the Earl of Wentworth’s paths cross and then Sir Thomas Babbington unexpectedly falls in love with her. Temia’s strong character and resolve are tested to the extreme and she is buffeted from pillar to post. How Temia helps defeat Lord Alphonse and despite endless dramas eventually find happiness with the one man she really loves and who loves her is told in this intriguing and fast-moving tale by BARBARA CARTLAND.Show book
To afford the food and medicine her ailing mother needs, the beautiful Honourable Olinda Selwyn, daughter of the late Lord Selwyn, former Lord Chief Justice of England, is obliged to conceal her background to take employment with the Dowager Countess of Kelvedon as an expert embroiderer at the family stately home in Derbyshire. Taken aback to find that the ageing but still beautiful Countess is having a love affair with a dissolute young rake, Olinda sympathises with her estranged son, the Earl, who despises his mother for her loose morals. Drawn reluctantly into the Kelvedon family’s tangle of bitterness and resentment, Olinda finds herself gently advising the Earl – or as he puts it, inspiring him. But just as the love she has only ever dreamt of seems almost within her grasp, Kelvedon is rocked by a sudden and suspicious death – and, incredibly, the man she loves with all her heart stands accused.Show book
When Angus McKeith knocks on the door, the lives of Fiona Windham and her niece and ward Mary-Rose are changed forever. Following the recent death of Fiona’s father, Lord Ian Rannock, and sister, Rosemary, the child has become heir-presumptive to her Scottish uncle, the Duke of Strathrannock, who has summoned Mary-Rose to his castle in Scotland. Reluctantly complying, but insisting that she accompany Mary-Rose, Fiona finds the Duke handsome, yet distant and cold. Ostracised by the Highland community after the mysterious disappearance of his wife, the Duchess, and a bitter feud with his father, the Duke has withdrawn from Society and seems an insensitive, even brutal man. Soon, though, as Fiona’s innocent beauty warms the Duke’s cold heart and love between them blossoms. But when she attempts to solve the mystery that traps him in the past, Fiona finds herself in mortal danger at the hands of a woman possessed by a deranged desire for vengeance.Show book
