Publisher: arslan
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola was a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism.
When six year old Mary's father dies unexpectedly, her mother struggles to feed her five children and has no choice but to leave Mary and her sisters in a Dublin orphanage while she trains as a nurse. When, a long time later, she finally goes home, Mary vows never to think about that place again. But the years of cruelty and neglect have left deep emotional scars, and Mary realises she must face her trauma in order to be able to move on with her life. Lace is the standalone sequel to Salt (Wales Book the Year 2021) PRAISE FOR LACE "Enthralling." – The Bookseller "With Lace, the stunning sequel to the award-winning Salt, Catrin Kean has spun an enthralling tale of trauma, redemption, and tangled family bonds: as delicate and complex as lace itself." – Carly Holmes "Kean's writing is much like the lace Mary crafts in this sublime novel, intricate and delicate, tightly woven, robust and very finely controlled." – Rachel Trezise "In the delicate dance of lacework, each thread becomes a conduit of transformation, weaving a tapestry of healing. The intricate patterns, formed with care and intention, create more than just a beautiful fabric—they spin the very threads of rejuvenation and hope, but not everything can be healed in one generation." – Isabel AdonisShow book
After a night with a prince, a young woman keeps his memory close—and his royal heir a secret—until he finds her again in this sexy international romance. Though their encounter was brief, Prince Casimir of Byzenmaach can’t shake his smoldering memories of Anastasia Douglas. With her, he forgot his royal duties for a moment of wild abandon. Seven years later, he must wed—but seeking out the unforgettable Anastasia, he discovers a secret: she gave birth to his daughter! And he’ll stop at nothing to claim them both . . .Show book
Gentleman adventurer Allan Quartermain discovers a strange African village in this 1926 novel by the author of King Solomon’s Mines.An Englishman living in South Africa, Allan Quartermain has spent his life exploring the mysteries of the Dark Continent. When he hears the legend of a lost tribe ruled by a magical priestess, he goes in search of a remote holy lake surrounded by tall cliffs. Together with his companion Hans, Allan discovers a land and a people even more peculiar than the legend describes. Published posthumously in 1926, The Treasure of the Lake is one of the last Allan Quartermain novels written by H. Rider Haggard. Set in the Victorian era, it is a quintessential tale of colonial adventure.Show book
A much-admired patron of the arts and something of a ‘ladies’ man, the Duke of Arkholme, a very rich and celebrated aristocrat, is as passionate about music as he is bored by the attentions of predatory Society ladies. He decides to launch at his own expense a competition to encourage talented new composers, but he finds that the entrants he has to listen to are insipid and uninspiring.So when he hears the sparkling brilliant music he has been searching for being played on his own piano in a room next to his bedroom in his own home in the middle of the night, he is bewitched. Even more so when the pianist proves to be a pale, elfin, auburn-haired beauty called Vanola. She forces the Duke at gunpoint to listen longer to her music and she relates the story of her Hungarian father and his failure to attract any interest in his superb and innovative compositions in England.He is also horrified to be told by Vanola that his employees are corrupt and taking bribes from entrants to his auditions, so that the real talent, such as her father’s, is excluded. Realising that she is half-starved and that her father is at death’s door, he is determined to make amends, despite her implacable contempt for him for employing crooked Managers. Soon the Duke realises that he has fallen in love – but too late. Vanola’s father is dead and in her grief and fury she has fled to who knows where and it seems that he has lost her and his one chance of happiness forever.Show book
Mark Manning is a successful businessman based in New York. He operates on an international stage and is both sought-after and wealthy. His private jet Falcon 7X will play a crucial role in the chain of events that unfolds when he decides to invest in a London-based real estate company targeted by a hostile takeover. At a relentless pace, Mark is unwillingly drawn into a rescue mission spanning twelve time zones. His only chance to avoid a catastrophic financial loss is to place his trust in a beautiful heiress and her carefree brother—both of whom clearly have an unknown enemy...Show book
Waif-like and half-starved the beautiful eighteen-year-old Tara has no second name and no family. Orphaned when her mother died tragically in a carriage crash, she was raised in the appalling ‘Orphanage of the Nameless’ in London and has no knowledge at all of the world outside. The drunken Matron of the Orphanage, Mrs. Barrowfield, relies on Tara to control, feed and look after the many orphans while she spends most of the money intended for their food on drink.Then one day Mr. Falkirk comes to inform her that the Orphanage’s owner and patron, the Duke of Arkcraig, has ordered her to Scotland to work in Castle Arkcraig.Arriving, timid and overawed to meet her new Master, she is appalled to find that she has been seriously misled. She is there not to work as a servant but to become the imperiously handsome Duke’s bride – willing or not!All of a sudden she is embroiled in the terrible enmity between the McCraig Clan and the equally warlike Kildonnons and the curse that hangs over them like a black cloud. Worst of all, she finds that she has lost her heart to the husband for whom she had never asked and yet who now seems to be cold and aloof. Has she been rescued from poverty and the horrors of the Orphanage and brought to the Duke’s majestic Castle only to spend a lifetime starved of loveShow book
