Publisher: Benjamin
18 Complete Works of Émile Zola A Love Episode Abbe Mouret's Transgression Doctor Pascal Four Short Stories Fruitfulness Germinal His Masterpiece L'Assommoir The Downfall The Dream The Fat and the Thin The Fête At Coqueville The Flood The Fortune of the Rougons The Three Cities Trilogy Lourdes The Three Cities Trilogy Paris The Three Cities Trilogy Rome Thérèse Raquin
Beautiful young Claudia Anderson is all alone in the family home in Chelsea without a penny to her name after both her mother and her father, the celebrated actor Walter Wilton, are burned to death when the theatre where Walter is performing collapses in flames. Reeling from the most terrible shock of her life, little does Claudia realise that Fate has another two mortifying shocks in store for her. First, Lady Bressley arrives at her house, the Godmother she has never known, and announces that Walter Wilton was not her real father at all! As Claudia struggles with this earth-shattering news, Lady Bressley generously takes her under her wing on a trip to Spain. But again Fate steps in when Lady Bressley is killed in a coach crash, leaving Claudia penniless and stranded alone in Seville. Finally, though, Fate takes a turn for the better when the dashing Marquis of Datchford asks her to pose as his new bride in order to avoid being matched with a plain-looking Spanish Princess. With one thousand pounds in her pocket as her reward, the Marquis has given her the moon And now, as love blossoms in her heart, can she ask him for the stars as well?Show book
Overworked and exhausted through caring for her ailing father, the demurely lovely Delysia Langford goes to the family’s London house for a well-deserved rest. But her wayward and beautiful sister, Fleur, has other ideas for her. She has fallen deeply in love with Timothy, Lord Sheldon, but he is already reluctantly engaged through intense pressure from his family to be married to the daughter of the Duke of Dorset. So Fleur and Tim plan to elope. And so determined is Tim’s uncle, the vastly rich Magnus Fane, a terrifying man people call the ‘Demon King’, to stop them that he kidnaps Fleur. Little does he know, it is actually Delysia who his servants have abducted from the London house by mistake. And when she is subjected to the contempt that Magnus Fane regards her sister with, Delysia resolves to keep up the pretence that she is Fleur so giving her sister time to run away to France with Tim to be married. And giving herself a chance to reverse the dreadful impression that he has formed of Fleur from reports by his relations. But when Delysia is confronted by the awe-inspiring and arrogant Demon King, he turns out to be an extremely handsome young man as well as a highly successful entrepreneur, having made his fortune in the East. And slowly but surely she is no longer held hostage, but simply following her heart as mutual hatred in some magical way turns out to be love.Show book
With the death of her mother, her father’s subsequent suicide by drowning in the English Channel, all in the foreboding shadow of imminent war, the beautiful young Fleur Garton is vulnerable to say the least. Even more so when her new love, Lucien, a French airman, is killed just two weeks after the Second World War is declared and followed after by the death of his mother.Left bereft and alone at a remote Château in German-occupied France, Fleur has to find a way home to England before the Germans discover her and in a French Resistance safe house she meets and falls in love with another airman, Royal Air Force pilot Jack Reynolds. Sadly her heart is about to be broken once more on arrival in England after a gruelling voyage of escape from France. Desperate to escape Jack’s family home, Fleur seeks employment at Greystone Priory as housekeeper-companion to the ailing mother of the renowned motor car tycoon, Sir Norman Mitcham. Instantly she falls in love with the grandeur and beauty of the house and with the arch but kindly Mrs. Mitcham. But, although she takes an intense dislike to Sir Norman, who seems cold, ruthless and aloof, she decides that this is where she will achieve her aim, ‘to hate all men, to dispense with love in her life and forget about it’.Gradually, though, as she begins to discern the man behind the façade, she warms to Sir Norman. And perhaps her heart is ready for a different kind of love from a man who will never ever break it.Show book
Since the death of her almost bankrupt father, the beautiful Andrea Clerefall has been reduced to the status of a drudge under the stern eye of her stepmother and her two unpleasant stepsisters. Her only friend is her late mother’s old Nanny, Hattie, who is teaching her the art of embroidery. When Andrea encounters by chance the new Viscount at nearby Mannerly Hall and falls for his considerable charms, she never dares dream that her fortunes will soon be closely entwined with his. Unexpectedly she and her stepfamily are invited to the Mannerly masked ball, but her stepmother spitefully ensures that Andrea is excluded from the glittering occasion. However Hattie comes to the rescue at the last minute and in the guise of ‘Griselda’, Andrea goes to the ball where she is a sensation and attracts the attentions of the Viscount, who by the end of the night declares that he will never let her escape him. But escape she must as she is not of his class. By the time he discovers who she is, his heart is in chains to the calculating Lady Bethel and Andrea herself faces a life of degradation as the employee of the nefarious Madam Fabrice in the heart of London. Only love can free her and only her love can break the chains that hold the Viscount imprisoned. Find out what happens to Andrea and how her prayers are eventually answered in this intriguing story by BARBARA CARTLAND.Show book
The holidays arrive in Missouri’s wine country bringing snow, wishes, good cheer—and ghosts—in this festive mystery from the author of Quilted Secrets. In Ann Hazelwood’s fourth novel of the Wine Country Quilt Series, Lily Rosenthal starts her holidays with a Thanksgiving Pie Party, but the season truly comes alive during the Christmas Walk in her town of Augusta, Missouri. A jolly, perfect Santa Claus occupies Doc’s office on her property during the event and offers children one wish for Christmas. This inspires Lily to make a Christmas Wish quilt for her newly discovered half-sister. Dreams abound throughout the holiday season, until a desire to find out more about Doc, Lily’s unsettled spirit, turns quite interesting. Praise for Ann Hazelwood and her novels “I found myself immersed in the tale of this extended family and this wonderful quaint town . . . You will laugh, cry and share in their hopes and dreams.” —Community News “Ann Hazelwood knows a few things about the human spirit, family and dreaming big. Add a mixture of the love of quilting and all the things Missouri historic and otherwise; you will experience the words and passion of this unique and gifted author. Enjoy the experience!” —StreetScape MagazineShow book
Beautiful young Aspasia Stanton and her twin brother Jerry are horrified when they receive a letter addressed to their uncle and Guardian, the much-loved Reverend Theophilus Stanton, from Her Grace the Duchess of Grimstone. In it she coldly announces that that “having reached the age of sixty-five, you are retired from your Living and you will vacate the Vicarage within a month of this date.” Whatever are they to do? Without the Reverend’s stipend they will have nothing at all to live on and Jerry will be forced to leave Oxford University. And what of Little Medlock’s parishioners, who love their Vicar so dearly after all his years in their Parish? Although the Duchess is known by all the locals as a completely ruthless woman without a heart, Aspasia resolves to go to visit her and throw herself on her mercy, saying, ‘I will do – anything you ask of me if Uncle Theophilus may remain at Little Medlock.’ The poor innocent Aspasia has no grasp of the evil that goes on behind Grimstone House’s imposing doors or of the terrible things that the wicked Duchess will demand of her as her side of the bargain. But then Fate sends the imperious yet handsome Marquis of Thame to visit the Duchess, a gentleman unimpressed and undaunted by her disreputable and wicked ways. But will he step in to save Aspasia from utter humiliation and dishonour?Show book
