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  Wilkie Collins - A Short Story...

  Wilkie Collins

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  Wilkie Collins was born on 8th January 1824 in Marylebone, London.  
   
  The family moved several times in his early years before, at 12, they travelled to France and Italy for 2 years where the sights and atmosphere made a deep and lasting impression on him. 
   
  He resumed his education at Mr Cole’s private boarding school in Highbury, Islington.  Here, he began his literary career under unusual circumstances: the school bully would give him no peace until he had been told a bedtime story.  This ‘little brute’ helped create one of England’s greatest writers.  
   
  On leaving school, in 1841, he became a clerk at a tea merchant before, 2 years later, publishing his first short story.  However, his first novel was rejected and remained so during his lifetime.  
   
  A brief stint at Lincoln’s Inn to please his father and to acquire a steady income was halted by his father’s death.  Collins then wrote and published his fathers’ memoirs.  He then completed his legal education though he would never practice.  
   
  In March 1851, he was introduced to Charles Dickens and there now started a period of sustained literary output and a remarkable lifelong friendship.  His stories were published in Dicken’s magazines, and he toured with Dicken’s theatrical before the two of them travelled to the Continent. 
   
  By the early 1860’s worrying signs of ill-health appeared with rheumatic gout.  As it worsened, he sought respite and cures in German spa towns and gave up writing to help his recuperation. 
   
  His personal life had become very complicated.  He was living with the widowed Caroline Graves and conducting an affair with a much younger Martha Rudd.  With the serialised release of ‘The Moonstone’ and vicious attacks of gout Caroline left him and married another.  Collins was now prescribed opium and was soon its lifelong dependent.  Martha bore him two children and with the return of a now divorced Caroline Graves he now divided his time between the two women. 
   
  In 1874 he set aside writing to tour North America on a reading tour. 
   
  Throughout his later years he continued to write and publish.  In all 30 novels, 14 plays, 60 short stories and over a 100 non-fiction essays as well as many more collaborations with Dickens. 
   
  In 1884 the Society of Authors elected him as it’s Vice-President. 
   
  Wilkie Collins died from a paralytic stroke on September 23rd, 1889, in London. He was 65.

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  Silver Trail Christmas

  Nick James

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  For years, Caleb Marlowe has been following a hard trail. But fate finally seems to be smiling on him. The ranch he and his partner have been building is ready for a herd of longhorns, and a ghost from his troubled past is about to dance at the end of a hangman's rope. With winter descending on the Colorado boomtown of Elkhorn, Caleb's future looks bright. But in the wild West, a man's fortune can turn with the speed of a mountain storm. When his partner is jailed for murder, his herd taken by rustlers, and his ranch nearly destroyed, Marlowe knows someone is trying to run him off. His nemesis, Elijah Starr, has been pardoned and hired by Judge Patterson—the local power broker—to build a railroad, and they are two men who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Marlowe stands alone against a gang of hired killers. The stakes could not be higher, and the cards are stacked against him. A final shootout is coming, but in Elkhorn no one—especially Caleb Marlowe—goes down without a fight.

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  Old Mortality Volume 1

  Walter Scott

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  "Old Mortality" by Walter Scott is a historical novel set in 17th-century Scotland. The story revolves around Henry Morton, a young man caught in the conflicts between Royalists and Covenanters. With the fanatical Old Mortality, he journeys through a politically charged landscape marked by religious strife and personal sacrifices. Scott weaves a tale of love, loyalty, and the tumultuous events of the Bishops' Wars. Against a backdrop of historical events, the characters confront moral dilemmas and navigate the complex web of politics and religion. "Old Mortality" stands as a powerful exploration of the human cost of ideological battles in a turbulent period.

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  Anna: Before the Sackville Hotel...

  Susan A. Jennings

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  Anna: Before the Sackville Hotel is the prequel to The Sackville Hotel Trilogy. The story is set against the backdrop of a changing world, Anna’s journey is one of courage, self-discovery, and breaking free from societal expectations.  
  The year is 1912, spirited Anna Neale dreams of independence and adventure, inspired by her globe-trotting Uncle Bertie. But her father expects her to marry and embrace Edwardian propriety. When an unjust dismissal from prestigious Lady Chartwell’s employ and her father’s failing attempts to find a suitable husband, leave her future uncertain, Anna discovers secretarial school—a chance to forge her own path.   
  Determined to defy convention, Anna dives into a world of learning, friendship, and ambition, navigating challenges that test her resilience. With her uncle’s guidance and an extraordinary opportunity on the horizon, Anna faces pivotal choices that could reshape her destiny.   
  Will Anna overcome her father’s and society’s expectations and follow her dreams?

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  A Scandalous Match - The...

  Jane Dunn

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  Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, Janice Hadlow, Gill Hornby, and anyone with a Bridgerton-shaped hole in their lives. 
  ‘Angelica had always known her lack of high birth, fortune or influence debarred her from being presented as an eligible young woman worthy of marriage. To cap it all, being an actress assured she was utterly beyond the pale of respectability.' 
  Nightly at the Covent Garden Theatre in London, an enchanting actress is wowing the crowds with her affecting portrayal of Ophelia. Preyed on by rakes and opportunistic young bucks, feted by dukes and earls, even the Prince Regent himself, Angelica Leigh is a sensation. 
  But in Regency England, beauty and talent are not enough to be considered marriage material, so when the eminently eligible Lord Charles Latimer sets his heart on Angelica, his uncle is sent to intervene. 
  As a highly respected, hard-working and wealthy lawmaker, The Honourable Ivor Asprey, is himself seen as desirable husband material, but widowed with an eleven-year-old daughter Elinor, he has forsaken all thoughts of romance. Lord Latimer’s mother, the Duchess of Arlington, despairs of her son, despite being reassured by Ivor that his infatuation with the actress will pass. But there is something about Angelica Leigh that demands attention, and even the austere and upstanding Mr Asprey isn’t immune to her charms. 
  Sunday Times bestselling author Jane Dunn brings the Regency period irresistibly to life. 
  Praise for Jane Dunn: 
  'Brilliant, sparkling and very clever.' Elizabeth Buchan 
  'Jane Dunn’s THE MARRIAGE SEASON gives all the immersive pleasure of Georgette Heyer’s brilliantly confected Regency novels, in a sublime alternative world of joy. Bridgerton look out!' Melanie Reid, The Times 
  ‘Outstanding, perceptive and delightfully readable.’ Sunday Times Books of the Year ‘Jane Dunn has written a splendid piece of popular history with the ready-pen of a highly skilled writer, endowed with remarkable insight.’ Roy Strong, Daily Mail 
  ‘Jane Dunn is one of our best biographers.’ Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times 
  Readers love Jane Dunn: 
  ‘All the characters were so alive, I wasn’t ready for the book to end and longed to know more of what happens to them…** This is the Regency era come to vivid, believable, exciting life.** I can’t wait for the next book from this author.’ 
  ‘I can not rate this book high enough! As a lover as Georgette Heyer I've always looked for books that give as much historical detail as hers and I'm often disappointed, but not with this book! The characters are spirited and loveable and I can honestly say I didn't want to put it down.’ 
  ‘Without a shadow of doubt, this is the best novel I have read in ages. Regency addicts won't find many heaving bosoms or tumbling ringlets. What they will find is an ingeniously plotted story with the emphasis on the men, with all their wit and cynicisms. This is underpinned by strong women whose story it really is, who cleverly manage these men with perfection... I am recommending this book to everyone, and have bought two more as gifts.’ 
  ‘Jane has Dunn it again, reassuring us that this is how life really was – for the fortunate – when the boys came home from the Napoleonic wars, and making us feel at home then, nonetheless. Eat your heart out, Bridgerton!’ 
  ‘A beautifully written story full of twists and turns that transports you straight into Regency England.’

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  The Dead Men - Fiskardo's War...

  J. C. Harvey

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  Summer 1630. The Swedish army is fighting its way down through Germany, with Jack Fiskardo and his company of scouts, or 'discoverers', fighting the guerrilla war ahead of the main advance. There are new allies to be made, new perils to overcome, new enemies to outwit and new adventures to pursue; but there is also a fortune for the taking, a mystery to be solved, and a destiny to fulfil - one that will see Jack brought face-to-face at last with his sworn enemy, Carlo Fantom. And in the wintry forests of Bohemia, that destiny will present Jack with an almost impossible choice - does he pursue his final vengeance, or does he turn aside, to help a child as helpless as he once was himself?

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