Will she remain the dark assassin, or fight the evil growing within? There's a new player in Hell who's plunged Purgatory straight into chaos. Dark Abigail strikes terror in all whom she targets, but when Raven and Holli discover who's really pulling her strings, Abigail learns that being good at her job isn't something to be proud of, but instead, something to fear. Views: 64
In the Sixties, Athene Forster is the most glamorous girl of her generation. Nicknamed the Last Deb, she is also beautiful, spoilt and out of control. When she agrees to marry dashing young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme her parents breathe a sigh of relief. But within two years, rumours have begun to circulate about Athene's affair with a young salesman. Thirty five years on, Suzanna Peacock is struggling with her glamorous mother's legacy. The only place she finds comfort is in her shop, The Peacock Emporium, a coffee shop-cum-curio store, decorated in her own image, which provides a haven for other misfits in the town. There she makes perhaps the first real friends of her life, including Alejandro, a male midwife, escaping his own ghosts in Argentina. But the spectre of Athene and the shop itself combine to set in place a chain of tragic events, forcing Suzanna to confront the feelings she has disguised for so long - and her family, in their varying ways, finally to deal with the events of the past. And Suzanna discovers the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.Review'A complex, feel-good read' - EVE 'A charming and enchanting read' - Company 'A rich chocolate box of a novel' - WOMAN AND HOME 'Entertaining' - Image Magazine, Dublin 'It says a lot for the author's storytelling powers that this classy family drama had me utterly engrossed, deeply involved with the characters and caring madly about their fate.' - Australian Woman's Weekly 'A captivating read' - OK 'This is a wonderful read.' You Magazine, South Africa 'Another feel-good read from the author of Foreign Fruit' - GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'If you liked CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris, you'll love FOREIGN FRUIT by Jojo Moyes ... blissful, romantic reading' - Company 'A worthy successor to Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher ' -- Publishers Weekly 'Even if the sun isn't shining, this book will make you feel like it is' -- Good Housekeeping on FOREIGN FRUIT 'A charming and enchanting read' -- Company About the AuthorJojo Moyes was born in 1969 and was brought up in London. A journalist and writer, she worked for the Independent newspaper until 2001. She lives in East Anglia with her husband and two children. Views: 64
New York Times bestselling author Jim DeFelice's unconventional hero, FBI Special Agent Andy Fisher, returns in a chilling novel of international terror within our national borders. North Korean scientists have developed a new weapon — the "E Bomb." It can render useless any electronic system within a ten-mile radius. Andy Fisher isn't sure such a device actually exists, but when a terrorist group claims to have acquired it — along with a cache of deadly sarin gas — he isn't going to take any chances. The threat is more immediate than Fisher suspects: the terrorists are already proceeding toward their objective. With the lives of millions hanging in the balance, as well as the leadership of the free world, Fisher races against the clock to stop a nightmarish plague from being unleashed… Views: 64
A story of courage in the face of evil. The tense drama of Suzanne Spaak who risked and gave her life to save hundreds of Jewish children from deportation from Nazi Paris to Auschwitz. This is one of the untold stories of the Holocaust.Suzanne Spaak was born into the Belgian Catholic elite and married into the country's leading political family. Her brother-in-law was the Foreign Minister and her husband Claude was a playwright and patron of the painter Renée Magritte. In Paris in the late 1930s her friendship with a Polish Jewish refugee led her to her life's purpose. When France fell and the Nazis occupied Paris, she joined the Resistance. She used her fortune and social status to enlist allies among wealthy Parisians and church groups. Under the eyes of the Gestapo, Suzanne and women from the Jewish and Christian resistance groups "kidnapped" hundreds of Jewish children to save them from the gas chambers. In the final year of the Occupation Suzanne was... Views: 64
Jojo's story is dark. Her journey to the light is fractured... And to salvage what little is left of her life, she must return to where it all started. Can a person survive and grow if they are... confined? Views: 63
Is a week of passion enough to warrant changing their lives forever? Italian born Giselle Moore is reinventing herself for the second time in her short twenty-four years of life, trading in her bohemian artist’s life in Paris for the grit and glamour of New York City where the family she hasn’t seen in years awaits her. But before beginning her new life, she travels to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico searching for a week of relaxation and reprieve before barreling into her turbulent future. She never expected to meet the handsome and enigmatic Frenchman Sinclair on the plane and she certainly never would have imagined herself accepting his proposal for a weeklong, no-strings-attached affair. Giselle has never experienced anything as heady as Sinclair’s controlled seduction and cool yet devastatingly erotic commands and she finds herself powerless to stop the ferocity of their passions, even when she discovers he has a partner back home. The last thing she needs in her life is another complication, yet as the week wears on, she finds it surprisingly easy to relinquish control to Sinclair, a man she knows nearly nothing about. And to her horror, the one thing she promised never to submit, her battered heart, is just as easily captured in the business mogul’s unyielding hands. Views: 63
When Jim Green took on the job of Marshal in the roaring hell town of Lawless, he soon knew he'd tackled a tough one. But he had no idea just how tough a job it was until he discovered there was a man pirating around the town on a black stallion and calling himself 'Sudden.' Jim Green wanted to meet this Sudden personally over six-guns. Because Jim Green happened to be the real Sudden... Views: 63
Within the shadows of the grim medieval Old World, the sinister agents of darkness plot the downfall of the civilised realms. Their numbers are unknown and their masters can only be guessed at, but they are legion and they are deadly. To combat the insidious threat, the Old World has drawn upon the services of witch hunters -- ruthless men who have dedicated their lives to hunting down the evil with the land!The author of the Brunner novels, CL Werner, showed off the talents of witch hunter Mathias Thulmann in the first novel in this series, "Witch Hunter," Now Thulmann is back and the stakes are even higher! Views: 63
Julia Gelardi's Born to Rule is an historical tour de force that weaves together the powerful and moving stories of the five royal granddaughters of Queen Victoria. These five women were all married to reigning European monarchs during the early part of the 20th century, and it was their reaction to the First World War that shaped the fate of a continent and the future of the modern world. Here are the stories of Alexandra, whose enduring love story, controversial faith in Rasputin, and tragic end have become the stuff of legend; Marie, the flamboyant and eccentric queen who battled her way through a life of intrigues and was also the mother of two Balkan queens and of the scandalous Carol II of Romania; Victoria Eugenie, Spain's very English queen who, like Alexandra, introduced hemophilia into her husband's family-with devastating consequences for her marriage; Maud, King Edward VII's daughter, who was independent Norway's reluctant queen; and Sophie, Kaiser Wilhelm II's much maligned sister, daughter of an Emperor and herself the mother of no less than three kings and a queen, who ended her days in bitter exile.Born to Rule evokes a world of luxury, wealth, and power in a bygone era, while also recounting the ordeals suffered by a unique group of royal women who at times faced poverty, exile, and death. Praised in their lifetimes for their legendary beauty, many of these women were also lauded-and reviled-for their political influence. Using never before published letters, memoirs, diplomatic documents, secondary sources, and interviews with descendents of the subjects, Julia Gelardi's Born to Rule is an astonishing and memorable work of popular history.From Publishers WeeklyThis lively page-turner covers the 100-year period between the birth of Queen Maud of Norway in 1869 and the death of Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain in 1969. Suffering only from the inevitable repetition and melodramatic foreshadowing caused by the five-in-one setup of this biography, Gelardi's book features liberal quotations from fascinating correspondence and diaries that reveal both the intimate and the public faces of the women featured. Tales of the girls' romances and weddings spice up the early pages, followed by descriptions of marital relationships, childbirths and the early seeds of conflict-both personal and political. World War I and the Bolshevik revolution dominate the third part of the book, after which Gelardi describes the poignant twilight years of the four granddaughters who lived past the end of the Great War. Lurking behind these stories is the legacy of Queen Victoria, the cruelty of Kaiser Wilhelm in Germany and the specter of hemophilia. It is Marie, "Missy," who plays the favorite in the book, just as she did as Queen of Romania. More than the others, she inherited her grandmother's will, charisma, generosity and political acumen, along with the ability to adapt to changing times and circumstances. The granddaughters were "raised in an era where responsibility, commitment, sacrifice and duty before self were elevated as the highest ideals and embodied admirably by their grandmother," but the era that encompassed their rule would see the decline in monarchy throughout Europe as citizens of various countries came to believe that it was not the divine will of God that appointed their leaders, but the will-wise or foolish-of the people. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"Five cousins. Five fascinating lives. Julia Gelardi writes about her subjects with verve and passion."- Dr. Amanda Foreman, author of Georgina: Duchess of Devonshire"This fascinating story of five princesses ends with one murdered, two in exile, one in distress, and one content. They all made sacrifices to fulfill dynastic demands, and unlike Ambassadors who move about, they were committed for life."- Hugo Vickers, author of the critically acclaimed biography Alice and The Unexpurgated Beaton"Julia Gelardi has mastered well the complex craft-within-craft of writing dynastic history. Her multi-stranded story moves smoothly, presenting vivid pictures not only of the momentous and tragic lives of five women, but also of the extraordinary privileged but confined world of doomed European monarchy."- Derek Wilson, author of All the King's Women and In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII"A wonderful story, and an enormously impressive piece of research. Julia Gelardi has drawn together the stories of these five queens and kinswomen to give fresh perspective on the turbulent early decades of the twentieth century."- Sarah Gristwood, author of the critically acclaimed Arbelia: England's Lost Queen and Perdita"Gelardi tells a compelling story of five of Queen Victoria's granddaughters who became queens themselves. Alongside the oft-told and tragic story of Alexandra, the last Tsarina of Russia, are skillfully woven the tales of Maud of Norway, Sophie of Greece and Ena of Spain, each of whom led remarkable lives. Most fascinating, though, were the adventures of Marie of Romania, the archetypal romantic royal beauty. The author takes us on a tumultuous and enjoyable journey through the lives of five royal women, as they each in their own way attempted to survive 'the Era of the Fall of Eagles.' "- Leonie Frieda, author of Catherine de Medici "Julia Gelardi has brought these 5 queens to vivid life, using much fascinating contemporary material and the voices of the women themselves. At the heart of the convulsions of early 20th century Europe, this interwoven story is a rollercoaster of human tragedy and spirited renewal. All five women repay Gelardi's extensive research and affectionate narrative but Marie of Romania stands out as remarkably heroic; compassionate to the impoverished, diseased and dying, courageous in everything, she was nevertheless determined to fill her own life to the brim with adventure and love."- Jane Dunn, author of Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens Views: 63
