The author of the acclaimed international bestseller The Late, Lamented Molly Marx imaginatively brings to life the shocking affair of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his longtime lover, Sheilah Graham, in this dazzling novel of romance, celebrity, and Gatsby-esque self-creation in 1930s Hollywood.In 1937 Hollywood, gossip columnist Sheilah Graham's star is on the rise, while literary wonder boy F. Scott Fitzgerald's career is slowly drowning in booze. But the once-famous author, desperate to make money penning scripts for the silver screen, is charismatic enough to attract the gorgeous Miss Graham, a woman who exposes the secrets of others while carefully guarding her own. Like Scott's hero Jay Gatsby, Graham has meticulously constructed a life far removed from the poverty of her childhood in London's slums. And like Gatsby, the onetime guttersnipe learned early how to use her charms to become a hardworking success feted and feared by both the movie studios and their luminaries.A notorious drunk famously married to the doomed "crazy Zelda," Fitzgerald fell hard for his "Shielah" (he never learned to spell her name), a shrewd yet soft-hearted woman-both a fool for love and nobody's fool-who would stay with him and help revive his career until his tragic death three years later. Working from diaries and other primary sources from the time, Sally Koslow revisits their scandalous love affair, bringing Graham and Scott gloriously alive in this compelling page-turner saturated with the color, glitter, magic, and passion of 1930s Hollywood and Sheilah's dramatic transformation in London.
** Views: 71
It's the summer of 1935, and in the sleepy Florida Keys, thirteen-year-old Jake Pitney's life is quiet and easy. But all of this changes once Jake begins helping out the town's eccentric fisherman, Sharkey, with work. On a trip to Key West, Jake is dumbfounded when Sharkey buys a mule named Jewel and her faithful sidekick, a dog named Rudy. Despite their troublemaking ways, Jake grows fond of the mischievous duo and their owner. All the while, Jake is trying to befriend Mara, the new girl in town, whose life has been filled with sadness. During the Labor Day holiday, an unpredictable Atlantic hurricane hits Jake's hometown with devastating speed and power, reducing the island to shambles. Jake is determined to find his family, along with Sharkey and Mara. But he may need help from some unlikely sources. From the bestselling author of Star in the Storm and Thunder from the Sea comes a gripping story of strength and determination in the face of... Views: 71
When young Francis Osbaldistone discovers that his vicious and scheming cousin Rashleigh has designs both on his father's business and his beloved Diana Vernon, he turns in desperation to Rob Roy for help. Chieftain of the MacGregor clan, Rob Roy is a brave and fearless man, able and cunning. But he is also an outlaw with a price on his head, and as he and Francis join forces to pursue Rashleigh, he is constantly aware that he, too, is being pursued – and could be captured at any moment. Set on the eve of the 1715 Jacobite uprising, Rob Roy brilliantly evokes a Scotland on the verge of rebellion, blending historical fact and a novelist's imagination to create an incomparable portrait of intrigue, rivalry and romance. Views: 71
In the early 1900s, Camri Coulter's search for her missing brother, Caleb, leads her deep into the political corruption of San Francisco—and into the acquaintance of Irishman Patrick Murdock, who her brother helped clear of murder charges. As the two try to find Caleb, the stakes rise and threats loom. Will Patrick be able to protect Camri from danger? Views: 70
Another hilarious mystery featuring penniless aristocrat Lady Georgie, a feisty new heroine to delight a legion of Anglophile readers (Jacqueline Winspear). The Queen of England has concocted a plan in which Georgie is to entertain a Bavarian princess and conveniently place her in the playboy Princes path, in the hopes that he might finally marry. But queens never take money into account. Georgie has very little, which is why she moonlights as a maid-in-disguise. She must draw up plans: clean house to make it look like a palace; have Granddad and her neighbor pretend to be the domestic staff; un-teach Princess Hanni the English shes culled from American gangster movies; cure said Princess of her embarrassing shoplifting habit; and keep an eye on her at parties. Then theres the worrying matter of the body in the bookshop and Hannis unwitting involvement with the Communist Party. Its enough to drive a girl crazy... Views: 70
Lady Harriet Worthington is as unconventional as they come. She runs a bakery, a mill, a household — and her own life. Having weathered one philandering husband, she's sworn never to wed again.Elias Westwood, partner with her late husband in a West Indies spice company, is at his wit's end. Lady Harriet has been selling off shares of his business — and distributing the proceeds to her neighbors for necessities like cows, sheep, food, and other provisions — until he is nearly ruined.He plans to outmaneuver the annoyingly independent widow and win back his shares, but Elias's extraordinary gifts of smell and taste — so useful in judging fine spices — prove his Achilles's heel. Lady Harriet's meat pies leave him weak in the knees. Her garlic-buttered prawns enchant. Her Turkish trifle intoxicates. Elias cannot resist her culinary creations — or, it turns out, her feminine charms.When she maneuvers him into masquerading as her fiancé for the Season, he certainly never plans on falling... Views: 70
Friendship, tears, laughter and enduring love help the Harpers girls survive... LONDON 1917 As the Americans enter the War, there is renewed energy in the war effort. With husbands and sons fighting for freedom, the women of Harpers are left to tackle the day-to-day affairs at home and work. With Ben Harper away, Sally fears she is being followed by a mysterious woman. Who is she and what does she want? Maggie Gibbs collapses seriously ill in the frontline hospitals and is brought back to England close to death. Can she be saved and what does the future hold for her and her broken heart? Marion Jackson's father is on the run from the Police already wanted for murder. She fears he will return to threaten his family once more. And Beth Burrows is pregnant with her second child, worried and anxious for her husband Jack, who has been many months at sea. As Christmas 1917 approaches what will the future hold for Harpers, its girls and their... Views: 70
