A gentleman and
a very improper lady are bound together by a passion that crosses the
line between upper class and underworld in Caroline Linden's daring new
romance...After a wayward youth, David Reece, the
youngest scion in a noble family, has been called one of the most
scandalous rogues of the ton. What he wants to be called is
trustworthy and a true gentleman. To prove he has reformed, he's agreed
to watch over his absent brother's estate and signet ring. All is going
swimmingly until highwaymen waylay his coach and steal that precious
ring.Street orphan Vivian Beecham has grown up a pickpocket, and
a very pretty one indeed. Now she and her brother have reluctantly
graduated to highway robbery. And handsome David Reece has become their
victim—until he tracks her down and makes her his prisoner. Locked in a
spare bedroom, Vivian vows to hate her captor. Instead she becomes a
former rogue's greatest challenge: the object of a passionate seduction.
But David and Vivian are playing a dangerous game in which forbidden
love is a wild card. Views: 32
The beginning of the present century glorious as it was for British arms abroad was a dark time to those who lived by their daily labor at home. Views: 32
Queen's Ford, built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and home to the noble Forde family for centuries, is crumbling into ruin.Devastated by the reduced circumstances in which he finds himself due to the outlandish spending of his late father, the current Lord Fordcombe simply cannot afford to repair it.With only a few loyal servants to serve the family, even the once beautiful gardens and stables are shabby and unkempt. In fact the Forde family, blue-blooded and aristocratic, who have entertained more than one English Monarch during their illustrious past, are now so poor that they struggle to find money for food.Driven beyond endurance and crushed by the monotony of poverty, Jeremy, the handsome twenty-one year old son of Lord Fordcombe decides that something desperate must be done. Artfully persuading his eldest sister, Mariota, to sacrifice her principles and go along with his daring plan, she joins him in holding up a coach masquerading as highwaymen.But as the... Views: 32
At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest, a reclusive orchardist, William Talmadge, tends to apples and apricots as if they were loved ones. A gentle man, he's found solace in the sweetness of the fruit he grows and the quiet, beating heart of the land he cultivates. One day, two teenage girls appear and steal his fruit from the market; they later return to the outskirts of his orchard to see the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, the girls take up on Talmadge's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Just as the girls begin to trust him, men arrive in the orchard with guns, and the shattering tragedy that follows will set Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect but also to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past. Transcribing America as it once was before railways and roads connected its corners, Amanda Coplin weaves a tapestry of solitary souls who come together in the wake of unspeakable cruelty and misfortune. She writes with breathtaking precision and empathy, and in The Orchardist she crafts an astonishing debut novel about a man who disrupts the lonely harmony of an ordered life when he opens his heart and lets the world in. Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Best Books of the Month, August 2012: Set against the rugged beauty of Washington State at the turn of the twentieth century, Amanda Coplin’s debut novel, * The Orchardist, introduces readers to William Talmadge and his lovingly cultivated orchards of apples and apricots. Coplin’s characters are deeply rooted in the mystery of the American West, and she brings them together, like the grafting of Talmadge’s trees, to form a unique family bound not by blood but by the shared experience of tragedy, the land, and ultimately fate.--Seira Wilson*Review“Many contemporary novelists have revisited the question of what constitutes a family, but few have responded in a voice as resolute and fiercely poetic.” (New York Times Book Review )“Amanda Coplin’s somber, majestic debut arrives like an urgent missive from another century. You can only be thrilled by a 31-year-old writer with this depth of understanding...the final epiphany equals in stark grandeur similar scenes in Emily Bronte’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS and Pat Barker’s ANOTHER WORLD...” (Washington Post )“Coplin’s prose is fresh and compelling...While the ending of this striking debut may not make every reader happy, it is, undoubtedly, the right one for both the book and for Talmadge, an unlikely hero who—like the book—is true to life and sweetly honest from beginning to end.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune )“A stunning debut...THE ORCHARDIST is a poetic book, but its strength doesn’t lie solely in its language. Coplin’s understanding of abuse and the lasting effects of fear and loss on the individual psyche are deeply resonant. As a debut novel, THE ORCHARDIST stands on par with Charles Frazier’s COLD MOUNTAIN.” (The Oregonian (Portland) )“THE ORCHARDIST is engaging and enthralling. The reader wants to turn each page quickly as the story develops, and wants at the same time to dwell on the lyrical moments of sunshine, soil and love.” (Seattle Times )“There are echoes of John Steinbeck in this beautiful and haunting debut novel set in early-20th -century Washington State...Coplin depicts the frontier landscape and the plainspoken characters who inhabit it with dazzling clarity.” (Entertainment Weekly )“Amanda Coplin has depicted her northwestern landscape with such fidelity that readers will know its every sight, smell, and sound. Within this world are compelling characters and their equally compelling stories. THE ORCHARDIST is an outstanding debut.” (Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of SERENA and THE COVE )“To read this mysterious, compelling, elemental novel is to immerse yourself in the world of an old folk song, in which the passions and sorrows of plain people rage unseen and then blossom as madly (and quietly) as apricot trees. In THE ORCHARDIST, Amanda Coplin shows us what’s unknowable.” (Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award and NBCC Award Finalist for Fiction, AMERICAN SALVAGE )“THE ORCHARDIST is a stunning accomplishment, hypnotic in its storytelling power, by turns lyrical and gritty, and filled with marvels. Coplin displays a dazzling sense of craftsmanship, and a talent for creating characters vivid and true.” (Jane Ciabattari, NPR )“A breathtaking work from a genuinely accomplished writer...Coplin’s lyrical style and forceful storytelling provide many unexpected twists before the poignant conclusion.” (Library Journal )“Eloquent, moving...an immensely affecting first novel...Coplin refuses to sentimentalize. Instead, she demonstrates that courage and compassion can transform unremarkable lives and redeem damaged souls.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )“Coplin’s mesmerizing debut stands out with its depictions of uniquely Western personalities and a stark, gorgeously realized landscape that will settle deeply into readers’ bones.” (Booklist )“Beautifully written, so alive to the magnificence of the land and the intricate mysteries of human nature, that it inspires awe rather than depression.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )“Nearly everybody in the book compels your admiration, either for their courage or for the heavy work they do, all the time and without complaint, even when wicked men are hunting them. Transfixing. I love this book straight through.” (Salvatore Scibona, author of THE END, National Book Award Finalist )“When you pick up THE ORCHARDIST, you will be lured at first by the lushness of the language. But soon enough the characters will take hold of you and you’ll read on hungrily, as if under a spell. It’s hard to believe that this is Amanda Coplin’s first novel.” (Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED )“Patiently beautiful, THE ORCHARDIST builds its characters and its situations so carefully that the story becomes as real to us as this morning’s news. I am in awe of Amanda Coplin’s book, which does not feel like a first novel but a life’s work.” (Charles Baxter, author THE FEAST OF LOVE, National Book Award Finalist )“A rare find—this debut novel that reads with masterful authority. Stately and passionate—a stunning powerhouse. THE ORCHARDIST, like Marilynne Robinson’s GILEAD, drills into history, portraying an apparently modest American way of life but finally presenting us with a great American elegy.” (Patricia Hampl, author of A ROMANTIC EDUCATION )“This is a novel to burrow into, to be submerged in a world that is both lovely and hard. It’s a world that becomes so real that one only leaves by being forced out by the closing of the covers that enfold it.” (Denver Post )“Coplin’s grave, graceful prose gives dignity to lives that otherwise might be too sad to contemplate. Her story, which turns in unpredictable ways, is both troubling and touching.” (Columbus Dispatch )“A superb work from an abundantly gifted young writer” (Dallas Morning News )“In the end, THE ORCHARDIST shares much in common with the fruits its protagonist nurtures: The succulent flesh of the novel will intoxicate readers early on, but delving deeper reveals a hard core that is vital, bittersweet and ultimately timeless.” (BookPage, Top Fiction Pick )“This is an extraordinarily ambitious and authoritative debut.” (Holloway McCandless, Shelf Awareness )“Coplin’s consistent and finely-tuned rendering of a very different sensibility may help readers to comprehend a time when expedience did not rule...This patience is revealed in a narrative that is at once lyrical and unsentimental. This is the most extraordinary fruit of a noteworthy debut novel.” (Bellingham Herald )“The exquisitely described landscapes in this tale astonish, but so do the emotional lives of its characters...a wise and great American novel.” (The Oprah Blog, Book of the Week September 17th )“[A] beautiful, powerful novel...THE ORCHARDIST has the sweep and scope of a big historical novel...yet Coplin is exquisitely attuned to small, interior revolutions as well. Its language as rooted and plain as the apple trees Talmadge nurtures, this is a gorgeous first book.” (Boston Globe ) Views: 32
Facing the threat of King Philip’s Enterprise of England – Spanish invasion and annexation of the country – Sir Francis Walsingham’s espionage service spreads a spy network across Europe. After caring for hundreds of maimed and wounded soldiers returning from the fall of Sluys, young physician and code-breaker Christoval Alvarez is sent on two dangerous missions to Amsterdam, where, amongst the friendly Hollanders, treason and treachery lurks. Christoval’s ship, sailing home, plays its part in the great sea battle in which the small and inexperienced English navy must confront the most powerful sea force in the world.About the Authorhttp://www.annswinfen.com Ann Swinfen spent her childhood partly in England and partly on the east coast of America. She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read Classics and Mathematics and married a fellow undergraduate, the historian David Swinfen. While bringing up their five children and studying for a postgraduate MSc in Mathematics and a BA and PhD in English Literature, she had a variety of jobs, including university lecturer, translator, freelance journalist and software designer. She served for nine years on the governing council of the Open University and for five years worked as a manager and editor in the technical author division of an international computer company, but gave up her full-time job to concentrate on her writing, while continuing part-time university teaching. In 1995 she founded Dundee Book Events, a voluntary organisation promoting books and authors to the general public. Her first three novels, The Anniversary, The Travellers, and A Running Tide, all with a contemporary setting but also an historical resonance, were published by Random House, with translations into Dutch and German. The Testament of Mariam marks something of a departure. Set in the first century, it recounts, from an unusual perspective, one of the most famous and yet ambiguous stories in human history. At the same time it explores life under a foreign occupying force, in lands still torn by conflict to this day. Her second historical novel, Flood, is set in the fenlands of East Anglia during the seventeenth century, where the local people fought desperately to save their land from greedy and unscrupulous speculators. Currently she is working on a late sixteenth century series, featuring a young Marrano physician who is recruited as a code-breaker and spy in Walsingham’s secret service. The first book in the series is The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez and the second is The Enterprise of England. She now lives in Broughty Ferry, on the northeast coast of Scotland, with her husband, formerly vice-principal of the University of Dundee, a cocker spaniel, and two Maine coon cats. Views: 32
After five Seasons, Ivonne Wimpleton has accepted she’s a haute ton undesirable. Always a bit ungraceful, her suitors are men desperate to get their hands on her marriage settlement. Guarded and aloof, she’s resigned herself to spinsterhood. She doesn’t mind her fate, since Chancy Faulkenhurst, the man who once held her heart, left for India years ago without an explanation. When Ivonne’s father, Viscount Wimpleton, refuses Chance’s request for her hand in marriage, he transfers to the East India Troops. Chance’s dreams of making Ivonne his wife are soundly dashed. Ignoring her letters, he closes the door on his heart and Ivonne and remains in India. Six years later, severely injured during a battle, Chance returns to England physically and emotionally scarred. His love for Ivonne remains just as strong. When he learns due to a whim of Prinny’s she must choose one of the despots whose offered for her hand, Chance is determined that none should have her but him. Except, not only is she infuriated he made no effort to contact her in all those years, in Chance’s absence, his father arranged a marriage for him and fully expects Chance to honor the agreement.** Views: 32
There's a killer somewhere in the city and he's taking women's heads as his trophy. When yet another beautiful woman ends up dead, it's up to the local detective, Kane, to put a stop to it. But Kane has a dark past that continues to haunt him and it's getting in the way. Views: 32
A brand new series from the bestselling author of A Christmas Promise. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn. For the ordinary people of Empire Street, life will never be the same again.Kitty Fisher has plenty on her plate to keep her busy. Since her mother died when she was just a child, she's cooked, cleaned and scraped to make ends meet for her drunken father and her headstrong brothers.Rita Kennedy, living with her husband under the roof of his spiteful mother-in-law, is desperate for their own home. Perhaps that will help them get their marriage back on the rails again?For the two women and others like them on Liverpool's dockside and across the whole country, the threatening clouds of war will bring heartache and tragedy. It will take courage and the bonds of family and friends to help them see this through. Views: 32
The internationally acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author returns to the magnificent universe he constructed in his bestselling novels The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel's Game, and The Prisoner of Heaven in this riveting series finale—a heart-pounding thriller and nail-biting work of suspense which introduces a sexy, seductive new heroine whose investigation shines a light on the dark history of Franco's Spain.In this unforgettable final volume of Ruiz Zafón's cycle of novels set in the universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, beautiful and enigmatic Alicia Gris, with the help of the Sempere family, uncovers one of the most shocking conspiracies in all Spanish history.Nine-year-old Alicia lost her parents during the Spanish Civil War when the Nacionales (the fascists) savagely bombed Barcelona in 1938. Twenty years later, she still carries the emotional and physical scars of that violent and terrifying time. Weary of her work as an... Views: 32
Love, marriage, birth, death and betrayal in the East End of London make up life in Mulberry Lane, perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries, Cathy Sharp and Donna Douglas. Maureen Jackson knew life as a trainee nurse wouldn't be easy, but she didn't expect her hospital to be badly bombed on her first shift. Plus Maureen still has her family and friends in Mulberry Lane to keep her busy – she's needed as much there as she is by her patients. Running the pub on the corner of Mulberry Lane, Peggy Ashley is used to taking in all sorts of waifs and strays. But the arrival of a dashing American captain has got tongues wagging about Mulberry Lane's favourite landlady... Janet Ashley's husband is back from the frontline. Which is more than so many of the wives of Mulberry Lane. But her beloved Mike is a completely different man from the one she fell in love with – and what's more he doesn't remember her, or their young daughter. How do you cope when your darling husband is a virtual stranger? As WW2 continues around them, the women of Mulberry Lane know that community spirit and friendship is the key to surviving the Blitz. A WEDDING AT MULBERRY LANE is the second book in the riveting and heart-breaking Mulberry Lane series from Rosie Clarke. Order the next book, MOTHERS OF MULBERRY LANE, out July 2018. Views: 32
Melding facts with imagination, Misfit is centered around the last weekend of Marilyn Monroe's life, which, wanting to get away from the stress of a lawsuit filed against her by Twentieth Century Fox, she spent at Frank Sinatra's resort, the Cal Neva Lodge, in Lake Tahoe. Using this weekend as a springboard, the novel explores moments throughout Monroe's career when, faced with various opportunities, she altered her persona—from her days as a child, to her marriages with Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, to her studies with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, and, finally, to her role in the film Miller wrote for her, The Misfits. Views: 32
