Showing titles in Victorian

When The Doctor's Wife was first published in 1864, Mary Elizabeth Braddon was well known for her scandalous bestseller, Lady Audley's Secret. Adultery, death, and the spectacle of female recrimination and suffering are the elements that combine to make The Doctor's Wife a classic women's 'sensation' novel. Yet it is also Braddon's most self-consciously literary work and her rewriting of Madame Bovary. Like Emma Bovary, Braddon's heroine, Isabel Gilbert, is trapped in a marriage to a man incapable of understanding her imaginative life.

Sebastian Ashcroft, fourth Marquess of Danesfield, had no intention of accompanying Sophie Beaufort on a ludicrous quest to find her missing brother. Nor did he want to be part of the investigation into her brother's dealings with the mysterious Comte de Dampierre. But desire can do strange things to a man.

Elizabeth Black is the headmistress of a girls' school in 1830s Victorian London. She is also a well-respected author of stories written both for and about the upper-class ladies of Victorian society. But by night, she writes very different kinds of stories - the Penny Dreadfuls that are all the rage among the working-class men. Under the pseudonym Charles King, Elizabeth has written about dashing heroes fighting supernatural threats, intelligent detectives solving grisly murders, and dangerous outlaws romancing helpless women.

Endless years of a lonely, childless spinster’s life stretching ahead, Victoria Kavanagh finds an abandoned baby. She knows it’s the answer to her prayers. Or is it? Has she stolen him in a moment of madness? She’s come close to it before. Desperate to keep him, she creates a past of her own design and moves to Faredene, but is her new life far enough away from the past she’s trying to escape? What a framework on which to build - one of lies and deceit.

Strong as a Viking. Handsome as Adonis. Rich as Midas. Collin "Cole" Talmage, Duke of Trewyth, is the stuff that legends are made of. He's the English Empire's golden son - until fate has its way with him. Cole's family is killed and his closest comrade betrays him on the battlefield, leaving him gravely injured. But Cole is not one to dwell on misfortune. He is a man of duty, honor, and desire. And now he's ready for the fight of his lifetime....

One abandoned, one unfinished, these short works show Austen equally at home with romance (a widowed clergyman with four daughters must needs be in search of a husband or two in The Watsons) and with social change (a new, commercial seaside resort in Sanditon). Typically touching, funny, charming and sharp.

One of Thomas Hardy's classic statements about modern love, courtship, and marriage, The Return of the Native is set in the pastoral village of Egdon Heath. The fiery Eustacia Vye, wishing only for passionate love, believes that her escape from Egdon lies in her marriage to Clym Yeobright, the returning "native", home from Paris and discontented with his work there.

When a governess of great talents is required, there is only one place the nobility of England go: the Governess Bureau. It was why Miss Meredith Hubert had worked so hard to gain her place there. Finishing with the Earl of Marnmouth's children, she is about to be given her next assignment—a Duke called Alfred Carmichael with a reputation to maintain and a half-brother who needs controlling. But Meredith has a secret to hide, and she's not the only one. Maids sent away in secret, items missing from the house—there is more than one mystery at Rochdale Abbey.

When she was a poor country girl in a hand-me-down dress, Rosamund saved the Duke of Swanhaven from the brink of despair, only to fall in love with him. Now a celebrated mannequin for an exclusive London dressmaker, her glamorous life is empty without the man to whom she gave her heart. Can a beastly duke and a beautiful mannequin ever find a fairy tale ending?

Eight years ago, Lady Lila March retreated to the safe shadows of her family’s estate after a devastating tragedy. Weary of being a whisper of her former self, she is determined to brave the dangers of the outside world again. No man is better equipped to train her in the art of defense than the Savage Gentleman, East London’s undefeated street fighter.

With his impeccable reputation and undeniable good looks, Garrick Weir, Viscount Lindsey, heir to the Duke of Dryden, has earned his place at the apex of fashionable London society. Every lady on the marriage mart wants him as her prize, and every young fop wants to be him. When his foolish younger brother declares his intention to marry a devious East End fortune hunter, Garrick is appalled. He vows to do everything in his power to stop the mésalliance from occurring.

Wolf had hoped he could put his thief-taking life behind him when he unexpectedly inherited an earldom. Wolf, the new Earl of Pembroke, against his better judgment, finds himself sucked back into another investigation. He knows better than to think he can keep Tabitha out of it. Tabitha was the wife of Wolf's deceased cousin, the previous earl, but now she's running his household and finding her way into his life and, to his surprise, his heart. He respects her intelligence and insights but can't help trying to protect her.

Kate Rafferty had been sent to a girls' school after the tragic death of her parents in a house fire whilst living in India. Once she finished school, instead of a London Season, she found her mother's aunt to be her guardian and expected Kate to take care of her. The woman was a mean old shrew who had run off almost all of her servants and had let her estate fall to ruin. When at last the woman died, Kate sensed freedom and hurried to London to take charge of her inheritance.

Solicitor Tom Finchley has spent his life using his devious intellect to solve the problems of others. As for his own problems, they're nothing that a bit of calculated vengeance can't remedy. But that's all over now. He's finally ready to put the past behind him and settle down to a quiet, uncomplicated life. Former lady's companion Jenny Holloway has just been given a modest independence. Now, all she wants is a bit of adventure. A chance to see the world and experience life far outside the restrictive limits of Victorian England.

Regina Talbot-Jones has always known her rambling family home was haunted. She's also aware her brother has invited one of his friends to attend an ill-conceived séance. She didn't count on that friend being so handsome...and she certainly didn't expect him to be a dragon. Younger son of a family of shapeshifting dragons, Highlander Colin MacAlasdair has lived a life free of both family duty and mortal cares....

Sophie Winstead is utterly perfect, from the top of her tousled honey-brown ringlets to the tips of her dainty pink toes. Indeed, any man in London Society would want her. The problem for Sophie lay in what they wanted from her. For Sophie is the orphaned daughter of one Constance Winstead, the Widow Winstead, mistress of many men during her abbreviated lifetime. Woo her, win her, yes. Marry her? Don’t be ridiculous!

After six unsuccessful Seasons, Miss Minerva Dodger chooses spinsterhood over fortune-hungry suitors. But thanks to the Nightingale Club, she can at least enjoy one night of pleasure. At that notorious establishment, ladies don masks before choosing a lover. The sinfully handsome Duke of Ashebury is more than willing to satisfy the secretive lady's desires - and draws Minerva into an exquisite, increasingly intimate affair.

British Army Major Anthony Erasmus Hildebrand Bartlett, 7th Marquess of Rockingham, returns to London a tortured soul after losing an arm at Waterloo. Suffering incomprehensible terror from his wartime experiences, or what is referred to as nostalgia, Anthony is now the sole heir to a dukedom and a betrothal he doesn't want. He wishes he died on the front lines with his elder brother, and the last thing he needs is a wife. Can Anthony find the will to live again?

The instant Captain Declan Frobisher lays eyes on Lady Edwina Delbraith, he knows she's the woman he wants as his wife. The scion of a seafaring dynasty accustomed to success, he discovers that wooing Edwina is surprisingly straightforward - not least because she makes it plain that she wants him as much as he wants her.

Ten years ago, Penelope Paiget promised she’d wait for Samuel Black. But she was only a genteel, impoverished paid companion, forced into service after her father’s death revealed his insurmountable debts. Now she’s a successful novelist, posing as secretary to the Earl of Wickshire to hide her identity. Ten years ago, Samuel Black chose his own path instead of upholding his family’s legacy as spies. But having fought for the formation of the Metropolitan Police Force, echoes of his past and his true origins remind him how unworthy he is to call himself detective inspector.