Historical

As snow falls outside Abbotsford vicarage on Christmas Eve, Rose Northwood finds a child lying destitute in the manger of the town's nativity display. Reminded of her younger brother, who died at Christmastime, she is determined to nurse the young boy back to health. But the child has lost his memory and can't recall where he came from…

Tammy and her mother, Grace, are desperate to escape Tammy’s violent bully of a father. But when an unforeseen tragedy strikes, mother and daughter must flee Scotland in the dead of night. To survive the severest of penalties, they leave behind everything they know and love – including one another. Under new identities, Tammy and Grace must start afresh. Tammy joins the services and there she meets a dashing officer who begins to break her guard down. But can the course of love ever run smooth with Tammy unable to reveal her true self?

Blackburn, 1947. In the tiny front parlour 14-year-old Laura Blake watches her beloved father die. But not before he tells her she will make something of her life. Laura never forgets his words. Yet her path to success proves to be a rocky one. Forced to trundle a cart around the back streets, selling other folk's cast-offs to support her family, Laura learns enough to start work in her uncle's furniture shop. But then fate deals another cruel blow when Laura is brutally raped. Bearing the child of her attacker in secret, she vows to make the world pay for its injustice towards her.

Jane Carter sees an advertisement for a live-in shop assistant and jumps at the chance to leave her old life behind. After Chadwick the draper takes her on, Jane learns all there is to know about fabrics and dressmaking. She proves a talented saleswoman and befriends Maggie and Lily, the other employees. The girls struggle under exploitative conditions: meagre pay; tiny portions of food; the boss cheating them out of commissions. When the young man Maggie is seeing falls in love with Jane, a bitter falling-out results in Maggie threatening to leave Chadwick’s.

Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel centres on Charlotte Heywood as she arrives in an up-and-coming seaside town. As she meets a host of characters, from her hosts’ family to visitors from the West Indies, Austen's final novel gives us a concise insight into the deception, snobbery, and unexpected romances that occur in the world of her characters.

Four people's lives are dramatically torn apart by a single terrifying event. Two days before Christmas the express train to Strasbourg crashes into a local train in the winter darkness outside Paris. On board is Gilles Malroux, a man with a shady past and a strong reason to avoid the police. In the mayhem of the crash he is badly injured but to avoid capture by the police he swaps identity papers with one of the other victims of the impact. Gilles tries to flee in the dark but finds himself taken to the house of a woman he doesn't know but who calls him Davide.

How would the story of Pride and Prejudice be altered if Mr. Wickham had been a good man? Instead of becoming a scoundrel who regularly attempts to elope with teenage girls, Mr. Wickham studies the law as he originally told Mr. Darcy when he gave up the value of the living. After finishing his studies, Mr. Wickham finds work in Meryton with Mr. Phillips, a local solicitor and the Bennets's uncle.

I don’t want visitors. But when the butler says the caller is a she, I spring to attention. The night just got a lot more interesting. Turns out the recently orphaned Helia Wallace has come to see my mother, her godmother, for help with a dastardly, dowry-chasing cousin. A likely story. But there’s a snowstorm brewing, and she begs me to let her stay the night. I reluctantly agree. It’s her reputation at stake, not mine.

For the townspeople of Poole on the Dorset coast, the war feels like it's right on their doorstep. And with more and more men leaving to fight, one fisherman’s daughter is determined to do whatever she can to help. Peggy volunteers to use her skills on the water to work with the flying boats alongside the RAF based in the harbour. But when she is asked to undertake a special mission, she will have to make a terrible choice – between her duty to her country and her only chance of happiness.

When Jane Bennet meets Mr Bingley at the ball in Meryton she quickly loses her heart to him. Everyone thinks their union will be announced imminently, ut arrogant Mr Darcy has other plans. Determined to make a better match for his friend, Darcy contrives to separate the young couple, leaving Jane heartbroken. With Jane and Bingley both in London, the Bennet sisters hope their paths will cross, and Jane and Bingley will resume the relationship between them. But will fate – or others – intervene to keep these two young lovers apart forever?

England in the early 1320s is a restless place. Edward II’s barons are disgruntled by his preference for Hugh Despenser, and in 1321 Roger Mortimer rebels against his king. With Baron Mortimer rides Adam de Guirande, Mortimer’s most loyal man. But when Edward II strikes back, things look uncomfortably dark for Adam who finds himself a prisoner—and abandoned by everyone but his wife.

After a tragic accident, former piano virtuoso Lord Ethan Harrington takes refuge at a tumbledown country manor that is supposedly haunted. He hires Xenia Loveday to be his housekeeper, unaware that her mousy appearance is a disguise, and she’s a naughty storyteller on the run. As Ethan and Xenia are drawn together by a sizzling attraction, they must contend with dangerous enemies…and unravel the mystery of a century-old curse.

Mr. George Darcy, loved his eldest, illegitimate son, George Wickham, and indulged him by bringing him to Pemberley to live after the death of his wife. His heir, Fitzwilliam Darcy, paid a heavy price. Mr. Thomas Bennet, at the persistent urging of his wife, chose not to have his youngest children, including his only son, vaccinated for smallpox. When the plague hit Longbourn it devastated their family. His second child, Elizabeth, paid the heaviest price for this decision of her father. Will Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth be able to overcome the consequences of their father's choices?

After a whirlwind romance, usherette Connie is swept off her feet when projectionist Charlie proposes in a film reel added to the final frames of Casablanca. Her job at the Tivoli cinema in Tiverton has been a refuge from her violent and alcoholic father, Frank. But that night, Connie disappears, not only from Charlie's life, but from her own as well.

Frank Schätzings neuer großer Mittelalter-Roman. In seinem neuen epochalen Roman Helden, der den Weltbestseller Tod und Teufel kongenial fortsetzt, zeichnet Frank Schätzing das Bild einer abendländischen Gesellschaft im Umbruch. Vor dem Hintergrund gewaltiger Umwälzungen, in denen bereits die Renaissance und die Neuzeit aufscheinen, im ewigen Spannungsfeld von Macht und Moral, schickt Schätzing seinen Helden Jacop auf einen Höllenritt durch die Geschichte.

Jersey, 1940. In the quiet of the English Channel, war is brewing. When the Nazis first set foot on her island home, 16-year-old Marcy comes to realize that nothing will ever be the same. Fueled by the devastating disappearance of the man she loves and in defiance of her distant mother, Violet, she joins forces with fellow islander Louisa to aid Jersey’s secret resistance.

Partez pour un voyage inoubliable et plongez dans un grand roman d’aventure et d’amour où les livres, les bibliothèques et la connaissance sont les clés de la sauvegarde de l’humanité.

Jane Austen's most popular novel, the unforgettable story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a timeless classic that weaves romance, wit, and social commentary into a captivating tale of love, class, and self-discovery. Set in the Regency era, this novel follows the headstrong and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet as she navigates the expectations of society, family pressures, and her complicated feelings for the enigmatic Mr. Darcy.

Lena’s plans are simple. Surprise her family for Christmas, don’t tell them she lost her job, and most importantly, spend the week relaxing with the people she cares about. But when she arrives in Juniper, she discovers she’s not the only unexpected guest this year. Her older brother’s best friend, Gavin, is back after disappearing three years ago without a word. He has the kind of charm Lena has always been drawn to. But she knows he’s also the kind of temptation she needs to stay far away from.

Margaret Arden yearns to live like the passionate and daring women in her novel. The idyllic life at Mosely Cottage with her two younger sisters and mother is fine, but Margaret wants more than the demure and dainty existence she’s known. After a particularly brutal rejection from an annoyingly attractive publisher, Margaret fears being forced into marriage to protect her family if their financial situation doesn’t improve—until her cousin’s glamorous wedding masquerade brings her onto a collision course with scandal, notoriety, and even love.

Having already spent two seasons on the Marriage Mart without a single flutter of her heart, Lady Eloise Bounds has given up on ever finding a love match and accepts the reality of her situation. When the Duke of Ardley expresses interest in having her for his wife, Eloise has no choice but to put away her childish dreams and become the duchess her mother wants her to be.

The year is 1901, and the hustle and bustle of the holidays is descending on New York's Fifth Avenue. For the first time in her privileged life, Adelaide Forsythe couldn’t be happier about the prospect of a quiet Christmas. That’s not to say her transition from Missto Mrs. has been without challenge. Though she doesn’t regret marrying for love instead of wealth, she feels woefully unprepared to run her own household. Then, on the first Sunday of Advent, winter winds bring surprising change, first through a young orphan boy and then a seasoned housekeeper who seems too good to be true.

In the bustling frontier town of St. Louis, New Yorker Christian dreams of wealth in the fur trade, only to find himself perilously ill-equipped for its harsh realities. A rowdy tavern brawl thrusts him against the formidable trapper, Fergus MacBride. To his shock, the very next day, he discovers MacBride is also his new company leader.

While departing the first ball of the Season, dowager countess Persephone discovers there’s an intruder in her coach. She’s momentarily shocked, until she realizes she knows the man. They had briefly been lovers years ago. But how did he end up in her coach, apparently three sheets to the wind? Jack, Earl of Wilmington, is sure he was drugged during the ball, for what else could explain his splitting headache and loss of memory? But who put him in Lady Castlewait's coach? And why?

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.