The Anglo Scottish Border in the 16th century was the most violent period of British history. A young boy's quest for revenge on the killers of his family sees him blackmailed into the role of hired assassin. This is the story of how he attains his goal.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society. This volume contains "Sketches and Travels of London," more.

The Princess Beatrice (1857-1944) was a member of the British Royal Family. She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. USA Only

Clarence Young was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for series of books for boys, the most well-known being the "Motor Boys" series.

Harry Kendall Thaw (1871-1947) is best known for the murder of architect Stanford White at Madison Square Garden in 1906 and the sensational trial that followed.

Edwin Justus Mayer (1896-1960) was an American screenwriter who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for 47 films between 1927 and 1958.

Roark Whitney Wickliffe Bradford (1896-1943) was an American short story witer and novelist. Canada and Australia only

A beautifully evoked historical novel about the first all female circus act.

1910. With the disappearance of her mother and the sudden death of her father, Lena instantly loses any security she has within the circus she has known all her life. She is advised to sell the carousel her father cared for like a child and look for a husband, or a job in a factory.

Until flame-haired Violet, known to all in the fairgrounds as 'the greatest trapeze artist that ever lived', suggests they go it alone with their own, all-female act. With her outspoken ways and her refusal to marry, Violet is as much an outcast as Lena. What do they have to lose? Recruiting new performers including bareback horse-rider Rosie, on the run from her abusive father, and Carmen whose rainbow ribbons hide the darkness in her past, the four women form an unbreakable bond.

Thrust into a harsh and dangerous world that treats them with suspicion, disdain and even violence, they must forge their own path in search of freedom, security, and love.

Deeply rooted in the Edwardian era, THE SHOW WOMAN is brilliantly realised and expertly interlaces strong female characters, deeply-woven family secrets and heartfelt love stories.

Amy Lawrence Lowell (1874-1925) was an American poet who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.

Mark Alexandrovich Landau (1888-1957) was a Russian emigrant and wrote many historical novels.

William McLean is stationed in Malta during the second World War and immediately falls in love with the beauty, history and incredible bravery of the people and their island. His love affair with Malta continues through the mysterious Carmel - a woman with deep secrets. Meanwhile, in England, Ivy Lawton is nursing the wounds of her lost love, Rafel - the handsome member of one of Malta's most important families. As the years pass, both William and Ivy will realise the deep-seated ties between them and the people they love. 'The Sleeping Lady' is a tale of love lost and found, lies in the name of the social order and the cruelties of war. Each page will keep you transfixed as the intricate web of lies and deception is unravelled over the years of war and peace.

Set against a backdrop of the year 1066 a mysterious rock re-emerges after an absence of hundreds of years. On this occasion the Keeper, for that is what the custodian of the rock is called, is visited in a dream during the night the star with the hairy tail shows itself in the sky and is tasked with finding an ancient stone tablet, hidden by a monk three centuries earlier. Bedwyth, the monk, could not find it in himself to reveal the contents of the tablet to the world, fearing it would destroy all that people believed in, but nor could he destroy it, knowing that to do so would be destroying the word of God. Now, three hundred years after his death, a parchment comes to light written by Bedwyth telling of the tablet and divulging clues to its whereabouts but not its contents. The Keeper teams up with her cousins and a stranger named Jehoshua to solve the mystery, but is the stranger all that he seems or is he holding something back? Something which if it was revealed would cause as much disturbance as the secrets of the stone. Others however want the rock the Keeper wears, some believing it will assist in their quest to conquer England whilst some want to use its power to seek the ancient tablet, believing that were it not to be revealed it would go against the will of God. Others are doing all in their power to have the rock destroyed in order to keep its secrets safe and thus the tablet of stone. The Keeper finds herself fleeing for her life as the rival factions try to wrest the secret of the stone from her. But she has the same dilemma as the monk, Bedwyth. If the tablet is found should she disclose its contents or would the world's population be better kept in ignorance? Events however take a different path as the Keeper and her companions become embroiled in the events and battles of the year as first they charge north with King Harold's army to fight off the Viking invasion before returning south to face William, Duke of Normandy. The story calls into question many of the beliefs we grew up with, whilst encompassing the legends, the fables and the facts surrounding what is possibly the most famous date in English history. It is a tale of battles and intrigue, of love, and of grief, of mystery and mayhem but most of all it tells of one year in history as seen through the eyes of someone who experienced it and lived to tell the tale.

Intriguing mysteries and fast-paced action combine with humour and emotion. In the Roman year 897 (AD 145) rebellion, treason and dissent were rife on the empire's most northerly frontier. A second wall, beyond Hadrian's, meant to promote peace inevitably only adds fuel to the fire. Charged by the governor with rooting out the traitors investigator Felix is in daily danger as they hold life cheaply, forcing him to live alongside crime, warfare, love, lust, sacrifice and treason - in a heady mix!

Wealthy businessman John Gardner counts his wife, the widowed Countess Napier, as his finest possession. Beautiful, refined and a devoted mother, the Countess has the one thing that all his money cannot buy -- a place in Society. When she dies still grieving for her first husband, the volatile Mr Gardener decides that his stepdaughter, Lady Selina, should become his passport into the titled classes. Eager to fit into a world that values birthright over cash, he decides to marry her off to the highest bidder. But he hasn't bargained for his vivacious stepdaughter's willful defiance. Determined to marry only for love, Selina flees the harsh discipline of Gardener Manor and takes her chances on the open road. Rescued from peril by the Marquis of Castleton, a serious and thoughtful man committed to doing his best for the people of his estate, Selina finds in him an unlikely ally. Equally appalled at plans for his own arranged marriage, the pair join forces against those intent on pushing them up the aisle. Pitched into an exciting adventure that sees them chased across Europe, Selina and the Marquis soon discover that despite their age difference they are both romantics searching for true love. But will they find it, or will their sense of duty see them both married to the wrong person? Trickery, deception and a tangled web of emotions will see their good intentions pushed to the limits, before the final explosive showdown where the Marquis finally proves himself a man of shrewd wit -- and passion.

The Black Mountain is a Quick Read short story from bestselling author Kate Mosse. It is May, 1706. Ana, a young Spanish woman, lives in a small town on the north-west coast of Tenerife with her mother and twin younger brothers. The town is in the shadow of a mighty volcano, which legend says has the devil living inside it. However, there has been no eruption for thousands of years and no one believes it is a threat. One day, Ana notices that the air feels strange and heavy, that the birds have stopped singing. Tending the family vineyard, a sudden strange tremor in the earth frightens her. Very soon it will be a race against time for Ana to help persuade the town that they are in danger and should flee before the volcano erupts and destroys their world. Will they listen? And Ana herself faces another danger . . .

Money may not be able to buy you love but without it an Earldom is an empty title as black sheep of the family, Michael Belmont, could discover to his cost. Heir to a huge country estate, filled with antiques and the finest furniture, Michael's gambling debts and dissolute lifestyle result in a desperate quarrel with his father, who threatens to disinherit him. When his father dies suddenly, Michael has sunk so low that he does not even have enough money for his fare home. With his allowance gambled and his fine clothes pawned Michael is a man in despair. But all that changes when he meets the beautiful Lady Verna, who is seeking a chauffeur to drive her car home to England. Not knowing that her willing volunteer is actually an Earl, they strike up an unlikely friendship and before the journey ends he has fallen under her spell. Captivated by her independent spirit and positive outlook Michael knows that their love will reform him, and suddenly there is brilliant new hope in his life. All he has to do is win the trust of her father, wealthy Lord Challoner, and convince him of his suitability as a husband -- but the shadow of the late Earl's threat looms large. With so much uncertainly the only thing they can be sure of is their love. As Michael tries to turn his life around and win the hand of the woman he adores can Lady Verna convince her father that love is enough to live on? Meanwhile Michael's cunning younger brother, Anthony, has his eye on the estate. Their father's favourite, he may not carry the title but he is determined to take everything else from his brother including the bride.

A crackling portrayal of everyday American heroines...A triumph. -- Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story--a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network--from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig. A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith's Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit. Four months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions--all of which immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars, their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned. Despite constant shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring welcome aid--and hope--to the region. But can they survive their own differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of the Unit. With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?

'Clavell never puts a foot wrong . . . Get it, read it, you'll enjoy it mightily' Daily Mirror This is James Clavell's tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, SHOGUN is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world. Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne's rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the hights of trusted advisor and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country. 'I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one. It's irresistable, maybe unforgettable. Clavell creates a world so enveloping you forget who and where you are' - New York Times

In 1796 the promising young poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge came with his attractive wife Sara to live at nether Stowey in West Somerset, drawn by the beauty of the Quantock Hills and by his new friendship with Tom Poole, who owned a tannery business in Castle Street. Little did Tom realise then how closely he was to become involved, during the years 1796 to 1804, with Coleridge's brilliant, colourful and ultimately tragic life - with his fiercely democratic literary friends who descended on Stowey from time to time and shocked the locals: with his eccentric style of living, with his stormy marriage and hopeless love affair and with his agonised struggle to write great poetry. Overshadowing all, Tom had to watch Coleridge's gradual descent into the abyss of opium addiction

From the Consecration of the Shepherd of Bethlehem to the Rebellion of Prince Absalom. Being an Illustration of the Splendor, Power, and Dominion of the Reign of the Shepherd, Poet, Warrior, King, and Prophet, Ancestor and Type of Jesus; In a Series of Letters Addressed by an Assyrian Ambassador, Resident at the Court of Saul and David, to His Lord and King on the Throne of Nineveh; Wherein the Glory of Assyria, As Well As the Magnificence of Judea, Is Presented to the Reader as by an Eye-Witness.

Bestselling author James Lee Burke tells his most thrilling and insightful story yet through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Bessie Holland.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known. She finds a soulmate and mentor in a brilliant but tormented suffragette English teacher, who inspires Bessie to fight the forces of evil that permeate her world.

Watching the vast Texas countryside being destroyed by an oil company and a menacing figure with a violent past, Bessie is prepared to defend her home and her family. But when she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father Hackberry, she must flee to New York. There, her older brother introduces her to boys who will grow into gangsters, but as children admire and respect Bessie's spirit and fortitude as she is cast into a gangland that yearns for justice and mercy.

A welcome return to the beloved Holland series and populated with characters both radiant and despicable, Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie is an epic story of a remarkable young girl who fights against potentially overwhelming forces.

In his "most accomplished work to date" ("Los Angeles Times"), master of historical fiction Robert Harris lures readers back in time to the compelling life of Roman Senator Marcus Cicero. The re-creation of a vanished biography written by his household slave and right-hand man, Tiro, Imperium follows Cicero's extraordinary struggle to attain supreme power in Rome.

On a cold November morning, Tiro opens the door to find a terrified, bedraggledstranger begging for help. Once a Sicilian aristocrat, the man was robbed by thecorrupt Roman governor, Verres, who is now trying to convict him under false pretenses and sentence him to a violent death. The man claims that only the great senator Marcus Cicero, one of Rome's most ambitious lawyers and spellbinding orators, can bring him justice in a crooked society manipulated by the villainous governor. But for Cicero, it is a chance to prove himself worthy of absolute power. What follows is one of the most gripping courtroom dramas inhistory, and the beginning of a quest for political glory by a man who fought his way to the top using only his voice -- defeating the most daunting figures in Roman history.