Babe Gordon, the star of this brilliant, sophisticated novel of modern New York's racy set, is a strange woman. She uses her beauty and her sexual allure as a soldier uses his weapons-without mercy or scruples. Her basic appeal attracts all types of men, from bruisers of the prize ring to the more refined sons of the city's aristocracy. From her experiences with men, she is canny, worldly wise, quick thinking. But all her art, her wisdom, and her actions are devoted to love. When her passion for one man cools, she is quick to kindle it in another. Men and their rages over her transient affection do not move her. Through a situation that costs one man his life, another man his career, and the disgrace of a third lover, Babe Gordon moves deftly, coolly, the goal of all men's eyes, the ultimate femme fatale.

There were three things that Steve Greene wanted to do, and they were, in order of importance: 1. Get away from his Great Mistake (her name was Vivian). 2. Write the last movement of his symphony and relieve his mind of an unfinished concerto or two. 3. Whip the waters of some unspoiled mountain lake for record-breaking bass and pike. And so he bought a trailer. When he took to the open road, his house on wheels was replete with gadgets and improvements, but he was hardly prepared to find a breathtakingly pretty girl and a snarling, suspicious black dog hiding in the depths of his folding bed when he parked the first night, fifty miles from civilization. Little did Steve know, the pretty girl was actually Gloria Newcombe of Hollywood, running away from a new contract and an expensive and utterly unwanted husband. Her disappearance had been ballooned into a sensational kidnapping. While State Troopers and assorted county sheriffs comb the trails for Gloria, affairs inside the trailer grow ever more complicated, intimate, and tempestuous in this romantic tale of two worlds colliding against the backdrop of America in the 1930s.

Originally published in 1949, Matthew Smith writes with the brilliance of an Arlen and the sophistication of a Maugham in this vintage tale of high-fashioned passion that bares the souls and appetites of mid-century old money. Nestled in rolling fields on the eastern Connecticut shore stands Cragie, the sumptuous estate of George Ridgley. Passersby admire its sprawling luxury and envy its owner his many acres with their tenant farms, luxurious buildings, and natural beauty. Here Eros launches five arrows that find their mark at once, filling five cultivated and refined people with passions that even the expansive rooms of Cragie can t contain. First George Ridgley falls in love with Lesley, a beautiful guest much his junior. Then Reggie, the playboy forgets his selfishness to lose his heart to Audrey, a wealthy and sensuous vixen. When Peter Drake, our tale s hero, flies back from Europe and enters the scene, scandal erupts. These people woo in the same sophisticated, pleasure guided way they live. They play at passion as they play at backgammon to win."

Rosa Fleming motors her way to Bennett's Island in the dark of the night, fleeing her divorce, her philandering husband and the gossipmongers of her hometown. On the Island she discovers not only a refuge to heal her emotional wounds, but also a community that nurtures her battered confidence and a man who teaches her to love and be loved as an equal. When a fight breaks out between the island's lobstermen and the invading fishermen who disregard the island's longstanding customs, Rosa steps into the struggle and saves a man's life. She flourishes amid the crisis, but her growth may be at the expense of her fledgling romance. Strawberries in the Sea is a story of self-discovery and rejuvenation, as a sad insecure woman realizes her own inner beauty and personal strengths.

Liverpool, 1924. Racing to meet her fiance in her father's new-fangled motor car, Penny Forshaw knocks over a little girl and - much to her fiance's disapproval - feels it her duty to take in six-year-old Kelly while she recovers. But little did Penny anticipate the challenges and responsibilities of looking after a child from the slums, and Kelly's miserable, poverty-stricken existence opens Penny's eyes to a world she never knew existed. Her relationship with her fiance Arnold under strain, Penny's decision to take in young Kelly will change her life in ways she could never have expected. She wanted to give Kelly a better chance in life - but it may be Kelly who changes Penny's life for the better.

In the exclusive world of New York Society, Darcy Snow Statton's wealth and bloodline place her at the very top of the city's elite. Yet, for all her jewelry and dazzling ballroom gowns, Darcy has no freedom. While their husbands quadruple their fortunes, proper ladies engage in polite parlor chatter and stringent etiquette. Darcy's husband, Claude Statton, us a man of uncertain birth but enormous wealth, a man whose polished exterior belies his dark habits and the unspeakable plans he ahs for his wife. Darcy is a prisoner off Claude's Fifth Avenue mansion and she has sworn to escape or die trying. One snowy night, former Pinkerton agent Tavish Finn discovers Darcy attempting to flee. Though he is an acquaintance of Claude Statton, he has a way of extracting the truth from the gilded lies of the rich and he knows shocking secrets about Darcy's husband. He knows that Darcy is suffocating in her rarefied prison and in Tavish's eyes, Darcy sees a glimmer of hope...and a blessed promise of freedom.The excitement and grandeur of America at the turn of the century provide a glittering backdrop for Blind Trust, a story of passage and growth, of cool danger and heated greed, and of the passionate struggle waged by one woman determined to break free of the chains of convention.

Set in the French countryside of George Sand's childhood and narrated in the unique voice of a Berrichon peasant, La Petite Fadette is a beloved 1848 novel about identical twin brothers and Fadette, the mysterious waif with whom they both fall in love. The brothers, Landry and Sylvinet, belong to a highly respected farm family. When young Landry meets Fadette, whose very name suggests that she is a witch, he is captivated by the girl despite her lowly status and disreputable family. Sylvinet soon follows suit. Fadette's relationship with the twins defies the patriarchal norms of French society as well as the expectations of the village, resulting in a tale of love, courage, and clever strategy winning out over superstition and prejudice. Often regarded as a simple country tale, Sand's novel is layered with meaning, including subtle nods to the burgeoning desire for political and sexual equality in nineteenth-century France. This thoughtful critical translation by Gretchen van Slyke brings the complexity of the original story to life. Her introduction explores the autobiographical and political dimensions of the novel, and her translation preserves the rustic charm and archaic flavor of Sand's language. An invaluable contribution to French literary studies and nineteenth-century literature studies, this new edition ensures that La Petite Fadette will be read by generations to come.

Sonja Haraldsen, a young Norwegian seamstress who works in her family's clothing store, has never dreamed of being famous for anything besides fashion design. Yet one summer evening in 1959, she meets Crown Prince Harald at a party. She's shocked when he wants to see her again, but they quickly fall in love, and Harald proposes marriage less than a year later.

Yet King Olav, who expects his son to marry royal, is firmly opposed to the idea of a common-born seamstress as the next Crown Princess. As His Majesty's approval is legally necessary for the marriage of the heir, Harald and Sonja are left waiting and hoping for the King to change his mind.

Soon, the secret relationship finds its way into the papers, and the Crown Prince's romance with a shopkeeper's daughter becomes the scandal of the century. Journalists, politicians, and ordinary Norwegians declare that a common marriage would destroy the monarchy, and a furious King repeatedly insists that the relationship must end.

Set against the romantic backdrop of royal Europe, A Shopkeeper's Daughter is based on a true story of a love worth fighting for.

December 31, 1889. As the sky over New York City explodes with fireworks on the eve of the new decade, an explosion in the streets causes social tremors that will rock the lives of three women who share a house on Twenty-Third Street: suffragette Columbine Nash, her assistant Bell Huxton, and Marguerite Corbeau, a young woman they've adopted from the streets. Lovely noble Columbine, a woman ahead of her time, strives to correct the social ills that are created by her class; lush, beautiful Bell, battered and abused as a child, searches for a true love and a pure philosophy; and Marguerite, a passionate woman of mystery and self-indulgence, attempts to rise above her station and join the glittering stars of New York theatre. Their paths will diverge, but their destinies are entwined in this volatile decade of high contrast, a time when wasp-waisted beauties attend fabulous balls, while underpaid seamstresses talk of anarchy and strike, and in the midst of it all are three women, each living in a gilded cage of her own design, trapped by a difficult past, a promise made in haste, a blind faith in an unbending philosophy, Their liberation is the true story of The Gilded Cage.

When Abbey Sutton left her home in the wild Wyoming frontier, she expected to find a civilized, subdued life as a governess back East. But a storm was brewing over the quaint clapboard houses and cobblestone streets of Nantucket Island. And the darkest cloud of suspicion hung over Jake Ross, the rugged lighthouse keeper with sun-bleached hair and a notorious past. The locals called him a criminal-a thieving smuggler-but Abbey scorned their accusations. Could a criminal's embrace melt away a woman's doubts? Would a thief make and impassioned plea for justice in the young American colonies? As the tempest began to roar, its blustery squall threatened the lives of every man, woman, and child on the island. Abbey found herself face to face with an unscrupulous murderer...and the chilling blade of a slave trader's knife. If the rumors were true, Jake was tied to these nefarious cutthroats. Even Abbey could see he was no stranger to death, violence and the scent of danger. But hero or hellion, he was her soul-mate, the man she would follow to the ends of the earth, and smack into the eye of this sudden storm.

The first title in Elizabeth Ogilvies' Lover's Trilogy, The Dawning of the Day follows war widow Philippa Marshall as she carves a life out for herself as a school teacher on rugged Bennett's Island. Underneath the sleepy exterior of the island, Philippa discovers latent family feuds, the perils of living on an island and a kindling love for handsome Steve Bennett. As she grapples with her sense of loyalty to her deceased husband. Philippa must weigh the balance of her heart and mind and plot the course of her destiny.

Vanessa Barton steps onto Bennett's Island for the first time as if she is stepping into a prison cell. She feels trapped by her marriage, she carries the emotional shackles of a childhood spent as a ward of the state, and she wants nothing to do with the island community. A chance encounter with Owen Bennett sparks off an attraction that brings Vanessa to life, as she discovers something real that eclipses the fantasies of the novels she reads. Owen leads her on a path of self-discovery that forces her to confront long buried feelings and begin healing old emotional scars. Island life shakes Vanessa out of her self-pity but when misfortune knocks once again at her door, she must decide once and for all whether to succumb to the fugue of her earlier days or whether to seize her independence and happiness.

A romantic comedy set in turn-of-the-century California. By the author of "The Octopus" and "The Pit."

Discover Rosie Clarke's bestselling Blackberry Farm series! A story of life and survival during the war which is heart-rending and bitter-sweet, bringing you laughter and tears. Cambridgeshire - 1941 As the war rages on in Europe, it brings untold heartache to the Talbot family at Blackberry Farm. First Tom is missing in action and then his brother John. leaving the family distraught with worry. Faith finds herself in trouble and turns to Lizzie for support as fear and grief bring them closer together. But tragedy is never too far away and when it strikes, it may not be those who fight that suffer the most. Will Pam's prayers be answered and will both her sons return home? And can the family at Blackberry Farm unite to overcome their heartache and find hope for the future?

After years of schooling on the East Coast, Constance Browning returns to Oregon and the reservation where she grew up with her missionary parents. She is accompanied by Thomas Lowell, her best friend and colleague, and together they embark on a project to catalogue the native peoples of Oregon for the Bureau of American Ethnology. But Connie and Tom have another purpose--to prove her parents are not involved in a secret conspiracy to goad the oppressed tribes into a doomed war. Connie finds life on the reservation much bleaker than she remembered, and she is glad to have Tom by her side. But she also becomes reacquainted with Clint Singleton, the government agent on whom she had a crush as a girl. Now that she's back, Clint finally seems interested in her, but Connie is no longer sure of her feelings. As tensions on the reservation rise and war looms ever closer, Connie and Tom search for whoever is truly behind the uprising. With danger unfolding amid shocking revelations, Connie will also have a revelation of the heart.

A heart-warming story of a young woman, Lauren Bradford, who is determined to save her family legacy from bank foreclosure and unmask the villian behind her grandfather's attempted murder. In the middle of her battle, Lauren comes face to face with a ghost from her past...a beloved stranger, Jake Sinclair. His reappearance in her life reopens old wounds and stirs painful memories that Lauren would rather have remain buried in the past.

Jean Balneaves, born in poverty on a Scottish Croft in the nineteenth century sees for the first time, as bairns, in a chance meeting, young Robert Loudon, son of the soon to be laird of Dollar Glen Castle, and owner of the croft holding. In young adulthood they secretly meet and fall in love. But Robert is persueded to enterSandhurst the English Army Officer's School. Because of a mysterious fire, the croft cottage burns and Jean's father dies. Jean, now a dark eyed beauty takes charge of her siblings and young widowed mother...all eventually are invited to the Castle by a compassionate (now Viscount) Benjamin Loudon, Robert's papa. But his wife, the Lady Katrine sternly objects. Finally afte five years Jean and Robert find each other in Auchenblae where Jean and her brother are helping a linen mill entrepreneur. It is there where Jean and Robert's love is consumated and a child results. However, Jean refuses to wed Robert in view of his mama's strong objections. Jean, a sensitive person and a loving Robert find their lives forever changed. A rare cameo is a symbol of the eternal love they share.

Love and lust compel young, affluent, and innocently reckless Hamilton Morgan Slate III to weave his way through the spider's web he creates. America was reaping the rewards of the Industrial Age and these prosperous families had it all . . . but even the wealthy have a host of problems. Lessons of life, along with tears and laughter, are heard throughout these Newport, Rhode Island mansions in the lively 1920's.

His new Governess... Is getting under his skin! Part of The Cinderella Spinsters. Infuriating, impertinent...just some of the words Colonel Hugh Glendenning could use to describe Miss Olivia Overton! She's insisting he spend time with his orphaned wards - which has forced him to admit he's been keeping the world at arms' length since losing his wife and baby son. That's not all that's disturbing him. It's the new temptation Olivia's sparking in Hugh to live again - with her!