"How do you think it feels to recognize...the damned?"

Jennie Raeburn has spent most of her life apart from reality, in and out of asylums for the insane, and her granddaughter Maegen has returned home to find out why. From childhood memories to an old diary written entirely in French, Maegen digs deep into the past of a woman who has lost not her mind, but her soul.

With only the diary and the evocative portrait of an unfamiliar man to guide her, she searches for the answer to her grandmother's descent into madness, and learns the story of a forbidden love that divided an entire community.

Can Maegen pick up the pieces of Jennie's shattered life before she is put away forever? Or will Jennie silently waste away, lost to the world...and to herself?

When Lily wends her way down the country lane to Lilyvale Manor, she hopes the coincidence of names bodes well, for she is in dire straits. She's been disowned by her London family and finds herself desperately in need of a job. Lord Ashbourne is equally at ends, his fiancee having jilted him for a commoner and run off to the Continent. Her powerful society family is determined to delay the breaking scandal in order to save the younger sister's prospects. When a servant leads Lily to his parlor, James is astonished to discover how closely she resembles the missing lady of the manor. He hatches a plan, convincing Lily to play his absent "wife" to keep the gossips at bay. He reassures her it will be in name only, but soon enough, playacting turns to real attraction, and friendship to aching, mounting desire. The strictures of society and unforeseen tragedy combine to test the pair's forbidden love, even as they are driven ever closer into one another's arms... This novel contains spanking, light bondage, and light BDSM elements.

Proper decorum has never come easily to Carlotta Anne Fairleigh -- not even tonight, when the lovely, impetuous miss is finally making her debut. As she waits to make her entrance, she can't help wondering about the darkened house next door, the supposedly abandoned home of Hayden St. Clair, the man society has dubbed the "Murderous Marquess." Certainly one small peek through his window before the festivities would be harmless ...

And, naturally, this latest "adventure" ends in disaster, thoroughly compromising the budding debutante's reputation and leaving her suddenly, unthinkably ... betrothed! Soon she's en route to the wilds of Cornwall in the company of the handsome, mysterious marquess whose name the ton whisper with fear and loathing.

Yet there is something thrilling -- and surprisingly tender -- about her dark, unreachable groom, and the desire in his eyes is undeniable. But before Lottie will surrender to the yearnings in her heart, she must unlock the secrets of Hayden's past, no matter how scandalous -- or perilous -- they may be.

A man with no past... ...could she hold the key to his future? Shipwrecked merchant Jack Langdon wakes with no memory and steals a kiss from a beautiful stranger-widow Blanche Tanet. As he recovers in her castle, passion flares between them. Jack's fascinated by her independence and courage but, after discovering his identity is not what it seems, he must uncover the secrets of his past if they're to have a future together...

Sue Wilsher, author of When My Ship Comes In, makes an emotional return to 1950s Essex Tilbury, 1950s. The Empire is a boarding house run by Vi, Doris's mother - the Empire Girls of the title. When Doris becomes pregnant out of marriage, she is kicked out of the house and forced to fend for herself. Desperate to look after her daughter, she takes any job going. She falls in with the Windrush immigrants and finds herself helping one to a new life in Britain.

No fantasy is too wild for Madame Helene's Pleasure House - a brothel in Regency England where forbidden desires are more than welcome...The Most Scandalous Passions...Lord Blaize Minshom is known throughout London for embracing every illicit longing - the more scandalous, the better. When his estranged wife, Lady Jane, returns with an ultimatum to give her a baby, he flatly refuses - even if it means she will turn to other men. Forced to watch Jane flirt shamelessly at the House of Pleasure, Minshom is enraged...and excited. The innocent girl he wed at seventeen has transformed into a voluptuous woman who still ignites a scorching hunger within him...Are Always The Most Pleasurable...After seven years apart from her husband, Jane is now ready to settle their differences and start a family. But when she is reunited with Minshom, his attitude infuriates her - and she is determined to teach him a lesson. Yet even as Jane accepts the attentions of other men, it is Minshom she truly wants. For she alone knows how to satisfy all of his wicked needs...

Jen Templeton Jay is a wealthy New England socialite when she leaves home to become a writer. To help her screenwriting career, she moved to California and made the acquaintance of charming film director Dem Dmitri. Dem is married, however, and their affair does not materialize ...until they met again at a museum in London, where Jen is researching a Georgian romance novel. Free from his wife's proximity, Dem starts an affair with Jen. Meanwhile, Jen has begun to write. Her novel will be historical romance, and it will feature British socialite Elizabeth Ollernshaw Cullen, who just happens to fall in love with a penniless actor named Jack Kincaid. Back in real life, Dem leaves Jen brokenhearted. Unable to hide from the truth in her fiction, Jen tries to kill herself and wakes up in a London clinic. On the road to recovery, she seems to be doing well-except she hears things, like the sound of rustling leaves, when no leaves are rustling. Meanwhile her novel continues to grow, set in the current location of the London clinic-once known as the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens, where ladies promenaded in skirts that sounded oddly of rustling leaves. Perhaps Jen's failed love story can be healed through the love of her characters-or perhaps not.

Some battles will be fought on the Homefront...The war has had a devastating effect on the Sweet Family with young Charlie Sweet, lost at sea, presumed dead and bombs falling on nearby Bristol. Still there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon in the form of Mary Sweet's upcoming wedding to her Canadian beau. But even that has failed to rouse their father from his grief. But in London a baby has been found in a bombed out house, sheltered in the arms of his dead mother. A child to make life worth living again... Discover the gripping, heartfelt second instalment in Lizzie Lane's bestselling Sweet Sisters trilogy. Praise for Lizzie Lane: 'A gripping saga and a storyline that will keep you hooked' Rosie Goodwin 'The Tobacco Girls is another heartwarming tale of love and friendship and a must-read for all saga fans.' Jean Fullerton 'Lizzie Lane opens the door to a past of factory girls, redolent with life-affirming friendship, drama, and choices that are as relevant today as they were then.' Catrin Collier 'If you want an exciting, authentic historical saga then look no further than Lizzie Lane.' Fenella J Miller

Aline Solini--a beautiful Russian adventuress who has abandoned her Russian husband and is now in search of greater conquests in Europe--arrives in Marisi, in the decadent days on the eve of World War I. She has been rescued by Richard Stetton, the wealthy playboy son of an American millionaire, who is on a trip to Europe to discover himself. Instead, the somewhat dim-witted Stetton falls into Aline's clutches, and she uses him and his money to win her way into fashionable society. Once she is accepted by the elite, her schemes move her closer and closer to the throne. "A Prize for Princes" is a charming period piece, with a languid evocation of a long-lost Europe that will captivate fans of Stout's later works, as well as readers of historical novels.

Whitney J. LeBlanc has written the saga of a Creole family from Estilette Louisiana, against the backdrop of the birth of the blues. In the 1930's Phillip Fergerson's marriage to Martha, the beautiful Creole woman of his dreams turns into nightmares. Instead of becoming the doctor he promised to be, he becomes a high school teacher, and events of murder, lynching, voodoo and sexual abuse by a priest, set in motion the disintegration of the family. Martha's brother, Lightfoot, performs blues music in the juke-joints as he witnesses the beginning of the blues as an art form. We follow the early blues legends from Robert Johnson, to Bessie Smith to Leadbelly to Lightinn' Hopkins and BB King as they sing their way through the Delta. Martha, a proud and devoted Catholic, looks on in horror as one by one of her family falls under the influence of the devil%u2019s gut-bucket music. With his marriage falling apart, Phillip finds himself in the arms of a woman from his past. Each of the four children go their separate ways and Martha blames it all of the influence of the sinful music. She takes her revenge. It is a story filled with love, lust, murder, voodoo and adventure. One reviewer writes, "I couldn't put it down until I read the whole thing. Only when I got to the last page I was looking for more." Louisiana native Whitney J. LeBlanc has been a teacher, writer, producer, set designer and award winning theatre director. He holds a Master's Degree in Theatre Arts Production from the University of Iowa. He has spent more than half of his fifty year professional career in Hollywood as a television director of "Sitcoms," "The Young and the Restless" and "Generations." LeBlanc now lives in the Napa Valley with his physician wife and writes novels and creates stained glass windows for churches.

July 1947. Britain is still gripped by rationing, even as the excitement of Princess Elizabeth's engagement sweeps the nation. In the Woolworths' canteen, Freda is still dreaming of meeting her own Prince Charming. So far she's been unlucky in love. When she has an accident on her motorbike, knocking a cyclist off his bicycle, it seems bad luck is still following her around. Anthony is not only a fellow Woolworths employee but was an Olympic hopeful. Will his injured leg heal in time for him to compete? Can he ever forgive Freda? Sarah's idyllic family life is under threat with worries about her husband, Alan. Does he still love her? The friends must rally round to face some of the toughest challenges of their lives together. And although they experience loss, hardship and shocks along the way, love is on the horizon for the Woolworths girls . . . Wedding Bells for Woolworths is the fifth instalment in Elaine Everest's much-loved Woolworths series.