In their home port of Bristol, the Seymores were feared, but they had no difficulty in obtaining crews for their ships. They paid well and expected blind loyalty. Woe betide anyone who talked of what happened in foreign lands.... In a lifetime, I have had many interests. A keen gardener, dabbled in politics, dramatics, wine making, old music and dance, also religiion. Most of all, I observe the different interests of all kinds of people. Probably, this gives me the urge to write. The characters that I write about are fictional, with a hint of truth. My service in the Royal Navy has given me a wide spectrum of human nature. Eric Griggs

2016
Fresh from her mother's funeral, Mari arrives on Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts to study under the enigmatic painter Elizabeth Devereux.

But she soon realises that her relationship to the island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.

1942
It’s World War II, and Smith sisters Cadence and Briar are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together as the US army arrives on their island.

In an attempt for normalcy, the sisters start a book club that quickly grows in numbers and becomes a lifeline for the women who remain on the island.

That is, until a German soldier's arrival casts shadows of doubt and danger. Who can they really trust in their tight-knit community?

'A powerful, stirring, wind-swept tale set in Depression-era America that makes your heart break and soar in equal measure. An escape into the past with timely echoes to the present.' - Matt Haig, author of The Midnight Library 'Powerful and compelling' - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing 'A story of love, family, unbreakable bonds, bravery and hope. I loved this book so much!' - Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo She will discover the best of herself in the worst of times . . . Texas, 1934. Elsa Martinelli had finally found the life she'd yearned for. A family, a home and a livelihood on a farm on the Great Plains. But when drought threatens all she and her community hold dear, Elsa's world is shattered to the winds. Fearful of the future, when Elsa wakes to find her husband has fled, she is forced to make the most agonizing decision of her life. Fight for the land she loves or take her beloved children, Loreda and Ant, west to California in search of a better life. Will it be the land of milk and honey? Or will their experience challenge every ounce of strength they possess? From the overriding love of a mother for her child, the value of female friendship and the ability to love again - against all odds - Elsa's incredible journey is a story of survival, hope and what we do for the ones we love. The Four Winds, an instant New York Times number one bestseller and 2022 Richard and Judy Book Club Pick, is a deeply moving story about the strength and resilience of women and the bond between mother and daughter, by the multi-million-copy number one bestselling author of The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah. Praise for Kristin Hannah: 'A rich, compelling novel of love, sacrifice and survival' - Kate Morton 'A masterclass' - Karen Swan **** What readers LOVE about The Four Winds: 'Everyone should read this book. This is the new American classic' 'It will break your heart and bring you to tears. It will also be one of the best books you read all year!' 'This is historical fiction at its best: compelling, compassionate, enraging and courageous. I absolutely loved this book!' 'Gripping and captivating . . . heartbreaking and inspiring' 'We fall in love with a warrior who finds her power and strength, surrounded by love. Beautiful' 'BRAVO to the author, this is her best work yet'

Set in 1938, with preparations for war well underway, newlyweds Celia and Carston Prestwick begin their honeymoon on the night train to Scotland. Sabotage, a steam train race and two tangled love triangles are just some of the issues that tumble out of this intriguing romantic novel; a novel peppered with classic Howard G. Awbery twists and turns. Readers will be able to put 'The Music Box' down just once...at the very end!

This is a novel that opens in 1900 and is set in the cotton mills area around Rochdale, Lancashire. Lord James lives in a manor house with his family. He owns a mill and the workers' cottages. He is a good employer, ahead of his time. Life was grim in 1900 and life expectancy short. The author transports us back to glimpse life as it was over 100 years ago, through the sad and happy times. Her style is flowing and the book is entertaining and realistic. Read it and enjoy it. Recommended.

Having watched her dissolute father squander the family's fortune on his disreputable and extravagant lifestyle, young flame-haired beauty Aria Milborne despises the empty glamour of Society. So she is dismayed when she is forced take a job with an American millionaire in order to save the beloved family home, Queen's Folly, where her brother, Charles, works night and day to make ends meet. Appalled by Dart Huron's arrogance and the behaviour of his spoilt film star floozy Lulu Carlo, who is desperately trying to marry him, Aria finds herself at loggerheads with her new employer while being pursued relentlessly by his amorous aristocratic friend, Lord BAuckleigh. When Dart offers Aria a fortune to agree to a pretend engagement designed to free him from the grasping Lulu, she finds herself emblazoned across the Press throughout the land to her shame and humiliation. Her heart fills with hate for the dashing Dart Huron until the news that he has been shot almost stops her own heart and she understands that this is not hate at all - This is love.

Almost identical in their golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty and similarly named, cousins Antonia 'Toni' Combe and Latonia Hythe are nevertheless very different personalities. Desperate to avoid a journey to India forced on her by her stern uncle, Kenrick Combe, the new Lord Branscombe, and which would prevent her marrying the man she desperately loves, the flirtatious and capricious Toni beseeches her cousin to take her place as her Uncle Kenrick has not seen Toni for many years. So conscientious Latonia nervously accepts the pretence, assumes the role of her cousin and then sets sail with her stern protector for India. Berated and frowned upon by his Lordship for her cousin's 'misdeeds', Latonia nevertheless looks forward to the adventure of visiting and seeing India, until her deception is revealed to his Lordship's fury But, when she overhears a sinister plot to kill him, she rushes in the night to warn him and is rewarded with passionate kiss, she suddenly knows that it is not hate but love that burns in her heart - love for a man who must surely despise her forever -

Dashing Lord Victor Brooke has displeased his Godmother, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, with his latest indiscretion with one of her more attractive Ladies-in-Waiting and he is dismayed to find that his punishment means missing his beloved Social Season in London Her Majesty orders him instead to escort the eighteen-year-old Princess Sydella to Zararis, where she is to marry King Stephan, who has requested an English bride so that his small nation will receive the British Empire's protection against Russian incursions. Bored and embarrassed, Lord Victor passes off his chore as a 'secret mission', but little does he know that his lie is soon to come true. As soon as they embark on a British Battleship, he is astounded to find himself captivated by the Princess's beauty and her enchanting joie de vivre. And when he saves her from an assassin's bomb on their arrival at Zararis and then from certain death at sea, he wins her heart, as she has already won his. Yet no sooner than they find love, they know that all is lost - for Sydella is already committed to marry the King of Zararis -

After years of fighting with the Duke of Wellington against Napoleon, the Marquis of Melverley has neglected his family seat, preferring his dalliances with London's Beau Monde beauties. Now, betrayed by his latest mistress, he returns to Melverley Hall to lick his wounds, but nearing home he is halted by an accident and meets the beautiful young Christina Churston, heartbroken at the death of her old but very beloved pony. Soon, he is appalled to find that she is not only orphaned but also being pestered by a lecherous old womaniser, who lives nearby. So the Marquis promptly offers her his protection at Melverly Hall to be chaperoned by his old Governess, Miss Dickson. Just as Christina melts his heart and he sets about saving the local people from penury, she is kidnapped by the Marquis's evil cousin, Terence Verley, who is the Heir Presumptive to the title and the estate. Kidnapped, imprisoned and about to lose her life, or worse, Christina realises too late that she has lost her heart to the Marquis, whom she is sure that she will never see again -

Employed by the beautiful but mean Mrs. Schuster as a lady's companion on her trop to Morocco, Melina Lindsay is thrilled to at last visit the beautiful land of which her late father had talked with such fondness. But when, jealous of the attention Melina's beauty and youth attract, Mrs. Schuster peremptorily sacks her, she finds herself her alone and helpless in a strange country . Suddenly, a dashing stranger disguised as an Arab appears on her balcony seeking refuge. And, when Melina hides him from his murderous pursuers, it transpires that he is an English agent on a desperate mission to save a young boy who has been kidnapped by evil subversives and whom they will surely murder. Joining the handsome Bing Ward on his perilous mission, she puts her life in his hands and very soon he will also possess her heart - but only if they survive

After more than a decade of tumult, Roman warrior Rex and his aristocratic wife, Flavia, are thankful to the God they serve for the peaceful life they are living in the city of Alexandria. But with the Empire in flux, it cannot last. When Rex is called away to serve Constantine in his fight against Licinius, Flavia's loneliness and longing for a baby lead her down the road of temptation. Perhaps one of Egypt's gods will grant her conception? As battles rage both within and without, Rex and Flavia will have to rely on God's forgiveness and protection if they are to survive the trials to come. Their adventures sweep them into the great events of the ancient church, including the forging of the Nicene Creed, terrible murders within the imperial family, the quest for the true cross of Christ in Jerusalem, and the end of pagan Rome as a new Christian empire dawns. Bryan Litfin brings his epic Constantine's Empire series to a thrilling close with this dramatic tale of struggle and redemption.

Lady Georgina Lang returns to The Castle from her father's funeral to wonder what the future holds for her. Because her father had always longed for a son to succeed him, he had brought her up and educated her exactly as if she was a boy. She dressed as a boy and, although she had been christened Georgina, he liked calling her George. She was completely alone in the huge castle, which was now inherited by the new Earl of Langfield, a distant cousin who had been difficult to trace. Alister, however, had never, in his wildest dreams, expected to become the eleventh Earl of Langfield. He had left England in a fury because, having been pressed into marrying a very suitable young woman chosen by his family, he had run away to be free of her. When she died, he had sworn that he would never marry again as he disliked all women especially those who argued and were determined to have their own way. He finds his cousin Georgina at The Castle and she shows him the vast estate, the farms, the villages and The Castle itself, all of which now belongs to him. He also learns that, as he is the Head of the Family, traditionally they rely on him entirely for financial support. Georgina has already been warned by her aunt that on no account is she to wear men's clothes in front of Alister and always to be soft, sweet and gentle in his company. And she has to persuade him as a weak woman to realise his position as the Earl of Langfield. How a newspaper article describing The Castle and its valuable contents brings a tiresome neighbour to the Castle. How the Earl, because she is un-chaperoned makes Georgina go to the Dower House. How the article attracts some ferocious burglars to The Castle. How Georgina saves the Earl's life and unexpectedly finds love and happiness is all told is this unusual story by BARBARA CARTLAND.

Beautiful, young, impoverished Parson's daughter, Hermia Brooke, is happy with her simple country life, despite being shunned by her wealthy uncle the Earl of Millbrooke and her cousin, the spoilt and selfish Marilyn. In a chance encounter with a raffishly handsome gentleman, whom she decides resembles the Devil himself, she nevertheless helps him with a stone stuck in his horse's hoof. Rewarded with a golden guinea and a shocking kiss, Hermia finds her world turned topsy turvy when she meets the mysterious stranger once more at the behest of Marilyn, who is determined to trap this 'Devil' - namely the Marquis of Deverille - into marriage. Just as Hermia's innocent heart warms to the gentler side of this hard-bitten aristocrat and he falls under her guileless spell, the Marquis is embroiled in a murderous plot and Hermia must fight for his life, even as all hope of the love she dreams about for herself seems lost.

The beautiful Adella May is filled with joy as she sees Digby Dryden, the man she loves, walking towards her. But why does he turn away, refusing to look at her? Humiliated and hurt and her golden dream of love in ruins, what can Adella do now and where can she turn? Will she be forced to give up her hopes of seeing Digby again and obey her tyrannical Uncle Edgar and accept the proposal of the rich and suitable aristocrat, Lord Ranulph Fowles, a man she cannot love? Adella's dear school friend, Jane Hartley, holds an exquisite bouquet to her heart. The card attached to it bears the signature of the man she adores, but it is intended for another woman. Jane must endure the torment of knowing that she will never be loved by him, for she is just a humble Governess, while he, the most eligible bachelor in London, is from the highest echelons of Society. Trapped in a cruel web of deceit and obsession, the two girls fight to hold onto their dreams, but can they ever be happy in a world that does not recognise their right to love? Find out all in this enthralling and unusual romance by BARBARA CARTLAND.

Just eighteen, beautiful and intelligent, Yola Beauharnais lives a blessed Fairy tale life at her magnificent family castle on the Loire. Then her grandmother announces that she has been promised in marriage by her late beloved father to the Marquis de Montereau. Yola is appalled. She has heard of the Marquis, who, although handsome and sophisticated, has a reputation in Paris as a rake, socialite and 'ladykiller'. How could she possibly marry such a man, one who wants her only for her castle and the extensive estate? Determined to marry only for true love, wherever she may find it, Yola is helped by her father's mistress and travels 'undercover' to Paris in the guise of a woman of questionable morals to meet the notorious Marquis and find out for herself whether he might fall in love with her as herself and for herself only. Or whether she must betray her father's dying wish and refuse her unwanted suitor. On meeting the Marquis in her disguise, Yola finds that there is much more to him than his reputation suggests and, as love blossoms between them, she comes to bitterly regret her deception. Will she really find her true love or will she be condemned to live a life of disappointment and delusion as the Sleeping Beauty of her enchanted castle?

Arriving home from school, Bertilla is sad to find her home unprepared for her and her widowed mother is far from pleased to see her. Even worse, Lady Alvinston, a celebrated Society beauty, makes it clear that she has no intention of allowing her pretty eighteen-year-old daughter anywhere near the glittering London social scene she enjoys so much herself. As her mother continues her scheming to snare a wealthy husband before her looks fade, the last thing she needs is Bertilla making it obvious that she is old enough to have a grown up daughter. So when handsome Lord Saire, the prize amongst all of the eligible bachelors, happens upon Bertilla at a railway station, Lady Alvinston determines that their paths shall never cross again. Hastily packed up and sent to live with her mean-spirited Aunt Agatha, a Missionary in Sarawak, Bertilla is reconciled to the fact that she will never see England again. Feeling rejected, unloved and facing the deprivations of a Second Class ticket on her long sea voyage to Malaya, she is astounded to meet Lord Saire once more. Cut off from everything she knows and thrown into the elegant world of the steamship Saloon, Bertilla clutches at the kindness offered by Lord Saire, the man the Society matron's call, 'the Love Pirate'. Dashing, independent and a well-known heartbreaker, Lord Saire is cast in the unusual role of rescuer as they travel towards the beauty and mystery of the Far East. Acting as guardian and protector to Bertilla is very different to the passionate but brief relationships with Society beauties he normally enjoys and demonstrates the caring side of his nature. But is this a role he relishes or are his eyes really on the sophisticated married women he usually spends time with? As a man who has shunned love and marriage is he really the ideal protector for Bertilla as she dreams of freedom, romance and true love?

Will their faith prove to be stronger than their fear? Sensible and independent, Cassie Barton never anticipated being on her own at thirty-two. But after the death of her father and the marriage of her sister, she's found joy in her work as a seamstress. When a minor accident leaves her unable to sew, she decides to use her time to compile a book of stories about the men working on the Santa Fe Railroad. But worry begins to grow in San Marcial as Mexican revolutionaries set out to destroy the railroad--and put many lives in danger. With Europe at war and his longtime friend Cassie injured, railroad worker Brandon DuBarko is burdened by his troubles. He promised Cassie's father he would watch over her, but as their comfortable friendship slowly transforms into something deeper, he feels trapped by a secret from his youth. When a vengeful man reappears in Brandon's life, intent on causing conflict, Brandon must face his past before he can move forward. As the danger intensifies, Cassie and Brandon must rely on God to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of a brighter future. "The poignant rendering of transformation through faith will resonate with inspirational readers."--Publishers Weekly on Beyond the Desert Sands

Innocent young Candida is almost destitute after the death of her beloved father. Resolving to keep up the family's modest Elizabethan manor house in Hertfordshire and support Ned, the family's faithful servant, she sees no alternative but to sell her beloved pitch-black stallion, Pegasus. So, when the worldly Major Hooper offers to take her and her mount to Hyde Park where she will undoubtedly find a high price, she agrees, though with a heavy heart. Little does she suspect that Major Hooper trades in young women as well as horseflesh - and soon she finds herself and Pegasus 'sold' to the dashing but awe-inspiring Lord Manville. A terrible maze of misunderstanding ensues and just when Candida realises that she has lost her heart to his Lordship, the London Society that seemed so carefree turns cruel. Even as she flees astride Pegasus, she is heartbroken, knowing she may never again see the man she loves -