Showing results by narrator "Mary Sarah" in All Categories

Viscount William Chattsworth's circumstances have been reduced after his father, the earl, mysteriously disappears. Thinking to make the most of the distant familial connection, he seeks an audience with the duke. Distracted by the raised voices coming out of the duke's upstairs study, Lady Calliope Harrington pauses at the top of the stairs to listen. The viscount storms out of the study and barrels into Lady Calliope, catching her before she falls. The duke rushes out of his study and sees Lady Calliope in the viscount's arms, and demands his cousin marry Calliope to save her reputation.

In 16th-century England, two teenage best friends find themselves on an exciting journey from the country to the Queen's court in the hope of being named ladies-in-waiting. But Sybille and Rose soon discover they aren't the only girls who have their sights set on attending Her Majesty. The girls must compete against worldly and cunning opponents, among them mean-girl Avis and her entourage of back-stabbing co-horts, tipping the balance in their already-tenuous friendship.

Left with only a muddle-headed butler, a bossy cook/housekeeper, and a couple of energetic maids, Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton has enough problems on her hands. Not only is she struggling to upkeep the sprawling Manor House and vast acres she inherited, she must also take care of her numerous tenants, while coping with the inconveniences and sacrifices of wartime England.

Twelve raven princes. A mermaid who longs to be human. A mysterious sleeping princess. And a fairy godmother who fights dragons.... Once upon a time, before the Brothers Grimm, when fairy tales were romantic fantasies for entertaining adults and frightening children.... Four twisted tales inspired by the classic fairy tales...for adults who still love listening to fairy tales, though they're a little darker now, making that happily-ever-after so much sweeter.

Witty and refreshingly candid, lovely Serena has been capturing hearts young and old alike. Her guardian uncle worries, though, that at 23 she will soon become a spinster. He wants a better life for her than that, but she doesn't want to make a match without her heart being in it. And none of the men courting her have touched her heart.

The year 1898: Edward turned 29 years old on the ship. Looking out over the gray water back toward America, his heart ached for both the country he had adopted and loved and for the woman he had lost there. He was returning to England without having "made good". Without any fortune. When Edward meets Gertrude and is captivated by her youth and beauty, his hope for the future is transformed. But this is an era when the rich and poor of England each have their own firmly defined limits. More than any social boundary is a far greater problem - he's already married.

Once upon a time, before the Brothers Grimm, when fairy tales were romantic fantasies for entertaining adults and frightening children... Three twisted tales for adults who still love listening to fairy tales, though they're a little darker now, making that happily ever after so much sweeter.

An assassin who sees the future. A maiden on a crusade. And an enchanted horse that topples cities…. Once upon a time, before the Brothers Grimm, when fairytales were romantic fantasies for entertaining adults and frightening children….

Immersed in her herbal laboratory, Lady Felicity secretly yearns for a dashing, romantic love straight from a gothic novel. When her brother's house guest, Lord Andover, presses her hands to his chest, and proposes, she is too stunned to take in his words of undying love. Desperate to save his mother, give her a will to live, Lord Andover sets three goals: marry a sweet young lady, produce an heir, and free them of apothecaries and quacks. In return he offers all he that he is, all that he owns, except his beleaguered heart.

Spirited Chelsea decided she'd sooner run away to London than return to her vain and selfish guardian Aunt Augusta. But in her wildest dreams, she never imagined her dear godmother would arrange a Season - or convince the town's most eligible bachelor to take her under his wing.

Exerilla is a white witch. Her father is a dark and dangerous warlock with an agenda to marry her to someone she despises. He has the power to do this before she reaches her majority, which will occur at Samhain, Halloween. Her mother has a plan and against her daughter's will, implements that plan, which sends Exerilla into the past, where she must remain until October 31st - months away. And magic is something she can't use because her father could trace it to her.

Miss Daphne Farrington despises three things: England's dreary weather, the grimy streets of London, and most especially the English aristocracy. Despite her misgivings, she must persuade the very English Duke of Waverly to save her family shipping business. If only she could ignore the way he makes her pulse race whenever she's near him.

Set in Victorian England, The Last Season is a story of social upheaval, changing fortunes, and an unlikely romance that develops between a well-to-do heiress and a stable boy. When they meet as adolescents at Drayton Manor, the well-to-do Cassandra Drayton and the manor's stable boy, Crispin St. John, seem destined for very different futures. Yet, the two strike up a secret and forbidden friendship. Once discovered, they are forced apart, with Cassandra staying locked in her father's world and Crispin traveling to India to make his own way.

An assassin princess. A witch who vows vengeance. And three curses that must be broken…. Once upon a time, before the Brothers Grimm, when fairytales were romantic fantasies for entertaining adults and frightening children….

In this lively biography of a dashing, brash 25-year-old Winston Churchill, Celia Sandys chronicles her celebrated grandfather's adventures as a correspondent and combatant during nine months of the Anglo-Boer War - events that took him from the bivouacs and battle sites of Transvaal to his incarceration as a prisoner of war in Pretoria and, ultimately, to a bold escape across the border into Mozambique.

London in the time of Queen Elizabeth I is a bustling place, its streets crowded with vendors selling goods from all over the world. In the courtyard of St. Paul's Cathedral, Alice Wood competes with other booksellers, hawking pamphlets, plays, and the latest poetry from the continent. It is a lonely life for a hardworking young widow, and she will soon put it aside. When a black-clad stranger visits, speaking in riddles and asking questions about her long-vanished son, Alice will be drawn into an adventure straight out of one of her faerie stories.

Once upon a time, before the Brothers Grimm, when fairy tales were romantic fantasies for entertaining adults and frightening children… Three twisted tales inspired by the classic fairy tales…for adults who still love fairy tales, though they're a little darker now, making that happily ever after so much sweeter.

Inspired by conversations with many veterans following the publication of her grandfather's wartime memoir, Victoria Panton-Bacon has gathered a moving collection of stories. These are stories of bravery, sadness, horror, doubt, and longing, from ordinary people who lived under the long shadows cast by World War II and whose young lives were changed irrevocably. These were the young of a different age when work for most began at 14, and the world conspired to thrust them into the jaws of conflict.

A chance encounter on a train leads painter Christine Ward to wonder whether Orin Pierce, her beloved college friend, believed dead for two decades, may actually be alive. As she begins to track down the man she believes he might be, she finds herself in the grip of a troubling past she thought she had come to terms with. In her search through the tangles of truth and illusion, memory and dream, she questions her roles as lover, mother, artist, and mourner of the dead.

Here are classic Christmas stories as told by some of Canada's most beloved voices. Gordon Pinsent, Sarah Harmer, George Stroumboulopoulos and Mary Margaret O'Hara bring these holiday favourites to life and the spirit of the season into all of our hearts.