Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Anne Dore" in All Categories

It's a maiden's miracle! Annabelle Quennell, daughter of a poor country parson, gets a chance at a London season to snare a wealthy husband. But before she sets off, Mad Meg the gypsy predicts trouble ahead, and it is nothing but woe that Annabelle finds. Godmother Lady Emmeline sponsors Annabelle's spree - and demands she wed the oafish Captain MacDonald. But things get worse when Annabelle fears she is losing her heart to Lord Varleigh - elegant, well-pursed, but who is taken by another mistress.

Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson's Worlds is a rousing, all-original anthology that stands both as a significant achievement in its own right and as a heartfelt tribute to a remarkable writer - and equally remarkable man. A nicely balanced mixture of fiction and reminiscence, Multiverse contains more than a dozen stories and novellas by some of today's finest writers, along with moving reflections by, among others, Anderson's wife, Karen.

It's not that Janey Sinclair isn't pleased to see her sister. It's just that being woken at 7:00 a.m. by Maxine, complete with a police escort, isn't quite how she'd planned to spend her Sunday. Even so Janey, who's just rebuilding her life after her husband disappeared, is delighted that her sister's back in the Cornish town where they grew up. When Maxine sets her sights on Guy Cassidy, an impossibly glamorous fashion photographer, Janey knows there's no limit to the mischief her sister will get up to in order to dispatch her rivals.

She was an honored guest in a palatial country home. "Aunt Mabel," lovelorn columnist of Home Chats magazine, had been summoned to prevent the Duchess of Dartware's son, Paul, from a marriage worse than death. Who would have guessed that behind Aunt Mabel's acid pen and ageless wisdom lurked eighteen-year-old Sally Blane - determined to make the handsome marquess her own! But how could she compete, wearing false wrinkles and a white wig?

Escorting the nine-day queen, Lady Jane Grey, across the Tower of London from throne room into imprisonment is Elizabeth Tilney, who surprised even herself by volunteering for the job. All Elizabeth knows is that it won't be for long: Everyone knows that Jane will go free as soon as the victorious new queen is crowned. Which is a good thing, because the two 16-year-old girls, cooped up together in a room in the Gentleman Gaoler's house, couldn't be less compatible.

The Soldier’s Wife examines how three generations of a family struggle with the impact of war on their relationships, long after the tour of duty is over. Dan Riley is a major in the British Army. After a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, he is coming home to the wife and young daughters he adores. The outside world sees these reunions as a taste of heaven after months of hell. But are they? Can a man trained to fight adjust again to family and domestic life? And how will the family cope if he can’t?

Lord Percy Hunterdon despaired: He had inherited a Gothic horror of an estate along with a pair of 15-year-old brats to marry off. It was no secret to him that finding husbands for these two vile young ladies would require the utmost expertise: the care of a governess of superior caliber.

She had dared turn a cold shoulder to London's prize catch. She was a precocious American upstart who thought beauty, brains, and bravery were enough to conquer London society. Well, he'd show her! Nobody spurned Lord David Manley, the most eligible bachelor in town - not publicly, not privately. He was determined that she'd soon be trembling in his arms, desperately in love with the man she had dared mock. David Manley always got his way, and Miss Molly Maguire presented a challenge he couldn't resist.

Maggie Macleod was weary of life with a soul sickness that ate into every fiber of her being. In a mad way, it did not seem strange to her that she should be on her way to the high court to stand trial for the murder of her husband. Her marriage seemed to have been one long, dreary desert lit by flares of cruelty. But Maggie is innocent in the matter of her beastly husband's death, and she resolves to answer the question that plagues her: Who did murder the man?

Poor Ginny Bloggs! She had inherited a fortune, a magnificent country estate, and her benefactor's disgruntled relatives, a quartet of querulous schemers horrified to find themselves at the mercy of a low, common girl, a total stranger - the coal merchant's daughter!

While gridlocked in the churchyard of a small Irish town, the traffic frozen in place for the funeral of a young mother and her infant, an unbidden thought comes to Frances Moon. "I lost a baby when I was 19." She is surprised by how easily the long-suppressed memory slips into her consciousness, and by her own voice as she speaks the thought aloud to Ian, her partner of 20 years. The next morning, Ian is gone. Numbed by abandonment, Frances sets out for the small town in Canada where she grew up - and where she began to make many poor choices.

After a tragic accident leaves Tamara alone on the most westerly tip of Ireland, she begins an affair with a charismatic meteorologist named Niall. At first her romance is filled with passionate secrecy, but when Niall's younger brother, Kieran, disappears after a bicycle race, Niall, unable to shake the idea that he may be to blame, slowly falls into despondency. Distraught and abandoned after their decade-long relationship, Tamara decides she has no option but to leave. Tamara makes her way from Ireland to New York.

The discovery of Gemma Whiting's bludgeoned body within spitting distance of her family home, opens a new case for DI Sally Parker, one that quickly embroils her in Gemma's feud with male family members. The more Sally digs, the longer her suspect list grows. Frustrated after months of investigation, yet another young woman is attacked close to where Gemma's body was found. Sally begins to wonder if she's been looking in the wrong direction for the killer.

He stated quite bluntly - and much to Isabella's relief - that theirs would be a marriage in name only. But neither Harry nor Isabella was aware of the other's disguise - contrived in vain to thwart the impending nuptials. Isabella was not the selfish ice princess she seemed, nor was Harry a mincing dandy but rather a merry profligate. A search for buried treasure and a thwarted suitor out for revenge add adventure to the marital mayhem, as two hearts discover that love lies no further than the nearest kiss.

Ireland, 1950s. After a tragic accident leaves Tamara alone on the most westerly tip of Ireland, she begins an affair. At first her romance is filled with passionate secrecy, but when her lover Niall's younger brother, Kieran, disappears after a bicycle race, he slowly falls into despondency. Distraught, Tamara decides she has no option but to leave, making her way from Ireland to New York. Slowly she interweaves her life story with Kieran's as she searches for the truth about Niall.

From the top of his flawlessly groomed head to the waxed tips of his fashionable shoes, Lord Andrew Childe was every inch the perfect gentleman. But Andrew's arrogant composure was almost always shattered by the impertinent Penelope Mortimer, an achingly lovely country beauty who had a clear knack for ruffling his lordship's feathers. Her nose for trouble seemed to land Lord Andrew in the most awkward situations - and love itself quickly became the most delicate of them all!

She was a lady's maid who longed to be a lady. How else could Lucy Balfour hope to win the favor of Andrew, Viscount Harvey, the toast of the town, who seemed ready to take a bride at last? There was only one way to do it, and that was to command his attention. It seemed an impossible dream; first she had to become the peer of her own mistress, the coldly beautiful Lady Angela, who was determined to claim Andrew as her own.

It's a maiden's miracle! Annabelle Quennell, daughter of a poor country parson, gets a chance at a London season to snare a wealthy husband. But before she sets off, Mad Meg the gypsy predicts trouble ahead, and it is nothing but woe that Annabelle finds. Godmother Lady Emmeline sponsors Annabelle's spree - and demands she wed the oafish Captain MacDonald.

The Misses Penelope Yarwood, Euphemia Perkins, and Letitia Helmsdale all smugly informed Fiona that the Marquess of Cleveden was at once the most eligible and the most elusive catch in the London marriage mart. Society's most dazzling beauties had failed to win him over yet, and a newcomer like Fiona didn't stand a ghost of a chance of having him look at her twice.

With little to live on but her romantic daydreams - which frequently starred the dashing Marquess of Fleetwater - Jean Lindsay lived a rather dismal life with her nasty, drunken uncle. Jean was always the object of ridicule, that is, until news of her unexpected inheritance spread. Suddenly, her worn dresses became "quaint" and her forthright manner turned magically to "charming", but to Jean's horror, someone wanted her dead!