Even to a girl from the slums of Bristol, the streets of Glasgow were inhospitable and grey; the wealth and splendour of its mansions cold and heartless. But for Hester Dark, there could be no turning back - she would make this cruel city the home of her dreams. Everyone said that Hester was lucky. Lucky to have a wealthy uncle in Scotland who was willing to take her in. Lucky to have all the advantages that his money could buy. But Hester's new, bright world held dark secrets, jealousies and fears. And no one had spoken of the women who would despise her for her beauty and her independence - and the men who would buy her soul and call it love. Praise for Emma Blair: 'An engaging novel and the characters are endearing - a good holiday read' Historical Novels Review 'All the tragedy and passion you could hope for . . . Brilliant' The Bookseller 'Romantic fiction pure and simple and the best sort - direct, warm and hugely readable. Women's fiction at an excellent level' Publishing News 'Emma Blair explores the complex and difficult nature of human emotions in this passionately written novel' Edinburgh Evening News 'Entertaining romantic fiction' Historical Novels Review '[Emma Blair] is well worth recommending' The Bookseller
Two women. A history of witchcraft. And a deep-rooted female power that sings across the centuries. Once there was a young woman from a well-to-do New England family who never quite fit with the drawing rooms and parlors of her kin. Called instead to the tangled woods and wild cliffs surrounding her family’s estate, Margaret Harlowe grew both stranger and more beautiful as she cultivated her uncanny power. Soon, whispers of “witch” dogged her footsteps, and Margaret’s power began to wind itself with the tendrils of something darker. One hundred and fifty years later, Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, the historic home of a wealthy New England family that has been turned into a small museum in Tynemouth, Massachusetts. When Augusta stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been expunged from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore. But as she digs deeper, something sinister unfurls from its sleep, a dark power that binds one woman to the other across lines of blood and time. If Augusta can’t resist its allure, everything she knows and loves—including her very life—could be lost forever. Don't miss Hester Fox's next novel, THE BOOK OF THORNS, where two sisters who never knew the other existed meet on opposite sides during the Napoleonic Wars and must use the magic of flowers to solve the mystery of their mother’s death—while surviving the war raging around them... Look for these other gothic mysteries from Hester Fox: The Last Heir to Blackwood Library The Witch of Willow Hall The Widow of Pale Harbor The Orphan of Cemetery Hill
Hester lives as a companion to the marquise at Barroughby Hall. Compared to her beautiful sisters who lead flamboyant lives, Hester is plain, has no plans to get married and has been living like she’s retired. One day, Adrian, the stepson of the marquise, known as the scandalous “Dark Duke,” and his stepbrother, Elliot, return. There is no chance that a plain woman like her would ever be noticed by either of them—that’s how Hester feels when a miracle occurs. Both beautiful men are passionately after her.
In colonial America, a Native American orphan raised among the Amish explores her identity, torn between two cultures and unsure of where she belongs. When she's forced to leave everything behind and forge her own path, where—and with whom—will Hester choose to make her new home? Hester on the Run, Book 1: One April morning, an Amish couple finds a Native American infant, wrapped in deerskin and placed next to the spring where they gather water. Kate and Hans adopt the child and name her Hester, despite the criticism of certain community members. Hester glows as she grows, an unmistakable beauty both inside and out, but begins to realize she doesn't quite fit in. An encounter with a Lenape medicine woman gives her a glimpse of her undiscovered heritage. When her own father becomes a threat, Hester is forced to flee from the Amish community, the only home she has ever really known. Which Way Home?, Book 2: Twice rescued—first by matronly Native women who find her unconscious in the woods and then by a boy in downtown Lancaster where she'd been left for dead by the dreaded Paxton boys—Hester finds herself wondering if she will ever find a safe haven. When an Amish man from her past reappears, it seems like destiny, but William King is more in love with the way she looks than with her heart and mind. When a Native American man makes a proposal to Hester, she is perplexed more than ever. Where will her heart lead her? Hester Takes Charge, Book 3: Now widowed and living in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Hester is startled by the unexpected appearance of Noah, the firstborn son of her adoptive parents. Their father's misplaced love for Hester and utter neglect of Noah drove each of them away from their Amish family. When Noah suggests they return to their childhood home to see their ill father, Hester can no longer ignore her buried anger and bitterness. Can they possibly forgive Hans? Can Hester trust herself—and Noah—enough to marry again? Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
From the author of the acclaimed debut THE LEGACY comes a compelling tale of love, deception and illusion. England, 1911. When a free-spirited young woman arrives in a sleepy Berkshire village to work as a maid in the household of The Reverend and Mrs Canning, she sets in motion a chain of events which changes all their lives. For Cat has a past - a past her new mistress is willing to overlook, but will never understand . . . Then her husband invites a young man into their home, he brings with him a dangerous obsession . . . During the long, oppressive summer, the rectory becomes charged with ambition, love and jealousy - with the most devastating consequences. Your favourite authors love Katherine Webb's sweeping historical dramas: 'An enormously talented writer' Santa Montefiore 'Webb have a true gift for uncovering the mysteries of the human heart and exploring the truth of love' Kate Williams 'Katherine Webb's writing is beautiful' Elizabeth Fremantle 'A truly gifted writer of historical fiction' Lucinda Riley 'Katherine's writing is rich, vivid and evocative' Iona Grey
In this prequel to The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne travels unaccompanied from England to Puritan Boston. She is sixteen and has been forced into marriage with a much older man. He has sent her ahead while he finishes business in Europe. Having few expectations of what her new life will bring, Hester quickly finds herself at odds with the harsh Puritan society and longs for someone who shares her intellectual curiosity and love of reading. She struggles to find meaning in the chores and simp
"Recommended" by Choice Enterprising Youth examines the agenda behind the shaping of nineteenth-century children’s perceptions and world views and the transmission of civic duties and social values to children by adults. The essays in this book reveal the contradictions involved in the perceptions of children as active or passive, as representatives of a new order, or as receptacles of the transmitted values of their parents. The question, then, is whether the business of telling children's stories becomes an adult enterprise of conservative indoctrination, or whether children are enterprising enough to read what many of the contributors to this volume see as the subversive potential of these texts. This collection of literary and historical criticism of nineteenth-century American children’s literature draws upon recent assessments of canon formations, gender studies, and cultural studies to show how concepts of public/private, male/female, and domestic/foreign are collapsed to reveal a picture of American childhood and life that is expansive and constrictive at the same time.
Describing the Irish as 'female' and 'bestial' is a practice dating back to the twelfth century, while for women, inside and outside of Ireland, their association with children, animals and other 'savages' has had a long history. A link among systems of oppression has been asserted in recent decades by some feminists, but linking women's rights with animal advocacy can be controversial. This strategy responds to the fact that women's inferiority has been alleged and justified by appropriating them to nature, an appropriation that colonialism has also practiced on its racial and cultural others. Nineteenth-century feminists braved such associations, for instance, often asserting vegetarianism as a form of rebellion against the dominant culture. Vegetarianism and animal advocacy have uniquely Irish implications. This study examines a tradition of Irish women writers deploying the 'natural' as a gesture of resistance to paternalist regulation of female energies and as a self-consciously elaborated stage for the performance of Irish identity. They call into question the violent dislocations and disavowals required by figurative practices, particularly when utilizing Irish topography, an already 'unnatural' cultural construct shaped by conflict and suffering.
