Nellie and Charlie
Nellie and Charlie

Author: Helen Tower Brunet

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2005-02-22

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0595791514

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When Nellie Smith from Oakland, California met Charlie Tower, a young millionaire from Philadelphia on a cruise to Alaska in l887, it was love at first sight. They soon married and moved to Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square. In 1897, President McKinley appointed Charlie, now called Charlemagne, Minister to Austria-Hungary. The Towers moved with their five small children to a palace in Vienna where Mark Twain became a regular visitor. Charlemagne was named Ambassador to Russia in 1899. He and Nellie witnessed the sumptuous grandeur of the Court of Tsar Nicholas II in St. Petersburg. Upon the Towers' departure from Russia in 1902, they were accorded the singular honor of visiting the royal family at their vacation home in the Crimea. During Charlemagne's six years as American Ambassador to Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II considered him a friend and thought Nellie the most brilliant hostess on the international scene. Returning home to Philadelphia, family scandal and personal tragedy awaited as Nellie and Charlemagne saw the Europe they had known destroyed by war. Through diaries, letters and contemporary accounts, Nellie and Charlie gives a personal history of an American family living on two continents at the turn of the century.

I Am Melba
I Am Melba

Author: Ann Blainey

Publisher: Black Inc.

Published: 2009-01-31

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 192182543X

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The story of an Australian girl who defied convention and became the most famous singer of her era. Growing up in Melbourne, Nellie Mitchell dreamed of fame, but her devout father disapproved. When a chance arose to go to Paris, she trusted in her musical talent and hoped for a lucky break. Within a few years, reborn as Nellie Melba, she was performing to overflowing concert halls, hobnobbing with European royalty and collaborating with some of the most renowned composers of the age. Audiences swooned over the 'heavenly pleasures' of her voice, while the public showed an insatiable appetite for news of her sometimes passionate private life. Dame Nellie Melba was Australia's first international superstar. In this important biography, enhanced by new research, Ann Blainey captures the exuberance, controversy and pathos of Melba's remarkable career. Winner of the 2009 National Biography Award. Shortlisted, 2008 Age Book of the Year Awards. ‘Blainey ... writes with clarity and panache. This is an entertaining biography. Everyone should read it and be reminded of what a remarkable singer we once had in our midst.’ —Sydney Morning Herald ‘There have been five biographies of Melba, together with her own rather fanciful memoirs; but the present one by Ann Blainey is superior to them all.’ —The Age ‘Thoroughly researched, excellently written and beguilingly human biography of Nellie Melba’ —Australian Book Review ‘Blainey brings a freshness to the story, giving us the feeling that we are reading about a life in progress.’ —Good Reading ‘Welcome and timely, shedding new light on the diva’ —Courier Mail ‘This is a gripping story of triumph and sorrow.’ —Sun-Herald ‘Meticulously researched biography’ —The Australian Ann Blainey is the author of I Am Melba. She has written five biographies, and her most recent biography of Dame Nellie Melba reflects her fascination with singing and opera. She has served on the council of two Australian opera companies and of the Percy Grainger Museum in Melbourne, where she lives.

The White Dress
The White Dress

Author: Denise Buckley

Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency

Published: 2015-01-18

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1631358189

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In 1886, Clara, a young peasant girl and prostitute, steals a baby from a rich family in the hope that Henry, the man she lives with will believe the baby his and marry her. He doesn’t believe her and leaves. Stuck with the stolen child Nellie, Clara has two more children with unknown fathers and spends all her money on drink. One day while Nellie is out looking for food, the police arrest her “mother” because of her neglect of the children, and her “siblings” are taken to the workhouse. Nellie runs away from her hometown and settles in Ulverston, Cumbria, making a makeshift bed near the canal and boat yards. She eats what she can forage and steals when she must. Nellie meets a rich boy named Charles Nicholson, who left home to become a sailor. Nellie persuades Charles to return home and they become friends. Nellie becomes employed by a farmer who tries to assault her. The man injures himself on the pitchfork she uses to defend herself and Nellie runs away. The farmer finds her, beats her badly, and leaves her for dead. Charles and his father find Nellie and get her medical attention. Nellie becomes a kitchen maid in the Warburton household, only to discover that she is the lost baby kidnapped from the Nicholson family so many years before. Could it be that Charles, the man she has come to love, is really her brother?

Aspirations of a Lady's Maid
Aspirations of a Lady's Maid

Author: Eva Shepherd

Publisher: Harlequin

Published: 2020-08-01

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 148806587X

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Separated by class Brought together by passionHaving finally fulfilled her dream of opening a hairdressing parlor, Nellie Regan has no interest in love ruining her plans. After Nellie is caught mocking landowner Dominic Lockhart’s lifeless engagement to Lady Cecily, she’s not expecting him to defend her in a tavern brawl. Now the frustratingly handsome gentleman must recuperate in her home! Close quarters stir simmering attraction…but Nellie’s determined to follow her head, not her heart. Is Dominic willing to do the same? "A very good history, witty and romantic. If this is her first book, I'm waiting for the next one." —Goodreads on Beguiling the Duke