After her mother’s passing, Marisa moves to London and starts working as a janitor in an upscale apartment block. One day, in the elevator, she meets Greek multimillionaire Athan Teodarkis, who lives in the penthouse. The very next day he offers her a bouquet of flowers and invites Marisa to a play she’s been dying to see. Does he think she’s one of the wealthy inhabitants of the building? Marisa goes on dreamlike dates with Athan and falls in love with him even though she knows they come from different worlds?she even accepts an invitation to his Caribbean beach house. But Marisa has no idea about Athan’s despicable plans.
Athan Teodarkis knows her type well: women for whom designer dresses and priceless jewelry are paid for only in kind. But he's never been distracted by one—until now. Suspecting his sister's husband of having an affair with the dangerously beautiful Marisa Milburne, Athan determines to put a stop to it. Confident the Teodarkis millions will easily divert this gold digger's attentions, Athan has a simple plan—seduce, then discard. But contrary to what the merciless Athan believes, shy Marisa is no home wrecker, and with her innocence she is powerless to resist his vengeful seduction.…
Jane Ryland was a rising star in television news . . . until she refused to reveal a source and lost everything. Now a disgraced newspaper reporter, she finds herself tracking down a candidate's secret mistress just days before a pivotal Senate election.
The compelling true account of one womans experience as the other woman in an extra-marital affair: As a little girl, Rebecca dreamed of what she would become when she grew up. She didn't dream of becoming an adulteress, but thats precisely what happened in her early twenties. Words from the Other Woman is Rebeccas honest and cautionary testimony of how she fell from grace and then was saved by it.
A heartrending, gripping novel about two sisters in Belle Époque Paris and the young woman forever immortalized as muse for Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. 1878 Paris. Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir. Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.
THE REESE WITHERSPOON X HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "One of the most twisted and entertaining plots."—Reese Witherspoon "Whiplash-inducing."—New York Times Book Review "Such fun you'll cheer [Emily's] chutzpah."—PEOPLE "This thriller will hit close to home."—Refinery29 The most twisty, addictive and gripping debut thriller you'll read this year. HE LOVES YOU: Adam adores Emily. Emily thinks Adam’s perfect, the man she thought she’d never meet. BUT SHE LOVES YOU NOT: Lurking in the shadows is a rival, a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves. AND SHE'LL STOP AT NOTHING: Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever. The Other Woman will have you questioning her on every page, in Sandie Jones' chilling psychological suspense about a man, his new girlfriend, and the mother who will not let him go.
Growing up in her sleepy Cornish village dreaming of being a writer, sixteen-year-old Lou has always wondered about the grand Cardew house which has stood empty for years. And when the owners arrive for the summer - a handsome, dashing brother and sister - Lou is quite swept off her feet and into a world of moonlit cocktail parties and glamour beyond her wildest dreams. But, as she grows closer to the Cardews, is she abandoning her own ambitions... and is there something darker lurking at the heart of the Cardew family? A gorgeously dreamy coming-of-age romance set against a stunning Gatsby-esque backdrop, this is perfect for fans of 'I Capture the Castle' and Eva Ibbotson.
‘This is my tale and I will leave you to tell whether it be high romance or tragedy.’ Sixteen-year-old Frances Stuart arrives at the Restoration court to find her innocence and beauty are highly-prized commodities, envied by the women and desired by the men. Before long, King Charles II falls passionately in love with her and will stop at nothing to make her his mistress. But Frances is no conventional court beauty. She is determined to make her own choices in life, and to be with the man she loves. Can she overcome the dangerous pitfalls of the King’s obsession, the Queen’s jealousy, and the traps set for her by the King’s notorious mistresses, and make the life she wants for herself? Set against the drama of the Great Plague and the Fire of London, The Painted Lady brings to life the vibrant and decadent court of Charles II and in Frances Stuart discovers a passionate young woman prepared to fight for her own destiny. Praise for Maeve Haran’s The Lady and the Poet ‘This is history as pure entertainment, an inventive and delicious feast of passion, wit and intrigue.’ The Times ‘With its fascinating insight into Tudor life, this will absorb you to the end’ She ‘The clothes, the jewels, the smell of the place are all evoked; and everyone from the Queen herself to the elusive, sexy figure of Donne come wonderfully to life’ A. N. Wilson, Readers’ Digest
NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE “A must-read about modern Britain and womanhood . . . An impressive, fierce novel about the lives of black British families, their struggles, pains, laughter, longings and loves . . . Her style is passionate, razor-sharp, brimming with energy and humor. There is never a single moment of dullness in this book and the pace does not allow you to turn away from its momentum.” —Booker Prize Judges Bernardine Evaristo is the winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and the first black woman to receive this highest literary honor in the English language. Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean. The twelve central characters of this multi-voiced novel lead vastly different lives: Amma is a newly acclaimed playwright whose work often explores her Black lesbian identity; her old friend Shirley is a teacher, jaded after decades of work in London’s funding-deprived schools; Carole, one of Shirley’s former students, is a successful investment banker; Carole’s mother Bummi works as a cleaner and worries about her daughter’s lack of rootedness despite her obvious achievements. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a 93-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class. Sparklingly witty and filled with emotion, centering voices we often see othered, and written in an innovative fast-moving form that borrows technique from poetry, Girl, Woman, Other is a polyphonic and richly textured social novel that shows a side of Britain we rarely see, one that reminds us of all that connects us to our neighbors, even in times when we are encouraged to be split apart.
Modena, Italy, 1582. Seventeen-year-old seamstress Sofia Genotti is on the run, falsely accused of theft. Penniless and desperate to avoid the perils of whoredom, she is introduced to a troupe of travelling actors, who ask her to join them as costume mistress. Within weeks she is learning to act. Acting will bring her closer to Beppe Bianchi, who plays the anarchic character Arlecchino. As the two become increasingly intimate, Sofia is sure that she has never been happier. But after a fêted performance at an aristocrat's castle, she is accosted by the owner . . . and the following morning he is found dead. Sofia is accused of murder. A tale of blackmail and and sexual jealousy will reveal the true killer and the redemptive power of theatre will triumph. If you like Philippa Gregory you will love The Girl with the Painted Face.
