Happily ever after is a thing of the past. A series of natural disasters has decimated the earth. Cut off from the rest of the world, England is a dark place. The sun rarely shines, food is scarce, and groups of criminals roam the woods, searching for prey. The people are growing restless. When a ruthless revolutionary sets out to overthrow the crown, he makes the royal family his first target. Blood is shed in Buckingham Palace, and only sixteen-year old Princess Eliza manages to escape. Determined to kill the man who destroyed her family, Eliza joins the enemy forces in disguise. She has nothing left to live for but revenge, until she meets someone who helps her remember how to hope-and love-once more. Now she must risk everything to ensure that she does not become . . . The Last Princess.
Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore, later Princess Henry of Battenberg, was the last-born – in 1866 – of Victoria and Albert's children, and she would outlive all of her siblings to die as recently as 1944. Her childhood coincided with her mother's extended period of mourning for her prematurely deceased husband, a circumstance which may have contributed to Victoria's determination to keep her youngest daughter as close to her as possible. She would eventually marry Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885, but only after overcoming her mother's opposition to their union. Beatrice remained Queen Victoria's favourite among her five daughters, and became her mother's constant companion and later her literary executor, spending the years that followed Victoria's death in 1901 editing her mother's journals and voluminous correspondence. Matthew Dennison's elegantly written biography restores Beatrice to her rightful place as a key figure in the history of the Victorian age, and paints a touching and revealing portrait of the life and family of Britain's second-longest-reigning monarch.
The New York Times–bestselling novel of a forbidden 1920s romance between a rebellious society woman and a Jewish writer from the author of No Time for Tears. In this evocative around-the-world tale of star-crossed love, Cynthia Freeman—the beloved author celebrated for her deft storytelling and understanding of family dynamics—takes readers on a whirlwind romance from Manhattan to Hollywood to the Israeli desert. Beautiful and well-bred, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Lily Goodhue is a woman who, on the surface, has everything. Her impending marriage to the handsome scion of a distinguished New York family was to be the wedding of the decade. People called it a match made in heaven. Yet beneath the dazzling façade, she is haunted by a devastating childhood tragedy and a deep yearning for true love, for someone who will want her simply for who she is. It all appears to Lily one day, like the sun emerging from behind the clouds, when she meets Harry Kohle, an aspiring young writer and the son of a banker. Enthralled and blinded by love, Lily breaks off her engagement, runs off with Harry, and never looks back, dedicating herself to a love against all odds. Their act of passion will leave them both disinherited, facing the challenge of living a marriage day by day, through thick and thin, as the glittering Prohibition era gives way to the crushing years of the Great Depression and beyond. It is a love that will prove to be Lily’s greatest trial—and triumph. With the same “heartfelt, almost inspirational prose” that made No Time for Tears an unforgettable read, The Last Princess is a ravishing, complex love story and a moving testament to the human spirit’s ability to overcome life’s sorrows (The New York Times Book Review).
Twice a princess, twice exiled, Neslishah Sultan had an eventful life. When she was born in Istanbul in 1921, cannons were fired in the four corners of the Ottoman Empire, commemorative coins were issued in her name, and her birth was recorded in the official register of the palace. After all, she was an imperial princess and the granddaughter of Sultan Vahiddedin. But she was the last member of the imperial family to be accorded such honors: in 1922 Vahiddedin was deposed and exiled, replaced as caliph-but not as sultan-by his brother (and Neslishah's other grandfather) Abdülmecid; in 1924 Abdülmecid was also removed from office, and the entire imperial family, including three-year-old Neslishah, were sent into exile. Sixteen years later on her marriage to Prince Abdel Moneim, the son of the last khedive of Egypt, she became a princess of the Egyptian royal family. And when in 1952 her husband was appointed regent for Egypt's infant king, she took her place at the peak of Egyptian society as the country's first lady, until the abolition of the monarchy the following year. Exile followed once more, this time from Egypt, after the royal couple faced charges of treason. Eventually Neslishah was allowed to return to the city of her birth, where she died at the age of 91 in 2012. Based on original documents and extensive personal interviews, this account of one woman's extraordinary life is also the story of the end of two powerful dynasties thirty years apart.
This “ambitious” New York Times bestseller tells the multigenerational saga of a Russian-Jewish family who emigrates to America and eventually Israel (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Chavala Rabinsky is sixteen when her mother dies and she becomes the caretaker of her five siblings. Beautiful and wise beyond her years, Chavala catches the eye of Dovid Landau, a poor cobbler whose dreams transform her life when he marries her. But Odessa, Russia, is a dangerous place in 1905. The Landaus flee the pogroms of their homeland for Ottoman-ruled Palestine—until escalating violence forces the family to become wanderers again. Rich in passion and scope, No Time for Tears sounds a call of love and liberation that will ring out for generations to come.
DIVDIVNew York Times bestselling author Cynthia Freeman’s powerful tale of a woman in search of her sacred heritage, who must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice for love/divDIV Nineteen-year-old Janet Stevens leaves Wichita, Kansas, for New York—and a glamorous career as a model. Manhattan in the 1950s is a heady place for a sheltered Midwesterner. A new friend helps her discover her forefathers’ faith, but from the moment she sees Bill McNeil at a party, Janet senses she’s found her future. When they marry, she believes she’s finally gotten what she always wanted—not fame or fortune, but the love that will fulfill and sustain her as nothing else ever could./divDIV From the passionate throes of youth to the stings and shocks of middle age, Come Pour the Wine draws a brilliant portrait of a marriage and a family in search of its roots, written with Cynthia Freeman’s trademark insight and compassion./divDIV/div/div
Northumbria, 866 AD Edith still has much to learn about the art of ruling a kingdom, but when her parents, sisters, and mentor are murdered, she is faced with the much harder challenge of staying alive long enough to get her revenge. As a girl in Anglo-Saxon England, Edith finds it hard to be heard above the Eldermen who are ripping the kingdom to pieces. She finds allies in the unexpected, and enemies closer to home, but nothing can prepare her for the arrival of the Vikings. Torn from her homeland and sold into slavery, she is determined to survive at any cost. Edith clings to her dream of returning home one day to claim her throne. As she builds friendships and finds love in a foreign world, she starts to believe in a better tomorrow until someone from her past arrives with a devastating revelation. Can she do what must be done? And will the Vikings let her leave?
Simple text and captivating illustrations are paired with beautiful music and fun sound-effects to help tell the classic tale of "The Princess and the Pea." Prince Fastidious travels the world to find his perfect princess. But something is not quite right about any of them. They either talk too much, or not at all. Some are too old for him, or too young. Others are spoiled or have too many noisy, little dogs. Find out what happens when Princess Rose accidentally comes to the castle at night because of a fierce storm. How does she prove to the Queen that she’s a real princess? A happy ending adds interest to this fairy tale and encourages a lifelong love for reading.
"Makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme." —Daisy Goodwin, New York Times bestselling author of The Fortune Hunter “[Alpsten] recounts this remarkable woman’s colourful life and times." —Count Nikolai Tolstoy, historian and author Before there was Catherine the Great, there was Catherine Alexeyevna: the first woman to rule Russia in her own right. Ellen Alpsten's rich, sweeping debut novel is the story of her rise to power. St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, as ambitious, ruthless and passionate as Peter himself. Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful generals, finally seducing the Tsar himself. But even amongst the splendor and opulence of her new life—the lavish feasts, glittering jewels, and candle-lit hours in Peter’s bedchamber—she knows the peril of her position. Peter’s attentions are fickle and his rages powerful; his first wife is condemned to a prison cell, her lover impaled alive in Red Square. And now Catherine faces the ultimate test: can she keep the Tsar’s death a secret as she plays a lethal game to destroy her enemies and take the Crown for herself? From the sensuous pleasures of a decadent aristocracy, to the incense-filled rites of the Orthodox Church and the terror of Peter’s torture chambers, the intoxicating and dangerous world of Imperial Russia is brought to vivid life. Tsarina is the story of one remarkable woman whose bid for power would transform the Russian Empire.
When seventeen-year-old orphaned shapechanger Tessa Gray is kidnapped by the villainous Mortmain in his final bid for power, the London Institute rallies to save her, but is beset by danger and betrayal at every turn.
