According to the legend, six novices living in a Cornish convent strayed from their vows and were turned to stone. The seventh faced quite a different fate. Years later when the convent becomes the family mansion of the St. Larnston family; fate beckons to another young virgin. Kerensa is a village girl with a dream of one day becoming mistress of St. Larnston Abbas.
“A grand example of the gothic romance” from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Shivering Sands and Bride of Pendorric (Library Journal). For generations, Victoria Holt has dazzled and entertained millions of readers with her spine-tingling novels of romantic suspense. On the Night of the Seventh Moon is one of her most evocative, magical, and chilling. Come take a journey into a dark and shadowy forest where nothing is as it seems . . . On the night of the seventh moon, according to ancient Black Forest legend, Loke, the god of mischief, is abroad in the world. It is a night for singing and dancing. And it is a night for love. Helena Trant was enchanted by everything she found in the Black Forest—its people, its mysterious castles, its legends and lore. Especially its legends of love. Until the day she started to live one of them and the enchantment turned suddenly into a terrifying nightmare . . . “Spellbinding.” —The Charleston News & Courier “Full of color and suspense.” —Publishers Weekly “Victoria Holt amounts to the same thing—you can rely on it for that long enchanted evening.” —Kirkus Reviews “One of Victoria Holt’s brightest and best.” —The Library Lantern
Kirkland Revels loomed high above the wild and eerie Yorkshire moors like a brooding stone fortress. To some there was an atmosphere of evil about the place, but to innocent young bride Catherine Rockwell, the mansion seemed magnificently romantic. She did not know then of the terrible secrets imprisoned behind its massive walls. Or that at the moment she had entered her new home, she had crossed the threshold of terror ...
It is believed these magical books were translated from the ancient Hebrew. The Sixth Book contains Secret Seals used in magical rituals. Each is presented, followed by a matching conjurationa verbal spell summoning entities or energies beyond our reality that may respond and help to achieve the goal of the summoner. The Seventh Book contains magical tables, each of which performs a certain function. Carrying one with you or to a certain area may bring results like wealth, love, or good luck. Also included are examples of magic being performed in the Bible, followed by a Kabala section that reveals secret wisdom, the application of charms and remedies, and magical cures of the ancient Hebrews. If used with good intentions, this book claims to bring good fortune.
In this enthralling new novel, Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth-century Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence. A story of longing and intrigue, half-told truths and toxic lies, Vivaldi's Virgins unfolds through the eyes of Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the elite musicians cloistered in the foundling home where Antonio Vivaldi—known as the Red Priest of Venice—is maestro and composer. Fourteen-year-old Anna Maria, abandoned at the Ospedale della Pietà as an infant, is determined to find out who she is and where she came from. Her quest takes her beyond the cloister walls into the complex tapestry of Venetian society; from the impoverished alleyways of the Jewish Ghetto to a masked ball in the company of a king; from the passionate communal life of adolescent girls competing for their maestro's favor to the larger-than-life world of music and spectacle that kept the citizens of a dying republic in thrall. In this world, where for fully half the year the entire city is masked and cloaked in the anonymity of Carnival, nothing is as it appears to be. A virtuoso performance in the tradition of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vivaldi's Virgins is a fascinating glimpse inside the source of Vivaldi's musical legacy, interwoven with the gripping story of a remarkable young woman's coming-of-age in a deliciously evocative time and place.
"One of the supreme writers of gothic romance, a compelling storyteller whose gripping novels have thrilled millions."—RT Book Reviews Her sister's mysterious disappearance will lead her to a deadly secret... Caroline Verlaine knows something is wrong. Her sister has gone missing and no one can tell her why. The only option is to go where Roma was last seen—an estate with a deadly history. The Stacy family has lived off the Dover coast for generations, carefully navigating the treacherous quicksands nearby. But the sands aren't Caroline's biggest threat. Everyone here has a secret, especially the enigmatic young heir Napier Stacy. No matter where Caroline turns, the ground she walks is dangerous. And the closer Caroline comes to unraveling the truth, the closer she comes to sharing her sister's fate. What readers are saying about The Shivering Sands "The feel of this story was similar to that of Rebecca—the sort of dark, shivery, mysterious feeling. The end was WAY better in my opinion, though. Definitely a good read!" "This is a five-star historical, romance, mystery, psychological thriller." "The most suspenseful book ever, and many years later, after having read countless Holt books, I can safely say that this is her best work."
For four thousand years, the lavish crypt of the Pharaoh Mamose has never been found-- until the beautiful Egyptologist Royan Al Simma finds a tantalizing clue to its location in the Seventh Scroll, a cryptic document written by the slave Taita. But the location of the crypt and its treasure is a secret others would kill to possess. Only one step ahead of assassins, Royan runs for her life and into the arms of the only man she can trust, Sir Nicholas Quenton-Harper-- a daring man who will stake his fortune and his life to join her hunt for the king's tomb. Together, they will embark on a breathtaking journey to the most exotic locale on earth, where the greatest mystery of ancient Egypt, a chilling danger, and an explosive passion are waiting. Steeped in ancient mystery, drama, and action, Wilbur Smith's The Seventh Scroll will pull you in for an adventure of a lifetime.
Female Gothic Histories: Gender, History and the Gothic is an innovative new study of the ways in which women writers have used Gothic historical fiction to symbolise and counter their exclusion from traditional historical narratives.