Showing results by narrator "Vanessa Benjamin" in All Categories

On a spring evening in 1140 Shrewsbury, the midnight matins at the Benedictine abbey suddenly reverberate with an unholy sound—a hunt in full cry. Pursued by a drunken mob, the quarry is running for its life. When the frantic creature bursts in to claim sanctuary, Brother Cadfael finds himself fighting off armed townsmen to save a terrified young man

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peters and Saint Paul, in September of the year of our Lord 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive 19-year-old novice. Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname the Devil's Novice. Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priest's dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

Christmas, 1141 A.D. Abbot Radulfus returns from London, bringing with him a priest for the vacant living of Holy Cross (known as the Foregate), a man of presence, scholarship and discipline, but neither humility nor the common touch. When he is found drowned in the mill-pond, suspicion is cast in many directions, not least toward a young man who came in the priest's train, sent to work in Brother Cadfael's garden. For he has little obvious priestly calling. Indeed, he soon attracts the friendship of a girl both beautiful and formidable. To Brother Cadfael, once wordly, now dedicated, if gently cynical, is left the familiar task of sorting the complicated strands which define guilt and innocence.

The winter of 1139 will disrupt Brother Cadfael's tranquil life in Shrewsbury with the most disturbing events. Raging civil war has sent refugees fleeing north from Worcester. Among them are two orphans from a noble family, a boy of thirteen and an 18-year-old girl of great beauty, and their companion, a young Benedictine nun...

Waverley women pursue their aspirations no matter what the obstacle. They may marry if the cause seems to suit the purpose, or they may flirt until their heart is content - or, perhaps, until the gentleman who has proven to be the most elusive of all is clearly within reach. No matter what the obstacle, none is too big for a Waverley woman. These are books of dreams, lessons, fanciful thoughts, and, most of all, tales of girls grown now to women who won't settle for anything less than their full dream, impossible as it may seem at the outset.

Scream of Eagles is the fourth book in William W. Johnstone’s epic saga of the MacCallister clan, a family caught up in the vivid sweep of American history. Jamie Ian MacCallister has survived the bloodshed of the Alamo and the Civil War. Now the battle has gotten personal: Jamie is on a one-man vendetta against the Miles Nelson gang, the men responsible for the brutal murder of his wife Kate. His journey of revenge will take him from Atlantic City to the deadly landscape of the Colorado Rockies - and finally to the Battle of Little Big Horn.

At age twenty-three, the petite Lady Margery has alreadygraced the rows of wallflowers for many a season. With the one exception ofCharles, the Marquess of Edgecombe and the only man who ever dances with her, Lady Margery will have nothing to do with men; what's more, she does not evenparticularly like Charles. Bored beyond words, she firmly decides this is the end of itall and returns to the comfort of her only love, her home at Chelmswood. Butshe does not find comfort even there.

Jamie Ian and Kate MacCallister are together now, buried side by side on a ridge overlooking the huge Colorado valley they had settled and the town they had founded. It’s up to their children now to carry on the MacCallister legacy. Falcon MacCallister is more than willing to take on that task. He’s the spitting image of his father, Jamie. He stands six foot three and is heavy with muscle. Just like his father, Falcon literally doesn’t know his own strength. And like his father, Falcon is quick on the shoot. Lightning quick.

The Earl of Tredair has had his fill of balls, routs, and silly misses, and he despairs of finding someone extraordinary - that is, until he meets Miss Fanny Waverley. Most unique and intriguing, Fanny and her two sisters are the adopted daughters of the reclusive bluestocking Madame Waverley. They have been raised as her disciples to spread the word of women's rights and to encourage poor oppressed females to stand up against the iniquities of the male sex. The beautiful and farouche Miss Fanny, however, finds it quite difficult to think of all men as cruel and lustful beasts....

It was true. The lovely young widow Lady Charteris - Delphine to her friends - had agreed to abide by her parents' wishes and marry the Comte Saint-Pierre. Delphine's parents had long since died in the Terror, but when she learned of their wishes for her, she believed it her duty to respect their wishes. Delphine would marry, but it would be a marriage in name only. But when Delphine saw Jules Saint-Pierre, she got the shock of her life: he was the same man she had seen juggling in the streets at a local fair.

Being the life of the party had always been easy for Emerson Greene until one fatal night five years ago that sent him into a spiral of self-destruction. A night that cost him, not only his best friend, but also the only woman he's ever loved. As a result, the bad boy of the NHL is trying to outskate the ghosts of his past and the regrets that haunt his every turn.

One of the world's most famous intellectual ghost stories, The Turn of the Screw is a haunting tale of suspected supernatural possession. A governess at a country house claims that Miles and Flora, two orphaned children in her care, are being controlled by spirits for some evil purpose. No one else can see the ghosts, and the children themselves are silent. Are they being dominated by spectral forces, or are they hiding something? Is the governess simply paranoid, or is something else going on?

While the France they have known is crumbling around them, two courageous women face danger and betrayal under Hitler's tyranny. Giselle Munier and Jean Thornton are more like sisters than cousins, having spent many of their summers together, but with the outbreak of World War II, both women's lives take a dramatic turn.

Althea Farraday, a 38-year-old divorced mother of three, has a teenage son who’s a Buddhist, a hypercritical sister who knows how to push all her buttons, a job on the endangered species list, and a love life to match. Just as she’s settling in to a comfortable level of chaos, a near-perfect man enters her life. Equipped to steal her heart and help turn her passion for designing gardens into a new career, Patrick Donahugh may be too good to be true.

Lawrence explores love, sex, passion, and marriage through the eyes of two sisters. Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen are the two intelligent, incisive, and observant sisters whose temperamental differences spark an ongoing debate regarding their society and their inner lives. The two very different sisters pursue thrilling, torrid affairs, but their search for more mature emotional relationships reveals some startling information about themselves as well as their lovers, Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich.

Lady Lucinda Esmond's swine of a father, the Earl of Sotheran, was forever fleecing young bucks in London's gaming halls with impunity - until he cheats Captain Mark Chamfrey, who kidnaps 10-year-old Lucinda for ransom. But when Chamfrey has a change of heart and returns the girl, Earl Esmond nonetheless exacts his own price: Chamfrey can only redeem himself and save his skin by marrying his little victim nine years hence.

London, 1958: It’s the eve of the sexual revolution, but in Juliet Montague’s conservative Jewish community where only men can divorce women, she finds herself a living widow, invisible. Ever since her husband disappeared seven years ago, Juliet has been a hardworking single mother of two and unnaturally practical. But on her 30th birthday, that’s all about to change. A wealthy young artist asks to paint her portrait, and Juliet, moved by the powerful desire to be seen, enters into the burgeoning art world of 1960s London, which will bring her fame, fortune, and a lifelong love affair.

Ancient papyrus scrolls recovered among the charred ruins of the Library of Alexandria reveal astonishing texts that detail the wonders of Atlantis — knowledge that could shatter the blueprint of world energy. Archaeologist Annja Creed confronts shadow figures determined to preserve empires built on power, greed, and global manipulation, finding unlikely allies in a mysterious American with connections in high places, and a young linguistics prodigy with attitude.

En Afanes sin provecho, Lorenzo Silva recoge cuentos escritos en los últimos cuarenta años, entre 1984 y 2024; relatos con una marca común: la literatura como un modo de habitar la vida y observarla. En estas páginas encontramos desde ficciones históricas, contemporáneas o de género negro hasta textos autobiográficos —una rareza en su trayectoria— que nos devuelven a un Silva más confesional y directo. Sin pretensión de cerrar nada, el autor traza un mapa vital que complementa su obra y la humaniza.

When one of her company falls ill on a return journey to Tyndal, Prioress Eleanor accepts lodging at a nearby manor. There, Master Stevyns's wife is having an affair with the groom, while a local widow acts more like the lady of the manor than the lady herself. The master's eldest son and spouse are obsessed with sin and heaven, while his youngest son, bound for the church, unexpectedly returns with more interest in lute playing than the priesthood.