Showing results by publisher "Oakhill Publishing Ltd" in Historical Fiction

Hector Lynch's quest for the young Spanish woman, Maria, takes him on a nightmare passage around Cape Horn where they come across a warship, her only crew two skeleton. One corpse is the brother of a local Spanish govenor in Peru who, in gratitude for learning his brother's fate, tells Hector that Maria is in the Thief Islands. There Hector allies himself with the Chamorro to launch a raid on the Spanish fort.

The debauched celebration of the cabaret era. The magical ascent of cinema. The deprivations of World War I and the build up to World War II. Set against the rise and fall of Berlin and the innovations in art that accompanied it, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite brilliantly weaves together the story of orphan girl Lilly Nelly Aphrodite's remarkable journey from poverty to film stardom.

In 1913 an orphan girl is delivered to The Hall of Eternal Splendour, seemingly destined to live out her life as a prostitute in its smoky backrooms. Yet one day hope appears in the unlikely form of a customs inspector, a modest man who will take Pan Yuliang as his concubine and introduce her to a glamorous life in 1920's Shanghai: a life of love and of art. But as Pan begins to realize her talent as a painter she also sees that she may lose something even more precious: a life in safety.

Robert Cecil, chief secretary to the king, summons the gentleman spy, Henry Gresham, to his death bed to give his arch enemy one final, deadly case. An unknown Cambridge bookseller has obtained devastating correspondence between King James I and Robert Carr, and Gresham is the one man who can return the letters, saving the monarch from a potentially scandalous downfall.

Capitan Daniel Rawson is a soldier, spy, linguist and ladies' man. Whether he is extracting valuable intelligence from the wife of a French general or leading his men in a Forlorn Hope, Rawson is a man on whom the Duke of Marlborough can always rely. Seething with intrigue and packed with swashbuckling heroics, the novel follows the Confederate army on the long, perilous trek across Europe to meet the French and their allies at the ferocious battle of Blenheim.

A best-selling novelist since 1921, Georgette Heyer is known across the world for her historical romances set in Regency England. This is the ultimate, definitive guide to Georgette Heyer's novels, her heroines, her villains and dashing heroes, the shops, clubs and towns they frequented, the parties and seasons they celebrated, how they ate, drank and dressed, socialised, shopped and drove. An utterly delightful and fun read, compelling in its historical detail, this is a must-hear for any Georgette Heyer fan.

It is 1636 - the height of the Thirty Years War. The Spanish armies swell out of the Artois Region of the Netherlands, flooding into King Louis XIII's France. The border village of Dax-en-roi stands in their way. The Chevalier de Roland rallies a valiant defence, but his household guard are no match for the invaders. The is only one survivor of the Spanish brutality: the lone heir the Roland name, a young boy called Andre de Roland.

Dashing career soldier and ladies' man, Captain Daniel Rawson, happily accepts the Duke of Marlborough's dangerous undercover mission to find a missing spy - a Dutch tapestry-maker's beautiful daughter Amalia, unaware of her father's espionage role, is fearful for her safety. It's up to Daniel to find her father and put Amalia's mind at rest.

It is1854. War is imminent as the Western powers quarrel with Russia over the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Wanting to prove himself to his father, Official Tony Morgan is keen to set sail. The Morgan's chambermaid, Mary, whom Tony loves, has wed another officer and will accompany the regiment to the front as a nurse. Eager to prove himself a worthy leader, he finds himself shaken by the brutality of war. With his romantic longings for Mary revived, Tony faces dire conflict on the battlefield and off.

Ann More, fiery and spirited daughter of the Mores of Loseley House, comes to London destined for a life at the court of Queen Elizabeth. And there she encounters John Donne, the darkly attractive young poet. He is unlike any man she has ever met. Yet as they are thrown together Donne opens Ann's eyes to a new world of passion, wit and sensuality. But Donne is the kind of man her status-conscious father distrusts and despises.

The year is 1210 and a black force is sweeping England. A vengeful King John has seized control of the Church, leaving corpses to lie in consecrated ground, babies unbaptized, and the people terrified of dying in sin. In the village of Gastmere, the consequences grow darker still when Elena, a servant girl, is dragged into a conspiracy to absolve the sins of the lord of the manor. In desperation she visits the cunning woman, who has been waiting for just such an opportunity to fulfil an ancient curse conjured at the gallows.

1967. Vietnam. Susan Gifford is one of the first female correspondents on assignment in Saigon. Son is a Vietnamese photographer anxious to get his work into the American press. Together they cover every aspect of the war. Then one morning they find themselves the prisoners of three Vietcong soldiers. Under constant threat from American air strikes, helpless in the hands of the enemy, they face the daily hardships of the jungle, living always with the threat of being killed.

As the ship docked in Bombay,the shocking news of the rising by the Indian mutineers and their massacire of women, children, and civilians reached Anthony Morgan and his company. Even so,they were hardly prepared for what they now faced.Morgan himself has another quest. On discovering that the son he had fathered,his child's mother and her husband,Morgan's old sergeant, are captives up in the hills, he is determined to rescue them. A gripping tale of a soldier torn between orders and honour.

Nostradamus wrote 1000 prophecies. Only 942 have survived. What happened to the missing verses? This mystery drives two very different men. Adam Sabir is a writer desperate to revive his flagging career; Achor Bale is a member of an ancient secret society dedicated to the "Three Antichrists" foretold by Nostrodamus: Napoleon, Adolf Hitler - and "one still to come". As Sabir is drawn into the hidden world of France's gypsies, Bale is on his trail. A terrifying hunt begins...

The war, with its horrifying, endless slaughter on the Western Front, is the backdrop to this story of the conflicting demands of duty, loyalty and love. Dolly Weston, her husband reported missing, falls in love with a wounded army officer. To complicate things further, a deserter emerges, and unhealed wounds from a bitter past are re-opened. And then there is 10- year- old Joshua, drawn into the world of three people whom he comes to admire and love, but who are destined to be driven cruelly apart.

Diving for plunder in the Caribbean, Hector Lynch and his companions are spotted by a Spanish ship. Escaping capture by burning the vessel's sails - an act of piracy - they head for Tortuga, where Hector's wife Maria awaits. He longs for a better life for them both, on the right side of the law. But the crew run into Laurens de Graff - a renowned mercenary captain now in command of a royal French frigate - and after fleeing his clutches, they are cast away on a tiny desert island, Salt Tortuga.

In England in the 1930s, eighteen-year-old Helen Carstairs braves the prejudice of friends and family to marry Heine, a young German photographer who has fled the growing horror of the Nazis. But the storm clouds are gathering in Europe. When fighting breaks out Heine is interned, their small son is evacuated and Helen is left to face the Blitz alone. And the agony of war threatens to divide a family already tormented by conflicting passions of loyalty, shame, betrayal - and love.

Vienna 1770: Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen unveils an amazing invention, The Mechanical Turk, an unbeatable chess playing automaton. Hailed as the greatest innovation of the century, the chess machine is really a brilliant illusion, secretly operated from inside by the Italian dwarf Tibor. But when a beautiful and seductive countess dies mysteriously in the presence of the automaton, the machine and its inventor become the target of espionage, persecution, and intrigue.

1917 and the First World War is casting a dark shadow over the Harvey family. With one brother dead and Tristan serving at the front, young Ben is desperate to serve, despite his engagement to Emilia. But a dreadful eye injury forces him to stay at the family farm with his brother Alec, a man with secrets of his own.