Showing results by author "Celia Rees"

It is the dawn of the 18th century, when girls stay home and sew while men sail the high seas finding adventure, danger, and gold. But two unusually adventurous girls (a rich merchant's daughter, Nancy Kington, and her former plantation slave, Minerva Sharpe) take to the high seas from Jamaica on a ship the crew renames Deliverance.

Enter the world of young Mary Newbury, a world where simply being different can cost a person her life. Hidden until now in the pages of her diary, Mary's startling story begins in 1659, the year her beloved grandmother is hanged in the public square as a witch. Mary narrowly escapes a similar fate, only to face intolerance and new danger among the Puritans in the New World. How long can she hide her true identity? Will she ever find a place where her healing powers will not be feared?

Young and beautiful Violetta may be of royal blood, but her kingdom is in shambles when she arrives in London on a mysterious mission. Her journey has been long and her adventures many, but it is not until she meets the playwright William Shakespeare that she gets to tell the entire story from beginning to end. Violetta and her comic companion, Feste, have come in search of an ancient holy relic that the evil Malvolio has stolen from their kingdom. But where will their remarkable quest - and their most unusual story - lead?

Sovay isn't your typical young lady, not by the standards of any time period. As rich as she is lovely, Sovay may often be found sitting for portraits - when she's not disguised as a man and robbing travelers, that is. But one day she robs the wrong person, and for that act, there will be a steep price to pay.

It's the start of summer vacation, and 15-year-old Richard has discovered that a family has taken up residence in the usually deserted Wish House. Richard is intrigued by both the house and the bohemian family now living there. The father, Jethro Dalton, is an internationally renowned painter; his seemingly licentious wife is fascinated by herbs and cures. But it's their beautiful and vibrant daughter, Clio, the muse for Jethro's paintings, who draws Richard utterly into the Daltons' world.

Everyone says that Caro is bad ...but Jamie can't help himself. He thinks of her night and day and can't believe that she wants to be his girlfriend. Gorgeous, impulsive and unconventional, she is totally different to all the other girls he knows. His sister, Martha, hates her. Jamie doesn't know why, but there's no way he's going to take any notice of her warnings to stay away from Caro. But as Jamie falls deeper and deeper under her spell, he realises there is more to Caro - much more.

Reports of miraculous phenomena are coming in...a crying statue. A bleeding crucifix. Around the globe, strange signs point to the end of days. Our world is unravelling. As foretold in ancient texts, and marked by the Mayan Long Count, time has nearly run out.

Ellen's just 16, but she's dying - and nobody knows why. When she's sent to her grandmother's house she's relieved to find a distraction in the form of her great-grandmother's diaries, written when she was Ellen's age. As Ellen reads, she becomes increasingly embroiled in the fascinating story of her life. Ellen's condition is worsening, and it's becoming more and more difficult for her to distinguish her own life from the nightmarish events recorded in the diaries.

Finn's not at all sure about the Salt House. Overlooking Westwater Bay, it brings back all her nightmare fears of drowning, of the ghosts of the dead reaching for her. And Westwater is dangerous. Countless seafarers have drowned here, their ships lost - broken on the vicious Viper Rocks; lured by the wrecker's false lights, summoned by the dark enchantments of cunning men - masters of storms and tides...or so the legends say.

It all started as stories - playground tales handed down for generations, stories of plague graves, vanished children and hidden steps leading to a festering underworld. A world so real you could almost smell it.... But when another child goes missing, Fraser wonders if there's some truth in the tales.