Showing results by narrator "Virginia Leishman" in All Categories

The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. Estranged from Ada's father, who was infamously "mad, bad, and dangerous to know", Ada's mathematician mother is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage. Banishing fairy tales and make-believe from the nursery, Ada's mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education grounded in mathematics and science.

In her daring first novel, the youngest Brontë sister drew upon her own experiences to tell the unvarnished truth about life as a governess. Like Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte was a young middle-class Victorian lady whose family fortunes had faltered. Like so many other unmarried women of the 19th century, Bronte accepted the only "respectable" employment available - and entered a world of hardship, humiliation, and loneliness.

The serenity of Hill Top Farm is shattered when a local shepherd is murdered. Beatrix, when she's not busy making friends with her fellow villagers, lends her insights to the investigation. Nationally best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert cleverly blends fact and fiction in this cozy mystery starring iconic author Beatrix Potter.

It's 1905, and to recover from the loss of her fiance, Potter moves into a small farmhouse in Sawrey. Populated by colorful characters, both humans and critters, her new life is full of promise. That is, until a villager dies and murder is suspected. Now it's up to this amateur sleuth to find a killer roaming the English countryside.

Eleven-year-old Nannerl is arguably the best keyboard player in all of Europe. Yet, because her six-year-old brother, Wolfie, can play almost as well as she, he receives virtually all the praise and adulation. Traveling far and wide with her family, she and her brother perform before the crowned heads of Europe. Social convention and public clamor relegate her to living life in the shadow of a prodigy. When will Nannerl ever realize her own dreams and aspirations?

In this sixth volume, Miss Potter must help the denizens of Near Sawrey solve a particularly knotty problem. After a suspicious fire consumes his haystacks, Farmer Harmsworth barricades the common path through his Applebeck Orchard. Tabitha Twitchet and her Cat Council are all in a tizzy when woodland creatures claim the fire was the work of a lantern-bearing specter.

It is 1907, and in her Lake Country village, Beatrix Potter is about to encounter both woodland magic and an intriguing mystery. As she helps some village children look for fairy folk, she stumbles upon evidence that a flame-haired stranger may have dangerous plans.

When Lady Tremaine petitions her husband for an end to their civil but loveless marriage, Lord Camden agrees on one scandalous condition - she must give him an heir within a year. Their early attempts to fulfill this delicate arrangement are marred by cold detachment, but soon sparks of passion and long-forgotten lust begin to be kindled anew.

Works by best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert have been nominated for the Agatha and Anthony awards. In The Tale of Oat Cake Crag, Miss Beatrix Potter is frustrated by distractions near her home. As the noisy test flights of a hydroplane disrupt her concentration, Beatrix investigates a string of bizarre letters threatening a friend’s reputation. Then life becomes even more complicated when the body of the hydroplane project funder is found at the foot of Oat Cake Crag.

National best-selling author Rebecca Hagan Lee pushes another stubborn bachelor of the Free Fellows League toward the altar in Hardly a Husband. And obstinate Marquess Jarrod Shepherdston is not about to take the plunge without protest.

Set in the 16th century, Until You tells the tale of a young heroine who discovers the love of a lifetime. Beautiful Rosamund is introduced to the Earl of Glenkirk, and they immediately fall in love. Their growing passion is stifled, however, when war breaks out between England and Scotland.

Delicious presents Verity Durant, an irresistible woman of a more elegant age. Verity is renowned from London to Paris for her succulent cuisine - and for her rapacious carnal appetite. And she's determined to tempt prim and proper politician Stuart Somerset with forbidden fruits he's never tasted.

Susan Wittig Albert delights mystery lovers with this series based on the life and stories of beloved English children's author Beatrix Potter. When Beatrix finds an abandoned infant, Captain Woodcock and Dimity care for the child as Beatrix and her furry and feathered friends search for its mother.

This mesmerizing, poetic novel won the 2003 National Book Award for fiction and has earned universal acclaim. Set against the beautiful but tragic landscape of post-World War II Asia, The Great Fire tells a sweeping tale of the search for new beginnings in a world ravaged by tragedy.

Rebecca Hagan Lee is a best-selling and award-winning author. She writes engaging historical romances that are packed with intrigue. Barely a Bride introduced the wealthy bachelors of the Free Fellows League. In this second novel of the series, Colin McElreath, Viscount Grantham, is being forced into a marriage - one intended to protect the League and the Viscount's good name.

Agatha and Anthony Award nominee Susan Wittig Albert has garnered popular and critical acclaim for her whimsical mysteries based on the life and times of Beatrix Potter. Set in the summertime splendor of 1913 England, this eighth tale finds Beatrix eager to marry her fiancé, solicitor William Heelis. But a few obstacles are still blocking the happy couple’s path to the altar - like the troubled remodeling of Castle Cottage, Will and Beatrix’s future home.

ALA Best Book for Teens recipient Chris Wooding delivers "a twisted fairytale fantasy" (Wooding) sprinkled with marvelous characters and seasoned with incredible plot twists. In the rotting stilt-village of Gull just above the foul-smelling Black Swamp, 16-year-old Poison vows to rescue her kidnapped sister from the phaeries. A wise friend reluctantly provides the money, directions, and ancient lore necessary for her journey. Poison soon encounters the treacherous phaerie lord, the terrifying bone witch, and the deceptive spider queen. But when her reality is completely upended, Poison questions whether she can save anyone.

As a pair of young scholars research the lives of two Victorian poets, they uncover their letters, journals, and poems and track their movements from London to Yorkshire - from spiritualist seances to the fairy-haunted far west of Brittany. What emerges is an extraordinary counterpoint of passion and ideas.

In The Matisse Stories, this Booker Prize-winning author offers three elegant tales that explore the subtle interplays between mind and eye, heart and hand. In the first, Medusa’s Ankles, a fashionable woman watches her life take on darker, more ominous shades in the mirror of a beauty salon.

When Anne Burnett is forced into a proxy marriage with Aidan Black, a dashing Scottish laird with a reputation for unpredictability, traveling to the wilds of 19th-century Scotland to meet him is only a small concern. Her biggest worry is how to inform her new husband that he is married. Falling in love with his castle and the fierce loyalty Aidan inspires in his people, Anne finds her greatest challenge is yet to come.