Showing results by narrator "Lillian Rachel" in All Categories

Thus far, Cassandra’s abysmal luck has kept her from reaching her goals. With no husband and no household, she’s beginning to wonder if she has a future at all. A surprising encounter with a cunning thief brings more to light than Cassandra is prepared to handle. But the lady has never backed down from a challenge, and it seems this mystery man might have finally met his match. When circumstances, once again, threaten Lady Cassandra’s dreams, she must decide if she’s willing to risk her careful plans for the thief who has stolen her heart.

Brianna bears a deadly secret: she’s not the princess she is pretending to be. If the prince finds out, her life will be forfeit and her country plunged into war. But there is more to the icy prince than meets the eye, and Brianna slowly unravels the secrets of his dark past while surviving in a strange culture. However her goodness and wit will only get her so far. Terrifying beasts stalk the border and a murderer is at work in the town. They know the truth of Brianna’s identity and will stop at nothing to destroy all she has fought for.

Northern England, 1953. Pauline Riddell has grand ambitions for her future at the armament factory. So, when her closest workmate reveals a salacious affair with a married man, Pauline refuses to risk her career by listening to the scandal. But she's shaken to her core when the police arrive with news of her best friend's homicide. Desperate for justice, Pauline's insistent poking into the investigation only makes her the prime suspect. And now, to clear her name, she must unravel a web of deadly clues entangling her in a sinister plot. Can Pauline catch the killer before they strike again?

Madame Pratolungo is a close companion to Lucilla Finch, a young woman who has been blind since birth. Madame Pratolungo records the narrative of Lucilla's trials from falling in love with Oscar Duborg, her wealthy and shy neighbor, to ending up in a romantic entanglement between Oscar and his brother Nugent. When Lucilla temporarily regains her sight thanks to Herr Grosse, mistaken identities and manipulative schemes are there to greet her.

Conspiracy lurks in the realm of Rothen. No one knows this better than Elma Volta, soon to be queen of the frozen kingdom. But as she awaits her coronation, Elma narrowly escapes death at the hands of an enemy assassin. Realizing she has few choices and even fewer allies, Elma offers the assassin a deal: if he can keep her alive until she takes her rightful place on the throne, she will bring peace to their warring lands.

Writing to her only friend from her deathbed, Mathilda finally reveals the history that led to her isolated life of despairing melancholy. Of her mother dying in childbirth, her father's confession of his incestuous desire and subsequent suicide, and her relationship with a handsome young poet that fails to reverse Matilda's emotional withdrawal or prevent her lonely death. The haunting and relentlessly self-examining voice of Mary Shelley's protagonist is a bare narrative of trauma of a brave woman's failed search for love, atonement, and redemption.

Freydis Eiriksdatter, one of the most remarkable women of the Viking age, leads a harsh life amongst the towering cliffs and great glaciers of Greenland. She has the warrior spirit of her father, Eirik the Red, and as Christianity conquers Greenland, she continues to worship the old Norse gods. Like her brother, Leif Eiriksson, she’s cursed with an adventurer’s soul. Her biggest desire is to become a legendary explorer. Driven by ambition, curiosity—a restless hunger for more—she sets out on a hazardous voyage to Vinland.

Much Ado About Nothing appears to have been written about 1599, shortly before As You Like It and Twelfth Night. The action combines two narrative threads: the spirited comedy of the courtship of Benedick and Beatrice, and the somber tale of confused love between Hero and Claudio. The first is a creation by Shakespeare and the second appears to have been drawn from an Italian source, either by Bandello or Ariosto. The action takes place in Messina. Eponymous lovers Hero and Claudio seem to be ideally matched and nearly everyone is looking forward to their impending marriage.

Emmeline Pankhurst was a fierce campaigner for the rights of women, enduring hardship, prison, and male entitlement in her fight for equality. Here, Pankhurst tells her story in her own words, describing how the girl of fourteen who attended her first suffragette meeting, became a woman the world would remember as an unrelenting and courageous activist for the rights of women.

Two women, one ancient Egyptian harem, and the daring decision that changed the course of history. In the opulent court of Egypt’s tenth dynasty, Princess Hagar has always known her destiny. One day, she will marry the Crown Prince Merikare and become the Great Royal Wife, the most powerful woman in Egypt. But dark dreams afflict Hagar the moment she hears of the latest addition to Pharaoh’s harem: The stunning, iridescent Sumerian, Sarai. Princess Hagar feels a powerful presence around the Sumerian woman.

A Little Princess tells the story of Sara Crewe, daughter of a rich English officer stationed in India, who is sent to Miss Minchin's boarding school in London. Despite her wealth and privilege, Sara is kind and generous, befriending everyone from school outcast Ermengarde and motherless toddler Lottie to the teenage scullery maid Becky. When Sara's status is abruptly changed, her resolve to behave like a princess no matter her circumstances is put to the test. Frances Hodgson Burnet's children's classic is performed by a full cast and will be loved by listeners of all ages.

Rejected by her betrothed and banished into the wilderness, Brianna finds herself broken-hearted with nowhere to turn. She wants nothing more than to be left alone. But greater threats loom across the Border, and there are whispers of war on the breeze. The Spirit-Beasts are coming and Brianna might be the only thing that can stand in their way and stop the massacre of a nation.

Rosamond Frankland has married the love of her life, Leonard, who is blind. They have bought Porthgenna Tower, the manor where Rosamond grew up and where her mother died 20 years earlier. What they don't know is the dark secret that hovers over her family, that house, and the stories about a woman's ghost that haunts the north rooms. Is this a ghost story, a love story, a story with a tragic ending, or a lovely one?

What really lies beneath the waves? Dive into our magical collection of short stories written by award-winning and up-and-coming authors and follow the ocean’s call. Meet murderous kelpies, hear the mermaid’s song, find a kidnapped prince, and explore the beautiful underwater kingdoms. Befriend selkie royalty, break fearsome curses, and swoon as you fall in love. All profits go to Oceana to support their mission to protect the world’s oceans and promote sustainable fishing.

Henry VIII is dead, and history will never be the same. The year is 1536. Three claimants vie for his throne: Anne Boleyn, who fights for her young daughter, Elizabeth; Mary Tudor, who sees the hand of Providence at work; and Henry FitzRoy, the king's illegitimate but recognized son. Factions form, and battles are fought over who will win the crown.

In 1916, Chris returns home from a French hospital to his country estate just outside London. The nature of his injuries at the front has caused him to suffer from amnesia. Awaiting him at home are his devoted wife, whom he does not remember, and his cousin, Jenny, whom he remembers only as a childhood friend. For Chris, the last 15 years have not happened and he believes himself still in love with a woman named Margaret, the poor innkeeper's daughter he courted many years before.

World-famous detective Hercule Poirot has retired to the English village of King's Abbot, determined to dedicate his little grey cells to the growing of vegetable marrows. But when Roger Ackroyd, a local businessman and former acquaintance, is stabbed to death, the man's niece begs Poirot to investigate. Poirot enlists the local doctor to be his assistant and scribe, and the two of them sift through clues to try to discern the ones that will lead them to the killer.

During the Middle Ages, a peasant's superstition held that a mother mourning the death of her child could "sell her sorrow" by selling a nail from her child's coffin to a peddler. Lady Celeste is overwhelmed with grief when her infant son dies. Desperate to find relief, she escapes the convent where her husband has sent her to recover and begs a passing peddler to buy her sorrow. Jean, the cynical peddler she meets, is nobody’s fool; he does not believe in superstitions and insists Celeste include the valuable ruby ring on her finger along with the nail in return for his coin.

A Christmas Anthology of several of the best Christmas Novellas you have never heard from authors who were prolific in their time. Including the author of the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms series, the Little Bear children's series, Charles Dickens & Howard Hughes' award winning novelist/playwright brother.

Between 1895 and 1901 H. G. Wells wrote six science fiction novels, which have become among the most celebrated examples of the genre. In this collection, Wells explores a number of topics that have since become very common subjects in science fiction, including time travel, celestial beings, eugenics, alien invasion, and space exploration.