A collection of the fifth through eighth installments of Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England, the basis for The Last Kingdom, the hit BBC America television series.This ebook collection includes The Burning Land, Death of Kings, The Pagan Lord, and The Empty Throne.

    This is the true story of Aethelflaed, the ‘Lady of the Mercians’, daughter of Alfred the Great. She was the only female leader of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Born into the royal house of Wessex at the height of the Viking wars, she is sent to her aunt in Mercia as a foster-child, only to return home when the Vikings overrun Mercia. In Wessex, she witnesses another Viking attack and this compounds her fear of the enemy. She falls in love with a Mercian lord but is heartbroken to be given as bride to the ruler of Mercia to seal the alliance between the two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. She must learn to subjugate her feelings for her first love, overcome her indifference to her husband and win the hearts of the Mercians who despise her as a foreigner and twice make an attempt on her life. When her husband falls ill and is incapacitated, she has to learn to rule and lead an army in his stead. Eventually she must fight to save her adopted Mercia from the Vikings and, ultimately, her own brother.

     One sultry evening in Kowloon, Dr Rowena Rossiter and Sister Alice Huntley are off-duty and in search of fun – little knowing that their world is on the brink of collapse. That night, Rowena will meet two men who will fight for her heart for the next four years. Connor O'Connor, the rebellious Irish soldier, who will woo and then lose her, and Kim Pheloung. Immensely rich and the most beautiful man Rowena has ever seen, he is also the most ruthless, with a sinister need possess and control. When the Japanese invasion leaves this previously strong and independent woman raped and broken, who will succeed in claiming Rowena's body and soul? And will she ever learn to love the child born of that terrible Christmas Day?

    TWO HUSBANDS. BY ORDER OF THE KING. When young Joan married William de Montecute at Westminster Abbey in 1341, she became the first and only princess in British history to knowingly commit bigamy. It was done at the command of her uncle and king, Edward III.Yet Joan of Kent is no frail English rose. For ten long years she defies her family, her country and her king to keep faith with the man she claims is her true husband.They are all sure she will break in the end.One of the most astonishing and poignant love stories in medieval history from internationally bestselling author Colin Falconer.What readers are saying about A VAIN AND INDECENT WOMAN“I really like all the Falconer books I’ve read… but this one is going to rank as my favourite. It’s one-of-a-kind. “Joan of Woodstock” doesn’t have the historical celebrity status of an Elizabeth I, or Catherine d’Medici; but I’m betting you’ll learn something, and be entertained in the process!” Shari *****“I loved this book… This captivating historical read was filled with complex and memorable characters that brought history to life. Joan of Kent was an absolutely fascinating woman whose life and times were captured so wonderfully in this book… I read it. I loved it. I bought it. It’s an historical read that shouldn’t be missed.” Meg Nyberg *****DISCOVER MORE COLIN FALCONER HISTORICAL FICTION CLASSIC HISTORY: Book 1: SILK ROADBook 2: HAREMBook 3: A VAIN AND INDECENT WOMANBook 4: CLEOPATRA: Daughter of the NileBook 5: AZTECBook 6: STIGMATABook 7: EAST INDIABook 8: A GREAT LOVE OF SMALL PROPORTIONISABELLA: Braveheart of France (published by LAKE UNION) 20TH CENTURY STORIES: Book 1: ANASTASIABook 2: MY BEAUTIFUL SPYBook 3: SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMYBook 4: LIVE FOR METHE UNKILLABLE KITTY O’KANE (published by LAKE UNION)LOVING LIBERTY LEVINE (published by LAKE UNION)COLIN FALCONER CRIME:VENOMLUCIFER FALLS (published by Little, Brown London)INNOCENCE DIES (published by Little, Brown London)

    A few among the Scottish nobles, for both political and religious reasons, are eager for this alliance too. They kill Cardinal Beaton, who is Mary’s great protector, and take St Andrews Castle, expecting rescue any day from England.For a sister and brother – spirited Bethia, living outside the castle in St Andrews, and Will among the rebels inside the castle – the long siege becomes a fight for survival. But it’s also a struggle over loyalties and the choices they each must make: whether to save their family, or follow their hearts…This debut novel closely follows the tumultuous events of the siege of St Andrews Castle, and its dramatic re-takingRunner up SAW Barbara Hammond TrophyFinalist Wishing Shelf Book Awards

    Even the king’s mother, Emma of Normandy, detests her daughter-in-law and Edith is soon on the receiving end of her displeasure. Balancing her sense of family obligation with her duty to her husband, Edith must also prove herself to her detractors. Edward’s and Edith’s relationship is respectful and caring, but when Edith’s enemies engineer her family’s fall from grace, the king is forced to send her away. She vows to do anything to protect her family’s interests if she returns, at any cost. Can Edith navigate the dangerous path fate has set her, while still remaining loyal to both her husband and her family?

    Fiction and Hist. Thrillers★★★★★ 4.7-Star Average Reader Review“...this is storytelling at its best...” -- Fortean Times Magazine“...poignant...heartening...insightful...” -- Kirkus ReviewsWith the rambling pioneers of blues music leading an unforgettable cast of characters, this raw, rousing and adventurous debut novel delivers a breathtaking view of life, livin’, love and hate in America in the 20th century, and the mysterious beginnings of the music that provided the soundtrack for it all...THE BLUES.In 1915, in a moonlit room in a boarding house in Texas, Charlie Patton -- the enigmatic inventor of blues music -- founds a shadowy alliance with Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter and Blind Lemon Jefferson. A pact is made, and the seeds of revolution are sown. Back at the Dockery Plantation in the Mississippi Delta, with the help of the likes of Son House, Howlin‘ Wolf, Robert Johnson, and others, Charlie’s plan spreads across the South, and then across the country. But these bluesmen have no way of knowing where this dangerous road will lead. Nor do they know the Ku Klux Klan is watching.In 2002, Franklyn O’Connor -- an adventurous and penniless youth -- sits at a lonely bar in the train station of his small upstate New York hometown holding a one-way ticket to the Crossroads in the Mississippi Delta. There he hopes to track down his deadbeat father, who walked out on his family when Frank was five. With nothing but his rucksack and the unsolicited assistance of a little old man called Furry Jenkins, Frank soon unwittingly drifts into the middle of a combustible racial feud at the intersection of a still divided society. A shocking truth waiting down the line.An adventurous and powerful novel about how, and more importantly why, from the cotton fields of Mississippi, blues music changed the world, and how the world changed one young man.

    When novice monk Giordano Bruno is told the pope wants to see him, his first thought is that it must be a joke. The second is that it must be a trap.Young Bruno’s talent for complex memory games has caught the attention of the Lord’s Vicar. Summoned to Rome, the city captures Bruno’s imagination, and he soon slips away from his suspicious, austere host Fra Agostino da Montalcino, drawn instead to more glamorous, sophisticated companions.But accusations of heresy are only ever a whisper away, and Rome is a city of intrigue, trickery and blood. Bruno soon realises he will be lucky to escape the Eternal City alive.

    As her mother sinks deeper into alcoholism, the violent lodger with whom they share their one-room slum has been turning his attentions to Ettie, and she can’t stand it any longer. So when debonair Professor Jacob Protsky picks Ettie out of the crowd at a penny gaff, she is determined to seize her chance. Despite the warnings of her friends, Ettie goes to live with Protsky in Bow, assisting him with his skilful brand of spiritual clairvoyance. But when Ettie befriends Celia Tressing, she soon finds herself increasingly worried by events down the road in Whitechapel. A series of gruesome murders and whispers of a man called ‘Jack the Ripper’ have shaken even that resilient community, and outsiders like Protsky are prime suspects… An East End drama perfect for fans of Rosie Goodwin and Sheila Newberry.

    When beautiful cloth merchant’s daughter Elizabeth Williams is widowed at the age of twenty-two, she is determined to make herself a success in the business she has learned from her father. But there are those who oppose a woman making her own way in the world, and soon Elizabeth realises she may have some powerful enemies – enemies who also know the truth about her late husband…  Security – and happiness – comes when Elizabeth is introduced to kindly, ambitious merchant turned lawyer, Thomas Cromwell. Their marriage is one based on mutual love and respect…but it isn’t always easy being the wife of an influential, headstrong man in Henry VIII’s London. The city is filled with ruthless people and strange delights – and Elizabeth realises she must adjust to the life she has chosen…or risk losing everything.

    Saul is sending Josiah as far away as he can and hopes never to see him again. Josiah's wife is ill and knows she can never return to England.What will these people make of their new lives? As it often does, migration causes other people to follow the group out to the Peel Region of Western Australia, bringing new complications in their lives. Some will die, some will succeed, and others will move on from Western Australia, either back to England or across to Victoria. For Liza and Benedict, the central characters, there will be cruel disappointments before they can win their way through to a happier life.

     For Waltheof of Huntington and his fellow survivors of the Battle of Hastings, there is a simple choice: submit to this new foreign king, or die at the gallows. Follow the heart; or follow the head. As the country bows under the Norman yoke and Waltheof struggles to come to terms with his decision, a new Saxon hope emerges. A last challenge to the Norman might, a final chance for glory, a decisive test of old allegiances and new loyalties. Of the Ring of Earls, the first in Juliet Dymoke’s epic Conqueror Trilogy, charts the fate of Waltheof of Huntington: a knight whose true story embodies the turmoil that followed the last successful invasion of Britain.

    The death of young Will Douglas's father plunged him into a world where might prevailed and the end justified the means.

    She was both manipulator and pawn, a complex, misunderstood mélange of subtlety and fire. Her name was Anne Boleyn.In The Queen of Subtleties, Suzannah Dunn reimagines the rise and fall of the tragic queen through two alternating voices: that of Anne herself, who is penning a letter to her young daughter on the eve of her execution, and Lucy Cornwallis, the king’s confectioner. An employee of the highest status, Lucy is responsible for creating the sculpted sugar centerpieces that adorn each of the feasts marking Anne’s ascent in the king’s favor. They also share another link of which neither woman is aware: the lovely Mark Smeaton, wunderkind musician—the innocent on whom, ultimately, Anne’s downfall hinges.

    vivid... gripping. Takes you through a thrilling quest in a violent ancient world." Some secrets are best left unrevealed323 B.C.King Alexander the Great has died without a clear successor and the citizens of a vast empire wait nervously for what comes next. But Captain Deon has other worries—his family will be sold to slavery if he does not clear his debt soon. Desperate, he accepts a mission from Alexander’s wily Royal Secretary in return for a generous reward. All he has to do is steal a papyrus from the King's funeral procession.A papyrus with a stunning secret that can transform the balance of powers that fight for Alexander’s throne.Plunged into the heart of succession wars and thrust between bloody ambitions of greater men, Deon is forced to embark on a dangerous journey and battle those he fears, to decode the ancient clues before time runs out for his family. But the more he learns, the more he realizes that his decisions will decide the life and death of not only his loved ones but also that of millions of innocents.-------- BONUS: Join the newsletter on the author's website to get a free "History behind the book" that sheds light on some of the interesting events after Alexander's death.