Now a shadow of its former glory; most of the rooms have been shut up, the garden is overgrown and the whole place feels as unwelcoming as the family themselves.Struggling with the realities of war, Alice is plagued by anonymous letters and haunting visions of her old household. At first, Beth tries to convince her it’s all in her mind but soon starts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the aristocratic family’s past.An evocative and captivating tale, The Secret of Summerhayes tells of dark secrets, almost-forgotten scandals and a household teetering on the edge of ruin.

    Funny, sad, but always shocking, each tale carries a twist that will haunt readers for days after they turn the final page . . .This 25,000 word collection, available exclusively in this ebook edition, includes:12 Bolingbroke Avenue (First published in 1998)Number Thirteen (First published in 2010)Just Two Clicks (First published in 2004)Dead on the Hour (First published in 2006)Virtually Alive (First published in 1997)Meet Me at the Crematorium (First published in 2009)Venice Aphrodisiac (First published in 2011)Time Rich (First published in 2013)Christmas is for the Kids (First published in 1993)

    The perfect man.The perfect life.The only problem is the dead body on the beach.Investigative reporter Ellie has just given up her life in London to be with the man of her dreams in Sweden when she stumbles across a half decomposed skeleton on Midsummer’s eve.She’s flung into a murder investigation in a country where she doesn’t speak the language and doesn’t know a soul.Except Johan.The love of her life.Who she is beginning to suspect knows a lot more about the body than he is admitting.Is he the perfect man, or has Ellie uncovered the perfect crime? A psychological suspense thriller with a twist of Scandi noir - perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Grab your copy now!

    During a surprise visit from Australia, a long-lost aunt lets slip a family secret that unsettles her fragile world.In shock, and feeling betrayed by her whole family, Tessa confides in her ex-husband just as he reveals he has a new woman in his life.Struck unexpectedly by jealousy; balancing her own turmoil against the demands of parenting, Tessa tries to trace her birth father, with devastating results. Yet she fails to see how this is a crucial moment in her children's lives. If she gets things wrong, the consequences could be fatal.This ebook edition contains extra book club discussion questions penned by the author.

    Heartbroken, Aimée tries to find him, but Henri doesn’t want to be found—and only one member of the family knows why.As Aimée seeks refuge in the art world, mentored by the Impressionist Édouard Manet, she unwittingly finds her way back to Henri. With so many years gone by and secrets buried, their eventual reunion unmasks the lies that once held the family together, but now threaten to tear them apart.A rich and opulent saga, Girl in the Afternoon brings the Impressionists to life in this portrait of scandal, fortune, and unrequited love.

    25,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo.

    The countryside is a welcome change from the trauma they know back home in the city; a chance to make the world a joyful playground again. But in the shadowy woods at the edge of the forest hide secrets that will bring their innocence to a distressing end and make this a summer they will never forget.There was a dark, dark houseYears later, a shocking act of violence sends Joanna back to Witchwood. In her great aunt's lonely and dilapidating cottage, she will attempt to unearth the secrets of that terrifying summer and come to terms with the haunting effects it has left on her life. But in her quest to find answers, who can she trust? And will she be able to survive the impending danger from those trying to bury the truth?

    Perfect for fans of Santa Montefiore and Dinah Jeffries Love. War. Family. Betrayal.Italy, 1937. Alessandra Durante is grieving the loss of her husband when she discovers she has inherited her ancestral family seat, Villa Durante, deep in the Tuscan Hills. Longing for a new start, she moves from her home in London to Italy with her daughter Diana and sets about rebuilding her life. Under the threat of war, Alessandra's house becomes first a home and then a shelter to all those who need it. Then Davide, a young man who is hiding the truth about who he is, arrives, and Diana starts to find her heart going where her head knows it must not.Back home in Britain as war breaks out, Alessandra's son Robert, signs up to be a pilot, determined to play his part in freeing Italy from the grip of Fascism. His bravery marks him out as an asset to the Allies, and soon he is being sent deep undercover and further into danger than ever before. As war rages, the Durante family will love and lose, but will they survive the war...?

    . . Summer 1935. Best friends Kate Shelton, Ella Tetley and Daphne St. Maur are on the cusp of a new life, having graduated with Classics degrees. Kate is desperate to start work on an archaeological dig straightaway and she is thrilled to be given a position at the famous Knossos palace site in Crete. However, she doesn't bargain for working with gruff site director Lewis Sinclair - nor for her own complex feelings towards him.In Yorkshire, Ella's family expect her to marry Sam, her steady friend who is training to be a doctor, but Ella too feels pulled to the Mediterranean by the promise of freedom. When she meets Christos, life as a country GP's wife seems even less appealing . . . Daphne however throws herself into London's high society, falling madly in love with diplomat and heir Sholto Hertford - but then his work brings them to Crete, and Daphne becomes enchanted by the island as well.Meanwhile, the threat of war rumbles on, as reports of Hitler's rapid expansion across Europe become impossible to ignore. It seems that nothing can touch the perfect, glittering sea and snow-capped mountains, but Kate, Ella and Daphne know that the island haven they now call home will never be the same again.

    It is the winter of 1975 in Northern Ireland and the Troubles are at their darkest hour. Casey Riordan is missing and Jamie Kirkpatrick has just returned home from two years in a Russian gulag. Desperate to find her missing husband, Pamela Riordan makes a devil’s bargain with the one man she believes can help her, forming an alliance which will have grave consequences for her and those she loves. For Pamela and her family, caught in the quagmire of eight hundred years’ worth of hate and betrayal, compromise, both that of body and soul—is inevitable. All of them face an uncertain future in Northern Ireland—a country of shadows, where nothing is as it seems and the slightest misstep can have deadly consequences. Shimmering historical detail and masterful storytelling combine in a tale which sweeps us across continents and seas from the bloody events of the Troubles to the rough streets of post-Vietnam San Francisco, and make this fourth book a journey of both turbulent intensity and heartbreaking choices.

    Nine young nuns, intoxicated by Luther's subversive writings, became restless and longed to leave their convent. On Good Friday 1523 a haulier smuggled them out hidden in empty herring barrels. Five of them settled in Wittenberg, the very eye of the storm, and one of them - Katharina von Bora - scandalised the world by marrying the revolutionary former monk. Following a near miscarriage, she is confined to her bed to await the birth of their first child; during this time, she sets down her own story. Against a backdrop of 16th Century Europe this vivid account of Katharina von Bora's early life brings to the spotlight this spirited and courageous woman.

    This is his chance to resurrect his career and discover what really happened eleven years ago, when Nicholas Todd kicked off his tri-state rampage by stabbing twelve-year-old Lola’s parents to death. At the time, Lola claimed Todd was a stranger who’d broken into her house and kidnapped her. Todd, however, insisted that he and Lola had a forbidden love affair, and that Lola begged him to murder her parents so they could be together.Now, Lola’s all grown up—brash, sure of herself, and unsettlingly alluring. Though she says she wants to open up about her past, she makes Sam work for every piece of information he gets. Nothing makes sense. He doesn't know if she helped kill her parents. He doesn't even understand why she wants him to write this book.But then Nicholas Todd escapes from jail and wants revenge against Lola. Still unsure about her involvement in her parents' murders, Sam must determine whether he faces a bigger threat from the killer outside or the woman standing next to him.

    She waited and watched by moonlight, as she had promised …” When her life in London falls apart, Elodie Bright returns to Suffolk and to Hartsford Hall, the home of her childhood friend Alexander Aldrich, now the Earl of Hartsford. There, she throws herself into helping Alex bring a new lease of life to the old house and its grounds. After a freak storm damages the Hall chapel and destroys the tomb of Georgiana Kerridge, one of Alex’s eighteenth-century relatives, Elodie and Alex find a reconnection in the shocking discovery brought to light by the damaged tomb. Through a series of strange flashbacks and uncanny incidents, they begin to piece together Georgiana’s secret past involving a highwayman, a sister’s betrayal and a forbidden love so strong that it echoes through the ages …

    Grace had already scraped away accumulated dirt and grime to reveal a crudely chiselled out initial, name and date. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Amelia read the inscription.”When their parents died, Amelia and Grace Farrell believed they had no other family. Then out of the blue a letter arrives informing them they have inherited a cottage from their paternal grandfather. Amelia and Grace move into the cottage and make Woodbury their home, but when Grace finds a headstone in the garden, they are plunged straight into an age-old mystery.Infatuated with the handsome vicar, Amelia looks to him for help, and Grace wants to know if he has any gravestones missing. But it is an elderly aunt, and an old diary which hold the answers to secrets long buried. Grace decides to look into their past for the truth, but someone is determined to stop her. Unknowingly, Grace puts both their lives in danger and they realise they must face the consequences so that the dead can be laid to rest at last.1911-1928:When the wrong twin, Laurence Deverell, is brutally murdered, John Farrell does his best to cover up the crime, trying only to protect his wife and daughter. Seventeen years later when history is about to repeat itself, the murderer strikes again, and this time, they make no mistakes.

    An active table of contents makes it easy to navigate the book and find the work you are looking for. Works include: American Notes for General Circulation/Barnaby Rudge/The Battle of Life/Bleak House/A Budget of Christmas Tales/Captain Boldheart & the Latin-Grammar Master/A Child's History of England/The Chimes/A Christmas Carol/Contributions to All the Year Round/The Cricket on the Hearth/David Copperfield/Doctor Marigold/Dombey and Son/George Silverman's Explanation/Going into Society/Great Expectations/Hard Times/The Haunted Man and the Ghost's BargainHoliday RomanceThe Holly-Tree/Hunted Down/The Lamplighter/Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices/Letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 1/Letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 2/Letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 3/The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit/The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby/Little Dorrit/The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman/The Magic Fishbone/Master Humphrey's Clock/A Message from the Sea/Miscellaneous Papers/Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy/Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings/Mudfog and Other Sketches/Mugby Junction/The Mystery of Edwin Drood/No Thoroughfare/The Old Curiosity Shop/Oliver Twist/Our Mutual Friend/The Perils of Certain English Prisoners/The Pickwick Papers/Pictures from Italy/Reprinted Pieces/The Seven Poor Travelers/Sketches by Boz/Sketches of Young Couples/Sketches of Young Gentlemen/Somebody's Luggage/Some Christmas Stories/Speeches: Literary and Social/Sunday Under Three Heads/A Tale of Two Cities/Tales from Dickens/Three Ghost Stories/To Be Read At Dusk/Tom Tiddler's Ground/The Uncommercial Traveller/The Wreck of the Golden Mary