Book picks similar to
The Elusive Heart by Eva Zumwalt
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Set in Stone
Linda Newbery - 2006
His two tutees are as different as can be--younger sister Marianne, full of flightiness and nervous imagination, and Juliana, sensible and controlled. Helped by their governess, Charlotte Agnew, Samuel begins to uncover slowly why Marianne is so emotionally fragile, and in doing so uncovers a web of intrigue. But his discoveries lead to revenge and betrayal--and lives all around are turned upside down. Linda Newbery has written a novel in diary style, combining different voices and a different century with her usual brilliance and ease. These are characters full of the same passions as our own today, while living in an unfamiliar and fascinating time.From the Hardcover edition.
It Walks by Night
John Dickson Carr - 1930
Both doors to the card room had been watched yet the murderer had gone in and out without being seen by anyone . '
Kidnapped In The Nude
John Meany - 2021
Garden in the South Battery
Kathryn Wharton - 2019
Abigail fulfills her lifelong dream of buying a historic home on the infamous Charleston Battery. Yankees - Abigail and Anna skate their way through living in the South by sipping sweet tea and finding they may have a spirit hanging about in the new home. Through trials and tribulations, they deduce that moving to Charleston and being Southern entails more than just buying a piece of real estate. Garden in the South Battery is a semi-autobiographical account of a young girl who grew up a dreamer and a storyteller, she evolves into a woman, who moves to one of the most magical towns in the South. Kathryn Wharton ~ is an author whose extensive travel shines through her novels-transporting the reader to Southern towns including Charleston, S.C. and over the pond to England. Her stories combine Kathryn’s interior design experience, love of historic architecture and mystery. A mother of two daughters Kathryn spins tales of Motherhood sending them lovingly off into the world.
The Devil's Footprints
John Burnside - 2007
Married but rather distant from his wife, he reads in the local paper that a school friend, Moira Birnie, has killed herself and her two sons by setting their car on fire; but she has spared her 14-year-old daughter Hazel. Michael uneasily recalls his past connections to Moira. As teenagers, Michael and Moira had a brief romance, yet more troubling to Michael is the fact that he was responsible for the death of Moira’s brother, the town bully. In the wake of the tragedy, Michael becomes obsessed with Hazel, who is just old enough to be his daughter. Aware of his obsession, Hazel convinces Michael to take her away from the village and her father, an abusive and violent man.Setting his story against the untamed Scottish landscape, John Burnside has written a chilling novel that explores the elemental forces of everyday life: love, fear, grief, and the hope of redemption. In its ability to evoke and exploit our most primal fears, The Devil’s Footprints prompts comparisons to the best of Stephen King. In both language and imagery, it is a novel of mysterious beauty, written with the clarity and power of a folktale.
The Long Masquerade
Madeleine Brent - 1981
She is without pretext and assumes that a bright future awaits her as the bride of the wealthy Oliver Foy. Too soon she discovers that her life is a masquerade and pretense her only salvation. No one is whom he or she appears to be.Brushing against the concealed identities and hidden motives of others, Emma quickly acquires secrets of her own. When murder compels Emma to flee her husband's Jamaican plantation, she and her faithful friend find sanctuary wandering the Caribbean. Tragedy cuts short their ocean idyll and delivers Emma from her sea roamings. Once again, she adopts another name, another home, another appearance.
Class Trip
Bebe Faas Rice - 1993
After a storm destroys their canoes, Angie Parker and her classmates discover they're stranded on isolated Shadow Island. One by one, the kids meet horrible deaths. And soon, only the murderer and the final victim will be left on the island.
Alva & Irva: The Twins Who Saved a City
Edward Carey - 2003
Like the Emerald City, Gondal, and Brobdingnag, only one guidebook to the place exists, and this novel is it. Alva is an explorer who longs to travel the world. Irva is a recluse for whom stepping outside the house is an ordeal. Yet the twins feel each other's emotions, think each other's thoughts, love and hate and suffer as one--they cannot survive without one another. And thereby hangs an inventive tale of creativity, obsession, and genius bred by necessity. Together, the twins build a model of the city on a scale that might accommodate the desires of both sisters and comes to serve Entralla in a way its creators never could have imagined.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Edgar Allan Poe - 2011
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
Beast In View
Margaret Millar - 1955
What starts with a crank call from an old school chum sets the lonely, aloof, financially comfortable Miss Helen Clarvoe on a path as predictable only as madness. Lured from her rooms in a second-rate residential Hollywood hotel, she finds herself stranded in the more perilous terrain of extortion, pornography, vengeance, and ultimately murder.
The Chatelaine
Claire Lorrimer - 1981
Only her father, Willoughby Tetford, a self-made millionaire, was shrewd enough to have any misgivings when his lovely daughter left America. Willow herself, innocent, and deeply in love with her new husband, had complete trust and confidence in the future as she arrived at Victorian England. Willow happiness seemed complete when Lady Clotilde Rochford, the matriarchal French grandmother, handed her the keys of the house and told she was the new Chatelaine, Willow believed she held the keys not only to the multitude of rooms of which she was now the mistress but also to love and happiness. And when On her arrival, she is greeted warmly by her four brothers-in-law: Tony, quiet and studious; Pelham, teasing and flirtatious; the spoilt Francis; and the sensitive Rupert.Gradually disillusion set in as Rowell proved to be cruel, unfaithful and greedy. Willow didn't know her dowry had saved the Rockford family from destitution or that the estate was ruled by the ruthless Grandmere who would stop at nothing to protect the family's reputation. Old Lady Rochford obsessed with past events, of which Willow is ignorant, wreaks fearful havoc on Willow's life. Although bitterly disappointed with her life, Willow maintained her beauty and dignity as the years passed. The only thing she did know was that over the years, another man was touching her heart, a man who represented everything that her husband was not, stiring her sould, and arousing passions she could not deny....
The Witches
Peter Curtis - 1960
But dreams can change into nightmares...When one of her students accuses his friend Ethel's grandmother of abusing her, Miss Mayfield cannot let it go. But Ethel won't say anything, despite the evidence of Miss Mayfield's own eyes. But as she attempts to get to the truth of the matter, she stumbles on something far more sinister. Walwyk seems to be in the grip of a centuries-old evil, and anybody who questions events in the village does not last long.Death stalks more than one victim, and Miss Mayfield begins to realise that if she's not careful, she will be the next to die...
Foxfire
Anya Seton - 1950
Born into luxury, she was pampered, adored, spoiled, and very beautiful. She could have had any man she wanted. Millionaire Tom Merrill had been in love with her for years. But she chose Dart, tall, handsome, mining engineer. He was half-Indian, proud, and very poor. Amanda had no idea what to expect as Dart's wife, an eastern stranger in the bleak little town of Lodestone, Arizona. But she found out soon enough. The people in the town hated her. And she hated the mines.Then one day Amanda saw a chance to get away from all this - a chance to become rich beyond her dreams. The promise of gold which had driven many to madness now enslaved her. And she was willing to risk her life - and Dart's - to gain it.(from the back cover of the 1976 Fawcett edition)
Vivia
Tanith Lee - 1995
Her only solace lies in the secret cave in the bowels of the castle, known only to her and the arcane god whose shrine she believes it is.When plague enters the castle, bringing an orgy of death and destruction, Vivia seeks shelter in this seductive place. Drawn to her innocence and beauty, a presence - Zulgaris - is resurrected who claims her as his own. Wakened to the wonder of the undead, Vivia is granted the secret of eternal life, but she has been betrayed. Her immortality stretches before her like a damnation. Handsome Zulgaris, dark prince, war-leader and alchemist. Is Vivia to be his lover, or his pet? Or, far worse, is she but one more thing to be used in this relentless quest for sorcerous power.
The Blackfoot Trail
Charles G. West - 2009
Now, Joe Fox is forging a new trail?of vengeance!