Tsar Nicholas never wanted to be Tsar, was never trained to be Tsar, and indeed proved to be catastrophically inept in the role. Empress Alexandra was stunningly beautiful but socially and physically clumsy to the point of being repellent to her mother-in-law, Dowager-Empress Marie, most of the Russian court, and therefore by extension to the Russian people at large.When King George V of Britain heard of the executions, he remarked that, as they regarded Nicholas and Alexandra, they were probably for the best, but the children's deaths were truly tragic. The British Ambassador to France, Lord Bertie, reported that seasoned diplomatic observers considered Nicholas to have been criminally weak and Alexandra to have been criminally insane.So what is the truth, and what was the truth as Empress Alexandra saw it? Pulling together what is known about Empress Alexandra and her family, and indeed much that is little known, in the 'Autobiography of Empress Alexandra' series Kathleen McKenna Hewtson is placing the reader in Empress Alexandra's shoes and behind her eyes from the moment she first met the heir to the Russian throne, Nicholas Romanov, when she was twelve, to the early morning that she and all five of their children died violently at his side.All six volumes are (planned) as follows:1. 'The Funeral Bride' 1884-1894 - published November 20152. 'The Empress of Tears' 1895-1904 - published March 20163. 'The Shaken Throne' 1904-1907 - published July 20164. 'The Pride of Eagles' 1907-1913 - published May 20175. 'No Greater Crown' 1914-1917 - published September 20186. ' The Far Kingdom' 1917 - 1918 - to be published Spring 2020

    O’Malley, especially when you have seven children and are forced to live in one of the crowded neighborhoods South of Market. Late one night, as she sat at the window of her crowded flat, sewing and worrying, she noticed something strange going on across the street. Her decision to investigate will have unexpected consequences. Mrs. O’Malley’s Midnight Mystery is a short story in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, and it comes right after the short story, Dandy’s Discovery, and before Lethal Remedies, the seventh novel in the series.

    However, everything is not as it seems, and Sugar finds herself stuck in England for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, she’s also been offered a job. Unfortunately, that job means going undercover to solve a series of thefts at manor houses in Devon, England. Determined to prove her worth, Sugar sets out to find the thief amongst the glittering houseguests, and instead stumbles across a murder victim. With the dubious help of a grumpy corgi and a handsome Englishman, she’s on the hunt for a cold-blooded killer. From the author of the popular Lady Rample Mysteries comes the first book in the Sugar Martin Vintage Cozy Mysteries set in post-WW2 London.

    Domestic service had never been an intended career for Dory, but a plea from family could never be ignored, even, as it turns out, when her predecessor had been murdered in the very house Dory now worked. A stranger was blamed for the death, and Lord and Lady Wallisford and their grown children were not giving Detective Inspector Ridley from the Met an easy time to investigate alternative theories. No strangers had been seen in the district and Dory, with her position in the house, is increasingly drawn in the help.

    Their neighbours prove a mixed bag, including the towering, kindly Jed Armstrong, a farmer whose land 'marches with' theirs, the local vicar and his family, and the three gossipy Pringle sisters, who travel by donkey-drawn cart and get their knives into one and all. After a bumpy start, with a disagreeable cook and her nincompoop daughter as their only help, Susan and Oliver begin to settle in nicely, and find themselves in the midst of romance, confusion, and earthy hilarity.Molly Clavering was for many years the neighbour and friend of bestselling author D.E. Stevenson, and they may well have influenced one another's writing. First published in 1936 (under the pseudonym B. Mollett) and out of print for more than 80 years, Susan Settles Down is one of her most cheerful and vivid romantic comedies. This new edition features an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.

    This is one of those books. It's the story of a boy growing up in a lost time in an idyllic place—rural Virginia of the late 1940s. Charlie Lewis is the only child of city people who, after the war, choose to live at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains on a "gentleman's farm" near Charlottesville. Six years old when his family settles in the renovated corn crib on old Professor Jame's place, Charlie grows up in his personal version of heaven. His innocence is, of course, lost in the process. And so is his version of heaven. But, as the old saying goes, still waters run deep, and Charlie runs deep, with a natural (almost supernatural) affinity for the land and its animals. For knowledge , he instinctively turns to a group of older black men, some of whom work the farm, others who are neighbors. Jim Crow laws and "the curse left on the land by slavery"—as old Professor James puts it—are still very much in evidence. Even so, Charlie's passions endear him to these men. They understand that he is lonely even if he does not. They watch out for him. And more—they love him. Winter Run is a story that lets us escape for a moment our own noisy and complicated contemporary lives. Like The Red Pony, like Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, it takes us back to the joys of childhood's unrestricted enthusiasm and curiosity.

    But war is on its way . . . London, 1938. Hanna and Jack Foster had been sent to an orphanage when their parents were killed in a train crash, but were separated when a couple adopted Jack. Bullied and treated like a slave, it soon became clear it was a dreadful mistake. In desperation, Jack takes his future into his own hands and runs away to join the merchant navy, while Hanna takes a job looking after two children. For a time, life seems good, but war is looming and threatens to take away everything Hanna holds dear . . .

    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.

    Crete, present day. A woman anxiously awaits the arrival of someone who could change her life for ever…Lancashire, the 1950s. Three young girls make their way in a brave new post-war world. But can they escape the trappings of the past?Bookworm Connie dreams of university. Brought up on myths about her mysterious father, her life is turned upside down when she accidentally discovers the truth about him.Former ugly duckling Joy is determined to snare a man now she's finally a swan. Winning the "Miss Mercury" competition she bowls over local heart-throb Denny Gregson. But she quickly finds he's not all he seems…Convent-educated Rosa is a born rebel, desperate to flee the strict nuns for a life on the stage. But sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for…As all three girls face heartbreak and tragedy, can they learn from the mistakes of their mothers? Or will history repeat itself?For everyone who loves Maureen Lee and Maeve Binchy, this emotionally charged tale of that most special relationship of all will capture your heart.

    With an insomniac mother and a demolitions-expert father, her entire family is what the residents of her small town would call "a bunch of crackpots." Despite the dramas of her upbringing, Ruby matures into a creative, introspective, and wholly beguiling woman. But her adulthood is marked by complex relationships and romantic missteps -- three unsuitable marriages, dramatic crushes, the complicated love between siblings. As Sara Pritchard deftly guides us through Ruby's story, from the present to the past and back again, a portrait of a remarkably resilient woman emerges. Suffused with humor and melancholy, imagination and insight, Crackpots heralds the debut of a skilled and sensitive storyteller.

    Maman is beautiful and adored. Dada, silent and small, mooches contendedly around the stables. Aunt Tossie, of the giant heart and bosom, is widowed but looks splendid in weeds. The butler, the groom, the landsteward, the maids, the men - each as a place and knows it. Then, astonishingly, the perfect surface is shattered; Maman does something too dreadful ever to be spoken of.'What next? Who to love?' asks Nicaranda. And through her growing up and marriage her answer is to swamp those around her with kindness - while gradually the great house crumbles under a weight of manners and misunderstanding.

    

    No one forced her to do so. Yet she was compelled to this act by an irresistible force, drawing her on...Godgyfu of Mercia was a real woman, living in one of the most tumultuous and dangerous times in England's history. Born into wealth and privilege, she would die the year following the Battle of Hastings, and all her vast holdings be forfeit to the new Norman conquering king. Yet she did something which was never forgotten.Here is Ride, Godiva's own story, imagined by the author of the beloved Circle of Ceridwen Saga.

    Of his most recent novel, "The Rest of the Earth," Annie Proulx remarked that "Henderson writes some of the most evocative and transcendently beautiful prose in contemporary American literature." Set primarily in Wyoming, Henderson's new novel is the chronicle of six generations of a family, viewed through the lens of one woman's very long life. Augusta "Gussie" Locke is born in Minnesota in 1903. As a teenager she moves west with her mother to Colorado and then runs away from home. A one-night stand with a traveling soldier leaves her pregnant, and with her daughter, Anne, she eventually finds a life in Wyoming running supplies to oil and mineral crews in the Great Basin Divide. Through the years, Gussie keeps moving, abandoning people and places, being abandoned herself; Anne runs away just as her mother had, never to be seen again. Settling in the Wind River Range, Augusta, alone again, builds a new life until, years later, her grandson and great-granddaughter seek to discover the woman behind the family myth. Spanning the twentieth century, Augusta's extraordinary trials and tribulations play out themes of love and loss, redemption and reconciliation. Redolent with myth, humor, strange landscapes, and stark reality, "Augusta Locke" is an indelible portrait of a woman who through great spirit and toughness of character blazes her own trail.

    Mr Drew's religious fervor holds a dark secret; Jim, the eldest son, is terrified of something from his past; Delia longs to escape from the island and tall, handsome Matthew wants only one thing - Rosa herself. Rosa's background is one of mystery, but Mr Drew knows the secret of Rosa's past - and so do the two mysterious Irishmen who come back to the island after many years to threaten everything Rosa holds dear...