Showing results by narrator "Lucy Rayner" in All Categories

A woman in the British Horticultural Society! The very idea horrifies everyone, including ardent horticulturalist Lavinia Harlow, whose own name has been put forth for membership by the provoking Marquess of Huntly. He does it as a joke, of course, to get back at her for an imagined slight - well, to be fair, she had insulted his writing -and Vinnie, older sister to the infamous Harlow Hoyden, is far too sensible to rise to his ridiculous challenge. Determined to head off further scandal, Vinnie dashes off a polite note refusing the honor - which she has every intention of sending.

The International bestselling author of Somewhere in France returns with her sweeping second novel—a tale of class, love, and freedom—in which a young woman must find her place in a world forever changed. After four years as a military nurse, Charlotte Brown is ready to leave behind the...

No, no, no! It doesn't matter how many times the Duchess of Trent (The Harlow Hoyden) requests her help with a delicate matter regarding a patent for her sister's invention, Tuppence Templeton will not lend a hand. She has a habit, yes, of coming up with ingenious plans to solve other people's problems, and it is true that she's clever and daring enough to pull off the proposed scheme. But there's no way she's going to confront the arrogant and dismissive Earl of Gage again.

When a young nurse dies on her watch, Florence Nightingale must uncover the deep-hidden secrets someone will kill to keep buried. It is 1853. Lady of the Lamp Florence Nightingale has just accepted the position of superintendent of the Establishment for Gentlewomen during Temporary Illness in London. She has hardly had time to learn the names of the nurses in her charge when she suddenly finds one of them hanging in the establishment's library. Her name was Nurse Bellamy.

Anwyn's family has always assumed that she'd follow in the footsteps of her illustrious mother and uncle as a diplomat and eventual head of state. But Anwyn is an impulsive rule-breaker, and she's made other plans: getting off her home planet and seeing the galaxy after training as a starship pilot.

Etta's happy with her simple life in the mill, but when her aunt passes and leaves her a very peculiar cat, everything goes awry. Now, determined to find her place in the world, Etta's learning to hunt, having audiences with a king, and falling for a man who's keeping something from her. Beau's happy at sea until his father passes and leaves him with an odd last request. Now he's setting up shop in a small town, searching for ogres, and, inconveniently, falling for the miller's sister - who just happens to be taken with someone else. 

Alexandra Hayden, the current guardian of Nimway Hall, is badly in need of funding to repair the crumbling estate. American Robert Curtis has just arrived to take possession of the estate next to Nimway and his newly inherited title Viscount Brynmore. Alexandra needs money, and Robert could use a well-connected wife. Marriage would benefit both of them. But each has been having romantic dreams about the other, and a marriage of convenience could turn out to be anything but. And even on an estate filled with magic, it’s not always easy to recognize love is the greatest magic of all.

The London summer of 1854 is drawing to a close when a deadly outbreak of cholera grips the city. Florence Nightingale is back on the scene marshaling her nurses to help treat countless suffering patients at Middlesex Hospital as the disease tears through the Soho slums. But beyond the dangers of the disease, something even more evil is seeping through the ailing streets of London. It begins with an attack on the carriage of Florence's friend, Elizabeth Herbert, wife of Secretary at War Sidney Herbert. Elizabeth survives, but her coachman does not.

Kate and Cecy and their new husbands, Thomas and James, are off on a Grand Tour. Their plans? To leisurely travel about the Continent, take in a few antiquities, and - of course - purchase fabulous Parisian wardrobes. But once they arrive in France, mysterious things start to happen. Cecy receives a package containing a lost coronation treasure, Thomas's valet is assaulted, and Kate loses a glove. Soon it becomes clear that they have stumbled upon a dastardly, magical plot to take over Europe.

England 1802: Lady Leonora, daughter to the Earl of Whickerton, longs to understand...the world in its entirety, particularly, human nature. Always observing those around her, Leonora finds herself utterly fascinated by what people say and do, by how their eyes reflect what is in their hearts and how each and every emotion can be read upon another's face.

Jacqueline Tregarth, lady and guardian of Nimway Hall, is devoted to protecting her people, the Hall, the estate’s wood, and its farms. She yearns for a husband to help her meet the challenges, but all those seeking her hand are interested only in controlling her lands. With the estate’s stream running dry and summer looming, she sets men digging to reopen an old spring. Her workers discover a dirt-encrusted ornament buried at the spot; once removed, water flows and fills the old lake - and Jacqueline realizes the ornament is some kind of ancient orb.

Orla has always been the sidekick, never the hero. Until, that is, she secures a funded place at an elite drama course and puts her own dreams first for once in her life. Suddenly, Orla is center-stage and loving it! But the drama crowd are experienced performers and their parents have shelled out a fortune for them to be on the course. Orla can't help but feel left out—she has to earn her pocket money and her responsibilities at home can't just be ignored.

A Determined Highlander . . . Duncan MacConnoway, son of a powerful thane and used to getting his way in life, is desperate to wed the woman of his dreams. Her uncle, the wily Earl of Lochlann, demands that he fulfill three tasks that even Hercules would struggle to finish. Their love is all that lights his way through this dark labyrinth, that if only he can hang onto it long enough . . .  The wise woman . . . Alina du Mas can see things that no one else believes, so she usually keeps her secrets to herself.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES This gripping novel examines the life of one of Disney’s cruelest villains: the Evil Queen. Queen. She should be happy, but something about the mirror she was holding filled her with a horrid sense of dread that she could not account for… For anyone...

When an ominous warning spreads across the nation about a catastrophic solar storm, panic ignites. Within days, everything that depends on power will be gone. Lily has already lost once. Haunted by anxiety and tragedy, she’s barely holding her life together when the announcement hits. Her son, Alex, is miles away from home on a school trip—and as the countdown to impact begins, she faces an impossible journey through a country descending into chaos.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES This darkly captivating novel reveals the madness behind one of Disney’s most dangerous villains: the Queen of Hearts. She missed the days of wonder. But those days were long past. All that remained was the anger. You may think you know the story of the...

This audiobook presents a fundamental reinterpretation of changes to crime control in the age of the new police. It breaks new ground by providing a highly detailed, empirical analysis of everyday crime control in Victorian provincial cities - revealing the tremendous activity that ordinary people displayed in responding to crime - alongside a rich survey of police organization and policing in practice. 

Earning the nickname Lady Agony was no minor achievement for Lady Agatha Bolingbroke. It required a great deal of effort to make herself so disagreeable, but she did it for a good cause: The fewer invitations she received, the more time she had to paint. Her mother, refusing to accept an unpopular daughter - or, worse, a talented one - insists on dragging her to every event of the season. To thwart her parents and to vent her frustration, Agatha creates a wicked alter ego: a caricaturist whose mocking illustrations take ruthless aim at the ridiculousness of the ton.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES This haunting novel reveals the dark ambition of one of Disney’s most cunning villains: Ursula, the sea witch. Hate. Her magic was infused with it. And in that hate was a deep, penetrating sorrow… The tale of the sea king's daughter Ariel is a beloved...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES This audiobook collection includes the first three books in Serena Valentino’s Villains series. Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen Why exactly is the Evil Queen so nasty, particularly to Snow White? Perhaps it has something to do with the...