Victorian Society

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Venetia Milton's memories of a romantic night with Gabriel Jones—an alchemist's descendant—are shattered soon thereafter by news of his death. Adopting the guise of his respectable widow, she embarks on a new career as a fashionable photographer in London, where her unique ability to "see" beyond her subjects makes her photographs highly prized. But Venetia's romantic whim causes unexpected trouble.

This collector’s anthology compiles all the penny dreadful short stories from Sarah M. Eden’s five-book Victorian romance series. Included in this edition are three new never-before-released stories. Each short story is written in the style of the Victorian fiction that became so popular during that time period. From ghost stories to adventures to mysteries, Sarah weaves these gothic tales among her romantic storylines, making it the perfect way to celebrate the Dread Penny Society series.

Persephone Blackwell prefers digging in the dirt for old bones and secret treasure to anything Society might have to offer. When her godfather, the Duke of Pendleton, decides to host a Festival of Antiquaries, she jumps at the chance to take part—especially since it's the best way to save her oldest friend, Henry Talbot, who is being framed for treason. She has not yet found the evidence that he has sent home hidden inside Egyptian forgeries—but she does find something else: Conall Hunter, the Earl of Northwyck.

When the genteelly born, impoverished Frankie Turner's impulsive younger sister goes missing, Frankie has no idea where to begin the search to find her. But when she discovers hasty marriages materializing between “troublemaking” women and men who don’t deserve them, she knows her sister is somehow involved. The only thread connecting the groomsmen is a membership to Rockford’s, an exclusive gambling hell owned by the devilish Jasper Jones. And it just so happens that Jasper has recently become the guardian of a sullen fifteen-year-old.

Attempting to recover a relic stolen from her family years ago, gifted crystal worker Leona Hewitt secretly makes her way into Lord Delbridge's private museum. But who she finds there is more entrancing than the crystal she seeks. Thaddeus Ware is a mesmerist with powerful psychic energy—that doesn't seem to be affecting the woman before him. Instead, Leona seems to exert a rather hypnotic power over the hypnotist himself. After she gives him the slip, absconding with the crystal they recovered, Thaddeus fears for her safety.

Really, it's too much to expect any normal man to behave like a staid accountant in order to inherit the fortune he deserves to support the lifestyle of an earl. So when Derek Saunders's favorite elderly aunt and her ill-conceived - and possibly fraudulent - Lady Travelers Society loses one of their members, what's a man to do but step up to the challenge? Now he's escorting the world's most maddening woman to the world's most romantic city to find her missing relative.

London, 1866. Móirín Donnelly has spent the last five years working in the shadows for the Dread Penny Society, a secret fraternity of penny dreadful authors who use their profits, influence, and street smarts to protect the poor and vulnerable of Victorian London. But spending so much of her life in secret is taking its toll on her soul—and her heart. When members of the Dread Penny Society begin disappearing, Móirín turns to her friend Detective Constable Fitzgerald Parkington for help.

When her overprotective family tries to curtail her activities, spirited debutante Fiona Garrity decides marriage is her surest way to freedom. All she needs is an accommodating—and preferably not too perceptive—husband with his own hobbies so that he will not interfere with hers. Destiny puts her into the path of a scholarly earl. He would be the perfect candidate…if only his gray eyes were not so magnetic, and his virile nearness didn’t affect her in such a stimulating manner….

Spirited debutante Lady Olivia McLeod, cherished daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Strathaven, has two interests: solving mysteries and winning the love of her rescuer and secret crush, the infamous Duke of Hadleigh. When Livy joins Lady Charlotte Fayne's charity for young ladies and discovers that it is a front for a covert investigative agency, she is thrilled. Livy dedicates herself to solving a deadly case. Little does she realize that the path to danger will also lead to her heart's deepest desire.

Dr. Barnabus Milligan has always felt called to help people, whether that means setting a broken bone or rescuing the impoverished women of London from their desperate lives on the streets, as part of his work with the Dread Penny Society. Three years ago, he helped rescue Gemma Kincaid by secretly marrying her to protect her from her family of notorious grave robbers. But six months after Gemma and Barnabus exchanged vows, she realized her love for her new husband was unrequited. To protect her heart, she left.

The Bronx, 1891. Virginia Loftin, the boldest of four artistic sisters in a family living in genteel poverty, knows what she wants most: to become a celebrated novelist despite her gender and to marry Charlie, the boy next door and her first love. When Charlie proposes instead to a woman from a wealthy family, Ginny is devastated; shutting out her family, she holes up and turns their story into fiction, obsessively rewriting a better ending.

The daughter of a half-Chinese duke and a lady fossil hunter, Lady Glory Cavendish is a free-spirited campaigner for justice. She belongs to a secret society of lady detectives whose goal is to help women in need. During her latest case involving a dastardly dognapping, Glory crosses paths with the handsome and mysterious Wei Chen, a master of fighting and healing arts. Fascinated by the noble shifu, Glory convinces him to take her on as a pupil; the more time she spends with him, however, the more she longs for lessons of a more intimate nature.

Ladies of London’s High Society are known for their social graces and poise. Vivian Kirby boasts neither of these enviable qualities, though she does offer impressive conversation on chemical compositions. Unfortunately, it appears that not many men want a brilliant wife. So it is that Vivian finds kinship with a group of young women who embrace each other’s differences: The Blue Orchid Society.

Cecilia Bassingwaite belongs to a very prestigious circle of women: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels. Yet this is no ordinary Victorian lady's society—as it's full of pirates, thieves and ne'er-do-wells. These women spend their days pickpocketing and blackmailing their way around the country all before it's time to sit down for tea. But when Cecilia meets Ned Lightbourne her world is set to change forever. Because he's a paid assassin and she's his next hit.

For years, Elizabeth Miller has dreamed of opening a school for underprivileged girls in London’s East End. But despite her best efforts, she soon discovers that the cost of running the fledgling school may spell disaster for the endeavor. In desperation she turns to the one man she’d rather avoid: Lord Charles Chatsworth, a rich and carefree flirt whose scandalous reputation she despises.

When former lovers Hawker and Mrs. Peabody are paired on a spy mission over the holidays, the pair battle a deadly enemy…and a desire that neither can deny. As they surrender to passion, secrets emerge that could destroy their chance at happiness. Can they work together to vanquish their foes and win the love of a lifetime?

A lady should never be obliged to think of matters financial! But when Lady Wilhelmina Bascombe's carefree, extravagant lifestyle vanishes with the demise of her husband, her only hope lies in retrieving a family treasure - a Renaissance masterpiece currently in the hands of a cunning art collector in Venice. Thankfully, the Lady Travelers Society has orchestrated a clever plan to get Willie to Europe, leading a tour of mothers and daughters...and one curiously attentive man.

When Queen Victoria stepped onto the throne of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837, gone were the days when the monarch had supreme authority over the kingdom. Victoria ruled at the head of a government with which she was meant to converse, debate, and ultimately guide, and it was a job she sometimes struggled to perform. Victoria described herself as an emotional creature and blamed her gender for what she believed were her shortcomings as a monarch.

Daniel's voice trembles as he races beside the carriage, his eyes locked on Charity's. "Do you love me, Miss Charity? Because I am utterly in love with you. I want you to be my wife, to be by my side, to walk this life with me." In the heart of London's high society, Charity serves Lady Musgrave, secretly longing for the unattainable Duke Daniel Musgrave. Their worlds collide when forbidden emotions bloom, leading to a thrilling pursuit of love and happiness. "Duty and Desire: Love and Rebellion in High Society" unveils a riveting tale of romance that defies social norms. Will love conquer ...