Showing results by narrator "Heather Wilds" in All Categories

As her brother and sister prepare to make their Society debut, Kat Thistlewait vows to sit on the sidelines like a proper young lady. Fate has other plans, though, and when Kat tries to save her mischievous twin she lands herself in a compromising position with battle-scarred and world-weary French nobleman Jules Devereaux. Knowing that no lady of quality would ever overlook his imperfections, Jules agrees to marry Kat in order to save what little reputation she has left.

Franz Xaver von Schönwerth traversed Northern Bavaria to record fairy tales, gaining the admiration of even the Brothers Grimm. Most of Schönwerth's work was lost until a few years ago. Now, for the first time, Schönwerth's lost fairy tales are available in English. Violent, dark, and full of action, and upending the relationship between damsels in distress and their dragon-slaying heroes, these more than 70 stories bring us closer than ever to the unadorned oral tradition in which fairy tales are rooted, revolutionizing our understanding of a hallowed genre.

Miss Prudence Canton loves her quiet life in the country, caring for her ailing father and their beloved horses. She's become adept at fending off the advances of gentlemen until a bold stranger named Lord Woodleigh makes a visit to the stables. For a brief moment lust takes over, but Prudence's father, and his gun, find them before things get out of hand. Now, in order to pay for those stolen kisses, Lord Woodleigh is forced to find a husband for the woman whose reputation he himself nearly ruined.

Beautiful Mutants, Deborah Levy's surreal first novel, introduces a manipulative and magical Russian exile who summons forth a series of grotesques - among them the Poet, the Banker, and the Anorexic Anarchist. Levy explores the anxieties that pervaded the 1980s: exile and emigration, broken dreams, crazed greed and the first seeds of the global financial crisis, self-destructive desires, and the disintegration of culture. It is a feverish allegory written in prose so beautiful and acrobatic that it could only come from a poet.

It’s 1661 in Paris, and magicians thrill nobles with enchanting illusions. Exiled in France, 17-year-old Henriette of England wishes she could use her magic to gain entry at court. Instead, her plan is to hide her magical talents, and accept an arranged marriage to the French king’s younger brother. Henriette soon realizes her fiancé prefers the company of young men to hers, but court magicians turn up killed by a mysterious sorcerer who uses forbidden magic and an accident forces Henriette to reveal her uniquely powerful gift for enchantments to Louis, he asks for her help.

Spain, 1639. When Len de Montemayor’s family is killed, she thinks her life is over until an aristocratic family rescues her. Len finds a soul mate in their son, Piers, and as they grow up together, their friendship becomes a love so intense that it comes with a promise: it will last forever. But with the outbreak of civil war, a dutiful Piers knows his fate is with the Royal Navy, leaving Len waving from the shore as he sails toward an uncertain future.

Lucy Hall arrives in the Seychelles determined to leave her worries behind. The tropical paradise looks sun-soaked and picture-perfect - but as Lucy soon discovers, appearances can be very deceptive. A deadly secret lurks in the island's history, buried deep but not forgotten. And it is about to come to light. As black clouds begin to gather over what promised to be a relaxing family break, Lucy realises that her father stands in the eye of the coming storm.

Unlike all the debutantes she knows, 18-year-old Vita couldn't care less about her coming out ball. Trapped in her gloomy country estate, all she wants is to spend the summer dancing to jazzy numbers in East End clubs with her best friend Izzy. Freshly returned from a year abroad, Izzy is ready for the thrill of the London Season, with its endless whirl of balls, shopping sprees, and horse races. Most importantly, she's counting on Vita to help her find the rich and handsome husband every high-society girl deserves.

The KGB decides to use agent Otto Reimann to seduce Elke Meyer, the personal assistant to a top West German Cabinet member, to give over classified information, but Moscow does not count on the unpredictability of love.

In fifteenth-century Italy, Paolo Uccello recognizes the artistic talent of his young daughter, Antonia, and teaches her how to create a masterpiece. The girl composes a painting of her mother and inadvertently sparks an enduring mystery. In the present day, a copyist painter receives a commission from a wealthy Chinese businessman to duplicate a Paolo Uccello painting. Together, the painter and his teenage daughter visit China, and in doing so they begin their escape from a tragic family past.

Our culture has made it a badge of honor to be stressed, frazzled, running on empty - but Wasmund is on a mission to change that. Her audiobook is for everyone who runs from task to task, trying to be all things to all people, never feeling like they have the time or energy to give anything their full attention. She shows that when we embrace a less is more attitude, we can appreciate all the good things we already have and find the courage to prune the nonessentials.

It’s been nearly a year since Janet’s husband, Hank, died of a terrible illness. Though she thought she would never love again, John Sheridan proved her wrong. Like Janet, he works in government, analyzing files for the State Department. They fall in love shortly after meeting at a party, and it isn’t long before Janet, finally ready to leave Hank in the past, agrees to marriage.

A. L. Kennedy's riveting new story collection is a luscious feast of language that encompasses real estate and forlorn pets, adolescents and 60-somethings, weekly liaisons and obsessive affairs, "certain types of threat and the odder edges of sweet things". The women and men in these 12 stories search for love, solace, and a clear glimpse of what their lives have become. Anything can set them off thinking - the sad homogeneity of hotel breakfasts, a sex shop operated under Canadian values (whatever those are), or an army of joggers dressed as Santa.

From the moment her pet pig attacks him, Adeline Foster knows she does not care at all for the Duke of Warwick. Certainly the man is handsome, but such an arrogant arse. But when her scoundrel half-brother demands she marry a stranger over a failed investment, the duke does something shocking . . . he announces he's courting her.

Pronounced by the most eminent physician of the day to be "a true hybrid wherein the nature of woman presides over that of the brute", Julia Pastrana stood apart from the other carnival acts. She was fluent in English, French, and Spanish, an accomplished musician with an exquisite singing voice, and equally at ease riding horseback and turning pirouettes - but all anyone noticed was her utterly unusual face.

On August 16, 1661, Leonora Christine Ulfeldt, daughter of King Christian IV and half-sister of the reigning king, Frederik III, is arrested and brought to the Tower on unspecified charges. Unwilling to offer potentially incriminating information about herself and her husband, Corfitz Ulfeldt, Leonora eventually forces the team of high-ranking men sent for questioning to reveal the grounds on which she is held captive: She is suspected of complicity in her husband's acts of high treason against the Danish crown.

An ordinary girl faces an extraordinary choice in this gripping, coming-of-age tale of secrets and courage set in Nazi Germany, perfect for fans of The Book Thief and Beneath a Scarlet Sky. Munich, 1931. Gretchen Muller has been cherished and protected by Adolf Hitler ever since her father, a senior Nazi officer, sacrificed himself to save the life of the Führer. And now Germany has the chance to be great once more, under the command of her 'Uncle Dolf'.

Lucy Hall's first summer in Paris promises to be idyllic. She's fallen in love with the city and enjoys her new job as an investigative reporter. When her friend Nina comes to stay, the girls look forward to a wonderful summer. But Paris is a city of contrasts and Lucy is about to experience its dangerous side.

Louisa Connelly, a recently widowed Jane Austen scholar, needs some relief from her stifling world. When a friend calls to offer her a temporary escape from her Montana ranch, she is whisked into a dizzying world of sumptuous food, flowing wine...and endless temptation. She's an honored guest at Paradise Hall, an English resort boasting the full experience of an authentic Georgian country-house weekend. Liveried servants tend to every need of houseguests clad in meticulous period costume.

Lady Daphne Wyndham is the only child of the brutal Marquis of Tragmore. Risking a beating each time she sneaks away to help the local vicar, Daphne fantasizes about the legendary Tin Cup Bandit, who robs the rich to aid the poor. His scandalous exploits inflame her rebellious spirit and fire her romantic imagination. And when he appears in her bedroom, she suspects all her wild dreams may come true . . .