Showing titles in Victorian

Alice McNeil resolved at a young age to travel through life unencumbered by love or marriage, free to make her own decisions. A seasoned telegrapher, she's recently acquired a coveted position at an important trading firm, but when the company's ambitious junior director returns to London, things begin to change in ways Alice could never have imagined. For Douglas Shaw, years of hard work and ingenuity enabled him to escape a life of grinding poverty. He's also determined to marry into high society - a step that will ensure he never returns to the conditions of his past.

Henry dreams of silence. A world without the clattering of carriages through cobbled streets, the distant cries of drunken brawls, the relentless ticking of the clock. Then he meets a fascinating, mysterious gentleman who sells just that. Precious silk that can drown out the clamour of the world – and everything Henry is so desperate to escape. Summoned to Sir Edward’s secluded factory to try to cure his young daughter’s deafness, Henry is soon drawn deeper and deeper into the origins of this otherworldly gift: a gift that has travelled from ancient Mediterranean glades to English libraries.

Only a woman with an iron backbone could succeed as an undertaker in Victorian England, but Violet Morgan takes great pride in her trade. While her husband, Graham, is preoccupied with elevating their station in society, Violet is cultivating a sterling reputation for Morgan Undertaking.

Violet Edwards is painfully shy with a terrible stutter. Despite her mother's threats to send her away, she has plans of her own to win a husband. She enrolls herself in the infamous School for Spinsters, where she hopes to be transformed from a wallflower into a breathtaking debutante. The only problem is that the headmistress hired a gorgeous, notorious rake to give her lessons.

Penniless and alone, Octavia Hadley finds herself forced to accept a position as governess to an orphaned girl living with her English diplomat guardian in faraway Russia. But when the diplomat abandons them as Napoleon’s army marches into Moscow, Octavia is determined to get both herself and the girl to safety.

Brought to you by Penguin. From the mastermind behind The Dangerous Damsels series, India Holton delivers another fantastical and whimsical story that's perfect to read with a cup of tea . . . Rival ornithologists hunt through Europe for dangerous magical birds in this historical fantasy romance...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Liverpool Nightingales by Kate Eastham, read by Dorothy Lawrence. Liverpool, 1863 Maud Linklater's life as a housemaid changes forever the day she takes poor little injured chimney sweep Alfie to hospital. Helping to care for him on the ward, Maud is...

Felix Markham, Duke of Winchelsea, has devoted his life to being the perfect statesman and raising his daughter after his beloved wife’s death. But when devastating bombings on the railway leave London in an uproar, he is determined to bring the mastermind of the attacks to justice. He will lure the fox from his den by any means. In her youth, Johanna McKenna donned a French accent and stage name to escape the clutches of her violent father and became the darling of the New York City stage as Rose Beaumont.

The instant Captain Declan Frobisher lays eyes on Lady Edwina Delbraith, he knows she's the woman he wants as his wife. The scion of a seafaring dynasty accustomed to success, he discovers that wooing Edwina is surprisingly straightforward - not least because she makes it plain that she wants him as much as he wants her.

In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life - but how badly do they want it?

Osborne House, 1879. Queen Victoria has occupied the British throne for over 40 years. Bringing together her extended family from across Europe offers a chance for old alliances to be strengthened and new unions to be forged. May Teck, daughter of a duke and princess, is constantly reminded that she lacks the pedigree to be a true royal. Alicky lives in the shadow of her siblings, until she meets the heir to the Russian throne. And Willy is destined to be the kaiser of Germany. As shifting forces of power send warning ripples across Europe, an unavoidable war looms on the horizon....

Miss Emma Wynn has spent the last year at Ashwick Hall under the protection of Lady Westcliffe. Her uncle and brother think her dead and must continue to do so until she attains her majority. She must prove she is a fit guardian to re-establish herself and protect her brother. When permitted to visit her friend, Lady Eagleton, she is drawn to the reclusive Mr Carne. She suspects, however, that some scandal is attached to him, and she cannot afford to be tainted by association.

After breaking my heart and publicly humiliating me, I vow to forget his existence. He has other plans, though, and vows to make certain I don’t. The only one I can turn to for help is a man I thought to be my enemy. Drew’s best friend Sebastian who claims to be my brother. He promises me security and protection. But no one can protect me from Drew. The faster I run, the more he chases. The harder I struggle, the tighter his grip becomes.

With his laughing eyes and wild, rakish good looks, Lord Rannulf Bedwyn is a hard man to resist. To Judith Law, a woman in need of rescue when her stagecoach overturns, Rannulf is simply her savior, a heroic stranger she will reward with one night of reckless passion before she must become a companion to her wealthy aunt. Imagine Judith's shock when the same stranger turns out to be among England's most eligible bachelors, and when he arrives at Harewood Grange to woo her cousin.

Growing up on a canal boat has meant life for young Saffie Doyle has been hard. Her mother, Olivia, was cast out by her well-to-do family when she fell in love with Saffie's father, a lowly boatman named Reuben. But as the years have passed, Reuben has become a bitter and cruel drunk, forced to work for the local crook, Seth Black, to keep their family afloat. Saffie always dreamed of becoming a teacher, despite her father's insistence that she had no need to read and write.

Evie Jenkins didn't know what she was thinking by agreeing to switch places with her American heiress cousin. After all, she's naught but a poor—and usually quite sensible—companion. All she has to do is spend six weeks among London society, pretending to be an heiress . . . and ensure that absolutely under no circumstances does she accept any proposals of marriage.

Lord Crane has never had a lover quite as elusive as Stephen Day. He knows Stephen's job as justiciar requires secrecy, but the magician is doing his disappearing act more than seems reasonable - especially since Crane will soon return to his home in China. Then a blackmailer threatens to expose their illicit relationship. And as Stephen investigates a plague of giant rats sweeping London, his sudden increase in power, boosted by his blood-and-sex bond with Crane, is rousing suspicion that he's turned warlock.

Lord Simon Devere returns from the Burmese War haunted by the vivid memory of his slain cousin and powerless to know reality from dreams. Unable to sleep lest he awaken in the cell of his nightmares, he sits in the dark, incapable of believing he is truly home - and safe - in England. Jenny Blackwood is determined not to let her mother and sisters succumb to an unkind fate. With a head for numbers, she becomes the skilled bookkeeper "Mr. Cavendish". One unexpected client is the nobleman cruelly named by gossips as Lord Despair.

When Lady Olivia Gosling finds the Book of Love in a musty bookshop, she is most eager to try out its love "recipes" on someone safe. Did she say safe? Well, Beast isn't really safe, but with her odious guardian about to marry her off to one of his unsavory friends, Olivia needs her childhood friend to fall in love with her...fast. If Beast can love her, then any man she chooses will surely do the same. Alexander Beastling, Duke of Hartford, is known as Beast among the ton. He is big and muscled, and there is a dark aura of mystery about him that he makes no effort to dispel.

Nathaniel Ellison, the powerful Duke of Scarsdale, has sworn never to fall in love. The bitter marriage of his parents taught him one hard lesson—love makes fools of men. When the time comes, Nathan intends to marry only for duty… never for love. Then he meets Sophia Vane. Sophia is nothing like the polished ladies of London society. She's a tavern girl with fierce determination, sharp wit, and a desperate plan to escape the cruel father who controls her life—and save her young brother before it's too late.