Showing results for "The Widows" in Historical Fiction

Stepping into the wrong carriage at a Sussex village, Elinor Rochdale is swept up in a thrilling and dangerous adventure. Overnight the would-be governess becomes mistress of a ruined estate and partner in a secret conspiracy to save a family's name. By midnight, she is a bride, by dawn, a widow. 

Lady Charlotte Cavendish is still the spirited girl who tried to elope in the name of love. That dream was thwarted by her father, who trapped her in a loveless, passionless marriage. But now widowed, Charlotte is free to reenter the giddy world of the ton - and pursue her desires. Hardly a typical widow, she remains innocent of pleasures of the flesh. Yet now that her life is finally her own, she intends to keep it that way. 

Of all the widows of Lyttlefield Park, Elizabeth Easton seems least likely to remarry. Although many gentlemen would love to get to know the charming Mrs. Easton better, she is devoted to the memory of her late husband - which is why she’s so shocked to be overtaken by passion during a harvest festival, succumbing to an unforgettable interlude with the handsome Lord Brack. 

Julia Hollis’ opulent life in Victorian London crashes to pieces when her husband passes away. Worse, she is told by his bankers that he gambled away their fortune. Now the family’s hope rests on The Larkspur, an old abandoned coaching inn in the quaint village of Gresham. Driven by dread and her desire to provide for her children, Julia decides to turn the dilapidated inn into a lodging house. But can she - who was accustomed to servants attending to every need - do what needs to be done and cope when boarders begin arriving? 

Katherine Lockley, the Dowager Countess of Wyndam has a mission. She’s many years from her youthful days, and wants help women, widows in particular, in need. Women, who like her, found themselves on a path they didn’t choose, but are forced to navigate it nonetheless.

For the people on the rugged Irish island of Winding Gale, life has always been hard. Now in the wake of the second World War, the island is dying, the young taken away by death or the appeal of better lives elsewhere, leaving behind only a handful of adults. But on the night the men of the island disappear while fishing in uncharted waters, the women are forced into a conflict with something both new and unfathomably old. A strange greenish mist rolls in, cutting off the island from the mainland. Spiral symbols appear in the sand, fashioned from dead fish and stones.

When Nikki takes a creative writing job at her local temple, with visions of emancipating the women of the community she left behind as a self-important teenager, she's shocked to discover a group of barely literate women who have no interest in her ideals. Yet to her surprise, the white dupatta of the widow hides more than just their modesty....

A traditional Regency romance, drawing room rather than bedroom. Nell Caldicott awaits the return of her violent sailor husband with trepidation, but for once her fears are not realised. Her husband’s ship, the Brig Minerva, has sunk off the Cornish coast. Nell is free, but her husband has left her with little money and many questions about his past. Gradually, as his secrets are laid bare, she realises she didn’t know her husband at all. Can she uncover the truth? And can she ever learn to trust a man with her heart again?

A Sunday Times Bestseller England’s Forgotten Queens ‘O’Brien cleverly intertwines the personal and political in this enjoyable, gripping tale.’ -The Times 'I was a penniless, landless petitioner, my Neville blood a curse, my future dependent on the charity of those who despised me…’...

York, 1852. When Caroline Lawson becomes a young widow, her grief is deepened by the loss of her farm. A rash decision to travel to York to find work doesn't turn out as she expected. With money running low, Caroline fears she will soon have no choice but the workhouse. However, she is not without hope, and with her new friends, feisty Trixie, and her two little sisters and the unique Mussy, Caroline learns she is stronger than she realised and that even in the worst of times, friendship is all you need.

Connecticut, 1833. A year after Chester Cranberry’s unsolved murder, the town that he founded continues to suspect that his wife, Elcira, ended his life. With insufficient evidence to bring her to trial, and little effort to find another suspect, the town gossip labels her “The Widow Murderess.” But Elcira has seven children to feed, ranging in age from three to nine, and her nanny, Deborah, a freed slave, is pregnant with her husband’s illegitimate child. All eyes are on these two women, expecting them to fail to keep the farm and the family together.

In the spring of 1803, England's foreign secretary is dead, and his widow, Lady Violette Hawkestone, insists that Ravenna help discover the killer. Ravenna, only nine months a widow, doesn't want to get involved, but when an investigator, Mr. Chadwick, appears to suspect her, Ravenna fears he's going to uncover a past she'd rather forget. In an effort to protect her own secrets and to protect her stepson, who's in line for the foreign secretary position, she can lose no time in discovering the killer's identity.

Harry went off to fight for the Crown unaware his delightful interlude with his childhood friend had permanent consequences. Now, he's back in England, catapulted into the title by his brother's untimely death. He sorely misses his former life of unfettered adventure, so when he has reason to explore Little Puddledon, he jumps at the chance. But what he finds there is something - and someone - he never knew he'd lost, and a once-forbidden love whose time has come, if only he can persuade Pen he's home to stay....   

After the sudden death of her husband, Patricia Greystone is left with nothing, and at 24, she finds herself a penniless widow. As the youngest child of a large family, she has always been headstrong and proud, so she’s determined not to return to her family cap in hand. Instead she strikes out on her own. The dark streets of London are the perfect place to hide from the world, and Patricia makes her living singing on the streets. But the city is a dangerous place.

Clementina Rose is no stranger to tragedy. Widowed with a child, and abandoned to a life of misery at the hands of her dead husband's brother, she almost despairs. Her only lifeline are the secret letters she receives from her husband's civil war comrade Grover Ash. When the letters stop, Clementina is crushed. Stripped of everything other than her faith in God and love for her young son, she boards a Westbound train to find Grover and beg for his hand.

Lancashire 1934. Three years after her husband's sudden death, Stella comes into some money unexpectedly and decides to make a new start in the country. She settles on Ellin Valley, where she quickly begins to make friends. She falls in love with a cottage in Birch End, but an unscrupulous man...

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER! The war may be officially over, but journalist Billie Walker's search for a missing young immigrant man will plunge her right back into the danger and drama she thought she'd left behind in Europe in this thrilling tale of courage and secrets set in glamorous...

Lady Guinevere Mallory has been married four times in 12 years, and each of her husbands has died mysteriously. Adept in the laws of property, she has secured the land of each of her late spouses, vastly increasing her personal wealth. After the death of her fourth husband, this trend raises some eyebrows at the royal court, and Hugh of Beaucaire is sent to investigate these puzzling events.

Penguin Presents the audiobook edition of The Sapphire Widow by Dinah Jefferies read by Gabrielle Glaister. Ceylon, 1935. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, and her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except...

From the bestselling award-winning author of The Good Wife of Bath comes this rollicking historical adventure that celebrates the art of whisky distilling, the defiant spirit of the Scottish Highlanders and a woman's fearless quest. 1780 Scottish Highlands In every glass of whisky lies a small...