A deliciously entertaining novel of Austenesque love and misunderstanding, from the master of Regency fiction. When Caroline Fortune's prodigal father loses all they possess, he arranges for his daughter to become the companion of the formidable (but extremely wealthy and childless) Mrs Catling. Although uncomfortable with the plan Caroline resolves to make the most of this introduction to polite society, and her beauty and intelligence soon attract many admirers. But, much to her dismay, she is just as quick to realise that love and romance are not what some 'gentlemen' seek and finds herself unjustly implicated in their indiscretions. Exasperated by her predicament can Miss Fortune retain her reputation without losing her head? And will she discover that there is at least one good man who is more than willing to take her side and, indeed, her fancy?
An audacious, brilliant and haunting novel about the composer Hector Belioz, by the author of PASSION. In 1827 Harriet Smithson, a beautiful and talented young Irish actress joins an English company taking Shakespeare to Paris. With the ferment of revolution in the air, the new generation is longing for a kind of passionate, spontaneous art. To Harriet's astonishment, it is embodied in her - La Belle Irlandaise. She finds herself pursued by an intense young composer named Hector Berlioz. So begins a painful and profound love affair. She is his muse; his idée fixe; his obsession. And Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, directly inspired by Harriet, will change music forever. In the course of their marriage, their lives are transfigured and destroyed by genius, inspiration, and ultimately madness. SYMPHONY is set against a background of nineteenth-century theatre, Romantic art and music, revolutionary Europe, inspiration and madness and features Liszt, Delacroix, Dumas, Hugo and Chopin. But at its heart lies the story of a woman who found, almost against her will, that she was a maker of magic.
As a young woman, clever, self-reliant Lydia Templeton scandalised society by rejecting Lewis Durrant, the county's most eligible bachelor. Ten years later, having concluded that matters of the heart need no longer trouble her, Lydia is quite happy to remain unwed. But others still seek Lydia's advice on their love lives, and when her godmother implores her to sort out her young ward Phoebe's accidental double-engagement, it's hard to refuse, although the prospect fills Lydia with horror - especially as she must go to Bath of all places to do it. However, finding a solution to Phoebe's dilemma proves far trickier than anyone imagined and, as affairs become increasingly tangled, Lydia finds that her own heart is not quite the closed book she thought it was...
Restored to the British throne in 1660 after years of exile, Charles II began a reign famous for dramatic events (the Plague, the Great Fire, the Dutch Wars), the flowering of science and the arts, and for notorious sexual liaisons. With a bevy of mistresses and flamboyantly addicted to high living, the Merry Monarch successfully presided over 'Merry Olde England' in an age of intrigue and religious dissent. When his tolerance extended to acknowledging his illegitimate son at court, James's life changed out of all recognition. This is the story of a remarkable man, and the spectacular upheavals and reverses of the time, told through the eyes of his illegitimate son, James, Duke of Monmouth.
Charlotte. Emily. Anne. The Brontë sisters - the drama, the passion, and a story that lives for ever... Once upon a time there were three sisters, bound by love and suffering, growing up in wild isolation in a lonely house on the moor. Their story will astonish you: their passionate, dangerous closeness; their struggle against the world; their determination to rise above the fates of their parents and their other lost sisters, to become more than the world ever thought they could be. You don't know their story, but you think they do. They were the Brontës.
A witty and romantic novel of Regency love, family and appalling scandal, from one of our greatest historical novelists. Sir Clement Carnell was the most domineering and strait-laced of fathers, and his death has left his children Louisa and Valentine with a sense of release. While Valentine throws open the Devonshire estate of Pennacombe to their fashionable cousins from London, Louisa feels free at last to reject the man her father chose as her prospective husband - Pearce Lynley. Soon the temptations of Regency London beckon - including Lady Harriet Eversholt, beautiful, scandalous, and very married, with whom Valentine becomes dangerously involved; while Louisa finds that freedom of choice is as daunting as it is exciting. Will the opportunity to indulge, at last, in a little folly lead to fulfillment - or disaster?
Jude Morgan brings the world of Keats, Byron and Shelley to life in a stunning novel of supercharged emotion, individualism, violence and sensuality. They were the Romantic generation, famous and infamous, and in their short, extraordinary lives, they left a legacy of glamorous and often shocking legend. In PASSION the interwoven lives and vivid personalities of Byron, Shelley and Keats are explored through the eyes of the women who knew and loved them - scandalously, intensely and sometimes tragically. From the salons of the Whig nobles and the penury and vitality of Grub Street, to the beauty and corruption of Venice and the carrion field of Waterloo, PASSION presents the Romantic generation in a new and dramatic light - actors in a stormy history that unleashed the energies of the modern world.
The greatest writer of them all, brought to glorious life. How well do you know the man you love? How much do you think you know about Shakespeare? What if they were one and the same? He is an ordinary man: unwilling craftsman, ambitious actor, resentful son, almost good-enough husband. And he is also a genius. The story of how a glove-maker from Warwickshire became the greatest writer of them all is vaguely known to most of us, but it would take an exceptional modern novelist to bring him to life. And now at last Jude Morgan, acclaimed author of Passion and The Taste of Sorrow, has taken Shakespeare's life, and created a masterpiece.
