Contemporary Historical Romance

Following her discovery selling oranges outside of Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Ellen “Nell” Gwyn leaves behind a life of poverty to become a theatre star. Soon she is mistress to the libertine king Charles II. And though their love is true, gossip-mongers and court politics threaten to tear their romance apart.

Heroic bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street. There's nothing in the bag to indicate who it belongs to, although there's all sorts of other things in it. Laurent feels a strong impulse to find the owner and tries to puzzle together who she might be from the contents of the bag. Especially a red notebook with her jottings, which really makes him want to meet her. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?

Paris, dans les années 1970. Dans une librairie de la rive gauche, un jeune homme rencontre une femme. Il est américain, étudiant, sans le sou, se destine à des études de droits et a débarqué à Paris pour assouvir ses fantasmes de la Ville Lumière ; elle est française, un peu plus âgée, sophistiquée, mystérieuse... et mariée... Entre Sam et Isabelle, le coup de foudre. Commence alors entre eux une liaison tumultueuse, des cinq à sept fiévreux, des rendez-vous furtifs, des moments volés.

Everyone thinks Lexi is crazy when she falls in love with Hollingsworth House, a crumbling old Georgian mansion in Yorkshire – and nobody more so than her husband, Dylan. But there’s something very special about the place, and Lexi can sense it. Whilst exploring the grounds, she stumbles across an old diary, and within its pages she meets Allie, an Australian nurse who worked in France during the First World War. Lexi finally realises her dream of buying Hollingsworth, but her obsession with the house leaves her marriage in tatters.

Beginning in 1950s Liverpool, Violet's Children is a warm and nostalgic story of a young woman who must adopt her sister's children after tragedy strikes.

When Chloe is given a peek at the script for an epic love story, she decides to take her destiny into her own hands and request an audition for the lead female role, Esther Kingsley. The compelling tale, inspired by family lore and a one-page letter from the colonial ancestor of scriptwriter Jesse Gates, just might break her out of this career-crippling rut. Jesse would rather write about romance than live through it after his past relationship ended in disaster. But once on-set together, the chemistry between Jesse and his leading lady is hard to deny.

Cliffehaven, May 1944. The tension is rising for Peggy Reilly and the inhabitants of Cliffehaven as the planes continue to roar above the town, and there is still no news of the long-awaited Allied invasion into France. There seems to be no end in sight of this war, which has scattered her family and brought conflict right to the door of Beach View Boarding House, but Peggy cannot work miracles, and the toll of the war is beginning to weigh on her slender shoulders.

Paris, 1919: Coco Chanel ist es gelungen, ein erfolgreiches Modeunternehmen aufzubauen. Doch als ihr Geliebter Boy Capel bei einem Unfall stirbt, ist sie vor Trauer wie gelähmt. Erst der Plan, ihrer Liebe zu ihm mit einem Parfüm zu gedenken, verleiht ihr neue Tatkraft. Auf ihrer Suche danach begegnet sie dem charismatischen Dimitri Romanow. Mit ihm an ihrer Seite reist Coco nach Südfrankreich, in die Wiege aller großen Düfte, und kommt schon bald dem Duft der Liebe auf die Spur. Coco Chanel - eine einzigartige Frau und eine große Liebende. Dies ist ihre Geschichte.

Kathleen Hey spent the war years helping her sister and brother-in-law run a grocery shop in the Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. From July 1941 to July 1946, she kept a diary for the Mass Observation Project, recording the thoughts and concerns of the people who used the shop. Among the chorus of voices she brings us, Kathleen herself shines through as a strong and engaging woman who refuses to give in to doubts or misery and who maintains her keen sense of humour, even under the most trying conditions.

Liverpool, 1901. The Tempest family is all but destitute, barely able to put food on the table. When Florrie falls ill with pneumonia and Arthur is imprisoned after a drunken fight, their 13-year-old daughter, Lizzie, finds herself parentless, desperate and alone. Despite her young age, Lizzie has spirit and determination, and she knows that she must find work to keep herself off the streets. In a stroke of luck, she gets a job in the match factory, and foreman George Rutherford takes her under his wing.

The 13th heartwarming novel in the Beach View Boarding House series, from Sunday Times best-selling author Ellie Dean. As the war continues to keep her family far away, Peggy Reilly must continue to look after her girls at the Beach View Boarding House and maintain hope that this dreadful war will soon be over.

When the brainy, luminous Louise Vandermeer embarks on a transoceanic quest to marry an aristocrat, she dives into a scorching affair with a stranger on the ship. Their trysts take place in darkness, so Louise does not know her lover is Charles d'Harcourt, the passionate European playboy who just happens to be her intended! Charles is playing a game, but his plan has unexpected results.

Austin, Texas - 1904: Abandoned by the love of her life and still mourning the loss of her mother, Lily Donaldson has turned her back on the pain and come to Austin for a fresh start, working for the Marshall family as a kitchen maid in their luxurious mansion, the Butterfly Palace. The tasks before her are legion, and her mistress less than pleasant, but at least Lily’s new life will be, if nothing else, distracting. But one night, while serving at a dinner party, Lily recognizes the man who abandoned her, Andy, her liaison from the livery stable, the blacksmith’s son...sitting among the distinguished guests.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kara Larson is bogged down in the stress of planning her elaborate wedding to a professional golfer. Still, to fulfill the requirements of the Palmetto Pointe Junior Society, she makes time in her busy schedule to visit an elderly woman at a nursing home facility. Soon she finds herself mesmerized by the singsong Irish lilt of 96-year-old Maeve Mahoney as Maeve recounts the rambling story of her first love back in Ireland.

In her hundredth book, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Brenda Jackson blends heated sensuality and drama into a dazzling new novel featuring one of her most unforgettable Madaris heroes yet.

Dottie and Mary forged a friendship over a bag of penny sweets when they were eight years old. They've shared everything together since then. Now, at seventeen, they're both shopgirls working at Woolworths. As they go out in the world in pursuit of love and happiness and life becomes more complicated, the simplicity of their childhood dissolves. The heady excitement of first love will consume them both, but the pain of unintentional betrayal will test their friendship.

Alexa Chambers has a flair for style, an eye for art - and a reputation in tatters. An expert in Art Deco, she blew the whistle on an employer who was selling fakes to wealthy clients. Her payoff? No job and no prospects. But gutsy, energetic Alexa has no intention of sitting still. She's ready to take risks to rebuild her career... and she secretly consults on an exquisite deco collection being installed at the new Avalon Resorts. Her scheme might just work - if she can steer clear of the resort's owner, the enigmatic and possibly dangerous J. L. Trask.

Leah certainly never could have imagined finding herself torn between her best friend and her best friend's father. Sure, Leah's mother had always talked about Mr. Nolan as "a catch," but Leah herself had never thought of him as anything other than just Erica's dad - until the girls discover something darkly erotic under Mr. Nolan's bed, a deep, shameful secret that not only will lead them into temptation but will deliver them into a far greater revelation than any of them could ever have imagined.

In the last months of World War II, 10 Land Girls are serving at Post Stone Farm under the watchful eye of their warden, Alice Todd. The local Land Army representative had at first been reluctant to give Alice the warden’s job, and Roger Bayliss, the farm’s owner, seemed not to have any confidence in her at all. But she proved herself more than capable of the job and she has won the girls’ admiration. Recently divorced and with a 10 year-old son to bring up, Alice fears for the future.

This beautiful and haunting novel bares the soul of a Hawaiian-American family during World War II. As you share in the Meahuna family's misfortunes and triumphs, a sense of intense intimacy evolves. Cristine McMurdo-Wallis lets you savor the family members' remarkable, heartwrenching stories as they are revealed piece by piece in language rich with sensuous detail.