Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books, Inc." in Women's Fiction

Abandoned by her mother at age seven, Alexandra Winslow takes solace in the mysteries she reads with her devoted father - and soon she is writing them herself, slowly graduating to dark, complex crime stories that reflect skill, imagination, and talent far beyond her years. After her father's untimely death, at 14 Alex is taken in by the nuns of a local convent, where she finds 26 mothers to take the place of the one she lost, and the time and encouragement to pursue her gift.

Turned out of her ancestral home by her vicious half brother, the orphaned daughter of an English duke and a French noblewoman makes her way to Paris and takes in abused French streetwalkers, transforming them into sought-after courtesans in the city's most exclusive bordello, Le Boudoir. It is only the beginning of her return to the upper reaches of society and ultimate justice.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life … Life has been good to Becky Bloomwood: She’s become the top personal shopper at Barneys and she’s living happily with her boyfriend, Luke, in Manhattan’s West Village. But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare? Not that she’s been thinking about marriage (or diamonds) or anything.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life … With her shopping excesses (somewhat) in check and her career as a TV financial guru thriving, Becky Bloomwood’s biggest problem seems to be tearing her entrepreneur boyfriend, Luke, away from work for a romantic country weekend. That is, until Luke announces he’s moving to New York for business—and he asks Becky to go with him! Before you can say “Prada sample sale,” Becky has landed in the Big Apple, home of Park Avenue penthouses and luxury department stores.

Melissa Henderson is leading a quiet life. Once a best-selling author, she now pours all her energy into renovating a Victorian house nestled in the foothills of rural New England. Six years ago, she lost her young son to cancer, and her marriage dissolved. She stopped writing. Then Melissa receives a call from her sister, Hattie. They were close once, but that was before Melissa withdrew from the world. Now Hattie, who became a nun at 25, is determined to help Melissa turn a new page, even if it means reopening one of the most painful chapters of her life.

Antonia Adams is the product of a loveless marriage between a beautiful young model and an aristocrat. As a child, she is abandoned in the abyss that yawns between them, blamed by her mother, ignored by her father, and neglected by both. Unprotected and unloved, she learns that the only way to feel safe is to hide from the dangers around her, drawing as little attention as possible to herself, to be "invisible".

A modern classic in the African literary canon and voted in the Top Ten Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, this novel brings to the politics of decolonization theory the energy of women’s rights. An extraordinarily well-crafted work, this book is a work of vision. Through its deft negotiation of race, class, gender, and cultural change, it dramatizes the "nervousness" of the "postcolonial" conditions that bedevil us still.

Audrey Parker's life changes forever when Pearl Harbor is attacked on December 7, 1941. Her brother, a talented young Navy pilot, had been stationed there, poised to fulfill their late father's distinguished legacy. Fresh out of nursing school with a passion and a born gift for helping others, both Audrey and her friend, Lizzie, suddenly find their nation on the brink of war. Driven to do whatever they can to serve, they enlist in the Army and embark on a new adventure as flight nurses.

Meredith White was one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces. But a personal tragedy cut her acting career short and alienated her from her family. For the last 15 years, Meredith has been living alone in San Francisco with two trusted caretakers. Then a massive earthquake strikes Northern California. Meredith invites her stunned and shaken neighbors into her mostly undamaged home as the recovery begins. These people did not even realize that a movie star was living on their street. Now, they are sharing her mansion, as well as their most closely kept secrets.

Heads always turned when Rose McCarthy walked into a room. Nearly six feet tall, she was ramrod straight, and impeccably put together with faultless style, long graceful legs, her snow-white hair cut in a chin-length rounded cap. Her piercing blue eyes missed nothing. She could terrify anyone with a few well-chosen, soft-spoken, eloquent words, or comfort and delight a young employee with generous praise. For 25 years, she had been the legendary editor in chief of Mode magazine.

Charlotte Smith's future is planned to the last detail, and so was her sister's - until Phoebe became a disruption. When their parents commit Phoebe to a notorious asylum, Charlotte knows there's more to the story than madness. Shedding her identity to become an anonymous inmate, "Woman 99", Charlotte uncovers dangerous secrets. Insanity isn't the only reason her fellow inmates were put away - and those in power will do anything to keep the truth, or Charlotte, from getting out.

Isabel Dalhousie, everyone's favorite moral philosopher, is once again called on to help navigate a decidedly delicate dispute with all of the insight and compassion she has become known for. What makes Isabel's investigations so unique is her uncanny ability to view all sides of a situation with coolness and reserve — and she will tap deep into her stores of both in order to help see this one through. Meanwhile, Isabel and her husband Jamie will together be dealing with tricky personal issues of their own.

Liesl Weiss long ago learned to be content working behind the scenes in the distinguished rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the library's most prized manuscript is missing.

Joachim von Hartmann was born and raised in Buenos Aires by his loving German mother, inseparable from his identical twin. When Joachim moves to Paris with his mother in his late teens, his twin stays behind and enters a dark world. Meanwhile, Joachim begins training to be a butler, fascinated by the precision and intense demands, and goes on to work in some of the grandest homes in England. Olivia White has given 10 years of her life to her magazine. A bequest from her mother allows her a year in Paris to reinvent herself. It is then that her path and Joachim's cross.

The Witches of Bellinas unfolds as a confession from Tansy, filled with anguish over the life, and sense of self, she’s surrendered in her desperation to belong. In J. Nicole Jones’s clever reimagining of cult power and groupthink, the question isn’t why join, but rather, what happens when you understand the danger, but can’t conceive of a way out?

When she is only six years old, Allegra Dixon's party-loving mother leaves without so much as a goodbye. Her father, an emotionally distant military officer, is also unable--or unwilling--to care for her. Sent to live like a ghost in her grandparents' joyless home, Allegra finds her only solace through an escape into books.

Eccentric Lady Jane Franklin makes an outlandish offer to adventurer Virginia Reeve: take a dozen women, trek into the Arctic, and find her husband's lost expedition. Four parties have failed to find him, and Lady Franklin wants a radical new approach: put the women in charge. A year later, Virginia stands trial for murder. Survivors of the expedition willing to publicly support her sit in the front row. There are only five. What happened out there on the ice?

Wedding fever hits Abbotsville, and several of Miss Julia's friends have plans to tie the knot. But, as usual, nothing is so simple. Christy Hargrove suddenly gives up a lifelong dream and drops out of medical school to marry; Helen Stroud and Thurlow Jones decide to change their commercial arrangement into a marital one; and, to Miss Julia's consternation, Lillian, her housekeeper and closest companion, is considering a less-than-romantic offer to wed a local businessman who turns courting into a job interview.

As Tambu begins secondary school at the Young Ladies’ College of the Sacred Heart, she is still reeling from the personal losses that war has inflicted upon her family - her uncle and sister were injured in a mine explosion. Soon she’ll come face to face with discriminatory practices at her mostly White school. And when she graduates and begins a job at an advertising agency, she realizes that the political and historical forces that threaten to destroy the fabric of her community are outside the walls of the school as well.

Present day. After tragedy plunges her into grief and unresolved anger, Sarah Ashby returns to her childhood home determined to finally follow her long-denied dream of running Old Depot Grocery alongside her mother and grandmother. But when she arrives, her mother, Rosemary, announces to her that the store is closing. Sarah and her grandmother, Glory Ann, make a pact to save the store, but Rosemary has worked her entire life to make sure her daughter never follows in her footsteps. She has her reasons - but she'll certainly never reveal the real one.