Showing results by author "Madeline Martin" in All Categories

August 1939: London is dismal under the weight of impending war with Germany as Hitler’s forces continue to sweep across Europe. Into this uncertain maelstrom steps Grace Bennett, young and ready for a fresh start in the bustling city streets she’s always dreamed of - and miles away from her troubled past in the countryside. With aspirations of working at a department store, Grace never imagined she’d wind up employed at Primrose Hill, an offbeat bookshop nestled in the heart of the city - after all, she’s never been much of a reader.

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence. Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.

All her life, Zofia has found comfort in two things during times of hardship: books and her best friend, Janina. But no one could have imagined the horrors of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw. As the bombs rain down and Hitler’s forces loot and destroy the city, Zofia finds that now books are also in need of saving. With the death count rising and persecution intensifying, Zofia jumps to action to save her friend and salvage whatever books she can from the wreckage, hiding them away, and even starting a clandestine book club.

London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories.

Bran Davidson's sister is going to be hanged unless he agrees to take Werrick Castle. Ever a pawn in a rich man's game, Bran has no choice but to force his way into Werrick on behalf of the Scottish Middle March Warden. He quickly discovers getting into the castle is the easy part. Dealing with its mistress, however, will take every ounce of cunning and determination he can muster, especially when she turns his blood to fire.

Ariana Fitzroy has lost her family and her fortune. The fight for survival leads her to the shadowed card games of court, where she discovers she has quite a talent for slipping cards into her favor. While the winnings are enough to sustain her at present, they will not last forever.... Connor Grant, trainer of the fallen women from the English court and personal assassin to the king, is just as broken as the women he trains. After losing his own land and all his people in a brutal attack from a trusted friend, he has no choice but to rebuild any way he sees possible.

Lady Leila Barrington is the youngest daughter of the Earl of Werrick. While she has always known she is loved, she still carries the guilt of her birth and feels set apart from her sisters—not only in appearance but also by the visions that haunt her. In a world where fear and superstition rule, her gifts may cost her everything, including her life. But when she has a premonition of the great pestilence, she knows she will not be able to turn her back on the sick and dying. Not even after she sees her own death at the hands of the man she is fated to love.

When he was but a boy, Sir Geordie Strafford was abandoned at Werrick Castle, his life meant as payment for his father's deceit. Lady Catriona Barrington saved him by pleading with Lord Werrick for a stay of execution. From that moment on, Geordie and Cat were inseparable, until he left on a four-year campaign for the king. Now returned with his dream of being a knight fully realized, Geordie is determined to win the heart of the woman he's always loved. But Cat has a secret of her own, one that could destroy everything.

Anice Barrington has always been known as the prettiest of the Earl of Werrick's five daughters. Years of trying to prove she's more than beauty has failed, not only with others, but also with herself. When their mortal enemy is laying siege to Werrick Castle, Anice does the only thing in her power to keep her family safe: she offers herself as a bride to her enemy. She swears she will not lose her heart to him, but soon discovers that may be impossible when he stokes her curiosities toward intimacy and lights a burning desire within her.

Lady Ella Barrington is a romantic who has always dreamed she would marry for love. When loyalties are questioned, she must sacrifice her dream to save her father. Her handsome betrothed seems to be the hero she's always hoped for and awakens a yearning she never imagined. But her belief in fairytale love crumbles as the truth comes to light and danger lurks.

Scottish romance doesn't get much steamier - or more dangerous - than a spy hunting her quarry and losing her heart to him instead. To pay a seemingly impossible debt, Mariel Brandon has become a spy for Aaron, one of England's deadliest minds. Aaron's latest mission for the sharp-witted and daring Mariel is to find two people in a heavily fortified castle on the Isle of Skye, a castle headed by the clan MacDonald and the powerful Kieran.

When both learn of the other’s lack of desire for love, they know the best chance to escape those seeking to wed them is to come to an agreement - one that will free them both from the pressures of matchmaking. But a marriage of convenience doesn’t imply a marriage without passion. As their feelings eventually warm toward one another, old enemies emerge and threaten everything they have worked for. Will they be able to draw strength from their blossoming love to defeat those who seek to destroy them, or will they deny their feelings and lose one another forever?

Alec MacLean returns home after a decade to find his recently deceased father has let his inheritance fall to ruin. As the new laird, it's Alec's responsibility to rebuild the castle and restore the lands. He must also regain the people's trust after having abandoned them so long ago, a feat not easily done when he fears he's plagued with the same darkness as his father.

Brianna Lindsay's grip on the inheritance that is rightly hers hangs by a thread. If the town finds out her father has died, Brianna will be forced into marriage with her loathsome cousin, Lord Robert, and will lose all of Edzell Castle and its lands. To protect her home, she'll have to trust a complete stranger, a brooding Highland barbarian who sweeps into Edzell with a small retinue and insists on replacing her captain of the guard. He proves his worth by defeating her men, and she has no choice but to accept his offer.

Em agosto de 1939, a jovem Grace Bennett abandona sua vida no interior da Inglaterra e chega a Londres com o sonho de esquecer seu passado conturbado e ter um novo começo. Só que o clima sombrio que encontra não tem nada do charme cosmopolita que tanto havia idealizado. Nos meses que se seguem, as forças de Hitler começam a varrer a Europa e o ataque alemão à cidade se torna cada vez mais iminente.

London, 1939. Die junge Grace kommt in die vom Krieg gebeutelte Metropole, ihr größter Wunsch ist es, endlich ihre Vergangenheit hinter sich zu lassen. In einem kleinen Buchladen in Primrose Hill findet sie eine Anstellung. Sie hat alle Hände voll damit zu tun, Ordnung in den Laden zu bringen und es den Menschen trotz der Kriegswirren zu ermöglichen, Bücher zu kaufen. Als ihr ein ganz besonderes Buch geschenkt wird, taucht sie plötzlich in eine Welt ein, die ihr zuvor immer verschlossen war, und findet den Mut, auch in den dunkelsten Zeiten nicht die Hoffnung aufzugeben.

Agosto 1939. Grace Bennett ha sempre sognato di trasferirsi a Londra. E ora le mille luci della città, i negozi eleganti, la frenetica vita mondana, che nella piccola cittadina del Norfolk poteva solo immaginare, stanno per diventare realtà. Quando il treno ferma a Farringdon Station, Grace si rende conto che il momento non è davvero dei migliori: gli abitanti stanno costruendo bunker e le porte sono sbarrate. La Germania di Hitler è alle porte e sicuramente la prima città presa di mira dai nazisti sarà Londra.