In Regency England Mrs Thorne's School for Young Ladies is about to close due to the death of young Clarissa's mother a year ago.This leaves eighteen-year-old Clarissa Thorne and her three school mistress friends no option but to return to the bosom of their families as despised 'poor relations' - at everyone's beck and call for all their lives. But Clarissa has just inherited Ashcroft, a large crumbling estate, and she offers her companions an escape - run away with her to a life of independence and adventure. They must put the estate to rights with little money and less experience. Can sensible Miss Micklethwaite, aging romantic Miss Appleby and the beautiful Miss Oriana Petersham escape their fate? To keep the vivacious, impulsive Clarissa in check they must at least try. However, their relatives may have other plans. Meeting the Earl of Grandiston and his companion (a devotee of the divine Oriana) on the road sets hilarious events in motion. Perhaps to adventure the ladies must add romance... Lovers of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen will enjoy a return to lighthearted comic romance.

Take two beautiful sisters, who resemble each other, plus three eligible suitors and you have a sparkling romance.. When the eligible Mr Allison is to come to Fenton Manor to woo Honoria, there is a problem. She doesn't remember what he looked like. Crippled by her timidity, she hardly looked at him when they'd met during her first London season. But he had spoken to her father, determined to ask her for her hand. Her siblings, Serena and Benedict find this highly amusing, but after Honoria overhears a conversation between her parents about their finances she realises she must marry Mr Allison, and this constraint leaves her martyred and unhappy and unable to share her feelings. When Mr Allison arrives, there is another problem. One to do with her sister Serena. Mr Allison, (annoyingly handsome and kind) fails to propose as expected and leaves abruptly - but invites the confused family to stay at Bassington Hall, his own country home. His kindness to all her family leaves Honoria with no legitimate excuse to escape marriage. Mr Scribster, his ill-favoured, unpleasant, unfeeling friend, guesses more than she would like and offers Honoria a place to concentrate her dislike and frustration. Meanwhile Benedict embarks on an adventure with his rogue of an uncle, Wilbert, to save his childhood friend and neighbour Genevieve Horton who has become the unhappy Lady Sumner. By learning some scandalous skills Benedict hopes to give some options to the most trapped figure in all of polite society - an unhappy wife. When Benedict's life hangs in the balance all the major players are changed forever and the tangle of romance is finally resolved. Alicia Cameron's first novel, Clarissa and the Poor Relations, has been highly regarded, reaching the **top ten** in historical romance on **Amazon.com** (with 90 reviews), and** #1 in Amazon.fr.** It is newly available in a Spanish translation.What people say about Alicia Cameron's previous novel:(Alicia Cameron) is **'a worthy successor to Georgette Heyer'****'Full of wit and imagination'****'...an authentic Regency voice'****'Definitely felt like reading Jane Austen'****'An episode of Friends set in the 1800s'****'Wouldn't we all like to be invited?'****'Full of wit and romance like an old, old, movie directed by Preston Sturges.'****'A witty, light-hearted cross between Georgette Heyer and Oscar Wilde!'**

“Suzanne Enoch’s sparkling talent makes each book witty, romantic, and always an eagerly anticipated pleasure.” —Christina Dodd Adventure and heart-stopping romance go hand in hand in A Lady’s Guide to Improper Behavior, the second book in New York Times and USA Today bestseller Suzanne Enoch’s breathtaking Regency-set Adventurers Club series. This fun, emotional, sexy, and exciting story of a lady’s attempt to civilize a rogue by most improper means is a perfect example of the romantic storytelling mastery that has inspired superstar Julia Quinn to call Enoch, “One of my favorite authors.”

This book is about representations of the devil in English and European literature. Tracing the fascination in literature, philosophy, and theology with the irreducible presence of what may be called evil, or comedy, or the carnivalesque, this book surveys the parts played by the devil in the texts derived from the Faustus legend, looks at Marlowe and Shakespeare, Rabelais, Milton, Blake, Hoffmann, Baudelaire, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, and Mann, historically, speculatively, and from the standpoint of critical theory. It asks: Is there a single meaning to be assigned to the idea of the diabolical? What value lies in thinking diabolically? Is it still the definition of a good poet to be of the devil's party, as Blake argued?

Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back--with no idea of where they've been. A riveting mystery for fans of We Were Liars. Eleven years ago, six kindergartners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to. Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max--the only one who hasn't come back. Which leaves Max's sister, Avery, wanting answers. She wants to find her brother--dead or alive--and isn't buying this whole memory-loss story. But as details of the disappearance begin to unfold, no one is prepared for the truth. This unforgettable novel--with its rich characters, high stakes, and plot twists--will leave readers breathless.

Life was never the same again after The Fall, especially for those born with certain gifts that set them apart from others. Gifts that doomed those like Wren to a life of slavery with no hope of escape or turned a man like Jere into an unwilling master. When a fiery tragedy brings Jere into Wren's life it becomes clear that this new master is like nobody else Wren has ever known. How does a slave protect himself from someone unpredictable? Can love really exist between master and slave, or will it destroy them both? (M/M)

A heart-wrenching novel explores how several generations of one Palestinian family cope with the loss of their land after the 1948 creation of Israel and their subsequent life in Palestine, which is often marred by war and violence. A first novel. Reprint. Reading-group guide included.