Biography Great Women

The lives of the Scottish queens, both those who ruled in their own right and the consorts, have largely been neglected in conventional history books. One of the earliest known Scottish queens was none other than the notorious Lady Macbeth. Was she really the wicked woman depicted in Shakespeare's famous play? Was St. Margaret a demure and obedient wife? Rosalind K. Marshall delves into these questions and more in this entertaining, impeccably researched book.

Jane Austen is famous for such books as Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. Now learn about the author’s journey through a life spent making up stories that touched the lives of millions.

En 1474, una mujer culta, inteligente y fervientemente religiosa de apenas veintitrés años ascendió al trono de Castilla, el reino más poderoso y extenso de España. Tenía por delante el considerable reto de gobernar una corte dominada por hombres y reformar uno de los principales reinos europeos acosado por el crimen, la corrupción y el violento faccionalismo político.

At first, Erika Bolstad knew only one thing about her great-grandmother, Anna: she was a homesteader on the North Dakota prairies in the early 1900s before her husband committed her to an asylum under mysterious circumstances. As Erika's mother was dying, she revealed more: their family still owned the mineral rights to Anna's land—and oil companies were interested in the black gold beneath the prairies. Their family, Erika learned, could get rich thanks to the legacy of a woman nearly lost to history.

A county government in the state of Maryland doesn't want a chitlin market in their area, declaring chitlins a "negative racial stereotype". All Shauna Anderson wants is a restaurant where she can greet and serve her loyal following. While fighting off her enemies, Shauna becomes a close friend with her young, handsome restaurant contractor. They quickly discover multiple personality disorders in one another, brought on for both by childhood traumas. Together, the two of them fight vandals, crooked inspectors, doubting friends, and shady neighbors.

Over half of all the visual artists working today are women, but the paintings and sculptures shown in many galleries and museums tell a different story because they're usually the work of men. In this audiobook, Kate Pankhurst, descendent of Emmeline Pankhurst, tells the fascinating stories of some of history's most talented female artists.

Jane Austen wrote that in her novels she painted the world on a “little bit (two inches wide) of ivory,” working “with so fine a brush.” Her well-known books, such as Pride and Prejudice and Emma, display the power of this approach; her observations about human nature have proven so accurate and entertaining that her books continue to be beloved 200 years after they were written.

From living in a tin-roofed shack north of Dar es Salaam to becoming Baroness Park of Monmouth, Daphne Park led a most unusual life - one that consisted of a lifelong love affair with the world of Britain's secret services. In the 1970s, she was appointed to Secret Intelligence Service's most senior operational rank as one of its seven area controllers - an extraordinary achievement for a woman working within this most male-dominated and secretive of organizations.

With characteristic verve and integrity, Ann Widdecombe recalls her life and highlights the people and events that most influenced her along the way. From her early family life in Singapore and her convent school days to her student ambitions at Birmingham and Oxford, and her long-serving years as an MP, this is the life story of one of our most outspoken and celebrated politicians. Offering unique insight into her time as a Minister in three Departments and the Shadow Cabinet in the 1990s, Ann also explains the roots of her conversion to Catholicism in 1993 and her deeply held views on abortion and gay marriage.

After a three-day romance, Brooklyn-born Jennie Jerome married into the British aristocracy to become Lady Randolph Churchill. At a time when women had few freedoms, she was a cornerstone of high society and behind-the-scenes political dynamo. However it was Jennie's love life that marked her out, causing scandal and earning her the epithet 'more panther than woman'.

Few lives are as dramatic as Lina Kennedy's, and few stories of survival and triumph are as satisfying as this inspirational autobiography. Professionally, Lina is the founder of a multimillion-dollar business based on her hard work, innovations, and discoveries. She speaks and teaches around the world. Yet behind the compelling story of how she built her company lies another drama, the tale of an abused child who could not be crushed. Raised in poverty and dysfunction, she was sustained by her inner strength and by a near-death experience at age seven.

Jeanne’s life had not been a fairytale–not by a long shot. Bitter and broken, this feisty woman decided that her life and her happiness were worth fighting for. So began the adventure, one that forced her to face the world again and find a way to heal all that she had come through.

The year is 1939. As war breaks out across Europe, nine-year-old Susie and her older sister Gyll are dispatched to Africa by their mother. Alone on the dusty continent, the sisters find little sympathy in their new guardians, and little to like about their new way of life: patched-up clothes, a 6 o'clock bedtime (a particular indignity), and regular obsessive cleanliness rituals. Their continued presence a nuisance, and overwhelmed by fear of doing the wrong thing, Susie and Gyll seek an ally in Mavis.

This is the story of Elizabeth I's inner circle and the crucial human relationships which lay at the heart of her personal and political life. Using a wide range of original sources - including private letters, portraits, verse, drama, and state papers - Susan Doran provides a vivid and often dramatic account of political life in Elizabethan England and the queen at its center.

In December 1774, Benjamin Franklin met Caroline Howe, the sister of British General Sir William Howe and Richard Admiral Lord Howe, in a London drawing room for “half a dozen Games of Chess”. But as historian Julie Flavell reveals, these meetings were about much more than board games: They were cover for a last-ditch attempt to forestall the outbreak of the American War of Independence.

Aunque de origen alemán, tuvo una excelente formación a "la francesa". Asumió el cargo de emperatriz como sucesora de su marido Pedro III, que murió en un complot en 1762 (año que Catalina tomó el poder). Por su estrategia de política interior y exterior intentó una europeización del país, y otorgó a la nobleza un puesto relevante que hasta ese momento no habían tenido. Interiormente fracasó su intento de crear un código con las ideas de Montesquieu y vivió una contienda en 1773 con los campesinos, por la nefasta situación social que la población vivía.

In addition to her romance with Kennedy, Arvad married four times - including to an Egyptian prince, the brilliant filmmaker Paul Fejos, and the famed cowboy movie star Tim McCoy. She had affairs with Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch, the noted surgeon Dr. William Cahan, and Winston Churchill's right hand man, Baron Robert Boothby. But by all accounts her admirers among the European and American elite loved Inga not for her physical beauty, but for her joie de vivre.

Born in 1729, Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbs was never supposed to come to power. But at age 16, she married the heir to the Russian throne. By 1762, Sophie, known now as Catherine, overthrew her immature and incompetent husband, Peter III, to lead the nation. Catherine became the sole ruler of Russia. This exciting Who Was? title explores how Catherine was able to turn Russia into one of the great powers of Europe by expanding its borders, helping improve its educational system, and advocating for the arts. Her three-decade reign is considered the Golden Age of Russia.

Prepare to be inspired with this fantastically great new series for young listeners from best-selling author Kate Pankhurst, descendent of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. In this first book, hear the true stories of amazing scientists and discover things that are out of this world...

Arthur Hart-Synnot, a third-generation British officer, was sent to Japan in 1904 to learn the language of Britain's newest ally. Masa Suzuki, a beautiful Japanese woman scorned because of an early divorce, worked at the Tokyo Officers' Club. The two fell immediately in love and conceived a son before Arthur was whisked away by the military during World War I. Though Arthur would only see Masa little, he supported his Japanese family and kept alive the hope that he and Masa could live together blissfully.