Historical Romance Families

Elizabeth Ashburn is madly, deeply, irrefutably in love with her best friend. They know each other better than their own minds. There is only one problem: To him, she is Little Lizzie, and nothing she does seems to replace the idea in his mind. No matter. It is her first Season and she is determined to make a match with a gentleman - any gentleman - who will help her steal her heart back from Oliver Turner and his sea-blue eyes. Oliver Turner can remember the exact day that Lizzie grew up. And now, he cannot see her as anything besides the beautiful woman stealing his breath.

Anthony Hamilton cannot help it. The way he looks, the way he lives, his past-it all conspires to make him a man men fear, women desire. His name fills gossip circles in a seemingly endless, lurid drama. But he's never forgotten the only woman he's ever truly wanted. Celia Reece knew Anthony well before he forged his scandalous reputation. The young man she remembers spoke kindly to her, made her laugh, and his devilish good looks always quickened her pulse. But Celia's mother had other designs - designs that didn't include marriage to Anthony. Now, Celia is widowed.

The Batleys and the Caldwells owned neighbouring farms on the beautiful, wild Northumbrian coast. But there all similarity ended, and enmity began. For between the two families raged a violent and bitter feud. Into this stormy atmosphere came Linda Metcalfe, an agricultural student, who became involved in the tensions between the two households on her arrival. Employed by Ralph Batley, Linda soon found herself unwittingly a part of the feud, and began to feel a strange admiration for Ralph, who made it painfully clear that he didn't need her on the farm or in his life.

Lord Elliott Mayfield sees the new generation of his family moving in the same direction of bad matches and scandalous relationships as the last. In hopes to change their course, he establishes a "marriage campaign" to motivate them to improve themselves through making respectable matches. Peter, Elliott's eldest nephew, thinks the entire idea is ridiculous. A widower with two young daughters, he simply needs a governess, not a wife. Julia Hollingsworth has the credentials and the experience, but is too young and pretty for such a job. So why can't he stop thinking about her?

Recently widowed, Aletta Prescott struggles to hold life together for herself and her six-year-old son. With the bank threatening to evict them, she discovers an advertisement for the Women's Relief Society auction and applies for a position—only to discover it's been filled. Then a chance meeting with a wounded soldier offers another opportunity—and friendship. But can Aletta trust this man?

Now that her brood had left the nest, Fanny McBride, a large, cheerful and indomitable Tyneside widow, had time to sit by her window and watch the goings-on outside. There was plenty to keep her occupied: the mystery of the new woman at Mulhattan's Hall, the tenement block (here a fortnight already and not so much as a hello); the long-standing feud with Mrs Flannagan; after-school visits from her grandson Corny. But Fanny had any intention of ending her days in lonely isolation. So when her friend Mary fell sick and couldn't work, it was Fanny who took her place.

How do you find love where love does not exist? From out of a barefoot boyhood among endless rows of olive trees, and a forbidden passion for a courageous Moroccan beauty, to a horrific struggle against tyranny in the war-torn streets of 1936 Granada, comes a story where love cannot exist without mercy . . . mercy one carries for one’s whole life as a badge of honor . . . mercy and compassion passed down from generation to generation.

A compelling tale of two women separated by a century who discover long-buried secrets in an Australian manor house. In 1891, Tilly Kirkland is reeling with shock and guilt after her tempestuous marriage ends in horrific circumstances. Fleeing to the farthest place she knows, Tilly takes a job on Ember Island in Moreton Bay, Australia, where she becomes the governess to the prison superintendent's precocious young daughter, Nell.

As wild and reckless as the most incorrigible of her male cousins, young Amy Malory has reached marriageable age, and she has set her amorous sights on a most unsuitable mate: the handsome, straightlaced ship's captain who once nearly had her uncle James hung for piracy. An overpowering yearning for the young woman threatens to defeat the captain's defiant heart and stoke the fires of a perilous family feud.

As her first London Season looms before her, the thought of the impending social whirl fills Daphne Lancaster's timid heart with dread. She hasn't her sisters' beauty nor their talent for conversing easily. Even her family's enviable connections may not be enough to prevent disaster. But Daphne's misery turns to surprised delight when the first event of her Season brings an unexpected visitor to her door - James Tilburn, whose tender kindness stole her heart in her youth.

Lily is the ultimate poor little rich girl, abandoned by her parents and sent to the best Swiss boarding school money could buy. Her parents have a society wedding in mind for her but then Lily meets Harry Kohle, an ambitious young writer.

Harry Stillman cares nothing for his future and spends his time at gaming tables, horse races, and in the company of whatever beautiful woman has caught his eye that week. He has little use for society or his uncle’s approval - until his debts begin exceeding his profits. When Uncle Elliott refuses to pay off the debt and instead offers him a large, monetary wedding gift if Harry were to marry a woman of his uncle’s approval, Harry is offended, angry, and - scared.

After a wayward youth, David Reece, the youngest scion in a noble family, has been called one of the most scandalous rogues of the ton. What he wants to be called is trustworthy and a true gentleman. To prove he has reformed he's agreed to watch over his absent brother's estate and signet ring. All is going swimmingly until highwaymen waylay his coach and steal that precious ring. Street orphan Vivian Beecham has grown up a pickpocket, and a very pretty one indeed. Now she and her brother have reluctantly graduated to highway robbery. And handsome David Reece has become their victim.

Set against the colorful tumult of events that gave rise to our fledgling nation, this novel of romance and adventure introduces Phillipe Charboneau. The illegitimate son of an English nobleman, Phillipe flees Europe and, as Philip Kent, joins the men who set our course for freedom. The Bastard is the first volume in the Kent Family Chronicles, a series of novels that details one family's journey in the early years of the American nation.

The East End of London has been devastated by the Blitz and the people are struggling to come to terms with their ravaged city. Rationing bites ever deeper, and and everything that makes life better is in short supply. For the district nurses, the challenges are tougher than ever. Gladys loves her work in the Civil Nursing Reserve, but just when she needs to rely on her sister at home to help out with the chores, she turns into a handful of trouble. Edith is learning to cope with her boyfriend's injuries after Dunkirk but will she have to choose between her love for him and her career?

In 1909, Grace McAlister set sail for Canada as one of the thousands of British Home Children taken from their families and their homeland. Although she’s fortunate enough to be adopted by wealthy parents, the secrets of her past are kept hidden for 10 years until someone from her long-buried childhood arrives on her doorstep. With this new connection to her birth family, will she be brave enough to leave her sheltered life in Toronto and uncover the truth?

At 18, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service.

Her parents' death has left Kelsey Langton penniless - and responsible for the well-being of her younger sister, Jean. Kelsey knows that the only way to avert their doom is to allow herself to be sold at auction. Resigned to becoming the plaything of a well-heeled gentleman, she gets more than she bargained for.

Hazel Stillman is a woman of rare independence and limited opportunities. Born with a clubbed foot, she was sent away as a child, and, knowing her disability means a marriage is unlikely, she devoted herself to scholarship and education. Now working as a teacher in an elite private girls’ school, she is content with the way her story has unfolded. When her uncle Elliott Mayfield presents her with the prospect of a substantial inheritance if she marries, Hazel is offended.

Big and sweeping, spanning the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.