DescriptionIt is Dorset, England, 1763. Bess Whately, daughter of the landlord of the King's Shilling, has little to look forward to except a life of drudgery, until the night that dashing young Jason Quick appears at the inn. Soon, the two fall in love, and it is then that Jason shares his secret with Bess: he is the notorious highwayman menacing the countryside, robbing travelers under cloak of night. His life of crime is fueled by one ambition: to buy his father out of indentured servitude and start life anew. And now that dream is threatened, as the manhunt for Jason comes ever closer. Rich in atmosphere, from details of daily life to the passions of the human heart, Watch by Moonlight establishes Kate Hawks as a powerful new voice in historical fiction as it vividly depicts a world of drama, adventure, and undying love.
DescriptionWelcome to the bizarre court of Henry VIII, where even a princess fears losing her head like her mother. Elizabeth hides her tenacious personality from everyone, especially her father. Your 21st-century kid will enjoy Elizabeth's "treasonous thoughts" and glimpse the daily life of a young woman who ascended the throne at 25 and went on to rule her country for 45 years.
DescriptionAdam Bede, the novel that Alexandre Dumas called "the masterpiece of the century", is set in the English Midlands at the turn of the eighteenth century. It is the moving story of three people troubled by unwise love. Adam Bede, a young man possessing dignity and character, loves too blindly; Hetty Sorrel, pretty, vain, and self-centered, loves too recklessly; and Arthur Donnithorne, a dashing young squire, loves too carelessly. Betrayed by their naivete, vanity, and impulsiveness, their foolishness leads them into a calamitous triangle of seduction, retribution, and murder.
DescriptionWhen country milkman Martin Snell makes his usual delivery to Celandine Cottage one spring morning in Kent, he expects to be greeted by the cottage's sensual and seductive tenant, Gabriella Patten, not by the charred remains of fire pointing to murder.
DescriptionEustacia Vye is a beautiful, commanding presence on England's Egdon Heath. Her longing for the glamour of city life leaves her dissatisfied with her traditionalist husband, Clym Yeobright, and leads her to take Damon Wildeve as her lover. In a mixing of fate, chance, and human error, Eustacia's marriage smolders and explodes in violent tragedy. Set against the looming presence of the Heath, Hardy's work vividly depicts characters cruelly manipulated by the forces around them, unable to dictate their own fates. This classic story, a forerunner to the 20th-century psychological novel, is presented in unabridged form, revealing all of its poetic compassion and universal themes.
