Showing results by narrator "Gemma Dawson" in All Categories

From the twentieth century onward, women took on an extraordinary range of roles in intelligence, defying the conventions of their time. Across both world wars, far from being a small part of covert operations, women ran spy networks and escape lines, parachuted behind enemy lines, and interrogated prisoners. And, back in Bletchley and Whitehall, women's vital administrative work in MI offices kept the British war engine running. In this major, panoramic history, Helen Fry looks at the rich and varied work women undertook as civilians and in uniform.

On Crow Island, people whispered, real magic lurked just below the surface. But Annie Mason never expected her enigmatic new neighbour to be a witch. When she witnesses a confrontation between her best friend, Bea, and the infamous Emmeline Delacroix at one of Emmeline's extravagantly illicit parties, Annie is drawn into a glittering haunted world. A world where magic can buy what money cannot; a world where the consequence of a forbidden blood bargain might be death.

Nightwood, Djuna Barnes's strange and sinuous tour de force novel unfolds in the decadent shadows of Europe's great cities, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna - a world in which the boundaries of class, religion, and sexuality are bold but surprisingly porous. The outsized characters who inhabit this world are some of the most memorable in all of fiction.

Once upon a time, in a parallel universe, there existed the continent of Triton.... Our four warriors and four witches, destined mates, have begun their adventure, knowing the fate of their world is at stake, but not having any idea there are other factions plotting against them. Now they face political intrigues, religious zealotry, father against son, wife against husband, a mother’s plotting, a sister’s envy, grief, betrayal, and despair as the prophesied journey across the sands of Firenze into the lush green of Wodell.

Airen is at war. The queen is dead. The coven is incomplete. And things are uncertain under the sea. Now, the unicorns and mermaids and witches and warriors and the strangers from other lands all must band together to face the Beast and save Triton. The unions have been realized. Silence and Mars, True and Farah, Cassius and Elena, and Aramus and Ha-Lah are at their fullest powers. But the gods require sacrifice. The sacrifice of pure love. If it isn’t given, the Beast will prevail, and Triton will fall.

The queen has been assassinated. The Enchantments are under attack. The plot is unfolding. And our lovers, Silence and Mars, Cassius and Elena, True and Farah, and Aramus and Ha-Lah, are forced to separate as treachery and civil war sweep Triton. Not to mention, the Beast is still a threat to every breathing being on the continent, and it is the destined warriors and witches who must stop him.

The body that turns up in Bron's garden has been there for decades, and he died of natural causes. Just rebury him and carry on as normal, right? But it's kinda hard to be normal when the ghost of the dead man has been disturbed, and now he want...well, just what does he want? It's down to Bron, a traditional hedge witch, to find out. If she doesn't, that ghost is going to be lingering in corners and upsetting kitchen chairs for the rest of her life. Creepy, tedious, and noisy, all at the same time.

"A witch!" It's an accusation Arianna O'Sullivan dreads as she struggles to conceal her abilities from the suspicious villagers in colonial Massachusetts. Saved from the pillory by a handsome, chivalrous stranger, Arianna senses an inexplicable connection. When she's given no choice but to marry the charismatic man, even after discovering he's the grandson of an infamous witch-hunter, she fears her powers won't be restrained for much longer.

The beautiful Irish witch Alainn O'Brien and her husband Killian, a handsome warrior chieftain, have been in love most of their lives. While danger has followed the gifted witch and her sovereign guardian ruthlessly and relentlessly, their love and commitment have always saved them. But now, finally returned to their castle, they and the other witches and guardians must face what may be their greatest challenge yet—the long-predicted battle between light and dark magic. Who'll live to see the battle and who'll live through it?

The foggy streets of London's Whitechapel district have become a nocturnal hunting ground for Jack the Ripper, and no woman is safe. Flower girl Constance Piper is not immune to dread, but she is more preoccupied with her own strange experiences of late. Clairvoyants seem to be everywhere these days. In desperation, even Scotland Yard has turned to them to help apprehend the Ripper.

Seventeen-year-old spirit medium Emily Chambers has a problem. Actually, she has several. As if seeing dead people isn’t a big enough social disadvantage, she also has to contend with an escaped demon and a handsome ghost with a secret past. And then there’s the question of her parentage. Being born an entire year after her father’s death (yes, a year), Emily is as much a mystery as the dead boy assigned to her.

Despite the odds, Princess Arabella of Avonia and rugged outdoorsman Will Banks fell in love while filming a reality show in the jungle. But that's another story. While she's making room in the royal closet for his hiking boots and backpacks - right next to the crown jewels - the show's producers are editing together film footage that could turn their romance into nothing more than a showmance. Private moments caught on tape and aired for the world's viewing pleasure are about to turn their world upside down.

Classic regency romance from beloved author Jane Ashford. Brash and handsome, Sir Justin Keighley is all wrong for a proper young lady like Margaret Mayfield. Everyone knows he is shocking in his opinions, arrogant in his manner, and completely without respect for the common decencies of civilized society. Margaret absolutely will not marry him - no matter what her parents say.

World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham's middle daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has her own secret.

The last thing Lord Nicholas Kincaid expected to see in the gloom of a London tavern was a vision of loveliness. And when she led him to a bedchamber with a come-hither smile, there was no question of resisting - until he realized the lying wench meant to render him senseless so the landlord could rob him blind!

When the ghost of a notorious killer possesses the body of an upper class youth, London’s pre-eminent medium, Emily Chambers, must exorcise it before the spirit goes on a rampage. As if this isn’t distracting enough, she must fight her feelings for brooding ghost, Jacob Beaufort, who doesn’t like the new man in her life–the handsome (and very much alive) Theodore Hyde.

Saddled with Chloe Gresham, his beautiful and irresponsible young ward, Sir Hugo Lattimer, a man driven by dark memories and a tormenting despair, has no intention of caring for her - until he falls in love.

Sixteen-year-old photography enthusiast Zoey has been fascinated by the haunted, burnt-out ruins of Medwyn Mill House for as long as she can remember - so she and her best friend, Poulton, run away from home to explore them. In 1851, 17-year-old Roan arrives at the Mill House as a ward - one of three, all with something to hide from their new guardian. 1583. Hermione, a new young bride, accompanies her husband to the wilds of North Wales where he plans to build the largest water mill and mansion in the area.

Christmas is a very special time of year. It is special for Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward Suki, who are determined to celebrate it properly. It is special for their friends, Doctor John Watson, and his wife Mary, both Elemental Masters, who have found great delight in the season seeing it through young Suki's eyes. It is also special to others...for very different reasons. For Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this, the Longest Night. Powers best left alone.

Lady Adelaide Compton had prepared herself to say good-bye forever to Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter. It would be a welcome relief not to get mixed up in any more murders, even if it meant never working alongside the handsome detective again...wouldn't it? But then Addie's prim and proper mother, Constance, the Dowager Marchioness of Broughton, is accused of murdering her secret lover, and there can't be enough gentlemen detectives on hand to find the truth.