Showing results by narrator "Lillian Rachel" in All Categories

Michael Blake, a straitlaced English nobleman, desperately needs to marry an heiress. When he discovers that his intended bride - and her much-need dowry - has been romanced away from him by his own brother, he is forced to turn to the only other great heiress on the market. Emma Marks is an American adventuress who has spent the last few years traveling the world - a bargain she made with her father in return for her promise to marry a titled aristocrat by the time she's 25.

Necromancers infest the land of Alderyth, fueling a dark plague that always kills its victims. For Nell, it’s more than a story told by travelers. The deathmark claimed her family and fated her to a life of servitude. When a battered old hag collapses in her arms, suspicion swirls through her fearful town. Could Nell be a carrier of the plague? She flees rather than submit to prying authorities, but not without trouble.

A Little Princess tells the story of Sara Crewe, daughter of a rich English officer stationed in India, who is sent to Miss Minchin's boarding school in London. Despite her wealth and privilege, Sara is kind and generous, befriending everyone from school outcast Ermengarde and motherless toddler Lottie to the teenage scullery maid Becky. When Sara's status is abruptly changed, her resolve to behave like a princess no matter her circumstances is put to the test. Frances Hodgson Burnet's children's classic is performed by a full cast and will be loved by listeners of all ages.

During the Middle Ages, a peasant's superstition held that a mother mourning the death of her child could "sell her sorrow" by selling a nail from her child's coffin to a peddler. Lady Celeste is overwhelmed with grief when her infant son dies. Desperate to find relief, she escapes the convent where her husband has sent her to recover and begs a passing peddler to buy her sorrow. Jean, the cynical peddler she meets, is nobody’s fool; he does not believe in superstitions and insists Celeste include the valuable ruby ring on her finger along with the nail in return for his coin.

Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel, first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. A work of considerable power and intensity set in the Yorkshire moors in the late 18th century - the bleak and wild moorland often reflected in the natures of the characters. Unsettling at times, the novel is a heady mix of gritty realism, romance, Gothic horror, and tragedy.

Henry VIII is dead, and history will never be the same. The year is 1536. Three claimants vie for his throne: Anne Boleyn, who fights for her young daughter, Elizabeth; Mary Tudor, who sees the hand of Providence at work; and Henry FitzRoy, the king's illegitimate but recognized son. Factions form, and battles are fought over who will win the crown.

Plagued by misfortune, Ingrid Norling treks into the woods to clear her head. She emerges a monster-slayer, the shaken executioner of a creature so ferocious that even the king's strongest warriors could not destroy it. In a land that reveres swords and worships strength, this accidental heroism earns Inge an audience at court and an ill-fated prize: King Halvard impulsively adopts her and names her as his heir.

Between 1895 and 1898, H. G. Wells wrote five science fiction novels, which have become among the most celebrated examples of the genre. The first of these was The Time Machine, in which Wells explores not only the fascinating subject of time travel but also the potential dangers to human autonomy by the advance of civilization. Well's world-weary Time Traveller, who is the main narrator, is one of his most quirky and appealing characters.

Brianna bears a deadly secret: she’s not the princess she is pretending to be. If the prince finds out, her life will be forfeit and her country plunged into war. But there is more to the icy prince than meets the eye, and Brianna slowly unravels the secrets of his dark past while surviving in a strange culture. However her goodness and wit will only get her so far. Terrifying beasts stalk the border and a murderer is at work in the town. They know the truth of Brianna’s identity and will stop at nothing to destroy all she has fought for.

Between 1895 and 1901 H. G. Wells wrote six science fiction novels, which have become among the most celebrated examples of the genre. In this collection, Wells explores a number of topics that have since become very common subjects in science fiction, including time travel, celestial beings, eugenics, alien invasion, and space exploration.

What makes a 1930s society girl become a farmer? Answer: the Second World War. This is the story of my mother, Frances Donaldson, a privileged young woman giving her all in wartime. With her soldier husband, Jack, far away and two young children to care for, she bought a farm in Warwickshire and determined to live off it. Could an emotionally fragile young mother survive the ordeal? A Woman's War tells how she conquered WWII. An emotional tale from riches to rags, from joy to sorrow, and, at the end of the war together again with Jack, rejoicing.

Her reputation tarnished and her prospects all but gone, the School of Charm's headmistress has nothing left to lose. At least, that's what Miss Farthington believed. But now she's being pursued by a man as charming as he is clever, and she's realized that she was wrong. She still has something very dear left to lose...her heart.

North and South follows the young Margaret Hale as she is caught in the middle of the brutal world between employers and local workers following the Industrial Revolution. She finds herself at odds from the very start with John Thornton, a local factory owner and self-made man, as she believes him to be unfeeling and callous about the poverty and suffering of the workers while John sees Margaret as haughty and entitled. Further conflicts arise when the workers strike and Margaret feels compelled to intervene with no regard for her own safety.

When the Marquess comes to court her sister, Louisa has one job... To stay out of trouble, and remain out of sight. She's failing spectacularly. But Louisa never expects the irritatingly charming Marquess to find her dancing alone in the moonlight, or that he'll be the one to catch her when she falls out of a window attempting to be unseen. And the more the Marquess tries to draw her out of her sister's shadow, the more clear it becomes. It's not just her reputation that's in trouble . . . it's her heart.

Miss Prudence has worked diligently to become the perfect wife for the lord she's meant to marry. There's only one flaw left—music. But when her aunt hires the handsome lord next door to help, Prudence's quest for perfection is ruined. How is the dutiful debutante expected to survive music lessons when her tutor is the boy who'd teased her mercilessly as a child? And now he's at it again. Poking fun and provoking her into rash actions.

Some things are better left in the past, but Eliza has spent years running from hers. When the man who upended her life re-enters it in the most unexpected way, Eliza must decide if reacquainting herself with Nicolas is worth the heartache.

Delilah always knew she'd marry someone rich and powerful, but she never imagined she'd be engaged to the man her friends call 'Lord Evil.' She's certain they're exaggerating the danger she's in...until she slips away during her engagement party and finds herself held captive by a terrifying brute. Trembling in terror in his arms, she tells the stranger to take whatever he wants, just let her go. But the beast growls in her ear, "I'm not here for your jewels, princess. I'm here for you..."

A Christmas Anthology of several of the best Christmas Novellas you have never heard from authors who were prolific in their time. Including the author of the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms series, the Little Bear children's series, Charles Dickens & Howard Hughes' award winning novelist/playwright brother.

Miss Charlotte despises the man she's supposed to marry. Of course, she hasn't actually met the Earl's son, but from the letters they've exchanged, he's exactly the sort of overbearing brute she can't stand. Not at all like that handsome, witty, romantic stranger she met at the bookshop. She agrees to meet this intriguing stranger in the garden at midnight, not realizing that the man she's agreed to meet...is the same man she's vowed to hate.

Young Rachel Verinder inherits a sacred Indian moonstone from her uncle. This extremely valuable gem disappears from Rachel's bedroom soon after a party is thrown in her honor to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. Believed to be stolen, a series of narratives unfold to solve the mystery of the missing moonstone. In true Collins fashion, one cannot get enough of the twists and turns in this intriguing detective story.