Showing results by publisher "Isis Publishing Ltd" in Historical Fiction

London, 1891: Harriet Cameron and her beloved sister, Sarah, have been brought up by their father, radical thinker James. But when adventurer Henry Vincent arrives on the scene, the sisters' lives are changed forever. Sarah marries Henry and embarks on a voyage to Australia. Harriet, intensely missing Sarah, must decide whether to help her father with his life's work or to devote herself to painting.

Isabel, born into the British Raj, and Asha, a young Hindu girl, both consider India their home. Through mischance and accident their stories intersect, and circumstances will bring them from the bustling city of Delhi to the shores of the Andaman Islands, from glittering colonial parties to the squalor and desperation of a notorious prison, and into the lives of men on opposing sides of the fight for self-rule. As the shadow of the Second World War falls across India, Isabel, caught up in growing political violence, has to make impossible choices.

With her dreams of dominating Melbourne's fashion scene in tatters, Nella Martini returns to Torrente Blu, the market garden inherited from her late nonna Esta. She just needs to clean up the property and sell it quickly before taking on the fashion world once more, while avoiding run-ins with her neighbour, surly Adrian Tomaso. But when Nella comes across her nonna's cookbook, things start to change. The place, with its endless tomato plants and gallons of olive oil in storage, gets under her skin, as does Adrian....

1915. While World War One changes the country, with food becoming scarce and Britain's young men being called up, it is harder than ever to keep the grand Beach Hotel in Littlehampton running smoothly. Waitress Lili Probert has seen her hard work rewarded at the Beach Hotel, but hides heartbreak behind her sunny personality. Her sweetheart, Norman, is missing in action and has been presumed dead, but she cannot give up hope that he may be found. But when she meets injured soldier Rhodri, a fellow Welshman now living near Littlehampton, she fights hard to ignore her growing attraction for him.

Major Harry Sterling has had to leave his regiment after the death of his father and brother. Now Duke of Ranliegh, it is his duty to marry without delay. His friend Captain Atterton makes a surprise appearance, and the men are drawn into a web of treachery. Someone is supplying secrets to Napoleon, and Harry also discovers that his brother did not die in an accident, but was murdered. The investigation proves dangerous, and the elderly duchess is fearful that her grandson will be killed before he has produced an heir.

The close, loving family life Rose has known is shattered when the country goes to war. Rose resolves to do her bit so, aged 16, she leaves home to train as a nurse in London. There she finds freedom, excitement and a different way of life. A brief encounter with a soldier opens her eyes to romance, but is he the man she thinks he is? Can first love survive long separation or will Rose discover that her heart belongs to another? When the war brings searing loss and heartbreak, can Rose find the strength to look to the future?

The cause of Alexander the Great's sudden death is no longer in doubt - it was murder. But by whom? As his former followers struggle for power, the bonds of family, friendship and political loyalties are tested to the limit. As is the strength of the formidable empire that Alexander had wrought. Never before has the Western world seen such turmoil, such a threat to civilisation. As battles rage, armies, cities and thousands of lives are destroyed by the ruthless scheming of those who would be king. Or queen.

Mary Dutton is accused of killing her husband by poison. The police see it as an open-and-shut case, and even those protesting for her believe she committed the act but is innocent of wrongdoing after suffering years of domestic abuse. Since his recent success in the high-profile Dryden case catapulted him to the front pages of the national press, Arthur Skelton is now one of the most recognisable barristers. Despite the odds, he agrees to represent Mary Dutton.

'You don’t mean you're going to divorce him?' Miss Spanner said with horror. A sophisticated, emotive novel, Chatterton Square concerns the complex web of relationships between two neighbouring families, the Blacketts and the Frasers. Framed by the advance of the Second World War, the subtle mechanics of marriage and love are laid bare through the observation of three of the marital options open to the mid-century woman: unmarried, separated, miserably married.

The eldest of three children, Kate helps her mother run the Devlin plait-school. They supply the material for the famous Luton Straw Boater. Kate longs to leave this life behind and become a hat-maker. Then a family tragedy changes everything. And Joseph Devlin, Kate's estranged uncle, turns up on their doorstep. He warns Kate that the worst is yet to come. Kate loses her home and her work. Things are looking very bleak, until Daniel Groves, the new owner of Heaven Scent lavender farm takes a liking to Kate.

1940. Cora Mayhew came to Paris to search for her birth mother and stayed to work for the resistance movement. When Cora's train is struck by Nazi bombs, the only thoughts on her mind as she staggers from the wreckage are to escape to return to her family, and to post the heart-wrenching letter clutched in her hand. Then a German soldier finds and saves Cora. Max Heller is nothing like she would have expected: kind, good-humoured and selfless. Cora can't help falling in love with him as he helps to plot her escape.

Rome has lost its greatest warrior; Aulus Cornelius is dead. Although he is hailed as a hero, the betrayal by cowardly governor Flaminus is not forgotten. Aulus' death has left his sons with grave responsibilities. While Titus swears vengeance against Flaminus, and to become as great a general as his father, Quintus chooses to pursue politics - under the guidance of Lucius Falerius, now the most powerful senator in Rome. Despite his fortune, Lucius is haunted by the prophecy that binds his fate to Aulus'. As he trains his son, Marcellus, he manipulates the Cornelius family to his own ends.

Two boys appeal to the famed Roman oracle for a glimpse into their future, and the Sybil draws an omen of death. As they flee from the cave in fear, Aulus and Lucius make an oath of loyalty until death - one that will be tested in the years to come. Thirty years on and Aulus, now Rome's most successful general, faces his toughest battle. Barbarian rebels have captured his wife and are demanding the withdrawal of Roman legions from their land. It is unthinkable for Aulus to agree, and he fears she must be forfeit for Rome.

When the parish guardians send Lydia, daughter of convict James Knowles, to apprentice in the cotton mill at Caton, she is distraught at being parted from her younger siblings and mother, Betty, but she has no choice. At the mill, Lydia is bullied by some of the other girls and things do not go well when she stands up to the ringleader. Fearing she has killed someone and with the word murderess ringing in her ears, Lydia runs for her life.

It is 1948, and post-war Britain is on her knees. The call has gone out to the British Empire for volunteers to help rebuild the Mother Country, and young men and women from across the Caribbean have been quick to respond, paying the considerable sum of £28.10s to board HMT Empire Windrush. As five hundred disparate passengers begin the two-week voyage, it becomes clear that their lives will never be the same again.

Alexander the Great's sudden death has left his vast empire in chaos. War rages, cities fall and the lives of thousands are torn apart as his former generals struggle for a share. Alliances and betrayals are rife, and as one man threatens to gain an advantage, the others will not hesitate to plot his downfall. The one-eyed brute Antigonos is the most formidable power in the Western world and now has his eye on the jewel of the east: Babylon.

Princess of Mycenae, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sister of the sacrificed Iphigenia and the cursed Orestes. Electra is forced to flee her home after witnessing the shocking revenge-murder of her father, by her mother, on his return from the Trojan War. Life beyond the palace is frightening, and the scandalous behaviour of her foreign companions disturbs her, but she needs the help of the Trojan Cassandra, and her two lovers, to survive. Driven by her own desire for vengeance, Electra's life becomes one of adventure, peril, pleasure, tragedy and love.

1931. Frances Palmer is overjoyed when her brother, Rob, returns to Adelaide as a racecourse veterinarian. But all is not well on the turf, and when a man is murdered, there's only one suspect - Rob. Frances and her boyfriend, charming night-club owner Jack Sullivan, along with ex-vaudevillian Uncle Sal and their friends, have only one chance to unmask the real murderer by infiltrating the racecourse. The odds are against them...luckily, putting on a dazzling show where everything depends on sleight of hand is what they do best. But nothing is a dead cert against a cold-blooded killer.

A woman’s dismembered corpse is discovered in a quarry, and police quickly link the victim back to their chief suspect: her husband, Doctor Ibraham Aziz. His wife had been planning to leave him, so his guilt isn’t in doubt as far as local law enforcement is concerned. Barrister Arthur Skelton is asked to represent the accused, and though all believe the case to be hopeless, Skelton suspects there may be more to the victim’s death.

For two people who run competing arts centres in Cornwall, Sybill Helyer and Coren Penhaligon get on rather well. So well, in fact, that Sybill often wishes the owner of Pencradoc Arts Centre would look up from his spreadsheets for a minute and notice her. Unfortunately, even that is too much to ask from workaholic Coren. However, when the pair join forces to run an exhibition on the wild and wonderful life of Elsie Pencradoc, a talented artist who lived at Coren’s estate in the early 20th century, they’re in for a surprise.