Showing titles in Gothic

It is 1953, and Melbourne society is looking forward to coronation season, the grand balls and celebrations for the young queen-to-be. Tilly Dunnage is, however, working for a pittance in a second-rate Collins Street salon. Her talents go unappreciated, and the madame is a bully and a cheat, but Tilly has a past she is desperate to escape and good reason to prefer anonymity.

Two years of my life have been stolen by the Royals of Forsyth. Two years of captivity and hell. Two years at the whim of powerful men. I spent that time seeking freedom. Now, I want nothing more than revenge.

In this sweeping romantic fantasy from bestselling author Jessica Khoury, a young witch caught in a twisted bargain with the fae must disguise herself as a governess and uncover the gateway to the realm of faerie in order to save her dying magic and escape the clutches of her controlling fae handler—even as she finds herself falling for her new employer, an enigmatic young Scottish laird and the owner of a crumbling estate brimming with secrets.

When Annie marries widower Edward Stonehouse and arrives at Guardbridge, his estate on the Yorkshire moors, she thinks she has finally put darkness behind her. She is mistaken. Edward's sister, Iris, still lives in the family home. A taxidermist and medium, she urges Annie to watch out for black feathers - claiming that they mark the spot where a spirt has visited. At first, Annie dismisses her warnings. But, before long, she begins to feel haunted.

As Logan's bride, she would savor now the love she had sought for so long. And free from her father's clutches, she would live again in her backwoods town as a respected teacher and cherished wife. But after a wedding trip to Boston's Farthinggale Manor and a lavish, elegant party, Heaven and Logan are persuaded to stay...lured by Tony Tatterton's guile to live amid the Tatterton wealth and privilege. Then the ghosts of Heaven's past rise up again, writhing around her fragile happiness...threatening her precious love with scandal and jealousy, sinister passions and dangerous dreams!

Madeline is missing. Ordered to find her, Madeline’s estranged niece, Fade, must return to the lonely forest of Willow Sound, Nova Scotia. There, Fade discovers her aunt’s once-cozy cottage empty and rotting. The ominous smell of something burnt hangs in the air. In her search for answers, Fade clashes with the people of Grand Tea, a nearby village struggling under the shadow of a massive, looming rock that could tip and crush them all at any time. For generations, they’ve invented bizarre lore about Madeline, calling her a witch and blaming her for their misfortunes.

1589. Scottish housemaid Geillis and Danish courtier Margareta lead opposite lives, but they both know one thing: when a man cries “witch”, no woman is safe. Yet when the marriage of King James VI and Princess Anna of Denmark brings Geillis and Margareta together, everything they supposed about good, evil, men, and women, is cast in a strange and brilliant new light. For the first time in history, could black magic – or rumours of it – be a very real tool for women’s political gain?

In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters - Catherine, Lydia and Emeline - flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall. The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline. All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, but none more than Lydia, who must draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end....

The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd―spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist―accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past―riddled with grief and shame―has never seemed so far away. But then Ada begins to witness strange and grisly phenomena: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun.

Juliet: It is my duty to obey, to give my body and blood to a vampire master until he no longer has use for me. There is no escape. Nowhere to run. Follow the rules or die. I don't want to die. Darius: Twenty-two years of conditioning has crafted the perfect poison-a weapon my enemies won't see coming. I'll break her, train her, and use her to take down everyone who stands in my way. She's alluring. She's perfect. And she's mine.

The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared behind a near-impenetrable veil that only three survivors could enter—and only one has in the past twenty years, until now. Talitha Velkwood has avoided anything to do with the tragedy that took her mother and eight-year-old sister, drifting from one job to another, never settling anywhere or with anyone, feeling as trapped by her past as if she was still there in the small town she so desperately wanted to escape from.

One evening, Gillis—a young Scottish minister who technically doesn't believe in god—falls into a hole left by a recently dug up elm tree and discovers an ancient disembodied hand in the soil. He's about to rebury it when the hand... beckons to him. He spirits it back to his manse and gives it pen and paper, whereupon it begins to doodle scratchy and anarchic visions. Somewhere, in the hand's deep history, there lies a story of the Scottish reformation, of art and violence, and of its owner long since dead.

Deceitful. Arrogant. Cold. Those are the three perfect words to sum up my husband to be. After little deliberation, my parents decide Isiah Darcy is the perfect suitor. He’s rich, British, and the perfect ally for the Benedetto family business. I can’t stand him, but they don’t care what I want. He’s stuck up and has little respect for women. Once we’re married, he makes it painfully clear I have no rights. I’m nothing more than a puppet. A way for him to get what he’s always wanted. Revenge on my family for something that happened years ago. My husband wants to tear my family apart.

Tasked by his horribly well-adjusted brother with clearing out the family home for sale, Gabriel’s sanity quickly begins to unravel. His parents’ old manuscripts appear to change each time he reads them. A bizarre home video hints at long-buried secrets. And there’s a hideous man in the garden.

Tig Costello has arrived in Darren, Kentucky, commissioned to paint a portrait honoring her grandfather Benjamin. His contributions to the rural Appalachian town and his unimpeachable war service have made him a local hero. But to Tig, he’s a relative stranger. To find out more about him, Tig wants to talk to the person who knew her grandfather best: Eloise Price, the woman who murdered him fifty years ago.

Lachlan's younger brother Toby has gone missing in the remote East Pilbara region of Western Australia. The last thing he heard was that Toby was in a little town out in the arse-end of nowhere, a tiny place called Jasper Cliff. When Lachlan's car breaks down on the edge of the Cliff, he finds himself marooned at the local pub, surrounded by a cohort of ragtag locals.

After escaping the trauma of the Umbrella Lady’s home, 13-year-old Saffron Faith Anders is determined to find the father who abandoned her all those years ago. But when she finds him in a nearby town, Saffron is shocked to discover that he has married a woman he clearly had been involved with before her mother’s death. Worse, her father insists Saffron pretend to be his niece so he can continue to con his new wife’s family. Desperate for her father’s love, she goes along with the farce, but it soon becomes clear that perhaps it is better to face the world alone....

Fiery blue eyes. Hungry red lips. Tattoo-covered hands… hands that never let go… Mikhail Zhirkov is the perfect villain. Ruthless. Powerful. Hot as hell. So, when I'm blackmailed into delivering a mysterious package to the former Bratva boss, I know I'm in deep trouble. But it's not just fear I feel. It's hate, too. He killed my father. Stole his crown. Cast my family aside. Now I'm walking up to his doorstep, secret envelope in hand, no idea what's inside… until the devil's sinful smile reveals all.

Thirty-three-year-old Todd is playing at the beach with his son, Anthony, when he catches sight of an approaching figure. Instantly, he recognises Jack, his high school tormentor. Radiant, repentant, and overjoyed to have 'run into' Todd, Jack suggests a meal to catch up. And can he spend the night? What follows is a fast-paced story of obsession and suspense, as Jack gaslights his way back into Todd's life, pushing his old 'friend' to the brink.

As the dark and menacing waters of the local river submerge Perdido, a small town in the south of Alabama, the Caskeys - a family of rich landowners - must confront the tide of damage caused by the flood. Led by Mary-Love, the powerful matriarch, and by Oscar, her devoted son, the family must pick itself back up. But what they haven't anticipated is the sudden appearance of Elinor Dammert - a mysterious but seductive young woman with a troubling past. Her sole ambition appears to be to infiltrate the very heart of the Caskey clan...