Showing results by narrator "Virginia Ferguson" in All Categories

Author Julia Harbour's debut novel reintroduces us to Adele, Jane, and Rochester in the Gothic drama we know so well. As the classic story moves forward, secrets are revealed. A heritage is denied. Passions smolder. Danger looms! Heartbreak and joy intertwine as Adele's journey reaches its startling culmination.

Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Bennet thought Fitzwilliam Darcy, her friend Georgiana's brother, was the most wonderful, handsomest man in the entire world. When he went to India to fight Britain’s enemies, she made him promise to write her along with Georgie regularly. There wasn't anything improper, since Georgiana and she had sworn to be sisters. When Elizabeth and Georgiana learned that Fitzwilliam was captured, they kept writing letters to him, so that when he was released, he would know that he had not been forgotten by those who loved him.

A year ago, Mr. Darcy suffered from an illness which robbed him of the use of his legs. However, he is determined to never become maudlin and behave as though his life is over and ruined just because part of it has become more difficult. Since he could not expect to recover any further, it was time to resume the ordinary course of his life.

Elizabeth knew the real reason Mr. Darcy tried to stop Bingley from marrying Jane: He was selfish, cruel, and unfeeling. Jane and Bingley thought he had counselled against their marriage because he really believed Jane to be indifferent. The adorable pair was hopelessly naive.

Now, Emma is a back-to-school PhD student with bigger and better things to worry about. That is, until one night, exhausted, slightly tipsy, and on her way home from a party, the glaring white light of a car comes crashing toward her, changing her life forever. Instead of waking up in a 21st-century hospital, she finds herself waking up in the backwaters of London, Victorian England, 1881.

Phillip Brown and Timothy Sweitzinger became best friends as boys, went off to war together, and remained steadfast as men to guard each other’s backs from all threats. When Timothy is found in bed with a dead woman, covered in her blood and with no memory of what happened, Phillip vows to uncover what really happened. Phillip’s investigation takes him all over the city of Baltimore, from the lowest of its citizens to the highest, and even to those who were thought to be above suspicion.

Elizabeth planned to never remarry. She had married Mr. Collins to protect Jane when Mr. Bennet died. But would her memories of how he hurt her keep her from finding love with Mr. Darcy? Elizabeth was only 15 when Mr. Bennet died. His heir, Mr. Collins, was an awful, ugly man who mistreated the servants. Elizabeth would never let her dear Jane marry him. Never. Jane was beautiful, kind, and good. She deserved to marry someone she loved. Elizabeth convinced Mr. Collins to choose her instead.

November 1283. Prioress Eleanor’s cousin, the earl of Ness, visits with his wife, Eda. When his unloved spouse is murdered in the priory chapel with his knife, he becomes the prime suspect. Another murder follows. Eda’s quiet priest is killed in the same chapel. Eda had many enemies, so what connection could there be between a ruthless woman and a pious man who cared nothing of earthy things? Crowner Ralf insists the crimes fall under the king’s law and that Prioress Eleanor lacks objectivity because of her cousin’s involvement.

The widowed Elise is a perfect English lady living within the confines of society for the sake of her impressionable young son. Her quiet world is shattered when she meets the impulsive and scandalous Jared Amesbury. His roguish charm awakens her yearning for adventure. But his irrepressible grin and sea-green eyes hide a secret.

Phillip Brown wakes up one bitter November morning to find a woman near frozen on the stoop of the Baltimore home he shares with his sister and uncle. The unconscious woman eventually awakens, unwilling to share who has terrified her while she makes a recovery in the Brown home. He continues his work at the Wiest Oyster Cannery and pouring beer on occasion at his neighborhood brewery while guarding his family from dangerous criminals’ intent of silencing his discoveries about the woman.

An escaped convict! A Contessa who is not what she seems! What are the mysteries of the Whitaker Theatre company? And –– could a baby be on the way? Where is the doctor???

February, 1603. In Richmond Palace, London, the last Queen of the Tudor dynasty, Elizabeth I, is dying. As Death hovers at her elbow, waiting for her to obey his call, the aged Queen looks back on her life, and on the trials, victories, and sorrows which brought her, eventually, to the throne of England.

At the age of 19, Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth of Hesse, stepped into the glittering court of the Romanovs, beginning a journey that would lead her from the shimmering ballrooms of St. Petersburg to the back streets of Moscow. Through intrigues, assassination, war and revolution, to the tragedy of her own horrific murder, she remained true to her calling to bring beauty into the world. Based on the true story of "the most beautiful princess in Europe", this novel is written in tribute to a remarkable and courageous woman.

Phillip Brown’s sister discovers a dead man, shot in the back, behind the dress shop she where she’s employed. Sarah Brown begs her brother to find out who has shot the man as the shop owner is fearful and harassed, caught up in the dead man’s crimes. The investigation leads Brown to danger from a notorious dockside fence. While uncovering the murder, his supervisor demands he investigate thefts at his home, the man convinced his servants are thieves. Brown uncovers the true culprit with the help of the daughter of the owner of the Wiest Cannery.

Fitzwilliam Darcy had grown unused to female society during his five years of seclusion since Georgiana had her illegitimate child. That was why he accidentally insulted Mrs. Bingley’s sister. And why he kept thinking about her. Elizabeth thought Mr. Darcy was a grand philanthropist: His rudeness provided everyone with a handsome and rich man to hate. But why, if he was actively determined to sneer at all the company, had he bothered to attend their assembly? Still, he was a very handsome man. Darcy needed to overcome his bad first impression if he wanted Elizabeth.

When both learn of the other’s lack of desire for love, they know the best chance to escape those seeking to wed them is to come to an agreement - one that will free them both from the pressures of matchmaking. But a marriage of convenience doesn’t imply a marriage without passion. As their feelings eventually warm toward one another, old enemies emerge and threaten everything they have worked for. Will they be able to draw strength from their blossoming love to defeat those who seek to destroy them, or will they deny their feelings and lose one another forever?

Fenella Conyers, a distant Raynham connection, unexpectedly appears at Beaumatin, the ancestral home of the Barons Raynham, with a request and a gift. After a life spent roaming the globe, she wants to settle down in the Cotswolds and asks if her noble cousin has an empty cottage where she could stay until she can find her own place. The gift is an extremely rare snowdrop—a yellow “spiky” that Fenella mysteriously acquired in her travels and which she has named Mystic Mayhem.

Recently retired from the Royal Navy, much acclaimed Captain Bartholomew Grayson has come home to London. He’s looking forward to the Christmastide season, especially now that he’s adopted his 10-year-old former cabin boy. The waif needs a family, and Bart wants to recapture the joy of his own childhood. Too bad the fly in the ointment is a strong-willed harridan with a tart mouth intent on stealing his cargo.

This seaside town holds more secrets than you could ever imagine. Grace and Dick Thomas are the proud owners of the Sandybank Guest House, a pristine establishment set in a prime location overlooking the beach. Tourists come and go all year round, enjoying the beautiful setting and their host's wonderful culinary skills. However, the permanent residents of this pretty coastal town cause net curtains to flutter and tongues to wag with their myriad of secrets and tales to be told.

Literary critic, E. A. Koltonovskaya, described the literary style of novelist Maria Krestovskaya as follows, “Her pen, for all its feminine agility, is often remarkable for its nearly masculine reticence. She has none of the chaotic flood of thoughtless emotions, which so frequently plagues the works by female writers. She does not like lyrical diversions and allows her characters to speak and act for themselves. Even during the most dramatic scenes, her tone remains restrained. Her formulation of women’s issues gives one the sense of a broad, universal foundation...."