May 1950, Britain is struggling with the hardships of rationing and the aftermath of the Second World War. Peter Schormann, a German ex-prisoner of war, has left his home country to be with Mary Howarth, matron of a small hospital in Wales. The two met when Mary was a nurse at the POW camp hospital. They intend to marry, but the memory of Frank Shuttleworth, an ex-boyfriend of Mary's, continues to haunt them and there are many obstacles in the way of their happiness, not the least of which is Mary's troubled family. When tragedy strikes, Mary hopes it will unite her siblings, but it is only when a child disappears that the whole family pulls together to save one of their own from a common enemy.

Amazon.com ReviewWho was Bram Stoker? Novelist and historian Frank Delaney attempts an answer with Undead, an extended essay that functions simultaneously as travelogue, debunker of legends, reverent (not to say revenant) biography, exploration of the historical moment that gave rise to Dracula, and even a short cultural history of blood. According to Delaney, Stoker was most definitely not a great writer; he was, instead, "a terrible poet" whose "romances send you straight to the podiatrist to have your toes uncurled." That said, Dracula undeniably amplified vampire mythology to unprecedented heights from which it never descended: translated into dozens of languages--from Czech to Chinese--the book is, if not the bestselling novel of all time, almost certainly the most frequently adapted. All told, Delaney’s exploration of Stoker’s life is thoroughly readable and exquisitely timed, and if occasionally glib, his style aptly quickens the pulse. Sink your teeth right in. --_Jason Kirk_Product DescriptionThe ultimate back story of the original Dracula, and its creator, Bram Stoker. Best-selling author Frank Delaney deconstructs the Vampire myth through the ages, and shows us how Stoker’s 1897 novel, one of the most widely read books of all time, heightened the allure of sex, the glamour of blood, and the defeat of death in a way that continues to pulse - and faster than ever - on the page and on the screen.

Rustlers, revenge and revelations - the Wrestling Trolls family are under attack! Disaster has struck the Wrestling Trolls family. Their grumpy but much-loved friend Robin has been stolen by a nasty band of horse rustlers, and it's up to the gang to get him back. In the second story, Jack is desperate to get back inside Lord Veto's castle to rescue a treasured family heirloom left to him by his parents before they died - but he finds a lot more than he bargained for ... In this penultimate adventure in the WRESTLING TROLLS series, the little band of friends must pull together and face their toughest challenges yet.

The author of the critically admired, award-winning A Replacement Life turns to a different kind of story—an evocative, nuanced portrait of marriage and family, a woman reckoning with what she's given up to make both work, and the universal question of how we reconcile who we are and whom the world wants us to be.Maya Shulman and Alex Rubin met in 1992, when she was a Ukrainian exchange student with "a devil in [her] head" about becoming a chef instead of a medical worker, and he the coddled son of Russian immigrants wanting to toe the water of a less predictable life.Twenty years later, Maya Rubin is a medical worker in suburban New Jersey, and Alex his father's second in the family business. The great dislocation of their lives is their eight-year-old son Max—adopted from two teenagers in Montana despite Alex's view that "adopted children are second-class."At once a salvation and a mystery to his parents—with whom Max's biological mother...

London 1890. Queenie Bonner is only two years old and oblivious to the dirt and squalor of the slums she lives in. She is the youngest of ten children and is happy with her brothers and sisters. Harry, the eldest, is the one she loves the most.One day when they are all having a rough and tumble in the street, with Queenie right in the middle laughing with joy, a posh carriage arrives. While they all watch in awe at such a sight, Queenie's mum and dad put her in the coach with a strange man and woman. As they drive away a terrified little girl leans out of the window calling to Harry to help her. They arrive at a large house in the country and the little girl begs to be taken home. Albert and Mary Warrender tell her this is now her home, and rename her Eleanor.Over the years she forgets about her other family and loves Albert and Mary, believing they are her parents. Fifteen years later Mary dies and Albert tells her about her past and what her real name is.Albert helps her to...

Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Steve Berry, Naomi Novik, and Harry Turtledove, Alan Smale's gripping alternate history series imagines a world in which the Roman Empire has survived long enough to invade North America in 1218. Now the stunning story carries hero Gaius Marcellinus deeper into the culture of an extraordinary people--whose humanity, bravery, love, and ingenuity forever change his life and destiny. In AD 1218, Praetor Gaius Marcellinus is tasked with conquering North America and turning it into a Roman province. But outside the walls of the great city of Cahokia, his legion is destroyed outright; Marcellinus is the only one spared. In the months and years that follow, Marcellinus comes to see North America as his home and the Cahokians as his kin. He vows to defend these proud people from any threat, Roman or Native. After successfully repelling an invasion by the fearsome Iroqua tribes, Marcellinus realizes that a weak and fractured...

When beautiful Fiona of Dunsheauna appears to Dag Thorsson in his underground prison, he fears she is a fairy come to enchant him. But when Dag escapes and takes Fiona captive, it's not magic that enslaves the Viking warrior, but desire. He takes her to his harsh homeland in the North, where the two of them must survive treachery and betrayal on their journey to a fierce and passionate love.