Showing results by narrator "Joanna Stephens" in All Categories

A destitute man comes looking for help from his cousin, and uncovers some mysteries. Phyllida Beasley is 40 years old, a mousy spinster who devotes her life to caring for her brother, and doing good works in the parish. She’s in a rut, but too timid to set herself free from her domineering friends and her own sense of duty. When a newcomer to the village draws her into his schemes, he challenges her to take a new direction. Can she summon the courage to step out of the shadows, when it means facing up to her terrible secret?

Walter Atherton, Viscount Birtwell, has drifted through his charmed life without a care in the world. As the eldest son and heir to an earl, he has never had to make his way in the world. His days are filled with pleasure, and to set the seal on it, he will shortly be married to a vastly wealthy heiress. His future is set fair for happiness. But the brutal murder of the family chaplain reveals a dreadful secret, and Walter finds his whole future upended. What on earth is he to do now?

Grace’s four older sisters have married and moved away, and life is very quiet and boring. It’s so stifling being female, occupying herself with her tapestry or painting, when she’d much rather have been a soldier, galloping about with a sword in her hand. She wouldn’t mind marrying because who wants to be an old maid? But all her suitors are dullards are only interested in her dowry. If only something exciting would happen!

Malcolm Gage walked out of his brother’s life 16 years ago when they both wanted to marry the same woman. Malcolm lost that battle, and he’s never forgiven his brother for it, preferring to live in poverty as a schoolmaster, rather than swallow his pride and go home. But now an unusual condition in a will pushes him back into the family fold. If he can teach his nephew well enough to admit him to the Society of Gentleman Linguists, he will inherit a fortune and will never be poor again. The only catch - he has to stay under his brother’s roof for three months.

Hope has no wish to marry, but it’s almost five years since her father died, and the final peculiar clause of his will is about to come into effect: If Hope’s brothers can’t be found, then the whole estate will be bequeathed to the church, and Hope must move to the Dower House with her mother. There’s just one way out: Her cousin Hugo can inherit Allamont Hall, but only if he marries Hope. Can she bear to give up the chance of finding a man who loves her, even if it means saving her home?

A traditional Regency romance, drawing room rather than bedroom. Nell Caldicott awaits the return of her violent sailor husband with trepidation, but for once her fears are not realised. Her husband’s ship, the Brig Minerva, has sunk off the Cornish coast. Nell is free, but her husband has left her with little money and many questions about his past. Gradually, as his secrets are laid bare, she realises she didn’t know her husband at all. Can she uncover the truth? And can she ever learn to trust a man with her heart again?

Annie Dresden is 26 years old, with no fortune, and nothing but a quick, practical mind to recommend her. Taken in by her apothecary uncle after her father’s death, she’s happy to be his assistant, but there’s no future for her as an apothecary. The only proper career for a woman is as a wife and mother, but for Annie the possibility is dwindling. When a long-forgotten suitor returns, it seems fate has given her another chance.

Will Fletcher is the eldest son and heir to the family fortune, and although his father is reluctant to relinquish his roots in trade, Will is more than happy to become a gentleman.

Lord Montague Marford is looking forward to a quiet life as clergyman of a rural parish where he can hope to do some good. But sometimes his compassionate nature gets him into trouble, and when a bedraggled young woman turns up on the doorstep to call in a long-forgotten debt, Monty’s sense of honour compels him to offer to marry her. But he soon begins to wonder if he’s made a huge mistake.

When Mr. Edmund Winterton of Woodside dies, his daughters find themselves penniless and homeless. What can they do? Unless they wish to live on charity, they will have to find genteel employment for themselves. Annabelle becomes governess to the daughters of the recently bereaved Earl of Brackenwood. She has no idea how to teach, but her pupils can learn all they need from books, so how difficult can it be?

The dramatic conclusion to the series! Ten years have passed since the sisters of Woodside found happiness. Their grief for their young brother, Jeremy, tragically drowned at the age of 12, has faded. The sadness of losing their home, Woodside, to strangers is but a memory. They no longer wonder just what became of their mother’s fabulous jewels, which should have guaranteed their dowries. They are looking forwards, not back into the past. But the past is not always willing to be left behind.

Madge Paton has been the mainstay of the Fletcher household for a quarter of a century, and even though her role managing the household and raising the children has been usurped by Harry Fletcher’s new wife, there’s still work to be done for a spinster aunt. She misses their Yorkshire life, but things aren’t so bad in the south of England. If only she didn’t have to put up with that irritating Morgan Plummer and his argumentative ways.

Belle is the plain one of the six Allamont sisters, happy with her books. When their father dies suddenly, his will leaves large dowries for his six daughters, but only if they marry in the proper order, the eldest first. With Amy betrothed, now Belle must find a husband.

Caroline Milburn and her younger sisters live in two cramped rooms, struggling to survive by their skills in lace making and weaving. When their previously unknown grandfather drowns on the Brig Minerva and bequeaths them a cottage in the country, their lives seem set to improve. But where will the daughters of a linen draper fit into rural life, now that they are better off? How will Caroline find husbands for her younger sisters? Why have purses of money been buried in the garden? And why are the neighbours so interested in them?

Mr Bertram Atherton has one foot in the Ancient World, emerging from his library only to eat and sleep. But when the chaplain of his uncle, the Earl of Rennington, is brutally murdered, it is revealed that he was never ordained and so the earl’s marriage was invalid, and his children rendered illegitimate. Bertram’s father is now the heir to the earldom, and Bertram after him. It’s a horrifying change of circumstances for a man only interested in intellectual pursuits.

Lord Gilbert Marford is in disgrace. He joined the Hussars to stay out of trouble. Instead, he quarrelled with half his fellow officers, seduced the wives of three of them, got himself shot in a duel, and sustained an injury that might end his career. Now he’s being sent home like a naughty schoolboy, and he’s not happy about it. So when an opportunity arises to run away, he’s not about to let a little snow stop him.

Connie’s older sisters have managed to find husbands, but now it’s her turn, and she is not sure she wants to marry at all. Having only just escaped her late father’s restrictive regime, she’s reluctant to surrender her freedom to another man just yet. If only she could find one who would fall so adoringly in love that he would do anything for her.

Lord Humphrey Marford has a way with cards, dice, and gambling of all forms. He’d love to start his own gaming house, but that takes a lot of money, far more than he or his brothers can come up with. His only solution is to marry an heiress, and he can’t be too choosy. Miss Hortensia Blythe seems perfect - pretty, charming and very, very rich, she’s just home from India where her father made a fortune and left her every penny of it. But even as he courts the ladylike but rather dull Miss Blythe, Humphrey is drawn to her companion.

Lord Augustus Marford has only one interest in life - horses. It’s an expensive hobby. When his brother, the Marquess of Carrbridge, finds himself in financial trouble after his agent disappears with much of his fortune, Gus is happy to help the family finances by finding work with horse auctioneers Tattersalls. His first job takes him to the wild Northumberland coast to assess some stud horses for the eccentric Duke of Dunmorton.

Susannah Winslade is 26 and drifting into perpetual spinsterhood as she tries to care for her sick stepmother, look after her young brothers and sisters, and keep her father sober and solvent. Her brother Henry isn’t much help, either. She doesn’t mind. Once upon a time, she met the perfect man and until someone like him comes into her life again, she’s happy at home, with her wildflower painting for solace. Samuel Broughton has come to Great Maeswood to make a new start as a country physician.