Prince Alexius of Hellenica will do anything to help his four-year-old daughter learn to speak—which is why the intensely reserved and private royal finds himself opening up to bubbly children's speech therapist Dottie Richards. Dottie is a breath of fresh air in the palace, and motherless Zoe blossoms in her care—as does the reluctant attraction Alex feels toward his new employee!

In this follow-up to her acclaimed 2007 novel The Bastard of Istanbul, Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives---one contemporary and the other set in the 13th century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz---that together incarnate the poet's timeless message of love.

In the heyday of the British Raj, 11-year-old Anahita, from a noble but impoverished family, forms a lifelong friendship with the headstrong Princess Indira, the privileged daughter of rich Indian royalty. Becoming the princess's official companion, Anahita accompanies her friend to England just before the outbreak of the Great War. There, she meets the young Donald Astbury - reluctant heir to the magnificent, remote Astbury Estate - and his scheming mother.

Theodora knows she can't keep her five beautiful daughters at home forever - they're too curious, too free spirited, too like their late father. And so, before each girl leaves the small house on the riverside at the foot of Mount Olympus, Theodora makes sure they know they are always welcome to return. A devoted and resilient mother, Theodora has lived through World War II, through the Nazi occupation of Greece, and through her husband's death, and now she endures the twenty-year-long silence of her daughters' absence.

Ella's childhood is a happy one: she has loving parents, plenty of fields and meadows to explore, and lots of kind animal friends to play with. A sweet child, Ella warms the hearts of all who meet her. And her home is a wonderful place, the perfect little kingdom for a joyful family. But when tragedy strikes, Ella's happy home turns into one filled with sadness and cruelty. Will Ella be able to hold onto her kindness and courage through it all?

Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “Wedding of the Century” to the duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold”.

Adnan leads a weary existence as a bookshop owner in modern-day, war-torn Baghdad, where bombings, corruption, and assault are everyday occurrences and the struggle to survive has suffocated the joy out of life for most. But when he begins to clean out his bookshop of 40 years to leave his city in search of somewhere safer, he comes across the story of Ali, the Gardener of Baghdad.

"Creating Warriors," set in the early 19th century, is an enthralling tale of love, war, and supernatural intrigue. The story revolves around Beatrice, a headstrong young woman determined never to marry, and Abraham, a man who longs for supernatural powers. Their lives intersect in a Greek town where Abraham's father, seeking monetary gain, sells him to fight for Greece’s independence.

Late 1930's Germany: Best friends Alex von Hemmerle and Nicolas von Bingen, titled childhood friends with neighboring estates, are witnessing the rise of Nazism when Nick's father reveals the long-buried secret of his son's partial Jewish ancestry. Warned by highly placed friends to flee, the only treasures Nick and his sons can take are two dazzling Lipizzaner horses, gifts from Alex. These powerful and majestic creatures become their ticket to a new life waiting across the ocean...

When Rena's father dies she is alone in the world, forced out of the vicarage that has been her home, with nowhere to go and no money. She seeks help at the large wooden cross standing in the nearby grounds of "The Grange". And there in the earth she finds three golden coins, which she hands over to the new young Earl of Lansdale. They form a friendship, the sweetest one of her life. But her new happiness is threatened by Mr. Wyngate, a wealthy man determined to force the Earl to marry his daughter.

A decorated knight for Richard the Lionheart and an ally of the House of de Lohr, Sir Garret de Moray was a man described as cold, intimidating, foreboding. A man with eyes as black as night. Receiving a royal appointment as Captain of the Household Guard, there was no man more qualified or prepared for the role because on the sands of the Holy Land where Garret went on Richard’s great quest, the Christian armies whispered of a knight whose wisdom was ancient. Some wondered if he was the walking dead, an immortal soul who had lived many lifetimes over, because his skill and power exceeded earthly restraints. Kronos, they called him. The father of the gods. Then came a lady without hope…

When the skeletal remains of a young woman and her baby are found entombed behind the kitchen wall of a historic Tudor house, Cassandra is overcome with grief. She seems to know who the young woman was, but not how she knows, or how she came to be there. Cassandra becomes inexplicably drawn to the house and the mystery of the bones of Blackfriars. As she begins to learn the truth about the Thorne siblings who occupied the house during the reign of Elizabeth I, her own life takes an unexpected turn, and she finds out that her fate is linked to the Thornes in ways she never imagined.

A big Irish knight, much beloved by his English men, faces his biggest challenge when an injury nearly claims his life...and his confidence as a warrior.

Lady Annalyse Granville is a cursed second-born twin. Because of superstition and fear that a second-born twin is naught but a spawn of the devil, she's been sent to live with the nuns. However, she returns to her father's castle at Christmastime at her sister's request. Her sister is the king's mistress and very pregnant with his baby. And what happens during Annalyse's visit changes her life forever.

Born in the middle of nowhere, Yaqian, a little embroidery girl from Hunan Province, finds her way to the imperial court, a place of intrigue, desire, and treachery. From the bed of an Emperor, the heart of a Prince, and the right side of an Empress, Yaqian weaves her way through the most turbulent decades of China's history and witnesses the fall of the Qing Dynasty.