Gothic Historical Fiction

Twisted Briar is Peggy's fortieth novel; her forty-fifth book. Each book resonates with Peggy's authentic Appalachian mountain voice and her gift to engross the reader in the story. From Chapter 2 : He was looking for another woman and boy. The young woman stopped and looked at the crowd as though she didn't know what direction to go in. She looked so lost and scared he felt sorry for her. Not only that, she was just a girl. She couldn't be a whole lot older than the frail little boy whose hand she had a tight grip on. One thing was for sure, the ragged clothes they wore wouldn't keep them ...

In the Shadow of the Moon: When Laura Truitt first sees the dilapidated plantation house, she's overcome by a sense of familiarity. Inside, the owner claims to have been waiting for years and offers an old photograph of a woman with Laura's face. Soon afterward, when a lunar eclipse inexplicably thrusts Laura back in time to Civil War Georgia, she finds herself fighting not just for her heart but for her very survival.

Hugh and his men are faced with fighting creatures only thought to live in legend but which have been brought to Earth by evil bent on annihilating all the realms. That is Hugh's life - and he loves it. At least he did until he found himself staring into the angelic, innocent face of Lady Mina of Stone Crest. In all the time he has led the Shields Hugh has trusted his instinct to keep his men alive, yet now he doesn't know what to believe. Everything points to Mina as the evil summoning the creatures, but she proclaims her innocence. He should be able to see through her lies, if she is indeed lying, but his attraction to her blinds him to even that.

A young, reserved governess arrives at a grand estate to tutor the unruly son of a widowed lord. Beneath her prim exterior, she harbors a fascination with forbidden literature, secretly penning her own sensual tales. One stormy night, the lord discovers her hidden manuscripts, and instead of dismissing her, he demands she read them aloud. What begins as a tense recitation soon unravels into a mutual exploration of their repressed desires, with the flickering candlelight and creaking manor walls as their only witnesses.

Born with fragile health, Dawn Uxbridge has lived a sheltered existence. Her lonely days are filled by drawing fanciful landscapes and nurturing plants. When tragedy strikes, she finds herself alone and penniless with only one talent - a green thumb. Jasper, the Earl of Seton, is in need of a gardener to reclaim his derelict estate in the remote west of England. He expected a robust commoner, not a fragile young woman.

Swedish Lapland, 1717. Maija, her husband Paavo and her daughters Frederika and Dorotea arrive from their native Finland, hoping to forget the traumas of their past and put down new roots in this harsh but beautiful land. Above them looms BlackAsen, a mountain whose foreboding presence looms over the valley and whose dark history seems to haunt the lives of those who live in its shadow.

Seven Sisters Collection: Book Two continues the haunting journey through the heart of Mobile's enigmatic Seven Sisters estate. In this compelling second installment, author M. L. Bullock weaves three more mesmerizing tales: "The Stars That Fell," "The Stars We Walked Upon," and "The Sun Rises Over Seven Sisters." Each story delves deeper into the mysteries of the antebellum mansion and its ghostly inhabitants, blending Southern charm with chilling paranormal encounters. "The Stars That Fell" finds Carrie Jo Jardine adapting to her role as the estate's dream catcher. Her connection to the ...

Victorian London is a place of fluid social roles, vibrant arts culture, fin-de-siecle wonders...and dangerous underground diabolic cults. Fencer Evadne Gray cares for none of the former and knows nothing of the latter when she's sent to London to chaperone her younger sister, aspiring art critic Dorina. Unfortunately for Evadne, she soon learns too much about all of it when Dorina meets their uncle's friend, Lady Henrietta "Henry" Wotton. A semi-respectable aristocrat in public, in private she is secretly in the thrall of a demon.

Unearth the chilling secrets buried within Rosegate Manor, an age-old home shrouded in darkness and whispers, nestled in Mobile, Alabama.Meet Carrie Jo, a historian with a unique gift—she's also a human dream catcher. Hired to transform the decaying Rosegate Manor into a living museum, she soon finds herself ensnared in webs of disturbing mysteries that stretch back over a century. As she peels back the layers of time, the disappearance of the Brown triplets, three six-year-old boys who vanished without a trace in 1911, haunts her investigation. Guided by spectral figures and pursued by ...

A mountain girl in the early 1900’s copes with a marriage arranged by her dad. Her story is titled from an old saying “I own my land, heaven-high and hell-deep.” “Your pa gave his consent for us to marry,” he said the words as though it was a simple matter. It wasn’t a romantic proposal of love and devotion. It wasn’t a proposal at all. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I tried again. “I don’t know your name,” I managed to say as I felt my chest constrict. There was a pain in me that started at my toes and went to the roots of my hair. Dad had come up with a ...

Threatened with destruction unless he fashions a wife for his Creature, Victor Frankenstein travels to England where he meets Mary and Kitty Bennet, the remaining unmarried sisters of the Bennet family from Pride and Prejudice. As Mary and Victor become increasingly attracted to each other, the Creature looks on impatiently, waiting for his bride. But where will Victor find a female body from which to create the monster's mate? Meanwhile, the awkward Mary hopes that Victor will save her from approaching spinsterhood while wondering what dark secret he is keeping from her.

From Chapter 2: ... “Did you see those folks from off while you were up there?” Gramps asked, but I didn’t answer, nor did I think Granny had seen me at all, but Gramps was good at guessing what I’d been up to. “What folks?” I asked as innocently as possible. Gramps grinned ever so slightly as he nodded toward my feet. “You got that red clay dirt on the bottom of your feet. That mountain is the only place where you can find that kind of red dirt.” I looked down and sure enough my feet were stained slightly orange by the red dirt I’d walked through instead of plain old ...

Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.

Discover a haunting Victorian Gothic tale where family secrets, supernatural terror, and the unbreakable bond between sisters collide in the wild moors of Northumberland... When desperate poverty forces Eliza Harrow to accept a mysterious inheritance from her estranged uncle, she believes her prayers have been answered. Withering House—a remote Gothic manor in the windswept Northumberland countryside—promises refuge from her precarious existence in Victorian London. But the house harbors secrets that stretch back three centuries. Local villagers speak in whispers of lights in empty ...

A gothic folklore book set in Ireland, Canada, and Italy during the 19th to early 20th century. Dive deep into the eerie world of *The Irish Banshee*, a spine-chilling collection that captures the essence of ancient Irish legends and supernatural encounters. This gripping gothic folklore narrative spans from the hauntingly beautiful countryside of Ireland to the atmospheric locales of Canadian wilderness and Italian coastal regions. Transporting readers to the 19th and early 20th centuries, it brings to life the spectral harbingers that stalk these lands. Discover the Mysteries: Linked only...

Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, believes his mother died giving birth to him. One of Marek’s few consola­tions is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby. For some people, Ina’s ability to receive trans­missions of sacred knowledge from the natural world is a godsend. For others, Ina’s home in the woods is a godless place.

To the world Mrs Copplefield is the epitome of Victorian propriety: an exemplary society lady who writes a weekly column advising young ladies on how to be better wives. Only Adeline has never been a good wife or mother; she has no claim to the Copplefield name, nor is she an English lady. Now a black woman, born in Africa, who dared to pretend to be something she was not, is on trial in the English courts with all of London society baying for her blood. And she is ready to tell her story.

In this dazzling debut, Taylor M. Polites crafts a Southern gothic novel that mines classic literary archetypes while shaping them in new ways. Set in Reconstruction-era Alabama, The Rebel Wife opens with Augusta Branson losing her husband to a terrible blood fever. Now she and her son must fend for themselves in a community being destroyed by violence.

It is 1831 when eight-year-old Aurelia Vennaway finds a naked baby girl abandoned in the snow on the grounds of her aristocratic family's magnificent mansion. Her parents are horrified that she has brought a bastard foundling into the house, but Aurelia convinces them to keep the baby, whom she names Amy Snow. Amy is brought up as a second-class citizen, but she and Aurelia are as close as sisters. When Aurelia dies at the age of 23, she leaves Amy 10 pounds. But Aurelia also left her much more.

All children mythologize their birth... So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's beloved collection of stories, long famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. The enigmatic Winter has always kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she summons a biographer to tell the truth about her extraordinary life: Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth remains an ever-present pain.