Showing results by narrator "Ruth Urquhart" in All Categories

There are three absolutes in Mairi Wallace's world: 1. The Mages rule every city in Scotland with terrible, violent authority. 2. It is not physically possible for any woman to wield magic. 3. Mairi does not have a voice. She is about to learn that none of these things have to be true. From twisted wynds and tartan shops to a dangerous daemon and malevolent ravens, the future of a tattered nation might lie with one solitary woman.

Even as a young girl, Jill was a favorite of the magical, mysterious Wildfolk, who appeared to her from their invisible realm. Little did she know her extraordinary friends represented but a glimpse of a forgotten past and a fateful future. Four hundred years - and many lifetimes ago - one selfish young lord caused the death of two innocent lovers. Then and there he vowed never to rest until he'd righted that wrong - and laid the foundation for the lives of Jill and all those whom she would hold dear.

For years the provinces of Deverry have been in turmoil; now, the conflict escalates with the kidnapping of Rhodry Maelwaedd, heir to the throne of Aberwyn. Intent on rescuing him, his beloved Jill and the elven wizard Salamander infiltrate the distant land of Bardex, where Rhodry is held captive. Tied to Deverry by obligation and circumstance, the immortal wizard Nevyn begins to see that all the kingdom's problems can be traced to a single source: a master of dark magics, backed by a network of evil that stretches across the sea.

For the devoted followers of the dazzling Deverry and Westlands cycle, Katharine Kerr continues the magical epic saga she began in The Red Wyvern. In her latest tale, the scene shifts seamlessly between the shattered land of the Rhiddaer and the historic end of the Civil Wars, when Lilli, newly apprenticed to dweomer, fought with her untried powers to save her beloved Prince Maryn from evil. Centuries later, in the city of Cerr Cawnen, the old evil awakens yet again when the sorceress Raena schemes to destroy Rhodry Maelwaedd, her bitter enemy during life after life.

"A dagger laid against our throat." Such is the description Prince Dar of the Weslands uses for Zakh Gral, a new fortress built by the Horsekin, the ancient enemies of his people. To help him destroy this threat, the elven prince has called upon his allies: the dwarven folk of the northern mountains and the human men of Deverry to the east. Their leaders know that if the Westlands fall to the Horsekin, their own throats will feel that dagger next. Joining them are two powerful dragons, who have their own bitter reasons to hate the Horsekin.

Eighteenth-century Scotland is famed for generating many of the enlightened ideas which helped to shape the modern world. But there was in the same period another side to the history of the nation. Many of Scotland's people were subjected to coercive and sometimes violent change, as traditional ways of life were overturned by the "rational" exploitation of land use. The Scottish Clearances is a superb and highly original account of this sometimes terrible process, which changed the Lowland countryside forever, as it also did, more infamously, the old society of the Highlands.

For centuries Frang has kept a secret-he's immortal. 'Tis a curse instead of a blessing, though. His immortality was bestowed upon him to teach him a lesson, and instead of remaining youthful, the curse turned him into the image of an old man. He's waited for the day he could return to a mortal man, but when that day arrives and he must leave his beloved Druid's Glen, he suddenly finds he might not want to be mortal after all. Kenna holds a great secret, one that if discovered could have her burned at the stake. She's not just a healer, she's a Druid.

Charley is a cleaner by day and a professional gambler by night. She might be haunted by her tragic past but she's never thought of herself as anything or anyone special. Until, that is, things start to go terribly wrong all across the city of Manchester. Between plagues of rats, firestorms, and the gleaming blue eyes of a sexy Scottish werewolf, she might just have landed herself in the middle of a magical apocalypse. She might also be the only person who has the ability to bring order to an utterly chaotic new world.

Elderly, uncompromising Claudia Hampton lies in a London hospital bed with memories of life fluttering through her fading consciousness. An author of popular history, Claudia proclaims she's carrying out her last project: a history of the world. This history turns out to be a mosaic of her life, her own story tangled with those of her brother, her lover and father of her daughter, and the center of her life, Tom, her one great love found and lost in war-torn Egypt.

Powerful and dangerous Highlander Dair Sinclair was once the favored son of his clan, the Sinclairs of Carraig Brigh. With Dair at the helm, Sinclair ships circled the globe bringing home incredible fortune - until one deadly mission drives him mad. When a pagan healer predicts that only a virgin bride can heal his son's body and mind, Dair's father sets off to find the perfect wife for his son. At the castle of the fearsome McLeods, he meets lovely and kind Fia MacLeod.

When Glasgow journalist Shona McGilvery moves with her partner Mikey and their baby to an idyllic cottage in rural Scotland, they believe that all that lies ahead of them is happiness. But with Mikey working offshore, the frightening isolation of the Aberdeenshire countryside begins to drive her insane.... That is, until she is rescued by a new friendship with the enchanting Valentina. She has the perfect home, the perfect man, and a charismatic new best friend - or does she? As her fairytale life begins to unravel, the deep dark wood becomes the least of her fears....

Libby Snow's great-great-grandmother Ellen was obsessed with the strange legend of Ulla, a Viking maiden who washed up on shore with the nearly lifeless body of her husband. Central to the mystery is an ornate chalice, and Libby, an archaeologist, finally has permission to excavate the site where Ulla is believed to have lived. But what Libby finds in the ancient dunes is a body from the Victorian era, clearly murdered...and potentially connected to Ellen.

Mairi Wallace has faced terrible dangers since she discovered her magical abilities. But she's never experienced anything as hazardous as this. An unfamiliar peril has arisen and suddenly the Mages are no longer the biggest threat to Scotland's future. A new King, with the Afflicted hordes at his beck and call, is claiming her country for his own. From the towering battlements at Edinburgh Castle to the sweeping streets of Glasgow, Mairi and her friends are going to have to draw on every scrap of power they have.

Maria had been forced to marry at 17, then was left widowed shortly thereafter. Now, five years later, her brother had chosen another husband for her, sight unseen - the boy king of Scotland. Maria, who had never known passion or love, refused to submit, vowing to flee to freedom. But the ship she chose went down in the gathering fog, leaving the dark-haired beauty at the mercy of wind and tide, and headed for a shattering destiny.

Being thrown over by the man she expected to marry was humiliating enough. Now that Donella Haddon, grandniece of the Earl of Riddick, has also proven a failure as a nun, she has no choice but to return to her family's estate. The brawny Highlander sent to escort her is brash, handsome, and the only thing standing between Donella and a gang of would-be kidnappers. But the scandal in her past can't be so easily outrun....

Tristan Turner, Viscount Elton, is haunted by a night he cannot remember. Abandoned by his beloved sister, Tristan finds himself in a world devoid of love and acceptance, a world without hope. All that is left are the hushed whispers of London society about the madness that drove his parents into an early grave. A madness that taints his own blood. Until fate intervenes...and his path crosses that of a young lady.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is a great many things. Wealthy. Handsome. Respectable. But what he is not, is skilled at charming Elizabeth Bennet. When she refuses his offer of marriage and breaks his heart, an organ she doesn't believe he possesses, he has no notion of how to win her back. Fortunately for him, his scheming relation, Miss Anne de Bourgh, is more than willing to help. It doesn't matter to Anne that Darcy doesn't want her assistance. She learned from the best, namely her mother, that people don't know what's good for them until you tell them.

Daisy Carter knows she's not anyone special. She might be brave and resourceful. She might possess a touch more magic than your average low elf. But, when it comes down to it, she's just another delivery driver trying to make a living. Admittedly, life would be easier without her addiction to a dangerous drug called spider's silk—but she's got her reasons for that. Nobody's perfect. However, Daisy's world changes when she crosses paths with Hugo Pemberville, the celebrated high elf who's well known for being an accomplished treasure hunter.

Elizabeth Boleyn has been ordered to yield to a lecherous king what she most prizes - her innocence. Now, at the tournament of two kings, her beauty has attracted not only the eyes of Henry Tudor, but those of the handsome Scottish warrior Ambrose Macpherson, whose bold offer to bed her might be her only salvation....

The lives of the Scottish queens, both those who ruled in their own right and the consorts, have largely been neglected in conventional history books. One of the earliest known Scottish queens was none other than the notorious Lady Macbeth. Was she really the wicked woman depicted in Shakespeare's famous play? Was St. Margaret a demure and obedient wife? Rosalind K. Marshall delves into these questions and more in this entertaining, impeccably researched book.