Showing results by narrator "Virginia Ferguson" in All Categories

Playwright and historian Rustem Valayev presents two poignant, dramatic, and thought-provoking episodes from our not-so-distant past. Despite having been written many decades ago, these two novellas hold up surprisingly well in the modern context.

It’s the Christmastide season, and the Hawkins family is at their country estate in Kent. Emmaline, the Countess of Archewyne, is excited, for it’s her first Christmas with her little family, as well as one of the few she’s spent in England. Passing his leisure time with his loved ones gives Miles Lawrence Hawkins, the fifth Earl of Archewyne, great pleasure, as does anticipating their faces when they open his gifts.

Jonathan Brodie, the only son of Sir Roger and Lady Brodie, has lived in the village of Maplebridge his whole life. Penelope, the daughter of the local florist, was adopted by the Baldwins when she was just a baby. They could not be more different and yet, one blustery January morning, their paths collide in a chance encounter that is destined to change their lives forever. Jonathan soon discovers that Penelope is far from the quiet wallflower that she first seems, but rather a beautiful rose just waiting for its chance to bloom.

Carla Bass, an interior decorator and wannabe sleuth, moves to Braga, Portugal, for her husband’s career. When a nervous wine seller accidentally slips a bottle of Port into Carla's bag, she later attempts to return it to him – only to find his body slumped behind the counter. The last person to see him alive, she’s forced to remain in the country and decides to do a little investigating on her own.

"What happens when an irresistible force encounters an immovable object?" The ancient paradox becomes a real-life problem when a woman, whose wealth and influence are matched only by her arrogance and violent temper, encounters someone with the strength of character to rival her own. It is bad enough that this new, formidable foe is a mere girl. But to make matters worse, she also happens to be the great lady's only granddaughter.

Hattie Moon, a modern-day Miss Marple, is thrown into a mystery close to home when her son Howie, gets engaged. While his bride-to-be is charming, Hattie learns the woman is a widow who lives with her mother and sister, who are also widows. Naturally, Hattie becomes concerned...as she should.

Scenes from all walks of life—from a secluded mountain monastery to a troubled Ukrainian village—meticulously documented by the great impressionist of Ukrainian literature Mihailo Kotsubinsky.

This seaside town holds more secrets than you could ever imagine. Grace and Dick Thomas are the proud owners of the Sandybank Guest House, a pristine establishment set in a prime location overlooking the beach. Tourists come and go all year round, enjoying the beautiful setting and their host's wonderful culinary skills. However, the permanent residents of this pretty coastal town cause net curtains to flutter and tongues to wag with their myriad of secrets and tales to be told.

An accidental trophy wife must survive the deepest depths of high society. Meet Amy, the world's most improbable trophy wife. She has a degree, ambitions, and something resembling a mind of her own. The trouble is, she just doesn't use it anymore. Married to handsome aristocrat, Harry Green, Amy's world is a whirlwind of luxury, labels, and lunches. But amidst the peerages and polo of the privileged, few lie wolves in minks' clothing. Before she knows it, Amy's perfect existence is plunged into chaos by the poshest of plots.

When Stella McKenzie is summoned to meet her Great Aunt Bess, her grandmother's sister, on the occasion of that lady's 100th birthday, she keeps the appointment with a great deal of trepidation. All her life she has been told about this mysterious lady, to whom her grandmother has not spoken since the First World War. She has been told that she is mean and spiteful, that she wrecked the engagement of her sister to the man she loved out of spite and jealousy.

She had always done as she pleased - with nary a thought to the consequences. Indeed, Sally Mallory's great success throughout the ton as a fine portrait painter had been aided by spirited independence - along with wit and extraordinary talent. But now it seemed she had gone too far. Impetuous Sally had compromised her reputation, and now was to be forced into a marriage of convenience with the most distinguished art critic in London, the cold and arrogant Duke Ian Frobisher!

Mr. Fortune was supposed to remain the hero of Linnea's favorite Regency romance, Fortune's Folly. But Linnea has stumbled across a magic spell in the library archives, and now Ben Fortune is real, adjusting to the 21st century - and changing the plot in every copy of Fortune's Folly, wreaking havoc by his absence. Worse yet, his young sister is now in danger, and he needs to go back into the book to save her. Can Linnea find the right spell to send him back to fictional Regency England - and does she even want to?

The painting and the woman, both hiding in plain sight. And a killer who targets both. Sarah Downing, an art conservator hiding in witness protection, identifies a lost masterpiece by Caravaggio. History says it burned in WWII Berlin, but here it is, on her easel. Someone betrays Sarah - an agent, a friend? Soon she is fighting to save the painting and herself.

Marissa, a theater musician, desired an escape from her impoverished existence in 17th century France. After watching Marissa perform, King Louis XIV snatched her from the stage only to cast her in his royal court. Marissa plots a betrothal to a marquis to cement her place among nobility. Her plans are interrupted by Michael, a noble and gallant musketeer. When Michael meets Marissa, his service to the crown is challenged by a passion that overshadows duty.

In the Metfield of the 1930s, you could do all of your shopping without leaving the village, have a choice of pubs and "spend happy evenings helping to dig potatoes and listening to the old boys". If this sounds too idyllic to be true, Evelyn Whiting's charming memoir of growing up in this Suffolk community is quick to remind us that making a living from the land was hard and tedious work in those days. There was no electricity and water came from the sky, or from the pond.

For years, Lady Melloria Whitmore has believed her childhood best friend and secret love Brigham Clarke agreed to marry her out of a sense of duty. Knowing how important Brigham’s work with Parliament is to him, she agrees to see him once a year, when he returns to his country estate for the holidays. This Christmas, Mellie vows to give Brigham the one thing he has always wanted: an heir. For one night, she’ll share his bed, and she’ll have that memory of passion to get her through the long winter nights without him.

A child turns up at a rural police station in Yorkshire, with a tale that will shock the nation. As Thea Watts begins her investigation, she realizes she can't trust the system to keep the boy safe, so she calls on the one man she knows won't let her down, Jack Quinn, a vigilante with his heart set on doing one thing: the right thing.

A hugely entertaining account, brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, delves you into the era of the greatest generation as you travel through this enormously engaging tale propelled by remarkable World War Two characters. A classic work of historical fiction depicts the dedication shared by heroes of the free world and their emotional struggle to survive this brutal war. Champions create lifelong friendships that can only be understood by those who have lived through the harshest of times leading them to create unbreakable bonds.

No heavy breathing, no verbal threats and yet the mysterious, oppressive silence on the telephone line is equally as frightening to Tessa. She knows that somehow these calls are linked to her past...perhaps to her daughter, Suzanne, and the dark secret which surrounds her birth. At least in Russell Davidson Tessa has found a friend she can trust, but the unexpected reappearance of his brother Richard is very disquieting. And she badly needs Detective Inspector Philip Anthony's professional assistance.

After a three-year absence mired in anxiety and trapped by her lack of speech, portrait miniaturist Susannah Gresham gathers her courage and returns to Whitehall Palace and her godfather, the king. Encountering Florentine jeweler Raphael Rossi, who appears to her just another court libertine, she is surprised when he finds his way unbidden into her thoughts. With help from the Duchess of Richmond, Raphael has set out to win her heart.