Showing results by author "Mary Kingswood" in All Categories

The sinking of the Brig Minerva results in many deaths, while for others, the future is suddenly brighter. But it’s not always easy to leave the past behind.... Evie Parfitt is almost 30, penniless, and with no prospect of ever marrying. She has her hands full helping turn a jewel merchant’s willful heiress into a lady able to move in good society. When the sinking of the Minerva leaves her charge an orphan and she selects a notorious rake as her guardian, Evie is determined to protect both of them from his attentions.

Angie Fletcher is the lively, mischievous daughter of the family. All she wants in her life is music and dancing, plenty of pretty new bonnets, and perhaps just the occasional trick played on her tolerant family. She’s been unusually well-behaved during the season in London, in dread of the least transgression curtailing all those glorious balls.

Felicia Oakes is the illegitimate daughter of…well, someone or other. A pirate, perhaps, or a spy, or a royal prince…who knows? Her vivid imagination conjures a myriad possibilities, all more exciting than her position as governess to two motherless children. But when their father is drowned aboard the Brig Minerva, Felicia must take them to their new guardian in the North of England, where her life is about to be turned upside down.

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?

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.

An out-of-work governess tries to start a school in the village. Deborah Hollingsworth, grand-daughter of a baron, has come down in the world, reduced to acting as unpaid governess for her relations. When even that option closes, what is she to do? She has a secret plan, but until she can achieve her heart’s desire, she’ll start a modest village school to make ends meet, and bring a little happiness to the local children. What she doesn’t expect is to find a lonely young man even more in need of a little happiness.

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.

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?

Cameron Saxby is contented in his life as a bank clerk in Edinburgh, knowing that if he works hard, he has a good career in front of him. But fate has a different plan for him—as heir to the late Lord Saxby. Inheriting the title drags Cameron away from his unassuming Scottish roots and drops him into the wealthy estate of Maeswood Hall, surrounded by deferential villagers and the resentful family of the late baron, a man who left such a trail of misery in his wake that someone murdered him.

Hours of listening in one collection - books 1-3 of the Sons of the Marquess, a series of traditional regency romances, drawing room rather than bedroom...Lord Reginald: Marford needs a wealthy heiress to support his indulgent lifestyle. Lord Humphrey: Marford would love to start his own gaming house, but that takes a lot of money. His only solution is to marry an heiress. Lord Augustus: Marford has only one interest in life - horses. It’s an expensive hobby, and Gus is happy to assess some stud horses for the eccentric Duke of Dunmorton.

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.

Julia Fletcher is the unimportant daughter of the Fletcher family, with neither beauty nor wit nor accomplishments, but always in a scrape. Somehow she never manages to get through the day without breaking or spilling or tearing something. She’s quite the despair of her stepmother. She’s looking forward to their grand new home because it will give her a vast estate to roam over without getting into too much trouble. Or so she hopes.

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?

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. This is an audiobook collection containing books 1-3 of the five-book series Sisters of Woodside Mysteries. Each audiobook is a complete story with a happy-ever-after ending, but listen to them all to find out all the secrets of Winterton family.

Michael Plummer has never forgotten the woman he fell passionately in love with a few years ago. He was courting a beautiful heiress, in the hope of rescuing his family from financial ruin and the loss of their home, but it was her companion who won his heart. When she ran away from him, Michael was plunged into despair. Now both women have returned, and he has a chance to correct the mistakes of the past. But does he have the courage to do the right thing this time?

In book 1, a widow moves into the long disused Dower House and makes a horrible discovery in the wine cellar. Thirty-year-old widow Louisa Middlehope is determined to escape from her late husband’s family and live life for herself for the first time. The tiny village of Great Maeswood offers her the peace and quiet her heart craves.

The sinking of the Brig Minerva results in many deaths, while for others, the future is suddenly brighter. But it’s not always easy to leave the past behind. Nell Caldicott awaits the return of her violent sailor husband with trepidation, but for once her fears are not realized. When Caroline Milburn and her younger sisters' previously unknown grandfather drowns and bequeaths them a cottage in the country, their lives seem set to improve. A man turned away by Annie Dresden's father years ago for lack of fortune is unexpectedly wealthy after his brother's drowning.

Amy is a shy, timid soul, browbeaten by her domineering father until she’s terrified to do or say anything without his approval. When he dies suddenly, his will leaves large dowries for his six daughters, but only if they marry in the proper order, the eldest first. Amy must now find herself a husband, and soon, so her younger sisters can marry in their turn. There are several possible suitors, but will any of them come up to scratch? And how will Amy choose without her father to guide her? Belle is the plain one of the six Allamont sisters, happy with her books.

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.

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?