The two decades after Waterloo marked the great age of foreign fortune hunters in England. Each year brought a new influx of impecunious Continental noblemen to the world’s richest country, and the more brides they carried off, the more alarmed society became.The most colourful of these men was Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785-1871), remembered today as Germany’s finest landscape gardener. In the mid-1820s, however, his efforts to turn his estate into a magnificent park came close t...

**PERFECT FOR FANS OF JANE AUSTEN: A seamstress and cavalry officer fall in love across class divides in this “sparkling, tender, delicately ironic” portrait of 19th-century Berlin (New York Review of Books).“A joy for its humanity, subtlety and visual immediacy.”— Independent**From Germany’s greatest 19th-century novelist, this realist masterpiece interrogates the strict social codes of a rapidly changing era through a wistful struggle between love and ob...

Her father is a vain, foolish baronet, obsessed with his lineage but so careless with money that he is obliged to quit his ancestral seat. Her sister is a fretful invalid with a good-natured husband and two disobedient sons. She herself falls in love with a handsome naval officer, and he with her, but her proud family consider his status and prospects inadequate. Heartbroken, the lovers part: he goes to sea while she leads a forlorn life at home. Years later he returns with a fortune in pr...

"A vivacious portrait. . . . Byrne's Austen emerges as a worldly woman, profoundly enmeshed in a wider world than she's often acknowledged to occupy. This is an Austen with a sense for the political as well as for the finer points of sensibility—and one who will be unfamiliar (though never unrecognizable) to many readers." — Publishers WeeklyIn The Real Jane Austen, acclaimed literary biographer Paula Byrne provides the most intimate and r...

The official companion to the Masterpiece series on PBS, exploring the history behind the show.Discover the world of the young Victoria, a world of court drama, sumptuous splendor, and the epic tale of an unexpected queen.At only eighteen years old, Victoria was a rebellious and headstrong teenager when she ascended the throne as Queen of Great Britain, but she grew to become one of the most memorable, unshakable, and powerful women in history. Traci...

'Splendid … her book does justice to a fascinating woman who was tragic, brave, likable, humorous, and indeed, unruly' Spectator'Written with elegance, wit and a narrative zest that novelists might envy' EconomistAt the heart of the extravagant Regency period – nine scandalous, politically fascinating years from 1811 to 1820 – lies the bitter mismatch between the Prince and Princess of Wales.The Prince Regent, late...

‘Dazzling…full of special delights. Harman excels in the vivid presentation of scenes, the selection of detail…[a] marvellous and beautifully written book.’ Elspeth Barker, Independent on SundayAt the age of fifteen, Fanny Burney made a bonfire of all her works, ‘with the sincere intention to extinguish for ever in their ashes her scribbling propensity’. She was anxious that she might turn into an author, a fate incompatible – for a woman – with respectability.Her hope was ...

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER IS NOW A STREAMING SERIES!"Victoria is an absolutely captivating novel of youth, love, and the often painful transition from immaturity to adulthood. Daisy Goodwin breathes new life into Victoria's story, and does so with sensitivity, verve, and wit."– AMANDA FOREMANDrawing on Queen Victoria’s diaries, which she first started reading when she was a student at Cambridg...

What was it like to live in a Victorian Household? What time did the servants have to get up? What was the food like and who cooked it? How did the clothing differ for the different types of servants? How much did the servants get paid? This book shows you what it was really like to live in Victorian times, for those both above and below stairs.

Charles Dickens is the acclaimed definitive biography of Britain’s greatest novelist by bestselling author Claire Tomalin, author of Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self and Jane Austen: A Life‘Powerful and remarkable. It is a celebration of a great genius. No question: you put Tomalin’s book down knowing that you have met a living author’ Miriam Margolyes, The Times‘By far the most humane and imaginatively sympathetic accou...

Paul Doiron's The Poacher's Son is a sterling debut of literary suspense. Taut and engrossing, it represents the first in a series featuring Mike Bowditch.Set in the wilds of Maine, this is an explosive tale of an estranged son thrust into the hunt for a murderous fugitive—his own fatherGame warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find an alarming voice from the past on his answering machine: his father Jack, a hard drinking woman...

As a Victorian lady, what unspoken rules governed what you wore, how you spoke, and how you filled your time? This fascinating book takes you back in time to show you just how your day would be, and how it differed from lower class life.