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...

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...

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.

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.

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"[A] delectable double bio . . . Talk about Victoria’s secret. . . . A fascinating portrait of a genuine love match, but one in which the partners dealt with surprisingly modern issues.”—USA Today**It was the most influential marriage of the nineteenth century—and one of history’ s most enduring love stories. Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited the throne as a naïve teenager, when the British Empi...

The true story for fans of the PBS Masterpiece series Victoria, this page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen—a Victoria for our times. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning portrait is a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.**NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYTHE NEW YORK TIMES • ESQUIRE • THE CHICAGO PUB...

She was a spirited young heiress. He was a handsome baronet with a promising career in government. The marriage of Lady Seymour Dorothy Fleming and Sir Richard Worsley had the makings of a fairy tale—but ended as one of the most scandalous and highly publicized divorces in history.In February 1782, England opened its newspapers to read the details of a criminal conversation trial in which the handsome baronet Sir Richard Worsley attempted to sue his wife's lover for an astronomical ...

“A vivid, entertaining and often comical portrait of life at court.” —Wall Street Journal“Compelling. . . . The rhythm of court life at Windsor or Balmoral is the backdrop to a rich human drama, a story of people existing in uneasy intimacy with the royal family.” — Daily Telegraph (London)Based on the letters and diaries of six members of Queen Victoria's household, Serving Victoria offers unique insight into the queen and her court. Seen through the eyes of her servants—i...