Historical Family Saga

The Radetzky March is a meditation on the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the prism of three generations of the Trotta family. The novel opens in 1859 at the Battle of Solferino, when the young Lieutenant Trotta saves the life of the Emperor and is ennobled. He owes the Empire everything, and his son also becomes a conscientious servant of the great multinational state even as it enters into its period of chaos, with competing nationalisms and ideologies tearing it apart.

It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead ("What's the difference? They're both new."), and later find themselves, more by chance than by design, in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.

A Secret Workshop. A Daring Thief. A Clandestine Love. Will A Miracle Bring Two Hearts From Different Worlds Together This Christmas? When Fiona McVey learns her father's secret, she is astonished. Donal McVey has been playing the role of Father Christmas to the impoverished children of Old Town and Fiona's eyes are opened to the despairing poverty that clings to the cobblestone streets. Alistair, an orphaned street child, has long since adapted to the harsh realities of life, Transforming into a savvy thief, skilful and elusive, he's built a life of shadows, constantly evading the clutches...

In 1910, Agnes Carter makes the wrong choice in marriage. After years as an independent woman of fortune, influential with the board of a prominent university because of her financial donations, she is now subject to the whims of an abusive, spendthrift husband. But when Bohemian naturalist and glassblower Ignace Novak reignites Agnes’s passion for science, she begins to imagine a different life, and she sets her mind to getting it.

February 1941. Julie Harris is working in London’s East End as a midwife when a bombing raid destroys her family and the house she grew up in. All she has left is her motherless baby nephew William. Determined to uphold her promise to her sister to keep William safe until his father, Bill, returns from the war, she accepts a post as a midwife in Cliffehaven on the south-coast of England.

It’s spring 1919, and the Great War has ended. New life flourishes on the red cliffs of the Northern Isles of Scotland—sea pinks and primrose, puffins and guillemots. But this windswept corner of the world harbors a dark secret. Rose Van Etten has always reveled in danger and defiance. When the war started, she went from racing cars to driving ambulances and learned of an insidious spy ring from a dying soldier. Now that the war is over, she ventures to Scotland in search of the truth.

Henrietta is the youngest child and only daughter of the Duke of Castborough. She knows the rules and abides by them, though she manages to be strong in her opinions. Supportive of her five older brothers, she loves her family dearly. She has had a hand in helping her brothers find love, but has yet to find the man who makes her heart sing. Major Patrick Wainwright is home from India to attend to business. He enjoys a bit of the social scene while he's home, if for no other reason than to avoid his brother and his father. As a long time friend of the Repington family, he spends time with ...

Book 3 in The Scandalous Redgraves Series. Plagued by the scandal that once destroyed his father and now threatens his family, Valentine Redgrave dreams of dark justice. Brother to the Earl of Saltwood, with secret ties to the Crown, he won’t rest until he infiltrates and annihilates England’s most notorious hellfire club. To cross its elite members is to court destruction, yet he’s never craved a challenge more. Until he encounters enigmatic governess Daisy Marchant, who behind a plain-Jane guise harbors a private agenda and appeals to his every weakness…and desire. Valentine’s ...

He was named Don John Blackthorn, but his family call him Black Jack (although not within earshot), because of his mysterious ways, yes, but mostly because he allows no one close to him, reveals nothing of himself. But Jack has a problem, and her name is Tess Fonteneau. She's the daughter of his mentor in the fine art of clandestine adventure, and she sees him all too well. Now his mentor, his friend, this man who knows too many dangerous secrets, has disappeared, and it will take Jack and Tess both to find him, save him, before it is too late. Even if they both believe it's already too ...

A Scandalous Redgraves Novella. Orphaned at the age of seventeen, and for the past eighteen months the ward of the new Earl of Saltwood, the heiress Alana Wallingford has been residing with her good friend, Lady Kate Redgrave, sister of the Earl, and that woman’s grandmother, the Countess Saltwood. It is during Alana’s first Season that she meets and falls in love with the dashing Bailey Armstrong, Viscount Netherfield. She is aware of his reputation, especially the rumors about him and the beauteous and wealthy widow, Marianna Wise, but he at last convinces her that he truly loves her,...

When Love Comes First... Cassandra Becket has loved her adopted brother Courtland all of her life. He could tease her, he could exasperate her … but now she is a woman grown, and he can no longer pretend to ignore her. When Love Comes Last... Courtland Becket had set himself up as the protector of the other orphans when he was little more than a boy. As such, he is determined to withstand the growing attraction he feels for Ainsley’s only child by blood, believing it to be a betrayal of his adoptive father. But Cassandra isn’t making it easy for him. When Enemies Collide... Who is ...

Book 2 in The Scandalous Redgraves Series. Lady Katherine Redgrave has one mission—to find her deceased father’s journals, which may hold the key to a traitorous conspiracy that puts Kate’s family in danger. Kate vows to let no obstacle stand in her way . . . but when she meets Simon Ravenbill, Marquis of Singleton, her attention is diverted as the sinfully handsome nobleman tempts her beyond reason. Simon has a mission of his own: to uncover the truth about the secret society he believes murdered his brother. All he needs is to get to the Redgrave journals before Kate does. The ...

Not only disappointed in love, but brutally and publicly punished for having reached so far above his supposed station in Society, Oliver "Beau" Blackthorn believes in two things. He will never be foolish enough to give his heart again. That, and revenge. Enter brave, cheeky, and desperate Lady Chelsea Mills-Beckman. Younger sister of the once love of Beau's life—and certain he's her only hope of escaping her brother's plans for her— she offers him the perfect path to his revenge. She and Beau will elope to Gretna Green. With the brother in hot pursuit, Beau questioning his own sanity ...

Book 1 in The Scandalous Redgraves Series. Gideon Redgrave, eldest child of the late Earl of Saltwood, refuses to be humbled by the scandal that once tore his family apart. He’s built his life in London society around one rule: trust no one. So the last thing he wants is to play guardian and role model to a headstrong boy . . . or to engage in a battle of wills with the boy’s spirited half sister, who is fighting Gideon for custody. Beautiful and bold, young widow Jessica Linden proves to be a formidable and passionate adversary. But the more they lock horns, the more Gideon realizes ...

His Bid For Adventure When Bonaparte escapes Elba, Rian Becket sees his chance to at last prove himself his own man and not simply a part of the reclusive Becket family. He seeks adventure, the thrill of battle, and yes, his own place in the world. Her Reckless Pursuit Fanny Becket has adored her adopted brother since the day they both lost their parents and became part of the Beckets of Romney Marsh. Where he goes, she goes, even if that means placing herself in the line of fire. The Reluctant Conspirator Valentine Clement, Earl of Brede, has seen his share of fighting and knows there is ...

The Beckets More than a decade ago, the Beckets, an insular family of accumulated orphans and their patriarch, Ainsley, established themselves in an enormous, nearly fortress-like mansion they constructed on the wild and beautiful coast of Romney Marsh. Nobody bothered them, and they invited no one into their orbit. A Man With A Mission The oldest orphan is Chance Becket, once a pickpocket and wharf rat on an island near Jamaica, now transported to the wilds of Romney Marsh. Determined to forget who he was in favor of the man he is determined to become, he departs Romney Marsh for the ...

The Prodigal Returns… Rian Becket, believed killed at Waterloo, reluctantly returns to Becket Hall a year after the battle, maimed in body as well as spirit, and determined never to let life touch him, hurt him, again. But Not Alone… Beautiful, mysterious Lisette Beatty befriended Rian a month after he was injured, and has been his nurse, lover, and constant companion ever since, setting herself up as indispensable to the man, shielding him from his nightmares, helping him write his stories and poems. …In A World Of Strangers The reclusive Beckets do not easily accept strangers into ...

Morgan Becket became one of Ainsley Becket’s family of orphans when her sailor father buttoned his pants and got up from the bed of her prostitute mother, who later sold her to Ainsley. The price, a single gold coin and a bottle of gin. To please Ainsley, the fairly volatile Morgan travels to London to acquire some Town Bronze and enjoy a Season. Setting the exotically beautiful, high-spirited Morgan Becket loose on the London marriage mart is a gamble that can end either in triumph or complete disaster, as Morgan believes she can never be better than the circumstances of her birth, and ...

Eleanor Becket is the glue that holds the wild, adventurous, at times reckless Beckets together, even if she believes herself to be the least interesting or exciting person in the world. Some may aspire to be a lady, and some, it seems, are simply born to it, whether they want to be or not. Who would expect fragile Eleanor, with her quiet ways and her unfortunate limp, to be anything more than she seems? But this adopted daughter has secrets gentleman turned smuggler Jack Eastwood believes connected to a long-ago crime. His discoveries ultimately lead them both to the very edge of desire ...

Life after the State Department was supposed to be a peaceful respite for Mike Lacondeguy, but an unlikely friend and the Russian mob surfaced with other plans. In FISHING WITH TOLSTOY, the exhilarating introduction to The New Americans trilogy, ex-diplomat Mike Lacondeguy snaps out of his retirement blues and into a world of deception and betrayal. This time, the fight is on his turf. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine draws two Cold War adversaries back into the game to stop the hostilities from escalating. Mike worked with the State Department for three decades in and around Russia, while ...