Opening several years after the close of "Eight Cousins", we find Rose coming home fresh from a voyage overseas, to find much changed about her. Now of a marriageable age and heiress to a fortune, Rose finds joy,sorrow, and finally love await her -- as the Rose is finally ready to bloom into a good, strong, sweet and true woman.This sequel to Eight Cousins was written by Louisa May Alcott, the author of many well beloved children's books including Little Women, An Old Fashioned Girl, Under the Lilacs and more.

Fans of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women will remember that her heroine Jo wrote racy novels before turning her hand to more "serious" literature. Alcott, writing under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard, often did the same, and Behind a Mask (1866) is one of her sensation novels. It focuses on Jean Muir, who enters the home of the wealthy Coventry family as governess to their sixteen-year-old daughter. But is the beguiling Miss Muir all that she seems to be? (Introduction by Elizabeth Klett)

Before she wrote Little Women and Little Men, Louisa, writing under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard, had this `blood and thunder' thriller (as she called them) published in 1863 by a weekly pulp magazine. This was during the period when Louisa worked a nurse during the American Civil war. The rigid and unfair roles of men and women of this period, their expectations and desires, plays a large in this story of betrayed love, anger, petulance, and ultimately, vengeance. The story is well written and plotted of course, being an Alcott story, so listeners can expect to enjoy a captivating and satisfying story read to them by one of the best and most highly polished readers around.

A collection of short stories first published in 1912, the book focuses on events occurring in the popular fictional village of Avonlea, which is notorious as the hometown of Anne Shirley. Comprised of 12 short stories, the Chronicles of Avonlea present a different view of the town, with the introduction of many new gripping characters, which prove to be just as endearing as their most renowned resident. Tales of everyday snippets of life proving to be humorous, identifiable, and heartwarming, the collection is an effective reinvigoration to the classic setting...

Stories from 1896 to 1901. Lucy Maud Montgomery was born at Clifton (now New London), Prince Edward Island, Canada, on November 30, 1874. She achieved international fame in her lifetime, putting Prince Edward Island and Canada on the world literary map. Best known for her "Anne of Green Gables" books, she was also a prolific writer of short stories and poetry. She published some 500 short stories and poems and twenty novels before her death in 1942.

Eric Marshall is all that a well brought-up young man should be. Handsome, steadfast, and full of ambition, he is expected to expand the Marshall & Company empire — and to marry a woman suitable to replace his mother in Nova Scotia’s finest circles. When a sick friend asks for a favour, becoming a substitute schoolmaster in the Prince Edward Island countryside seems the perfect post-graduation lark. But when Eric wanders into an old orchard at twilight, his life will be changed forever…

A short and sweet romance by the author of "Anne of Green Gables", Kilmeny of the Orchard is a story about a schoolteacher (Eric) who goes to Prince Edward Island and meets a beautiful but mysterious girl. Who is she? Why doesn't she speak? Why don't her guardians ever let her out? As Eric explores the answers to these questions, he slowly but surely falls in love with the mysterious girl. Will she ever speak to him?

Valancy Stirling, plain, twenty nine, and as yet unsought, is given a year to live by a great heart specialist. This is the story of her year in which she finds a blue castle of happiness in the Canadian woods. The Blue Castle is a 1926 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables.

"Famous Affinities of History" is a book of passion-filled accounts of the most famous love affairs of history. The stories of Cleopatra, Victor Hugo, Honore de Balzac, Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Byron, George Sand and other famous people of all times (even those of royal blood are not spared), are dealt with in Lyndon Orr's own interesting and suspenseful style. Written in four volumes, this book makes for an informative, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable read, giving us an insight into the lives and lifestyles of various popular figures of history.

“If, in these pages, written in remembrance of my father, I should tell you, my dear friends, nothing new of him, I can, at least, promise you that what I shall tell will be told faithfully, if simply, and perhaps there may be some things not familiar to you.” So begins chapter one of My Father as I Recall Him, the personal recollections of Mary Dickens, (Mamie, as she was called), the oldest daughter of the great novelist, Charles Dickens.

This novel was written by Margaret Widdemer, who won the Pulitzer prize for her collection of poetry in 1919. Phyllis is a 25-years-old children's librarian. She is good at her job. Yet when she sees a girl from her hometown with two children, she discovers she wants more. She marries an invalid who is expected to die. Would she find the love and sense of belonging she craves for? And would he really die? Note: This book is in the public domain in the USA. The author died in 1978 so may still be protected by copyright in many other countries.

Meet Molly: a quirky, spirited twenty-five-year old, widowed for 6 years, living in picturesque Hillsboro with her aunt amidst gossipy neighbors, on a strict diet, and in serious boy trouble. There’s Arthur, her childhood sweetheart; then, there’s the enigmatic, charming Judge Wade; and of course, there’s her cousin Tom; and then, her infuriating neighbor, John Moore… But who will melt her heart? It is Arthur’s return, and his seemingly simple request of wanting to see her in the same blue dress she wore when he left, that throws everything into turmoil… Sometimes, one can only find some solace in one’s garden...

This is a long short story from 1899, approximately 95 minutes more or less, about a mysterious woman living virtually alone on the outskirts of a small New England town in a mansion with a magnificent garden. (Introduction by BellonaTimes)

"Like Wuthering Heights, the center of this story is a dramatic love triangle, the setting is a huge English manor. Olivia Marchmont has always "done her duty." However, when she falls in love and her beloved is in love with another woman, the malice of her heart is released in full view. In this dramatic tale, the vivid description of the country is also important- as if nature has a part in it. Unlike many novels, nobody gets what they deserve at the end. Or do they? Read and decide for yourself."

A captivating Victorian “sensation” novel by the author of Lady Audley's Secret, Run to Earth has it all: scoundrels and mercenaries, love and lust, jealousy, intrigue, and suspense. (Introduction by Gail Mattern)

The novel traces the return of a young Englishwoman from several years of schooling abroad, to find that her life will not take up where she thought it would. Clarissa Lovel faced not only an emotionally and financially bereft father, but her first glimpse at love - and that not from the best vantage point.

Lady Maulevrier was once a beautiful socialite, beloved and welcomed in London high society. But her life took a turn for the worse when her husband, whom she married only for his fortune, committed a terrible crime in India. Forty years later, she is taking care of her two granddaughters, Mary and Lesbia. She prefers Lesbia, because of her beauty. Therefore, the relationship between the sisters is tolerable at best. Mary marries the man of her dreams while Lesbia enters London society under the wing of her grandmother's faithful friend...

This is an exquisite and heartbreaking love story. Violet Tempest and Roderick Vawdrey, otherwise known to each other as Vixen and Rorie, are childhood sweethearts. However, Rorie's family wants him to marry elsewhere. You may think it is the old story all over again, but nothing in this novel is what it seems. It is far too realistic for that. Many books talk about falling in love. This book starts after that stage, and speaks about the harder stage of a relationship: loving earnestly but understanding that love - even in the truest and purest sense - is not everything in life...

Who murdered Lisa Rainer? Is it her former lover who went to seek fortune in Africa and fell in love with another on the way back? Were there any blood motives? Detective John Thorne would have to discover. Inspired by a true story, this novel is a page turner. Yet this is not only a detective novel. It deals with class, gender, propriety and family. - Summary by Stav Nisser

We see another facet of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's amazing talent in Dead Love Has Chains, written in her seventies. Focusing on character and human psychology rather than detection and crime, this is one of her most interesting novels. Pregnant and unmarried Irene Thelliston is sent home from India to live with her Aunt in Ireland. On her sea voyage she reveals her secret to Lady Mary Harling who swears to keep her confidence. Several years later to the horror of Lady Mary she becomes engaged to her son Conrad who has his own rather questionable past...