Before she stepped into the spotlight as a master of French cooking, Julia Child navigated the shadows as a WWII intelligence officer.On the sunny shores of California, Julia McWilliams is poised to embrace a life of comfort and financial security, with a marriage proposal from a wealthy man to consider. But as World War II erupts in the US, her patriotic fervor compels her to abandon her secure future. Trading country clubs for covert codes, Julia joins the Office of Strategic Services, where her sharp mind aids the Allied cause in the shadowy realm of espionage.Amid strategic missions in Ceylon and China, Julia crosses paths with Paul Child, a fellow OSS officer whose delight in art, culture, and cuisine awakens a new hunger within her. Their chance meetings ignite a spark that blossoms into romance, leading to a proposal that Julia eagerly accepts. Together they embark on a new chapter in postwar Paris.In the City of Light, Julia grapples with a different...

The 'Black Queen' is what Billy calls his shadowy next-door neighbour. She always wears a black cloak and a wide-brimmed black hat. She lurks about her garden, alone except for her black cat. Scarily for Billy, the Black Queen befriends him and asks him to look after her cat while she's away. Billy can't resist the opportunity to peek inside her house. There are chessboards scattered everywhere. Who is the Black Queen and what sort of game is she playing? Billy thinks he knows...

Young Parker French is terrified on his first day in kindergarten. But in later years when God peeks in on him, and then he meets Mr. Gray, a ghost in a duster and handsome Stetson hat, he’s okay with it. Strange goings on at the edge of the forest, however, reveal a more sinister presence at work.Young Parker French is terrified on his first day in kindergarten. But in later years when God peeks in on him, and then he meets Mr. Gray, a ghost in a duster and handsome Stetson hat, he’s okay with it. Strange goings on at the edge of the forest, however, reveal a more sinister presence at work. Mr. Gray won’t be able to save him. And Momma . . . well, Momma can’t know. Parker learns that sometimes innocence is no protection against the dark.

The final novel in the number-one bestselling, award-winning Murder Most Unladylike series.Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are in Egypt, where they are taking a cruise along the Nile. They are hoping to see some ancient temples and a mummy or two; what they get, instead, is murder. Also travelling on the SS Hatshepsut is a mysterious society called the Breath of Life: a group of genteel English ladies and gentlemen, who believe themselves to be reincarnations of the ancient pharaohs. Three days into the cruise their leader, Theodora Miller, is found dead in her cabin, stabbed during the night. It soon becomes clear to Daisy and Hazel that Theodora's timid daughter Hephzibah, who is prone to sleepwalking, is being framed. And within the society, everyone has a reason to want Theodora dead...Daisy and Hazel leap into action and begin to investigate their most difficult case yet. But there is danger all around, and only one of the Detective...

Best selling novel in the United States in 1900, made into movies several times in subsequent years. It is set in colonial North America, beginning in the year 1621. A new movie adapted from the book was filmed in 2011. The dialog is Early Modern English, somewhat similar to Shakespeare\'s writings, not contemporary English but similar enough to be understood. The narration is almost modern English, easily understood. An English soldier, Ralph Percy, turned Virginian explorer in Jamestown colony, buys a wife - a girl named Jocelyn Leigh - not knowing that she is the escaped ward of King James I, fleeing a forced marriage to Lord Carnal. Jocelyn has no love for Ralph at first; she even seems to abhor him and explains she only married to have refuge after she fled from England, under an assumed name. Lord Carnal, Jocelyn\'s husband-to-be, eventually comes to Jamestown to find his promised bride, not knowing that Ralph Percy and Jocelyn Leigh are already man and wife. Lord Carnal attempts to kidnap Jocelyn several times and eventually follows Ralph, Jocelyn, and their two companions, as they escape from the King\'s orders to arrest Ralph and carry Jocelyn back to England. This romance-epic-adventure novel carries the reader along with humor, shipwreck, pirates, entrapment, false accusations, trial, colonial conflict with Native Americans, capture, rescue, suicide, salvation, love, happy ending -- what more could one want? The editor of this Feedbooks edition has provided a few footnotes to explain the less familiar words and some of the historical names as an aid to the reader. Using an eBook reader with a built-in dictionary may also help, but isn\'t essential to enjoyment of the story.

Julie Blalock has a secret--she was once an MI6 Agent. A personal tragedy forced her to quit, but a chance offer to return for a one-time op is too tempting to ignore. Her mission: to pose as a rich socialite during the most anticipated high-class auction of the year--Esther May Morrow's sale of antique treasures, featuring Lot 62, a prize that has even the Ministry of Defence worried.Julie Blalock is approaching thirty and has an unfulfilling job with an accountancy firm. But she also has a secret--she was once an MI6 Agent. A personal tragedy forced her to quit eight years ago, but a chance offer to return for a one-time op is too tempting to ignore. Her mission: to pose as a rich socialite at Sotheby's, to gain critical intelligence during the most anticipated high-class auction of the year--Esther May Morrow's sale of antique treasures, featuring Lot 62, a prize that has even the Ministry of Defence worried. What secrets will Julie discover on her impromptu return to espionage?

"We're not your best friend! We're not your little pets either!""The Truth about Faeries" brings the inside story of the faerie realm. Through six dark faerie tales, tied together with explanations by a fae narrator, we get a glimpse of the sometimes funny, often dark, and always fantastical, world of the fae.(Narration in Scots with English translations)Run, run, run as fast as you can—and that is exactly what Selene does when she discovers that the curse set on her family and emirate, destining them to eternal slumber, is solely her fault. But pasts are not so easily left behind.On Selene’s eighteenth birthday, her emirate falls to the enchantment and her jilted fiancé, the conniving Lord Gwydion drags her home. While Selene clashes with her fiancé, the ailing Queen of Ghalain summons the emirs to contest for the throne. Each emir has a claim, but the crown holds special meaning for Selene: as queen, she would have the leverage necessary to oblige the Pari to lift the curse.In Ghalain’s capital, Selene stumbles into the labyrinthine mire that is court intrigue. When political rivalries threaten to plunge the country into civil war, Selene must fight through magic and malice to emerge victorious. Her family’s fate swings in the balance.

April 1941.Almost losing her life in a bomb blast while serving in the Women's Volunteer Service has made Ann Gilby take stock of what's really important - her family.With daughter Sheila back home, and Joy still working munitions at the Cadbury factory and engaged to her soldier sweetheart, home life feels more settled too. Ann has even come to an uneasy truce with her husband, Len, despite her recent discovery of his infidelity and the fact that he has fathered a child with another woman.But what Ann has not reckoned with is Marianne, Len's other woman, turning up on her doorstep - a woman with a mysterious past.Only Ann has secrets of her own and one day soon she knows she will have to tell her youngest child, Martin, who his father really is . . .From Annie Murray, the bestselling author of Chocolate Girls, The Bells of Bournville Green and Secrets of the Chocolate Girls, Wartime for the Chocolate Girls is a gritty family...

He is the one thing her enemies did not expect. Now they are both hunted.Young and beautiful Vanora, the eldest daughter of Laird Weir, has always known what her fate would be. Having no brothers, she is destined to get married and rule after the death of her father. But she never expected that death to come so soon, nor in such a brutal way...While returning from a hunt, Vanora and her Father are attacked by four horsemen, and Vanora flees into the woods. While riding in panic, she hears the sound of an axe and finds a mysterious giant man chopping wood. The man kills the four riders using only his axe, saving Vanora, who asks to know the name of her savior.Rory Murdoch, also known as the Man of the Woods, has looked like a grown man since he was twelve years old. From that time, he grew even more to become the biggest man most people will ever see in their life. But he will not reveal his story and why he chose to live isolated in the woods.Vanora, now alone and vulnerable is in need of a protector, and wants to employ Rory as her guard. But Rory agrees to take her safely to her castle and nothing more. However, Vanora's real enemy has not shown his face yet, and unbeknownst to Rory saving Vanora has made his death a matter of time.

"Buzzing with charm and as sweet as a honey-comb. I was captivated." —USA TODAY bestselling author Teri WilsonA stolen family recipe has all the ingredients to turn a rivalry into romance...For Tansy Hill, nothing is sweeter than honey from her farm—except maybe revenge on the man who broke her heart and humiliated her all those years ago. Dane "The Viking" Knudson has been Tansy's rival since childhood, and though he's grown into a frustratingly handsome charmer, he's also standing between her and the best honey award at the Honey Bee Festival, which Honey Hill Farms desperately needs to stay afloat.Fanning the sparks that have forever flown between them, the competition is on. Sure, Tansy and Dane have plenty in common—more than they'll admit—but Dane's plans to expand Viking Honey are also on the line. When buried family secrets come to light, they'll have to decide whether taking a chance on each other...

The beautiful Lencia is the image of her dear departed Mama and so is still the apple of the eye of her widowed father, the Earl of Armeron. Knowing how deeply Lencia and her younger sister, Alice, are missing their mother, their father promises to take them to see the fabulous historic Châteaux of the Loire Valley in France of which the most exciting and impressive of all is Château Chaumont. But to their chagrin, their hopes are totally dashed when the Earl returns from a trip to the South of France with a new wife on his arm, a stepmother who sees Lencia's beauty as distinct competition for her husband's attention and so she becomes increasingly hostile to the two sisters.Nevertheless the sisters have their hearts set on their French adventure and set off in secret, Lencia disguised in her late mother's clothes and her make-up to look like an older Society lady who is chaperoning the young Alice.By sheer chance they happen to meet on their journey the dashingly handsome Duc...

Ever since the cruel death of her beloved brother, David at the Battle of Waterloo, Lady Ilina Bury's father, the fifth Duke of Tetbury, has taken out his grief on her and now he too has died and his will reiterates his contempt of her. He leaves the beautiful nothing but the extremely valuable collection of jewels that had been given to his ancestor, the second Duke of Tetbury, by the Nizam of Hyderabad. The trouble is that, although legendary, these jewels are also almost certainly mythical and Ilina and David have been searching Tetbury Abbey for them for years without any success.All but destitute she dreads the arrival of her father's heir and rather than be a burden, she decides to pretend that she is a paid employee of the poverty-stricken estate.And when the handsome new Duke finally does arrive from the Far East, he is visibly disappointed by what he sees, but worse still he says that he intends to abandon the estate, all its loyal staff and close up The Abbey for...