Soon to be a feature film from the creators of Downton Abbey starring Elizabeth McGovern, The Chaperone is a New York Times-bestselling novel about the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in the 1920s and the summer that would change them both. Only a few years before becoming a famous silent-film star and an icon of her generation, a fifteen-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita, Kansas, to study with the prestigious Denishawn School of Dancing in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a thirty-six-year-old chaperone, who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle, a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip, has no idea what she’s in for. Young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous black bob with blunt bangs, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will transform their lives forever. For Cora, the city holds the promise of discovery that might answer the question at the core of her being, and even as she does her best to watch over Louise in this strange and bustling place she embarks on a mission of her own. And while what she finds isn’t what she anticipated, she is liberated in a way she could not have imagined. Over the course of Cora’s relationship with Louise, her eyes are opened to the promise of the twentieth century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive. Drawing on the rich history of the 1920s, ’30s, and beyond—from the orphan trains to Prohibition, flappers, and the onset of the Great Depression to the burgeoning movement for equal rights and new opportunities for women—Laura Moriarty’s The Chaperone illustrates how rapidly everything, from fashion and hemlines to values and attitudes, was changing at this time and what a vast difference it all made for Louise Brooks, Cora Carlisle, and others like them.

Which sort of seducer could you be? Siren? Rake? Cold Coquette? Star? Comedian? Charismatic? Or Saint? This book will show you which. Charm, persuasion, the ability to create illusions: these are some of the many dazzling gifts of the Seducer, the compelling figure who is able to manipulate, mislead and give pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction, an indirect and subtle form of power, has toppled empires, won elections and enslaved great minds. In this beautiful, sensually designed book, Greene unearths the two sides of seduction: the characters and the process. Discover who you, or your pursuer, most resembles. Learn, too, the pitfalls of the anti-Seducer. Immerse yourself in the twenty-four manoeuvres and strategies of the seductive process, the ritual by which a seducer gains mastery over their target. Understand how to 'Choose the Right Victim', 'Appear to Be an Object of Desire' and 'Confuse Desire and Reality'. In addition, Greene provides instruction on how to identify victims by type. Each fascinating character and each cunning tactic demonstrates a fundamental truth about who we are, and the targets we've become - or hope to win over. The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer on the essence of one of history's greatest weapons and the ultimate power trip. From the internationally bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, and The 33 Strategies Of War.

As Robert Hawksley watches his father's body placed in the family crypt, his blood runs cold. At one time, the handsome Earl of Hawksley had been free to live a life of leisure and lust. But now with his father dead and his fortune in question, Lord Hawksley must marry into money to maintain his vain lifestyle. Anna Amhurst is a drab and wealthy spinster who will do anything to save her coveted sister, Jane, from Hawksley's clutches. Fueled by her belief that Lord Hawksley is a fortune hunter who will not make her sister happy, Anna makes it her mission to stop the naive Jane from marrying him. But when she manipulates fate so that her sister becomes betrothed to a more suitable mate, Anna has no idea that her decision comes with surprise consequences. In this historical romance, a dowdy spinster who is intent on stopping a money-hungry lord from marrying her beautiful sister is about to discover that nothing is more powerful than true love."

HE’S MADE A DANGEROUS WAGER Ambrose Worthing is no gentleman. He’s a proud cold-hearted rake who’s determined to stay a bachelor forever. He enjoys bedding a different woman every night without the risk of falling in love. When he hears about a wager over the seduction and ruination of the daughter of his father’s best friend, he knows he must intervene. Committing himself to the bet, he agrees to seduce Lady Alexandra Rockford—for her own good. He never expected the lady in question to be a beautiful, fiery creature who has passions of her own that call to his guarded heart. SHE’S VOWED NEVER TO FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Alexandra Rockford has sworn off men, her heart still broken from the false promises of a childhood sweetheart who left her to marry an heiress. When she stumbles into Ambrose outside of a country ball, she knows the rake is trouble. His smile, his touch, his forbidden kiss are all too tempting but being with him would ruin her. Determined to enjoy herself without falling in love, Alex can’t help but let her defenses down with the too charming rake. But when she discovers Ambrose is seducing her to win a bet, it will take everything Ambrose has to prove to her that he is worthy to love her.

SOCIETY CALLS HIM THE DEVIL OF LONDON... Lord Vaughn, Viscount Darlington, has a dark reputation for sinful pleasures, putting off even the most ardent mamas who crave his title for their unmarried daughters They say he’s dangerous enough to ruin a woman with just one look...But he can’t resist the pleas of a woman who needs his help. This rogue might yet be redeemed. SHE’S THE DARLING OF THE TON... All of London adores Perdita Darby. She receives invites to every party and has eligible gentlemen willing to wait for her, but she has no desire to marry. When she discovers a cruel man wishes to entrap her into a marriage that could spell her doom, she has nowhere left to turn. She makes a bargain with the devil of London, hoping to save herself. But the cost of their false engagement may put them both in danger...

Poems of love and loss, of sin and regret, of longing and desire. These are depressive more often than not with a hint of light between darker verse.

The Gothic moment in literary history arose in the age of the Enlightenment, and the Gothic fascination with the unknown reflects the Enlightenment's response to the limits of reason. Traditionally, the emblem of the unknown that lurks in the Gothic is the supernatural, the monstrous, and the inhuman. Often overlooked is the observation that Gothic texts are also haunted by figures that represent the mystery of sexuality. This collection of essays sharpens that observation and asserts that Gothic anxieties about sexuality are likewise rooted in fear of the unknown, represented by sexual practices and desires that either lie hidden or deviate from cultural norms. The first three sections refer to popular as well as marginalized Gothic texts to portray the three prototypes of sexual "deviance": the female sexual Other in "The Fatal Woman"; the male sexual Other in "The Satanic Male"; and the homosexual Other in "Homosexual Horror." The fourth section covers literary works that celebrate sexual difference and question the idea that the sexually "deviant" is socially Other.

The banns have been called, the date is set, but he’s falling fast and hard for the wrong woman. When her parents announce they intend to break their promise to remain in London society for another year, Charlotte Waters is also given an ultimatum—make a suitable match immediately or start packing her trunks. Since leaving England is the last thing she wants, Charlotte puts aside her foolish longing for love and throws herself into the hunt for any proposal of marriage with the help of her good friends. However, her persistent infatuation for an engaged earl proves a great distraction when it becomes clear that his life is in peril…and Charlotte is the only one who’s noticed. Winston Bell, Earl of Hurlston, has his position in society, a loving mother, loyal friends, and an arranged marriage he’s willing honor for duty, if not love—until a sweet, brave, and normally blushing wallflower puts herself in danger to save his life. His gratitude slowly blossoms into an attraction to a woman he shouldn’t long to seek out at every turn. But when another attempt is made on his life, Charlotte Waters is fighting right by his side again, transforming attraction to deep desire. Can he prevent falling further under the spell of a woman he shouldn’t want?

Sir Malcolm may have survived fourteen years in the wilderness…but is he strong enough to withstand the force of nature that is Lady Augusta Cherrill? Lady Augusta Cherrill is hurtling toward spinsterhood faster than her feet can keep up. When she takes a spectacular tumble down the grand staircase at the Season’s most glittering affair, Gussie is stunned to find herself rescued by a dashing, utterly inappropriate stranger—a man with a roguish grin that promises adventure. Sir Malcolm Sharpe is a brooding, rugged Scottish fur trader who has returned from the wilds of the Canadian frontier with a fortune in his pockets and a fierce determination to carve out his place in the world. Malcolm is enchanted by Gussie’s plucky sense of humor but fears that the only sister of the Duke of St. Lawrence deserves better than a barely-tamed baronet. Can this unlikely pair defy the odds and discover that true romance isn’t about fitting in—it’s about daring to stand out together?

Shorn of her glorious raven tresses and dressed as a man, Lady Antonia Lamb became Lord Anthony Lamb, desperate to keep the property entailed to her twin brother, who is missing at sea. Trapped—and liberated—by her masquerade, Tony meets her new guardian, the devastatingly dangerous Adam Savage, who has returned from his plantation in Ceylon, determined to turn the innocent “boy” into a worldly man. A rake whose scarred face and ice-blue eyes made strong women weak, Adam Savage, legendary adventurer, vowed to take young Tony to the fleshpots of London; to teach him everything a young heir should know. But not even Savage guesses Tony's deepest secret, a masquerade destined to erupt in passionate abandon on one scorching, unforgettable night.