Now including an excerpt from VICTORIA: A Novel, by Daisy Goodwin, the Creator/Writer of the Masterpiece Presentation on PBS. "Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms (who isn't?) will find an instant tonic in Daisy Goodwin's The American Heiress. The story of Cora Cash, an American heiress in the 1890s who bags an English duke, this is a deliciously evocative first novel that lingers in the mind." --Allison Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of I Don't Know How She Does It and I Think I Love You Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage. Witty, moving, and brilliantly entertaining, Cora's story marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who brings a fresh new spirit to the world of Edith Wharton and Henry James. "For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn't always buy them happiness." --Daisy Goodwin in The Daily Mail One of Library Journal's Best Historical Fiction Books of 2011

Even a fortune forged in railroads and steel can't buy entrance into the upper echelons of Victorian high society--for that you need a marriage of convenience. American heiress August Crenshaw has aspirations. But unlike her peers, it isn't some stuffy British Lord she wants wrapped around her finger--it's Crenshaw Iron Works, the family business. When it's clear that August's outrageously progressive ways render her unsuitable for a respectable match, her parents offer up her younger sister to the highest entitled bidder instead. This simply will not do. August refuses to leave her sister to the mercy of a loveless marriage. Evan Sterling, the Duke of Rothschild, has no intention of walking away from the marriage. He's recently inherited the title only to find his coffers empty, and with countless lives depending on him, he can't walk away from the fortune a Crenshaw heiress would bring him. But after meeting her fiery sister, he realizes Violet isn't the heiress he wants. He wants August, and he always gets what he wants. But August won't go peacefully to her fate. She decides to show Rothschild that she's no typical London wallflower. Little does she realize that every stunt she pulls to make him call off the wedding only makes him like her even more.

Nina Auerbach examines both the life of Daphne du Maurier as it is revealed in her writings and the sensibility of a vanished class and a time now gone that haunts the fringes of our own age.

In this passionate saga set in present-day Australia, the passing of a wealthy patriarch leaves one young woman with a chance to change her life—if it doesn’t bring her world crashing down first... After losing her parents in a tragic accident, young Charlotte was taken in by her grandfather, Sir Reginald Mansfield. Despite his tyrannical tendencies, he cherished her above all—a fact made clear by his surprising bequest. In her early twenties, she intends to follow in his illustrious footsteps in the field of law. And now she is the beneficiary not only of his vast financial assets, but of Clouds—the stunning sandstone house in New South Wales with a breathtaking view of the Blue Mountains and a bountiful garden of fragrant flowers. Unfortunately, not everyone is pleased for her. Charlotte’s grasping aunt and uncle, as well as her controlling, entitled cousin cannot hide their fury. As rivalries simmer and naked greed roils the socially prominent clan, only Brendon Macmillan, Charlotte’s longtime friend, seems genuinely happy for her—despite the bitter, scandalous history between their families. Charlotte’s dream is to use the funds to open a shelter for abused women, and Brendon intends to support and protect her. But often, more money means more betrayals, secrets, and lies—and as Charlotte tries to determine who she can trust, she may be a woman in danger herself... “If you’ve never read Margaret Way before, you’re in for a treat!” --New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer

At the close of ancient Egypt''s ambitious Eighteenth Dynasty, power, art, and learning have reached a zenith. Due to the nation''s yearly flooding, steady harvests, and plentiful gold, Egypt is the richest nation in the world. Ruling over this paradise is Pharaoh, considered a god-on-earth by his people. But on the death of Amunhotep III, his son, known to history as the Heretic King Akhenaten, enters into a war with the powerful priesthood of Amun and claims ownership of the souls of his people. He raises a new god for Egypt to worship, and banishes the ancient gods from the land. The consequences of this will lead to the downfall of the ruling dynasty, the very family that had made Egypt into a mighty empire. The delicate and beautiful third daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, Princess Ankhesenamun knows nothing but power and luxury. Her mother Nefertiti rules Akhenaten''s heart and other wives as her father rules the land. But when Nefertiti fails to give Akhenaten the son he desires, the princess''s pampered world begins to fall apart. And at the height of Akhenaten''s triumph over his people, an unexpected tragedy strikes the land, giving those oppressed a new reason to fight. Soon the chaos outside the King''s House explodes within, tearing the royal family apart. Watching from the shadows is Prince Tutankhamun. His mother was a princess, but she died after his birth, and he has grown up on the edge of the king''s favor because of Nefertiti''s strong influence. The crown, which he feels is his by right, is expected to go Nefertiti''s oldest daughter, but Akhenaten refuses to name an heir. Attended as the son of a god but isolated from his family, Tutankhamun spends his days surpassing his tutors, gaining his omnipotent father''s attention only by extreme achievement or reckless courage. Though dominated by her oldest sister, Tutankhamun''s born rival, young princess Ankhesenamun is drawn to the proud and mysterious black-eyed boy. As events in her home become intolerable and terrifying, Ankhesenamun finds that the prince her mother and sister fear is the only one that she can trust. Broken by the burden of a war with his own people, Pharaoh begins to lose control. Paranoid and accustomed to utter indulgence, he wields his absolute authority with ever more brutal hands. He betrays his young daughter in the cruelest of ways before his sudden death leaves the royal family without a king, and beset on all sides by their own countrymen. Ankhesenamun wants nothing to do with the ensuing power struggle between the Great Royal Wife, Nefertiti, and the First Daughter and her lover. But as a beautiful young king''s widow, her hands are bound to the throne. Horrified at the prospect of another unwanted marriage, Ankhesenamun turns to Prince Tutankhamun, and they flee the palace. But Tutankhamun is destined to be Pharaoh, as he has always known. Murder makes him a king at age ten, and he persuades a fragile Ankhesenamun to be his Great Royal Wife. Though Akhenaten has destroyed his family''s hold on power, Tutankhamun fearlessly takes up the crown. He pledges to make everything right again, not only for his enraged and traumatized people, but for the princess he loves with a fierce, possessive loyalty. Encouraged by his counsellors, Tutankhamun breaks his father''s laws and calls back the ancient gods to Egypt. In return, the gods bless the young king with the love of his people and a tranquil home. Ankhesenamun regains her strength, and sets out to command her palace and learn the ancient rites of Egypt''s goddesses. Though challenged by a mysterious and painful affliction that threatens to cripple him in only a few years, Pharaoh is determined to become a warrior and resurrect the mighty imperial army of his ancestors. As the pair grows to maturity, they break free of the horrors of childhood and discover a love so powerful it''s blinding. It seems that all is well in Egypt, but as Pharaoh and his wife enchant each other, new enemies rear up against them. Corrupt courtiers and a powerful empire growing out of the north, as well as snake in the very heart of the king''s home all threaten the young king and queen of Egypt, and Tutankhamun must become increasingly ruthless to battle them all. When a horrible act of terror and defiance against the king brings Tutankhamun face to face with his father''s ghost, he loses faith in himself and must decide what sort of man he will be. Ankhesenamun adores her young husband, and she is determined to be nothing like her mother. But though blessed with a child, she has fatal complications with her next pregnancy. She battles with love and fear daily, and after another tragic loss, she questions if she wants more children. Her marriage is strained by Tutankhamun''s growing comfort with the darker sides of power, and she is determined to keep him from losing his soul like Akhenaten did. She wants nothing more than the life she has with Tutankhamun, without any interruption from the ghosts of the past. Just when Ankhesenamun and her husband learn to accept fate and enjoy their blessings, Tutankhamun dies a tragic death while fighting Egypt''s fiercest enemies. The pampered and delicate young queen is left alone, and as she brings her husband to his final rest, she discovers the terrifying truth that her husband''s death might have been set up by enemies in her very home. Caught in a viper''s nest of greed and betrayal, Ankhesenamun must plunge into a world of intrigue and corruption if she means to avenge her family and save her people from a usurper. Hanging her own life in the balance, she must play a subtle and deadly game of power in order to destroy a killer.

The first volume in the new series Gender Studies in Wales, this book argues that the way in which people came to perceive and to represent themselves as Welsh was profoundly affected by the gender ideologies prevalent during the Romantic and Victorian periods. "Nineteenth-Century Women's Writing in Wales: Nation, Gender and Identity" introduces readers to a hundred Welsh women authors at work during the years 1780-1900, some writing in Welsh and some in English. In so doing, it rescues many of these authors from critical neglect and oblivion. In the second half of the nineteenth century in particular, Welsh women writers in both languages were numerous and enjoyed a degree of influence on Welsh culture easily commensurate with that of women writers today. By covering the nineteenth century chronologically, this book traces the coming into being of the Welsh nation as its women in particular saw it, and as they helped to create it.

This essay collection rediscovers and reassesses a host of still little-known, pre-1914, Welsh women writers. In the last few decades considerable advances have been made towards rediscovering, contextualising, and analysing women’s writing from Wales. The combined influences of the post-1960s women’s movement, the 1990s Welsh devolution successes, and the development of the ‘Four Nations’ school of British literary criticism, have together effected significant advances in the field of Welsh feminist literary studies. This book focuses in particular on: the fifteenth- to eighteenth-century Welsh-language bards, such as Gwerful Mechain, Angharad James, and Marged Dafydd; the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English-language poets, including Katherine Philips, Jane Brereton, Anne Penny, and Anne Hughes; contributors to the Romantic movement in Wales, such as the poets and novelists Mary Robinson and Ann of Swansea; the mid-nineteenth-century protesting voice of polemicists such as Jane Williams (Ysgafell); the Victorian English-language novelists, for example Louisa Matilda Spooner, Anne Beale, Amy Dillwyn, Allen Raine, and Mallt Williams, and their concern with national, class, and gender identities; and early twentieth-century Welsh-language writers engaged with Welsh Home Rule and women’s suffrage issues, such as Gwyneth Vaughan and Eluned Morgan. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women's Writing. Chapter 7 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

A daring night-time escape…inside the Marquis of Aldeborough’s carriage Mistaking Miss Frances Hanwell for a runaway kitchen servant, Hugh only realizes his grave error the next day. With scandal imminent, a reluctant marriage seems the only course of action. Reluctance turns to respect when Hugh uncovers the brutal marks of the unhappy life she’s been leading. Suddenly, he will do all in his power to protect her…especially now, as an unexpected inheritance threatens to take Frances from him….