Clare Wille

Born in 1831, Isabella Bird, daughter of a clergyman, set off alone to the Antipodes in 1872 'in search of health' and found she had embarked on a life of adventurous travel.

Step into the charming world of "Cranford" by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. This delightful novel invites you to a quaint English village, where the lives of its eccentric and endearing inhabitants are interwoven in a tapestry of humor, heartwarming moments, and social observations. Set in the early 19th century, the narrative unfolds through the eyes of Mary Smith, an outsider welcomed into the close-knit community. As she navigates the idiosyncrasies...

After the death of their grandmother, Erica Calcott and her sister Beth return to Storton Manor in Wiltshire, England, where they, while sorting through her things, decide to discover what really happened to their cousin Henry whose disappearance tore the family apart so that the past can be laid to rest.

Three novellas that brilliantly portray English country and clergy life at the turn of the nineteenth century from the author of Middlemarch. Initially appearing in Blackwood's Magazine, this trio of linked stories comprises George Eliot's first published work. Together they form a portrait of small-town life in Midlands, England, where changes are affecting both society at large and religious beliefs and institutions. In "The Sad Fortunes...

An uneasy friendship turns into a dangerous game when the love of a woman is on the line. Tom Breckinridge has been falling in love with Diana Marshall for the past year, but just when has decided to come to the point, a rival has come out of the woodwork: Reginald Popplewell, a childhood playmate of Diana's, and now heir to a viscountcy! Diana's father much prefers Reginald, but Tom believes Reginald has something to hide. When Tom shares his doubts...

The Serpent of Division features murder and mystery, a charming pirate, Oxford colleges and libraries, a buxom bookseller reminiscent of the Wife of Bath and a Persian physician with a fondness for Rumi. All have a part to play, as the granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer fights for survival against her ruthless neighbour Sir Robert Harcourt and the machinations of Elizabeth Wydeville, descendant of the serpent fairy Melusine and queen of Edward IV....

“Dead Guilty” by Michelle Davies is the captivating fourth novel in the critically acclaimed “Maggie Neville” series, following “False Witness”. Has the killer in DC Maggie Neville's cold case returned after a decade of silence? Katy Pope was seventeen when she was brutally murdered on a family holiday in Majorca. Despite her mother's high rank in the Met and the joint major investigation between the British and Spanish police, Katy's...

Interconnecting the historical and the personal, the public and the private, this is a moving, absorbing story that probes the imbalance of human relationships, whether it be in the press gangs forcing young men to fight or the feelings of one individual for another. Life in an English seaside town in the 1790s is harsh, and 'captious, capricious' Sylvia has a dilemma when the dashing harpooner to whom she is secretly engaged disappears, and her dull...

Like your mysteries cozy and set during the Golden Age of Crime? This is the first book in the Posie Parker mysteries, although this novel can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story in its own right. Set in London in 1921, 'Murder Offstage' is full of intrigue and red herrings. This is a classic murder mystery which will appeal to fans of Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey. When Posie Parker's childhood friend is robbed of a priceless jewel and becomes...

Under the Tuscan sun, ice-creams melt and dark secrets unravel… March, 1925 Pregnant, bored, and longing for an adventure, Posie Parker accepts a rather last-minute Wedding Invitation from an old friend who is getting married out in the gorgeous town of San Gimignano, Tuscany. But what Posie -and her husband, Richard Lovelace- arrive into is not a blissfully happy wedding party at all. It's a chaotic mix of mistrust, unfaithful fiancés, bizarre...