The backbone of Mansfield Park is based around the marriages of sisters Lady Bertram, Mrs. Norris, and Mrs. Price. Each of these sisters marries a man from a different social class. Lady Bertram marries an extremely wealthy baronet Sir Thomas Bertram; Mrs. Norris marries a clergyman that makes a decent living; and Mrs. Price marries a naval lieutenant, who is injured shortly after they marry causing his career to end with living in poverty. This tale...

The first novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart, America's queen of crime This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous. So says Rachel Innes, the spinster in question and one of the most remarkable heroines in American...

Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

Author of more than a dozen novels, including Felicia's Journey, Irish author William Trevor is hailed as one of the most extraordinary writers of today. He has a special talent for examining the innermost regions of his characters' hearts. The Story of Lucy Gault traces the repercussions of a child's attempt to remain in her beloved home. Threatened with a move from Ireland to England, 9-year-old Lucy runs away, setting off a series of misunderstandings...

In Virginia Woolf's lyrical, inventive last novel, the action takes place on one summer's day at a country house in the heart of England on the eve of World War II. "Love. Hate. Peace. Three emotions made the ply of human life." Between the Acts takes place on a June day in 1939 at Pointz Hall, the Oliver family's country house in the heart of England. In the garden, everyone from the village has gathered to present the annual pageant ??-?? scenes...

The Spoils of Poynton is a novel by Henry James, first published under the title The Old Things as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1896 and then as a book in 1897. This novel traces the shifting relations among three human beings and a magnificent collection of art, decorative arts, and furniture arrayed like jewels in a country house called Poynton. Mrs. Gereth, a widow of impeccable taste and iron will, formed the collection over decades only...

The inimitable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and her husband Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher seem to get a reprieve from their sleuthing duties when they are invited to the wedding of their friend, Lucy Fotheringay. Lucy's grandfather is hosting the ceremony at his beautiful estate and so it promises to be a typical affair with hordes of gossipy aunts and other colorful but not necessarily pleasant relatives. Daisy meets all these characters and...

Leaving London to move into a beautiful house in the country, Miranda and David find their marriage succumbing to long-standing conflicts until a mysterious Frenchman arrives to tend their garden, bringing with him a healing energy that is drawn from nature.

"A brilliant and absorbing drama." -Good Housekeeping (UK) A fresh and exciting new voice in contemporary fiction, Katherine Webb debuts with a haunting novel about a secret family history. Already a sensation in the United Kingdom, Webb's The Legacy is a treat for every fan of upmarket women's fiction and literary suspense in the vein of bestselling authors Kate Morton, Sarah Waters, and Diane Setterfield. Taut, affecting, and surprising-a story...

"The MacBrides lead a cozy life of upper class privilege: good looks (more or less), a beautiful home, tuition-free education at the prestigious private school where Rowan is headmaster, an altruistic righteousness inherited from magistrate Lydia. But when Rowan and his three grown children gather for the first time since Lydia's passing at the family's weekend home--a restored barn in the English countryside--years of secrets surface ... [and they]...