Minerva Lane


Book Description

Minerva Lane is buzzing with gossip. Widow Lizzie Gallimore has married her handsome lodger Jack McShane. And Lizzie's daughter Ruby is delighted to have a father figure in her life, even though her affection for him upsters her childhood sweetheart, and her brother Joe. Then a traumatic event reveals Jack in his true colours. Determined to save her family from corruption and humiliation, Ruby seeks independence. She suffers the harsh realities of a working life as she tries to protect her brother while denying herself the comfort from the one man who truly cares for her. Until, eventually, the truth emerges... Minerva Lane is both a powerful love story and a vivid evocation of working-class life in the Black Country during the Victorian era, written by Judith Glover, author of The Stallion Man.




The Gothic Ideology


Book Description

The Gothic Ideology argues that in order to modernize and secularize, the British Protestant imaginary needed an 'other' against which it could define itself as a culture and a nation with distinct boundaries. The 'Gothic ideology' is identified as an intense religious anxiety, produced by the aftershocks of the Protestant reformation, the Catholic Counter-Reformation, and the dynastic upheavals produced by both events in England, Germany, and France, and was played out in hundreds of Gothic texts published throughout Europe between the mid-eighteenth century and 1880. This book is the first to read the Gothic ideology through the historical context of both King Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries and the extensive French anti-clerical and pornographic works that were well-known to Horace Walpole and Matthew Lewis. The book argues that Gothic was thoroughly invested in a crude form of anti-Catholicism that fed lower class prejudices against the passage of a variety of Catholic Relief Acts that had been pending in Parliament since 1788 and finally passed in 1829.







Notes and Queries


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The Duchess War


Book Description

Miss Minerva Lane is a quiet, bespectacled wallflower, and she wants to keep it that way. After all, the last time she was the center of attention, it ended badly--so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past. Wallflowers may not be the prettiest of blooms, but at least they don't get trampled. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention. But that is precisely what she gets. Because Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont, is not fooled. When Minnie figures out what he's up to, he realizes there is more to her than her spectacles and her quiet ways. And he's determined to lay her every secret bare before she can discover his. But this time, one shy miss may prove to be more than his match... The books in the Brothers Sinister series: ½. The Governess Affair (free prequel novella) 1. The Duchess War 1½. A Kiss for Midwinter (a companion novella to The Duchess War) 2. The Heiress Effect 3. The Countess Conspiracy 4. The Suffragette Scandal 4½. Talk Sweetly to Me




The Brothers Sinister


Book Description

This is the complete boxed set of Courtney Milan’s acclaimed Brothers Sinister Series – four full length books, three novellas – together, almost half a million words. The Governess Affair Miss Serena Barton intends to hold the petty, selfish duke who had her sacked responsible for his crimes. But the man who handles all the duke's dirty business has been ordered to get rid of her by fair means or foul. She’ll have to prove more than his match… The Duchess War The last time Minerva Lane she was the center of attention, it ended badly—so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention. But that is precisely what she gets... A Kiss for Midwinter Miss Lydia Charingford does her best to forget the dark secret that nearly ruined her life, hiding it beneath her smiles. But someone else knows the truth of those dark days: the sarcastic Doctor Jonas Grantham. She wants nothing to do with him...or the butterflies that take flight in her stomach every time he looks her way... The Heiress Effect Miss Jane Fairfield does everything wrong in society--intentionally. Mr. Oliver Marshall does everything right. So why is it, then, that the one woman he can't forget is the exact opposite of what he needs? The Countess Conspiracy Sebastian Malheur is the most dangerous sort of rake. Violet Waterfield, the widowed Countess of Cambury, on the other hand, is entirely respectable--and she’d like to stay that way. Their association would be scandalous even if someone suspected lies. But the truth about the secrets they share will bring England to its knees… The Suffragette Scandal A suffragette meets a scoundrel, and as scoundrels do, he lies to her, attempts to blackmail her…and falls in love with her against his better judgment. By the time he realizes that his cynical heart is hers, it's too late. Once the woman he loves realizes how much he's lied to her, he'll lose her forever. Talk Sweetly to Me Miss Rose Sweetly is a shy, mathematically-minded shopkeeper’s daughter who dreams of the stars. When Stephen Shaughnessy, infamous advice columnist and known rake, moves next door, she knows she should avoid him. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and astronomers…










A Gothic Bibliography


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