The Duke's Daughter's Devious Double


Book Description

A Victorian finishing school where snooty dukes' daughters are tamed... Born on the wrong side of the blanket, Sally switches places with her half-sister to sneak her way into a rigorous finishing school meant only for highborn young ladies. The eighteen-year-old beauty pictures herself drinking tea with her pinkie stuck out whilst husband-hunting in high society. Lady Savannah's eagerness to swap places with a mere housemaid like Sally should have served as fair warning. And yet the harsh realities of school discipline come as a shock. New headmaster Gerard believes in the power of domestic discipline to transform spoiled young ladies into proper young wives. The new girl needs strict correction, but he's eager to prove himself to her influential father. That spirited hussy will be whipped into shape as a marriageable young lady if it's the last thing he ever does. At this school, both Sally and Gerard have a lot to learn. And they'd better learn it fast-- before they lose their hearts. This full-length Victorian historical romance novel includes a stern headmaster with a firm hand, a spunky maid who transforms herself into a lady, domestic discipline and school discipline scenes, and hissable villains including the mean-girl bullies you'd expect. Note: This is a finishing school for Victorian ladies who are guilty of bad behavior by the strict standards of the day. All characters are age 18 or older. If domestic discipline scenes for pleasure or punishment trigger you, please choose a different book.




Chastise My Deceitful Lady


Book Description

Three complete, full-length Victorian historical novels. Three spunky young women determined to rise above the painful challenges of a strict society to find their happily ever after. To Have and To Chastise: A Victorian Marriage of Convenience Romance: When her wastrel Earl of a father gambles away her hand in marriage, the beautiful Lady Henrietta Fallon claims she's already secretly wed to the handsome vicar. To protect the lady's reputation, Alfred Conley backs up the story in public―but he exacts his price in private. Any wife of his must be subject to domestic discipline, and he does not tolerate lies. The Duke's Daughter's Devious Double: A Victorian Switched Identities Romance: Born on the wrong side of the blanket, Sally switches places with her half-sister to sneak her way into a rigorous finishing school meant only for highborn young ladies. New headmaster Gerard believes in the power of domestic discipline to transform spoiled duke's daughters into proper young wives. But, in Sally, he may have met his match. Deceit and Discipline: A Victorian Lady in Disguise Heist Novel: Dolly Hughes is a mistress of disguise. When she poses as a mere snip of a maid to find a rare diamond, she becomes subject to an isolated manor's strange domestic discipline practices. Warning: This third book is not a traditional romance, and some may consider the larcenous Dolly to be a bit of an anti-heroine, but you may expect her to triumph in the end.




King Lear by William Shakespeare (Book Analysis)


Book Description

Unlock the more straightforward side of King Lear with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of King Lear by William Shakespeare, a tragic tale about the consequences of betrayal and ambition. The titular character, King Lear, makes the mistake of dividing his entire kingdom between his scheming elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, who are actively plotting against him, while disinheriting his loyal youngest daughter, Cordelia. Stripped of power and rapidly descending into madness, Lear is left to wander the barren heath with only his Fool for company, while the country he once ruled tears itself apart in a bloody civil war. King Lear is generally recognised as Shakespeare’s most nihilistic work, but has also been hailed as his greatest tragedy, and has been performed consistently since it was first written in the early 17th century. Find out everything you need to know about King Lear in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!




The True Chronicles of Jean Le Bel, 1290-1360


Book Description

Even as a canon, he lived in princely style, with a retinue of two knights and forty squires, and he wrote at the request of John of Hainault, the uncle of queen Philippa. He was thus able to draw directly on the verbal accounts of the Crécy campaign given to him by soldiers from Hainault who had fought on both sides; and his description of warfare in Scotland is the most realistic account of what it was like to be on campaign that survives from this period.




Ungrateful Daughters


Book Description

In 1688, the birth of a Prince of Wales ignited a family quarrel and a revolution. James II's drive towards Catholicism had alienated the nation and his two staunchly Protestant daughters by his first marriage, Mary and Anne. They are the 'ungrateful daughters' who usurped their father's crown and stole their brother's birthright. Seven prominent men sent an invitation to William of Orange---James' nephew and son-in-law---to intervene in English affairs. But it was the women, Queen Mary Beatrice and her two stepdaughters, Mary and Anne, who played a key role in this drama. Jealous and resentful of her hated stepmother, Anne had written a series of malicious letters to her sister Mary in Holland, implying that the Queen's pregnancy was a hoax, a Catholic plot to deny Mary her rightful inheritance. Betrayed by those he trusted, distraught at Anne's defection, James fled the kingdom. Even as the crown descended on her head, Mary knew she had incurred a father's curse. The sisters quarreled and were still not speaking to each other when Mary died tragically young. Anne did nothing to deserve her father's forgiveness, declaring her brother an outlaw with a price on his head. Acclaimed historian Maureen Waller recreated the late Stuart era in a compelling narrative that highlights the influence of three women in one of the most momentous events in English history. Prompted by religious bigotry and the emotion that beset any family relationships, this palace coup changed the face of the monarchy, and signaled the end of a dynasty.




The Fictional 100


Book Description

Some of the most influential and interesting people in the world are fictional. Sherlock Holmes, Huck Finn, Pinocchio, Anna Karenina, Genji, and Superman, to name a few, may not have walked the Earth (or flown, in Superman's case), but they certainly stride through our lives. They influence us personally: as childhood friends, catalysts to our dreams, or even fantasy lovers. Peruvian author and presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, for one, confessed to a lifelong passion for Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Characters can change the world. Witness the impact of Solzhenitsyn's Ivan Denisovich, in exposing the conditions of the Soviet Gulag, or Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom, in arousing anti-slavery feeling in America. Words such as quixotic, oedipal, and herculean show how fictional characters permeate our language. This list of the Fictional 100 ranks the most influential fictional persons in world literature and legend, from all time periods and from all over the world, ranging from Shakespeare's Hamlet [1] to Toni Morrison's Beloved [100]. By tracing characters' varied incarnations in literature, art, music, and film, we gain a sense of their shape-shifting potential in the culture at large. Although not of flesh and blood, fictional characters have a life and history of their own. Meet these diverse and fascinating people. From the brash Hercules to the troubled Holden Caulfield, from the menacing plots of Medea to the misguided schemes of Don Quixote, The Fictional 100 runs the gamut of heroes and villains, young and old, saints and sinners. Ponder them, fall in love with them, learn from their stories the varieties of human experience--let them live in you.




The War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714


Book Description

How the death of a childless monarch sparked a bloody conflict that raged across Europe and beyond. The War of the Spanish Succession, fought between 1701 and 1714 to decide who should inherit the Spanish throne, was a conflict on an unprecedented scale, stretching across most of western Europe, the high seas, and the Americas. Yet this major subject is not well known and little understood. James Falkner's absorbing new study fills that gap. In a clear and perceptive narrative, he describes and analyzes the complex political maneuvers and a series of military campaigns, which also involved the threat posed by Ottoman Turks in the east and Sweden and Russia in the north. Fighting took place not just in Europe but in the Americas and Canada, and on the high seas. All European powers, large and small, were involved—France, Spain, Great Britain, Holland, Austria and Portugal were the major players. The end result of over a decade of outright war was a French prince firmly established on the throne in Madrid and a division of the old Spanish empire. More notably though, French power, previously so dominant, was curbed for almost ninety years.




The Daughters of England Books 4–6


Book Description

Continuing the romantic multigenerational saga by a New York Times–bestselling author whose novels have sold over 100 million copies. Saraband for Two Sisters: Set in seventeenth-century England, Carr’s novel follows the twin daughters of Tamsyn Pennlyon—Angelet and Bersaba Landor—who couldn’t be more different. Angelet is sweet, gentle, and submissive. Bersaba is secretive, sensual, and headstrong. When the sisters are separated by forces beyond their control, Bersaba’s life takes a dark turn. After years apart, the twins are reunited within the echoing halls of Far Flamstead. As Angelet finds herself at the mercy of the manor’s secret past, Bersaba gives in to a perilous temptation. She will risk everything—even her life—for the love of one man. Lament for a Lost Lover: Under the sway of the puritanical Oliver Cromwell, England simmers with religious persecution and political unrest. Like their exiled king, Arabella Tolworthy and her parents have retreated to France but yearn for their native country. When Arabella is separated from her family, she makes her way alone in an increasingly dangerous world and meets two people who will change her life: an actress named Harriet Main and the dashing nobleman Edwin Eversleigh. The Love Child: As Restoration England continues to be torn apart by political and religious turmoil, fourteen-year-old Priscilla Eversleigh gives herself to fugitive Jocelyn Frinton in a moment of youthful passion. Desperate to conceal her shameful secret, Priscilla journeys to Venice, where her illegitimate daughter, Carlotta, is passed off to another woman—and a conspiracy is born. But Priscilla’s past will haunt her in the decades to come. As fortune-hunters circle, Carlotta becomes a pawn in a twisted game of greed and revenge. Now Priscilla must make the ultimate sacrifice—even if it costs her the man she loves—which will shape not only Carlotta’s future, but also the lives of the generations of Eversleigh women to come.




Parallel Lives


Book Description

In Parallel Lives, the contributors observe particular Spanish and English plays from the perspective of the numerous parallels and apparent similarities in the evolution of this art form in the two countries. Illustrated.




The Dukes and Desires Series


Book Description

Seven novels by the New York Times–bestselling author,“a romance writer who deftly blends humor and adventure” (Booklist). From a bride whose scandalous secret is revealed on her wedding day by a talking mynah bird, to a duke seduced by love letters secretly written by someone else, to an ingénue and a vicar’s wife drawn unexpectedly into the whirlwind of the London season, these seven novels are set in a world of high society scheming and passions hidden behind nineteenth-century propriety. The Dukes and Desires Series includes: The Desirable Duchess; Her Grace’s Passion; Pretty Polly; The Sins of Lady Dacey; My Dear Duchess; Lady Lucy’s Lover; and The Scandalous Marriage. “The best of the Regency writers.” —Kirkus Reviews