"Bess leads a quiet life, intent on easing the burdens of her widowed father. She acts as maid, cook, and assistant in his medical practice--but she is wearied by the thankless work and her father's lack of kindness. And then a miracle happens. Lady Agatha Buxton of Astoria Abbey is seeking a physician for her ailing son, Hugh, and, sensing that Bess is trapped in her situation, offers the young woman a position as nurse. Despite Bess's father's objections,...

Hazel Mae Hollingsworth is devastated following the unexpected death of her father, and she can't shake a sense of foreboding when the family solicitor arrives at the estate. Her intuition turns out to be well founded, for her father's will reveals a long-held family secret--Hazel's entire life has been a lie. Within hours of receiving the news, she is turned out by the man she once called her brother, dispossessed with little more than her mother's...

Fleeing from the unwanted advances of a cruel master, chambermaid Annie Morgan--without family and tainted by scandal--finds safety in a marriage of convenience with widowed Welsh miner Evan Powell who dreams of immigrating to America. In the midst of Mormon missionaries preaching a strange new religion, disaster strikes her adopted Welsh town and Annie's troubled history can no longer be hidden.

As her first London Season looms before her, the thought of the impending social whirl fills Daphne Lancaster's timid heart with dread. She hasn't her sisters beauty nor their talent for conversing easily. Even her family's enviable connections may not be enough to prevent disaster. But Daphne's misery turns to surprised delight when the first event of her Season brings an unexpected visitor to her door--James Tilburn, whose tender kindness stole...

"From the moment they met, Marjie's heart has belonged to handsome Captain Stanley Jonquil, younger brother of the Earl of Lampton. But six long months ago, when Stanley's sense of honor required that he do as he had sworn and return to the Continent to fight in defense of King and country, neither Stanley nor Marjie could have dreamed what the cost of his service would be. It has been ages since Stanley last wrote, and Marjie and the Jonquil family...

Harper Collins presents selections from Mark Twain's most noteworthy works, including such classics as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Roughin It; and Life on the Mississippi as well as many of his popular short stories.

November, 1838. The scattered members of the Johnson family struggle to survive the upheaval that comes in the wake of Governor Boggs's extermination order; faithful Saints mourn the plight of the imprisoned Prophet; and, in Kirkland, family patriarch Ezekiel battles alcoholism and his conflicting emotions of bitterness toward Mormonism and love for his family.

When Harriet Beecher marries Calvin Stowe on January 6, 1836, she is sure her future will be filled romance, a family, and continued opportunities to develop as a writer. Her husband Calvin is completely supportive and said she must be a literary woman. Harriet's sister, Catharine, worries she will lose her identity in marriage, but she is determined to preserve her independent spirit. Deeply religious, she strongly believes God has called her to...