Books like Grant Speaks by Ev Ehrlich

Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray.

T adds to the charm of this book to remember that it is virtually a picture of the author's own boyhood. It is an excellent picture of the life of a struggling English youth in the middle of the last century. The pictures of Canterbury and London are true pictures and through these pages walk one of Dickens' wonderful processions of characters, quaint and humorous, villainous and tragic. Nobody cares for Dickens heroines, least of all for Dora, but take it all in al, l this book is enjoyed by young people more than any other of the great novelist. After having read this you will wish to read Nicholas Nickleby for its mingling of pathos and humor, Martin Chuzzlewit for its pictures of American life as seen through English eyes, and Pickwick Papers for its crude but boisterous humor.

From the author of Outlander... a magnificent epic that once again sweeps us back in time to the drama and passion of 18th-century Scotland...For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones...about a love that transcends the boundaries of time...and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his ....Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire's spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart ...in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising...and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves....From the Hardcover edition.

When country-girl Grace Melbury returns home from her middle-class school she feels she has risen above her suitor, the simple woodsman Giles Winterborne. Though marriage had been discussed between her and Giles, Grace finds herself captivated by Dr Edred Fitzpiers, a sophisticated newcomer to the area - a relationship that is encouraged by her socially ambitious father. Hardy's novel of betrayal, disillusionment and moral compromise depicts a secluded community coming to terms with the disastrous impact of outside influences. And in his portrayal of Giles Winterborne, Hardy shows a man who responds deeply to the forces of the natural world, thought they ultimately betray him.

A Chilean woman searches for her lover in the goldfields of 1840s California. Arriving as a stowaway, Eliza finances her search with various jobs, including playing the piano in a brothel

Beautiful Kate Croy may have been left penniless by her relatives, but her bold, ambitious nature ensures she will not succumb meekly to a life of poverty. If the financial circumstances of Merton Densher, the man she is passionately in love with, are not sufficient to secure her future, perhaps her cunning will. So when Milly Theale arrives in Europe from America, laden with wealth but also gravely ill, Kate sees an opportunity to exploit her vulnerability and devises a plan that will see her and Merton financially provided for. Her scheming is flawed though, for it fails to take into account the inconstancies of the human heart.John Bayley's introduction examines the novel in the context of James's other late, great works.

Song Series #3 Beautiful Carolina risks everything to rescue her beloved buccaneer Kells after a deadly storm leaves him with amnesia. Song Series: Lovesong - Song #1 Windsong- Song #2 Nightsong- Song #3

Leo Drake, the "Mad Monk of Monkcrest," is notoriously eccentric and unquestionably reclusive. But he is also a noted antiquities expert, which is why Beatrice Poole has demanded his reluctant assistance.The freethinking authoress of "horrid novels," Beatrice is searching for the Forbidden Rings of Aphrodite, a mythic treasure she suspects played a role in her uncle's death. Beatrice finds Leo every bit as fascinating as one of the heroes in her novels--and she's convinced he's the only one who can help her. But after only five minutes in her company, Leo is sure he's never met a woman more infuriating...and more likely to rescue him from boredom. Yet the alliance may well prove to be the biggest mistake of their lives. For a villain lurks in London, waiting for the pair to unearth the Forbidden Rings--knowing that when they do, that day will be their last....From the Paperback edition. Vanza Series: With This Ring (Vanza, #1) I Thee Wed (Vanza, #2) Wicked Widow (Vanza, #3) Lie by Moonlight (Vanza, #4)

She was The Beauty -- reckless Dorinda Meredith, heiress to the wind! He was The Blade -- dark, debonair, most dangerous of highwaymen to rove the colonial highroads. A world of intrigue and danger stood between them, but they were star-crossed lovers -- born to meet, born to clash, and Born to Love

They called her "That Barrington Woman". She was beautiful -- and notorious. But beneath the silks and the diamonds, within the supple body so many men had embraced, was the heart of a girl who yearned still for love. At fifteen she had leaned her beauty was both a charm and a curse. It had sent her fleeing from Kansas, had been her downfall in Baltimore and Georgia, yet had kept her alive in the Klondike and the South Seas. Now on this fateful night in 1906, here in San Francisco's most glittering atmosphere, will she at last be able to reveal her secret longing? Will she be able to call love by name -- and claim it?

Note: This book has the same content as Chapters 13 to the end of the US edition of This Towering Passion. It was split into 2 volumes by Severn House for UK publication. The Mistress continues the spellbinding adventures of Lenore and Geoffrey whom we first encountered in The Lovers, the first volume of the This Towering Passion saga. The story begins in 1651 with their first Christmas together, at Oxford, hiding from the enveloping Roundheads. Their happiness is soon broken by Geoffrey's exile in France and Leonore's enforced absence from Oxford as rumours spread about her being "The Angel of Worcester." Frequently disguised, she flees from town to city hoping for the day she can be reunited with her golden daughter and her great love, Geoffrey. Eventually, after Oliver Cromwell's death the country tires of no monarch and 1660 sees the Restoration of Charles II. Leonore is there as he rides in triumph through London, but even with all the wild revelry of Restoration London about her she is still poor, downcast and alone. Could not even the favours of the King himself restore her to Geoffrey? **The Lovers series** by Valerie Sherwood: **This Towering Passion - book 1** published 1977 — 3 editions They called her "Angel" : when she rode bareback into the midst of battle to find her lover. They called her "Mistress Daunt" : when she lived with Geoffrey in Oxford, though she wore no ring on her finger. Wherever she traveled men called her Beauty. Her name was Lenore - and she answered only to "Love." **Her Shining Splendor - book 2** published 1980 — 4 editions A richly textured romantic saga set in the seventeenth century follows the fortunes of the beautiful Leonore as she flees the amorous attentions of a passionate king, and her daughter, Lorena, as she makes her way to London. By the author of The Mistress. Originally in paperback. **The Mistress - book 3** published 1992 — 1 edition

Perhaps She Was Too Beautiful! Perhaps the brawling colonies would have been safer for a plainer girl, one more demure and less accomplished in language and manner. But Charity Woodstock was gloriously beautiful with pale gold hair and topaz eyes -- and she was headed for trouble. She was accused of witchcraft by the man who had attacked her. She was whisked from the stake by a highwayman in whose arms she found joy but no sanctuary. Fate flung her from the manor of a Dutch patroon to the simple hut of a Quaker, from pirate ship to plantation. Beauty might have been her downfall, but Charity Woodstock had a reckless passion to live and a fine determination to give herself only for love. She would challenge this new world--and win.

The Lightskirt's Daughter -- Pamela, golden, aristocratic, reckless. She threw away her reputation to save a man's life and almost changed the course of history! The Rebellious Beauty -- Constance, born to dramatic events, her dark loveliness turned men's heads and made them dream mad dreams -- but must she ever live a lie? The Masked Lady -- her wildness was legendary, but she could not claim her heritage because she bore a terrible secret. Where the meandering river Axe winds a silver ribbon through storied Somerset, these beauties live their turbulent lives and pursue their passionate loves in Valerie Sherwood's enchanting Lovely Lying Lips

Georgianna was the daughter of Imogene, the only woman whose beauty could rival her own, the woman who dared to love the fearless pirate renowned as "the best blade in the Caribbean." She was Fate's plaything, scorned when people thought her only a bondswoman's niece, courted as if she were a princess when Fortune made her a potential heiress. Then hounded into headlong flight when she lost her inheritance. And so we begin her story. **Love series** by Valerie Sherwood **Bold Breathless Love - book 1** published 1981 — 6 editions A romantic novel concerning a young woman who's heart belongs to a copper haired englishman despite being with another man. **Rash Reckless Love - book 2** published 1982 — 7 editions Georgianna was the daughter of Imogene, the only woman whose beauty could rival her own, the woman who dared to love the fearless pirate renowned as "the best blade in the Caribbean." She was Fate's plaything, scorned when people thought her only a bondswoman's niece, courted as if she were a princess when Fortune made her a potential heiress. Then hounded into headlong flight when she lost her inheritance. ... And so we begin her story **Wild Willful Love - book 3** published 1982 — 3 editions The fiery sequel to Rash Reckless Love She was once The Buccaneer's Lady but when beautiful, willful Imogene was tricked aboard a ship bound for England, she vowed to forget Captain van Ryker, the man who had filled her life and heart -- only to banish her so cruelly. Then a shipwreck off the coast of Cornwall returned Imogene to her girlhood home. It was a homecoming without joy, for she found herself on trial for murder. Now, as she faced certain death, she heard again the sweet promise of her Caribbean lord... Somehow he would come to her again, and together they would soar to the heights of passion they first knew on the golden sands of a distant isle...borne once more on the wings of a Wild Willful Love **Rich Radiant Love - book 4** published 1983 — 5 editions She Was His Golden Bride With her hair the color of pirate's treasure, Anna Smith was a beauty beyond price, though all she brought as dowry to Brett Danforth was a pair of silver candlesticks "stolen" from the Bermuda estate that should have been hers by right. So they were wed -- and Anna, looking up into the eyes of her "English patroon" husband, thought she saw the gleam of love. Or was it the glitter of greed? Had she given Brett the gift of her love to receive in return only fool's gold? There is intrigue and danger here in the Hudson Valley where Brett has brought her. Now his enchanting former mistress is gliding between her and her husband. Maybe the tempting offer of the wild rakehell Nicholas van Rappard is the solution. Perhaps she should accept his offer...

Beautiful young Charlotte Gayle hoped to be saved from a forced marriage by Tom Westing. In the strong arms and under the fiery kisses of this handsome seafaring adventurer. Charlotte had learned the power and passionate beauty of love. But elegant, iron-willed Rowen Keynes cast a different spell on her when he snared her into wedlock and fathered her two lovely daughters. Charlotte was wed to one man -- in love with another ... and torn between both -- in an exotic city vibrating with passion and danger, where everything was possible and nothing was safe... As this sprawling, frothy romance set in 18th-century England and Portugal opens, orphaned 15-year-old Charlotte Vayle falls in love with dashing young adventurer Tom Westig. It is the day when "she first realized what it could be like between a man and a woman." When Charlotte learns that her profligate uncle plans to pay his debts by marrying her off to foppish Lord Pimmerston, she and Westig make a dash for Scotland (where they can be legally wed), but are intercepted by her uncle's men, who throw Tom off a cliff, presumably to his death. Charlotte is then tricked into marriage with the violent, mysterious but sexually charismatic Rowan Keynes and bears him two daughters, the elder closely resembling Tom Westig. Charlotte and Tom meet again in Lisbon but are found out by Keynes; Charlotte is abandoned and Tom, presumably, put to death again. After following the lives of Charlotte's daughters in England, the narrative brings the entire cast to Lisbon for the denouement

She Was His Golden Bride With her hair the color of pirate's treasure, Anna Smith was a beauty beyond price, though all she brought as dowry to Brett Danforth was a pair of silver candlesticks "stolen" from the Bermuda estate that should have been hers by right. So they were wed -- and Anna, looking up into the eyes of her "English patroon" husband, thought she saw the gleam of love. Or was it the glitter of greed? Had she given Brett the gift of her love to receive in return only fool's gold? There is intrigue and danger here in the Hudson Valley where Brett has brought her. Now his enchanting former mistress is gliding between her and her husband. Maybe the tempting offer of the wild rakehell Nicholas van Rappard is the solution. Perhaps she should accept his offer... Love Series: #1-Bold Breathless Love #2-Rash Reckless Love #3-Wild Willful Love #4-Rich Radiant Love

Dorothy Garlock's novels have won her acclaim from the Chicago Sun-Times as a "gifted storyteller" and praise from readers as a truth-teller about America and its people. Now in her hardcover debut, the USA Today bestselling author begins her new saga of the Midwest in the 1920s with the heartwarming story of the Jones family, who meet life's incredible challenges with bravery, humor, and zest. Julie Jones knows what she is: a country girl, not beautiful but presentable, in skirts too long to be fashionable. A responsible young woman who has been raising her brothers and sisters since her mother's death and helping her father on their hardscrabble farm. She's not exactly the free, giggly flapper the town boys fancy. Secretly, she wishes someone she could love would find her special enough to come courting. But as the country roars into the Jazz Age, neither her family nor the town of Fertile, Missouri, can remain untouched. Veterans have returned from the Great War, among them big, quiet Evan Johnson, the enigmatic son of the town bully. Crime has risen enough to warrant the town's hiring Corbin Appleby as police chief, a stranger on