"Powerful. Disturbing. Heartbreaking. Smart. Occasionally gentle, often brutal. And always enthralling. An atypical setting, an actual historical event, masterfully layered characters and a sophisticated, seamless narrative -- An Untitled Lady is a standout, gripping historical romance, unlike any Regency you've ever read."--USA Today "The social turmoil in Manchester leading to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 is the unusual setting for Penttila's quietly stunning, memorable debut novel. A very highly recommended book."--Historical Novel Society Shocking family news forces Madeline Wetherby to abandon her plans to marry an earl and settle for upstart Manchester merchant Nash Quinn. When she discovers that her birth father is one of the weavers her husband is putting out of work-and a radical leader-Maddie must decide which family she truly desires, the man of her heart or the people of her blood. An earl’s second son, Nash chose a life of Trade over Society. When protest marches spread across Lancashire, the pressure on him grows. If he can’t make both workers and manufacturers see reason he stands to lose everything: his business, his town, and his marriage. As Manchester simmers under the summer sun, the choices grow more stark for Maddie and Nash: Family or justice. Love or money. Life or death. Historical fiction with romantic elements. Set in Manchester, England, in 1819.

The fantasy of a male creator constructing his perfect woman dates back to the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Yet as technology has advanced over the past century, the figure of the lifelike manmade woman has become nearly ubiquitous, popping up in everything from Bride of Frankenstein to Weird Science to The Stepford Wives. Now Julie Wosk takes us on a fascinating tour through this bevy of artificial women, revealing the array of cultural fantasies and fears they embody. My Fair Ladies considers how female automatons have been represented as objects of desire in fiction and how “living dolls” have been manufactured as real-world fetish objects. But it also examines the many works in which the “perfect” woman turns out to be artificial—a robot or doll—and thus becomes a source of uncanny horror. Finally, Wosk introduces us to a variety of female artists, writers, and filmmakers—from Cindy Sherman to Shelley Jackson to Zoe Kazan—who have cleverly crafted their own images of simulated women. Anything but dry, My Fair Ladies draws upon Wosk’s own experiences as a young female Playboy copywriter and as a child of the “feminine mystique” era to show how images of the artificial woman have loomed large over real women’s lives. Lavishly illustrated with film stills, artwork, and vintage advertisements, this book offers a fresh look at familiar myths about gender, technology, and artistic creation.

Power, pageantry, and pride Queen Victoria ruled the most powerful empire the world has ever seen, covering one fourth of the earth's land surface, reigning over subjects on every continent, and exercising undisputed mastery of the oceans in between. She was the "Grandmother of Europe," with descendants occupying the thrones of half a dozen nations, and more to come. The very era in which she lived already bore her name. In June 1897, her proud and prosperous nation marked her sixtieth year on the throne of England with the most lavish display of pomp, circumstance, wealth, and affection in its history. Twilight of Splendor presents a breathtaking portrait of a sovereign and her empire at the height of their global power. Focusing on the spectacle of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, it combines a thrilling account of that massive celebration with an intimate exploration of Victoria's world--her splendid palaces and possessions, the grand banquets and balls she hosted, her immense wealth, the politicians and courtiers who did her bidding, her confidence and assertiveness as a ruler, her surprising personal humility, and her perpetual state of mourning for her beloved husband, Prince Albert. Based on hundreds of published and unpublished sources from the period, including Queen Victoria's private correspondence and personal journals, Twilight of Splendor is must reading for Anglophiles, Victorian-history buffs, and anyone interested in the golden age of monarchy. * The first book to portray the queen and her court in the last years of her reign * Contrasts the queen's private and public images in her efforts to solidify the monarchy * Exposes the queen's difficult relations with her children * Explores the queen's relationship with her extended European royal relatives * Draws together for the first time hundreds of disparate sources * Includes a number of rare photographs complementing the text