A PASSIONATE, FLAMBOYANT DUCHESS AND A CRUEL TWIST OF FATE... Jane Maxwell, the Fourth Duchess of Gordon, was one of the most influential women of her time-a patroness of poet Robert Burns, advisor to King George III and friend to Queen Charlotte, the mastermind behind her husband's political success, and a rival of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Rich in historical detail, passion, and intrigue, Ciji Ware's Island of the Swans paints a fascinating portrait of one of the most celebrated and controversial beauties of the eighteenth century England. Spirited and charming, Jane captured the heart of her childhood sweetheart, Thomas Fraser, while her beauty caught the eye of his rival, Alexander, Duke of Gordon. Torn between duty and love, Jane is thrust into a lifelong love triangle that would threaten to destroy all she holds dear.

Best friends in childhood, Jane's and Thomas's relationship blooms beyond friendship as they grow into adults. When Thomas is reportedly killed in the American colonies, Alexander, Duke of Gordon, appeals to a devastated Jane. Believing Thomas is gone forever, Jane hesitantly responds to the Duke, whose passion ignites her blood. But Thomas is not dead, and when he returns to find Jane betrothed to another, he refuses to accept the heartbreaking turn of events. Soon Jane's marriage is swept into a turbulent dance of tender wooing and clashing wills--as Alex seeks to make her his and his alone. Winner of the "Romantic Times" award for Best Fictionalized Biography. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Isabelle d’Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara, born into privilege and the political and artistic turbulence of Renaissance Italy, is a stunning black-eyed blond and an art lover and collector. Worldly and ambitious, she has never envied her less attractive sister, the spirited but naïve Beatrice, until, by a quirk of fate, Beatrice is betrothed to the future Duke of Milan. Although he is more than twice their age, openly lives with his mistress, and is reputedly trying to eliminate the current duke by nefarious means, Ludovico Sforza is Isabella’s match in intellect and passion for all things of beauty. Only he would allow her to fulfill her destiny: to reign over one of the world’s most powerful and enlightened realms and be immortalized in oil by the genius Leonardo da Vinci. Isabella vows that she will not rest until she wins her true fate, and the two sisters compete for supremacy in the illustrious courts of Europe. A haunting novel of rivalry, love, and betrayal that transports you back to Renaissance Italy, Leonardo’s Swans will have you dashing to the works of the great master—not for clues to a mystery but to contemplate the secrets of the human heart.

A Company of Swans is a sweeping tale of romance, freedom and the beauty of dance from award-winning author, Eva Ibbotson, with a new introduction by Joanna Nadin. Weekly ballet classes are Harriet Morton's only escape from her intolerably dull life. So when she is chosen to join a corps de ballet which is setting off on a tour of the Amazon, she leaps at the chance to run away for good. Performing in the grand opera houses is everything Harriet dreamed of, and falling in love with an aristocratic exile makes her new life complete. Swept away by it all, she is unaware that her father and intended fiancé have begun to track her down . . . 'I have binged on Eva Ibbotson . . . her elegantly written, witty and well-observed fables' Nigella Lawson, The Times Rediscover Eva Ibbotson, award-winning author of Journey to the River Sea, in her sweeping historical romances, including The Morning Gift, A Song For Summer and The Secret Countess, originally published as A Countess Below Stairs, Magic Flutes, originally published as The Reluctant Heiress, Madensky Square and A Company of Swans.

The small Downeast Maine community of Swan's Island has seen summer people come and go, but it has held on to its stories. Author Kate Webber illustrates island life with humor, affection and the voices of islanders--from the first settlement and 1950s hijinks to courtship and commerce. Explore the first and last one-room schools, island romance in sock-hop days and coastal celebrations. No one kicks up their heels on the third of July like Swan's Islanders. From spooky haunts to local legends, the island's history is all its own. Join Webber on this historic romp set against the backdrop of modern island living, and get acquainted with the island that comes alive after the last ferry has pulled away.

The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, now with a new introduction from the author. An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.