Charlotte Vale Allen
Personal Information
Description
Charlotte was born on 19 January 1941 in Toronto, Canada. She was abused during childhood. She moved to England from 1961 to 1964, where she worked as a television actress and singer. She returned to Toronto briefly, performing as a singer and in cabaret revues until she emigrated to the United States in 1966. In 1970, she married Walter Bateman Allen Jr and instaled in Connecticut in 1970. Shortly after her marriage, she began writing and sold her first novel, Love Life, in 1974. Prior to its publication, she had contracted to do a series of paperback originals for Warner Books, with the result that in 1976 three of her books appeared in print. Her award-winning autobiography, Daddy’s Girl , was actually the first book she wrote, but in 1971 it was deemed too controversial by the editors who read it. It wasn’t until 1980, after she’d gained success as a novelist, that the groundbreaking book was finally published. Charlotte’s 30-plus novels have sold over eight-million copies, have been published in all English-speaking countries, in braille, and have been translated into more than 20 languages. She is consistently one of the most borrowed authors in worldwide English-language libraries. She also used the pseudonym of Katharine Marlowe. In 2000, CBS bought the rights to Somebody’s Baby for a movie-of-the-week, and several of her other novels are currently under option for film and television. In her writing, she tries to deal with issues confronting women, being informative while at the same time offering a measure of optimism. "My strongest ability as a writer is to make women real, to take you inside their heads and let you know how they feel, and to make you care about them." Her goal "has always been to communicate, to enlighten people about women’s issues without being preachy, and to entertain while doing it. If I succeed in getting someone to think about the book’s content after they’ve finished reading it, then I’ve accomplished what I set out to do." A film buff and an amateur photographer, Charlotte enjoys foreign travel. She finds cooking and needlework therapeutic, and is a lifelong movie fan. The mother of an adult daughter, she continued living in Connecticut.
Books
Fresh air
Lucinda Hunter has been a virtual recluse in a Connecticut farmhouse for 27 years. Katanya Taylor is a nine-year old from Harlem who is staying with a host family for two weeks and meets Lucinda while admiring her garden. Lucinda's acquaintance with Katanya prompts the older woman to reexamine her life.
Parting gifts
From back cover: "When Kyra Latimer loses her husband to a freak accident in Manhattan, she can't imagine how she'll be able to move into the future without him. But on the day of his funeral, the unimaginable happens. A young woman, with a small boy in tow, shows up at Kyra's home, claiming to be the child Kyra surrendered for adoption some twenty-odd years before. Refusing to accept the truth-that Kyra cannot possibly be her mother-Jennifer Cullen insists on leaving her three-year-old son, Jesse, with his "grandmother". Touched by the boy's visible neglect, Kyra agrees to keep Jesse. And Kyra takes on a new role-as mother. As it turns out, Jesse is no ordinary child, and Kyra is no ordinary mother. In the course of their life together, Kyra and Jesse flourish and flounder in unanticipated ways. Until, finally, Kyra is forced to confront an impossible choice: whether or not to honour the life-or-death decision of her adopted son."
Claudia's Shadow
As her sister's sole heir, Rowena Graham moves into Claudia's house - their old family home - and begins to sort out her sister's affairs. She also steps in as manager of Claudia's restaurant and gradually leaves her former life and successful career behind as she relentlessly searches for the truth about her sister's death. There was no note and the suicide verdict feels all wrong. And while her beautiful younger sister had always been difficult and unpredictable - warm and affectionate one day, calculating and cruel the next - Rowena is certain Claudia would never have taken her own life. Rowena's unexpected discovery of a trove of documents and photographs unearths a host of secrets - kept not just by Claudia but by every member of the family. Unraveling a tangle of lies and distortions that hid the dynamics of her family, Rowena uncovers the secret to Claudia's death. And finally sets herself free from the shadows of the past.
Charlotte Vale Allen
Illusions When Stanleigh Dunn, an award-winning author of children's books notable for her complexly intricate illustrations, meets Daniel Goddard on a flight to London, they are each (although unknown to the other) in the grip of a terrible loss. Their chance encounter develops into an ambivalent but sexually charged relationship that is colored by their grief. While she is both seductive and dismissing, he becomes progressively more obsessed until, finally, what began as the attempt of two wounded people to find solace in each other's company culminates in a shocking episode of kidnapping and sexual abuse whose powerful evocation will hold the reader in a thrall of horror and fascination. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dream Train Enter the elegant and mysterious world of the Orient Express... It's a plum assignment for photojournalist Joanne James, a ride on the Orient-Express with a stop in Venice for five days at the exclusive Cipriani Hotel -- all expenses paid. Yet all is not well. Joanna is tired and filled with self-doubt. The trip starts out more as an inconvenience than an exciting adventure -- especially when a stop in London renews her friendship with two very different men, two way different lovers who both want a commitment she is not ready to give. But then she boards the lush, luxurious train and enters its romantic world, where strangers become friends, where confidences are shared, where hearts are broken, and where love is lost...and found. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Night Magic Combining elements of Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast, this is a modern fairy tale for adults. It is romantic, erotic, mysterious, and moving. A beautiful, sensitive young girl falls in love with a brilliant older man who is so profoundly scarred both physically and emotionally that he literally cannot face the light of day. Despite his deep apprehensions, he allows her to enter his world of darkness, where they communicate their love for each other through music. Fearful of what he most craves, Erik nevertheless becomes convinced of Marisa's love. He nurtures and tutors her as she matures from girl to womanhood while she, in turn, teaches him to trust and gradually coaxes him into the light. Theirs is a magical bond, cemented by adversity. How this bond grows stronger, flourishing through the years is the basis of this hypnotic fantasy.
Leftover Dreams
The story starts in the Toronto of the 1950's, where you could still swim at Sunnyside Beach and most women stayed home to raise their families. Here you will meet two unforgettable sisters--Faye and Louise Parker who, against all odds, survive the abuse of their angry and embittered mother, Maggie. But their lives are tragically altered when shy and sensitive Faye is the victim of a brutal and violent act. Suddenly, the normally ebullient Louise is thrown into turmoil. On the brink of adulthood, she escapes to London to heal her wounds and follow her nebulous dreams.
Gifts of love
Object: Matrimony So ended Erin Dunmore's advertisement in the Walla Walla newspaper. Unless she found a husband quickly, Erin would face a lifetime of unwed motherhood. She prayed daily that her ad would be answered by a man who could fulfill her long-desired dreams of home, family and love. Mace Dalton needed a wife, all right. But his secluded ranch was hard on women, and his rambunctious kids had driven away more housekeepers than he could count. A wife would be bound to him by law--his law. For Mace had enough of home and family, and love was something strictly from the past. . . .
Painted Lives
HE WAS THE IDOL OF THE ART WORLD. AND THE MYSTERY OF THE CENTURY. Mattie Sylvester, widow of one of America's most celebrated painters, spends most of her time gazing out to sea on an island off the Atlantic Coast, remembering. Her new secretary, Sarah Kidd, is fascinated by the eccentric household, and its mistress -- elegant, red-haired, fesity, and brooding. There must be tales she could tell about her fifty years with Gideon Sylvester. Slowly, as an unlikely bond forms between the two women, Mattie unravels the past -- her early life, her circle of artist friends in the 1920s, her handsome, amusing, sexual wizard of a husband, their sons -- but Sarah is shocked as nostalgia gives way to a simmering rage. As they talk through the nights in the rambling old house, she learns the truth about Gideon, the enormity of what he did to his brilliant wife. And Sarah realizes she holds the key to a revelation that could stagger the outside world....
Night Magic
Grace Notes
Dream Train
Enter the elegant and mysterious world of the Orient Express... It's a plum assignment for photojournalist Joanne James, a ride on the Orient-Express with a stop in Venice for five days at the exclusive Cipriani Hotel -- all expenses paid. Yet all is not well. Joanna is tired and filled with self-doubt. The trip starts out more as an inconvenience than an exciting adventure -- especially when a stop in London renews her friendship with two very different men, two way different lovers who both want a commitment she is not ready to give. But then she boards the lush, luxurious train and enters its romantic world, where strangers become friends, where confidences are shared, where hearts are broken, and where love is lost...and found.
Daddy's Girl
TimeSteps
It was the Great Depression, a time of breadlines and of terrible, widespread poverty. But it was also a time when the movies--particularly musicals--were a source of comfort and refuge and entertainment for millions. It was a time when a gifted young dancer could get her start on Broadway and wind up a movie star. Beatrice Crane is that dancer, that movie star. And this is the story of her life, in the best black-and-white cinematic tradition. Beatrice Crane and Bobby Bradley were Hollywood's greatest dance team--until the events of one horrific night changed both their personal and private lives forever. It's a journey through the Golden Age of Hollywood--the magic, the bright lights, and the shining stars of the American dream factory.