Jessica Stirling

Only love for their son holds Kirsty and Craig Nicholson's stormy marriage together. But when a crippling disease strikes the child, Craig's adamant male pride turns to tenderness and concern, and Kirsty, drained by worry and overwork, seeks comfort in the arms of her new business partner. Only a series of near-tragic events brings Kirsty to a final, unexpected confrontation and a decision where her heart really lies.

From the New York Times bestselling author—the third passionate romance in the Border Chronicles series.The year is 1461, and the winds of war rage across England, uprooting Alix Givet, the daughter of Queen Margaret’s physician, and the rest of Henry VI’s court. Alix’s plight becomes bleaker still when, out of duty to her queen, and to her ill, widowed father, she’s locked into a loveless marriage to a cruel Northumbrian. But when her luck changes, Alix has another chance to flee—this time to save herself. Escaping north over the border into Scotland, she throws herself at the mercy of a dark and brooding laird who might provide the everlasting love of her dreams—if she can warm his cold heart.

Escaping with her governess from the wretched clutches of her domineering stepmother, the lovely Sophy Richmond soon found herself deep in the arms of a handsome young Hussar. It was then that she learned the terrible price of illicit love... The affair was fiery but brief. He was called to the front, leaving her to cry over passion that ended as suddenly as it had begun, but scarred her conscience and dashed her hopes of ever meeting a man whom she could call her husband... Then she met Leon de Nerval, a wealthy businessman. They married and it seemed that happiness was hers, until she was threatened by the haunting shadow of the past, the still-remembered flames of a passion that would no let her escape...

Jessica Stirling's Glasgow comes to scintillating life in a story of love and fortune set in Edwardian Scotland. Lindsay Franklin's life is an adventure she has just begun to enjoy. At eighteen, Arthur Franklin's cosseted daughter has left her Glasgow school and finds her role as a marriageable young lady with a widowed father more than agreeable. And the source of her family's wealth, the Franklins' shipbuilding yard on Clydeside, is prospering as the long peace of Queen Victoria's reign gives way to the feverish arms race of the new century. But Lindsay's life takes an unexpected turn when she is given a share of the family business. Equally unexpected is the appearance of Forbes McCullough, her charming Irish cousin whose attentions she secretly welcomes. To everyone's surprise, Lindsay decides to master the family business as carefully as her male cousins. What is not surprising is that several eligible men have decided that it is time to master Lindsay. As the mysteries of shipbuilding open to her, and the puzzle of male behavior becomes both more fascinating and more dangerous, Lindsay is forced to make some fateful decisions.

Unmarried Clare Kelso awaits trial in Glasgow in 1787 for the death by poison of her 10-month-old son. The baby's father, Frederick Striker, has vanished. Orphaned and poor, Clare had been taken in by wealthy relatives to care for their three young children, and it was through her ambiguous position as servant and family member that she met the charming, roguish Striker, whose reputation as a womanizer only enhanced his appeal. But Striker has a darker side, a fact that his submissive sister and the judge at the trial know well, each for their own reasons. Rising defense attorney Cameron Adams listens to Clare's story about the circumstances of the baby's death with mounting perplexity, and after some keen detective work he is sure that Clare is lying to protect someone. Cameron, soon comes to believe that the frail girl who refuses to defend herself could be a murderer's second victim. The key to the truth lies with Frederick Striker. Gambler, seducer, adventurer, he alone can save Clare from the gallows. If he wishes to...

Copper is overjoyed that her friends Willow and Audrey found love and fulfillment after the war. The only remaining spinster, Copper vows to pour herself into her new teaching job. But tragedy strikes during her very first week. The schoolhouse catches fire and Copper suffers a serious injury while ushering her students to safety. Suddenly she's on a wagon train bound for Colorado to see the only doctor who can help her walk again.Ever since the wagon train pulled into town, Copper butted heads with wagon master Josh Redlin—and now she must depend on him for her very life. But as Copper is forced to count on others for life's basic needs, she starts to surrender...and let her guard down around the one man whom she's despised for so long. Could it be that the very person that drives her crazy is the one she truly needs?

As Glasgow waits for enemy bombers to reach Clydeside and the German invasion to begin, Lizzie Conway's daughters throw themselves wholeheartedly into the war effort and eagerly accept their roles as working wives in Jessica Stirling's enthralling new novel set in the darkest days of the Second World War. With her husband in the army, mother-of-four Babs sends three of her darlings to the country and goes back to work long hours in an office. Her comfortable routine is disrupted, however, when a charming American news photographer insinuates himself into her life, an American who may not be all that he seems. Rosie's job as a skilled factory worker is marred by the taunts of her cruel and snobbish coworkers. Eager to start a family but fearful that she might pass her deafness to her children, she blames her ambitious policeman husband for her desperate unhappiness and risks not only her marriage but her future because of it. Wealthy and self assured, Polly continues to manage her husband's shady empire, trying to forget that her children have been stolen from her and now live with their father in New York. But Dominic explodes back into her life with a plot that involves the Italian resistance, the OSS, and spiriting a fortune out of Scotland. When the bombs begin to fall, Polly is forced to choose between loyalty and betrayal, and to face up to what truly matters.

1890s. Seventeen years have passed and the Lanarkshire mining village of Blacklaw has weathered both depression and the driving ambition of its coalmaster. But at last, falling wages have driven the miners to desperate rebellion... During a violent pit strike Neill Stalker is accused of murder, and only one thing can save him, for Neill is the illegitimate son of Drew Stalker. In Edinburgh, Drew has become Scotland's most eminent young advocate, with the highest honours within his grasp. Only scandal can bring him down - and scandal in the form of his bastard son is about to re-enter his life. His sister Mirrin faces a different threat to her hard-won respectability. Married with Tom Armstrong, she is now happily with children and enjoying her life on the Hazelrig Farm. As Tom's eyesight fails and their farm's future become uncertain, Mirrin must draw on all her courage to survive.

Though the Great Depression has brought misery to many, Holly Beckman has a thriving art business, a devoted husband and a son she adores. Until the holiday in Monte Carlo where for the first time she experiences romance. Almost reluctantly, Holly falls in love with the charming American dancer Peter Freeman. Then two works of art she sold turn out to be forgeries, just as her scapegrace brother Ritchie returns to London after years abroad. Maury, Holly's trusted older brother, suspects that Ritchie is plotting once more to bring the Beckman family down.

The marriage of Sylvie and Gowry McCulloch was not made in heaven and has gone through difficult times. Settled now in Dublin, they have a daughter, Maeve, whom they both love dearly. Sylvie presides over the respectable Shamrock Hotel while Gowry is a driver for Flanagan's bus company. When Francis Hagarty explodes into their lives, however, everything changes. Fran is a journalist and gunrunner and hides a shipment of smuggled arms in the Shamrock. Gowry discovers it and, sensing danger, is furious. But Sylvie has already fallen in love with Fran and is soon swept into an illicit affair. Trapped in a tangle of subversion that he has resisted all his life, Gowry is forced to flee Dublin and becomes caught up in the war in Europe. As Gowry struggles to survive the horrors of trench warfare in France and Sylvie and precocious daughter Maeve are drawn into the Easter Uprising at home, the family's future hinges on heartbreaking choices, any one of which may lead to tragedy for all of them.

War has come to London once more and Holly Beckman, now a widow, is forced to find new depths of courage in the face of adversity. David Aspinall, her first lover, has come back after twenty years abroad. He still holds a fatal charm for Holly but only time will tell if she can finally trust him. A new generation defies convention in the face of death, as Holly's RAF pilot son Chris and David's niece embark on a whirlwind affair. Across the channel, Ritchie Beckman - his lucrative art business crumbling as the Germans advance on Paris - risks everything to outwit the Nazis, but his plan could mean tragedy for the whole Beckman family...

19th century. Kirsty Barnes, an orphan indentured to a lecherous old farmer, escapes from his advances with the help of her childhood sweetheart, Craig Nelson. With little money and still strangers to each other, they travel to Glasgow. Marriage takes second place to survival, although their fortunes improve when a churchgoing widow befriends Kirsty. Still not legally married, Kirsty gives birth to a son, and Craig establishes his reputation as a policeman. Ambitious and impatient to get on, Craig falls in with a gang of sly and vicious thieves and soon sinks into a life of drink and crime. Meanwhile, Kirsty has met the handsome and charming David Lockhart, a medical missionary soon to return to China. But she is bound by loyalty to Craig, a less than ideal husband who can only bring her hardship and heartbreak...

Already a bestseller in England, Guinness's memoir is less autobiography than fond recollections of the many friends ("blessings") he has accumulated in his long theatrical career. In loosely organized chapters, most centered around one of the major influences in his life (e.g., Sybil Thorndike, John Gielgud), Guinness wanders back and forth through time. The threads of Guinness's own career, marriage, and religious searching wind through these chapters in an amusingly self-deprecatory way. He describes his career as a naval officer during World War II as "the best performance I have given," in a chapter full of hilarious and hair-raising episodes. Sharp imagery and marvelous word portraits make this a charming book of English theatrical lore.

In Victorian Scotland, poor single girls were not supposed to fall in love with rich married men...