Mary Stewart

Prince Alexander is spirited away as an infant to escape the jealous rage of his uncle, the King of Cornwall, who murdered Alexander's father, but when he comes of age he must overcome the temptations of love, an enchantress and the Holy Grail in order to seek justice.

Omnibus edition containing This Rough Magic; The Ivy Tree; Wildfire at Midnight. / All three stories are outstanding, but I was/am especially partial to ''The Ivy Tree!''

Widow Charity Selborne had been greatly looking forward to her driving holiday through France with her old friend Louise - long, leisurely days under the hot sun, enjoying the beauty of the parched Provencal landscape. But when Charity arrived at a plush resort in the picturesque French resort town of Avignon, she had no way of knowing that she was to become the principal player in the last act of a strange and brutal tragedy. Most of it had already been played. There had been love--and lust--and revenge and fear and murder. Very soon her dreams turn into a nightmare, when by befriending a terrified boy and catching the attention of his enigmatic, possibly murderous father, Charity has inadvertently placed herself center stage. She becomes enmeshed in the schemes of a gang of murderers, one of them a man with whom she is rapidly falling in love... And now the killer, with blood enough on his hands, was waiting in the wings.

Artist Jennifer Silver has traveled to the picturesque, secluded Valley of the Storms in the French Pyrenees to meet with her young cousin Gillian, who is about to enter the Convent of Our Lady of the Storms. She had come to the convent--a brooding cluster of ancient buildings nestled deep in the wild upper reaches of the Pyrenees--to discover that the young woman has died in a dreadful car accident. Or did she?

A boy's quest through the fabled star country of the zodiac is the theme of this richly inventive fantasy by a master-storyteller. The boy is Ludo, child of Bavarian mountain farmers, and his love for the aging family workhorse, Renti, is the motive for the dangerous journey that they undertake together. The tale begins one winter's night when Renti breaks out from the stable and Ludo follows to bring him back. Instead, a falling star points the way to the star country, which the two enter through the House of the Archer, which a being half man, half horse presides over. From him, Renti learns that he must travel completely around the zodiac in order to claim his destiny as a star horse. Ludo, wishing to ease his way, decides to accompany him. On their mission, Ludo and Renti meet the lords of all twelve houses, and each encounter provides another dramatic test of character. The evocation of this legendary world and the people who inhabit it shows Mary Stewart at her best.

Dark Ages. Keeping watch over the young Arthur Pendragon, the prince and prophet Merlin Ambrosius is haunted by dreams of the magical sword Caliburn, which has been hidden for centuries. When Uther Pendragon is killed in battle, the time of destiny is at hand, and Arthur must claim the fabled sword to become the true High King of Britain.

Linda Martin, an English woman is hired to be a governess for a young French boy. But a strange terror coiled in the shadows behind the brooding elegance of the huge Château Valmy. It lay there like some dark and twisted thing -- waiting, watching, ready to strike. Was it only chance encounter than had brought the lovely governess to the château? Or was it something planned? She only knew something was wrong and that she was afraid. She is unaware of the danger she faces or who to trust in order to protect the young heir. Now she could not even trust the man she loved. For Raoul Valmy was one of them -- linked by blood and name to the dark secrets of the Valmy past.

Young, beautiful, and adventurous Nicola Ferris loves her life as a secretary at the British Embassy on Greece. On leave from her job as a secretary in Athens, has been looking forward to a quiet week's holiday in the lush island of Crete, enjoying the wild flowers and the company of her cousin Frances. Then on her day off, her impulse led her on a little-used path into the foreboding White Mountains. She links up with two hiking companions who have inadvertently stumbled upon a scene of blood vengeance, that involving a young Englishman and a group of people tied together by blood and the bonds of greed. For the first time in her life Nicola meets a man and a situation she cannot deal with... A man in hiding -- for reasons he could not explain. Warned to stay away, Nicola was unable to obey. And before she realized what she had uncovered, she found herself thrust into the midst of an alarming plot in which she would become the prey... And suddenly the life Nicola adores is in danger of coming to an abrupt, brutal, and terrifying end....

WHO WAS MERLIN? Was the famed magician of Camelot and King Arthur's court really a sinister, all-powerful being from another world? Was he truly a Prince of Darkness? Or was he a man with the passions of other mortals? A man with unique intelligence and unusual gifts? Why was he so feared? How did he come by his occult powers? Why was the crystal cave so important to him? Fifth century Britain is a country of chaos and division after the Roman withdrawal. Born the bastard son of a Welsh princess who will not reveal to her son his father's true identity, Myridden Emrys -- or as he would later be known, Merlin -- leads a perilous childhood, haunted by portents and visions. But destiny has great plans for this no-man's-son, taking him from prophesying before the High King Vortigern to the crowning of Uther Pendragon ... and the conception of Arthur -- king for once and always.

A case of mistaken attraction. To prevent her niece, Caroline, from marrying the notorious Duke of Salterne, Aurelia Carrington took the girl away to Brighton. As a means of escape, it was a failure, for Salterne followed them. Deeply, if unwillingly, attracted to him, Aurelia suspected he preferred her company to Caroline's, so what had made him offer marriage? By the time she found out, more was at risk than Aurelia's heart. (less)

It's all a grand adventure when Christy Mansel unexpectedly runs into her cousin Charles in Damascus. And being young, rich, impetuous, and used to doing whatever they please, they decide to barge in uninvited on their eccentric Great-Aunt Harriet—despite a long-standing family rule strictly forbidding unannounced visits. A strange new world awaits Charles and Christy beyond the gates of Dar Ibrahim—"Lady Harriet's" ancient, crumbling palace in High Lebanon—where a physician is always in residence and a handful of Arab servants attends to the odd old woman's every need. But there is a very good—very sinister—reason why guests are not welcome at Dar Ibrahim. And the young cousins are about to discover that, as difficult as it is to break into the dark, imposing edifice, it may prove even harder still to escape .

In the summer of 1947, Kate Herrick, widowed by the war, returns to Rose Cottage, her childhood home. A tiny thatched dwelling nestled in an idyllic country setting, Rose Cottage at first appears the picture of tranquility. But Kate soon discovers that someone has broken in; the papers that are the object of her visit have disappeared, and the village seethes with gossip. How harmless are her elderly neighbors who are suspected of witchcraft? And what is behind their reports of nighttime prowlers and ghosts in the cottage garden?

A TRICK OF COLORING... HER WALK... THE WAY SHE SMILED... An English June in the Roman Wall countryside; the ruin of a beautiful old house standing cheek-by-jowl with the solid, sunlit prosperity of the manor farm - a lovely place, and a rich inheritance for one of the two remaining Winslow heirs. There had been a third, but Annabel Winslow had died four years ago - so when a young woman calling herself Annabel Winslow comes 'home' to Whitescar, Con Winslow and his half-sister Lisa must find out whether she really is who she says she is. Mary Grey has nothing to look forward to except a future as colorless as her name. So if she looks, walks, and smiles so much like the glamorous missing heiress Annabel Winslow, why not be her for a little while? To the lonely young woman--living in a dreary furnished room, faced with an uncertain future--the impersonation offered intriguing possibilities. If Mary looked so much like the missing heiress, why should she not be an heiress? And so plain Mary became the glamorous Annabel. But she did not live happily ever after. In fact, she almost did not live at all. Because someone wanted Annabel Winslow missing ... permanently.