Winston Graham

She dreamed she was just waking out of a deep sleep. She climbed reluctantly out of bed and went to the long mirror to comb her hair. But in the mirror she saw Marion... How drastically Norah Faulkner's life had changed in the week since she had come to Cader Morb. Scarcely a few days before, she had arrived in the remote and untamed countryside of Wales eager to begin an assignment as assistant to the famous author Althea Syme. For Norah, the job had meant a chance to get away from a broken romance in London and lose herself in work. But slowly and insidiously, bizarre and sinister events began to take hold of Norah—things she knew nothing about, but that somehow seemed intimately to involve her... What lay behind the haunting resemblance that existed between Norah and Althea's niece, Marion, who had drowned mysteriously seven years before? And how did that likeness affect her relationship with Simon Syme, who had been completely shattered by his sister's death? Was Norah the one person who could forever put Marion's memory to rest? Somehow the answers were tied to a dark secret in the Symes' past—a secret that threatened to destroy anyone who dared to share it. Cader Morb—and the people in it—posed many questions for Norah Faulkner. Questions she had to resolve not only for the peace of her mind, but for the safety of her life...

A life of crime can be very alluring, especially to one who falls between law-abiding respectability and the underworld. For David Abden, a baronet’s nephew who loves fast cars and women, illegitimate opportunities present more than mere temptation, and when the glamour of risk begins to consume his life, Abden is presented with few easy ways out.

Winston Graham's The Merciless Ladies is a fictional biography set in the 1920s. Paul Stafford—a brilliant artist, from a home where success is all-important. His dazzling talent shot him to the heights of London. Olive Crayam—Paul’s wife, and a woman destroyed by jealousy of her husband’s talent, and his growing social success. Diana Marnsett—a young society beauty, and the woman behind Paul’s climb to fame. But the price of success comes high, and Paul’s decision to retreat from fame stirs the muddy waters of scandal into a dangerously lethal brew...

The story of the Spanish Armada, sent crashing to destruction in stormy seas by English battleships, is one of the most famous and popular of British history. Philip II of Spain's crusade to conquer Protestant England was the culmination of an undeclared war between the two nations which had simmered for years. The dramatic destruction of the Spanish fleet by Howard, Drake and their men ensured that England kept her political and religious freedom--but it was not the end of the story. This history places the Spanish Armada in its true context, as the most spectacular of Spain's continued attempts to return England to Catholicism, first through friendship, then by marriage and finally through war. It explains that the 1588 battle was only one in a series of Spanish naval campaigns against England--it was not until the 17th century that peace was fully assured.

Book Club Edition

In 1588 the Spanish Armada had been defeated in the English Channel and the whole of Elizabethan England was alert for the revenge that surely had to follow. Men like John Killigrew, commanding a key position on the Cornish coast, were vital to the survival of the country, and it is through the eyes of his eldest son, Maugan, that the story unfolds. Rich in action, it is also crowded with unforgettable characters, many of them based on actual historical figures. Maugan Killigrew himself emerges, through his loneliness and his love, his physical suffering in a Spanish gaol, as a touchingly honest and believable character who is, above all things, a man of his time. 'Absorbing . . . written with sure skill, a nice feeling for character and a vast knowledge of the 16th century.' New York Times 'Lusty and rewarding—all the excitement of a nation at war with Spain.' Daily Express 'Winston Graham has such a knowledge of Elizabethan Cornwall, such fidelity to fact and atmosphere, that I am conquered, as no doubt his many readers will be.' A. L. Rowse 'The canvas is wide, the picture stirring and brilliantly detailed. This is a rich, absorbing tale of a corner of England during hazardous times, and of a full-blooded family.' Oxford Times

Attack on a dead man . . . A vicious attack on the late Sir John Marlowe Q.C. in The Sunday Gazette is unsigned. Don Marlowe, his son — a prominent young conductor — is determined to discover the identity of the journalist. He succeeds, and precipitates a grueling court action. But ironically it is Don who stands accused. And in defending himself and his father’s name, he finds he is destroying his marriage to Joanna — the beautiful and wayward young actress . . . "Thriller-like suspense, romantic interest and acute observation." Sunday Times "He excels in making his characters come vividly alive." Daily Mirror "The tension is almost intolerable." New Statesman

The three met in the aftermath of San Francisco's devastating 1906 earthquake--the Mandarin Lai Tsin, a runaway American heiress, and a young Englishwoman. Against all odds they made their dreams come true, building one of the world's largest trading companies and most luxurious hotels... They had only each other--and bloody secrets to bury even as they rose to dizzying heights, wary of love yet vulnerable to passion in its most dangerous forms... The Mandarin would pass his multi-billion-dollar empire only to the women in the Lai Tsin dynasty--along with one last devastating truth....Sweeping from the turn of the century through the 1960's, from the Orient to San Francisco and New York, Elizabeth Adler has written a magnificent novel of new wealth and old privilege, family passions and secret shame, of women surviving, triumphant, in the riveting saga of romantic intrigue.From the Paperback edition.

An impoverished miner's daughter, Demelza Carne is now married to Ross Poldark, who once rescued her from a fairground brawl. Her efforts to adapt to the ways of the gentry-- and her husband-- place her in situations through which she becomes self assured, mannered and lovely. The birth of her first child brings a joy she never experienced before. But tragedy strikes where least expected, and sows the seeds of an enduring rivalry for Ross Poldark and the powerful George Warleggan, testing Ross and Demelza's marriage and their love....