Showing results by narrator "Anne Flosnik" in All Categories

Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships---rare vessels carved from wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. The fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia. For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her---a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim.

As the ancient tradition of Bingtown's Old Traders slowly erodes under the cold new order of a corrupt ruler, the Vestrits anxiously await the return of their liveship - a rare magic ship carved from sentient wizardwood, which bonds the ships mystically with those who sail them. And Althea Vestrit waits even more avidly, living only to reclaim the ship as her lost inheritance and captain her on the high seas. But the Vivacia has been seized by the ruthless pirate captain Kennit, who holds Althea's nephew and his father hostage.

Historians have only recently awakened to the importance of the family, the basic social unit throughout human history. This book traces the development of marriage and the family from the Middle Ages to the early modern era. It describes how the Roman and barbarian cultural streams merged under the influence of the Christian church to forge new concepts, customs, laws, and practices. Century by century, it follows the development—sometimes gradual, at other times revolutionary—of significant elements in the history of the family.

For years, the Trader cities valiantly battled their enemies, the Chalcedeans. But they could not have staved off invasion without the powerful dragon Tintaglia. In return, the Traders promised to help her serpents migrate up the Rain Wild River after a long exile at sea—to find a safe haven...

Alex Ivanov is a brilliant young innovator, designing cutting-edge train engines. But Alex has a secret—he isn’t really Alex Ivanov. As a boy, he was pulled from the Thames, presumed drowned, with no memory of who he was. Rescued and raised by the formidable Ryder Sherbrooke, Alex has built a new life, but his past is catching up with him.

As Bingtown slides toward disaster, clan matriarch Ronica Vestrit, branded a traitor, searches for a way to bring the city's inhabitants together against the Chalcedean threat. Meanwhile, Althea Vestrit, unaware of what has befallen Bingtown and her family, continues her perilous quest to track down and recover her liveship Vivacia from the ruthless pirate Kennit.

“A full master of the epic fantasy.” —Tulsa World One of the world’s most acclaimed fantasists, New York Times bestselling author Robin Hobb returns to the world of her popular “Tawny Man” trilogy with Dragon Haven—the second book, following Dragon Keeper (“Imaginative, literate...

At a time when men and women were prepared to kill - and be killed - for their faith, the Protestant Reformation tore the Western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch's award-winning history brilliantly recreates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars, and politicians - from the zealous Martin Luther and his 95 Theses to the polemical John Calvin to the radical Igantius Loyola, from the tortured Thomas Cranmer to the ambitious Philip II.

The final volume in Robin Hobb's popular Rain Wilds fantasy series, Blood of Dragons completes the story of the dragons, their keepers, and their quest to find the lost city of Kelsingra—and the mythical silver wells that the dragons need to survive. Can Tintaglia and the Elderlings unlock the...

One of history's most complex and alluring women, Anne Boleyn was irresistible to kings and commoners alike. Daughter of an ambitious country lord, Anne was sent to France to marry well and raise the family's fortunes. She soon surpassed even their greatest expectations when King Henry VIII swore he would put aside his loyal queen to make Anne his wife.

Lady Elinor wants nothing to do with love. Her arranged marriage—and one glorious but ill-fated kiss with a handsome footman—cured her of any romantic notions she'd ever entertained. Now a widow, all Elinor plans to do is rebuild her life—without a man in it. She has no intention of falling for the charming and entirely too tempting American who seems so determined to win her favor. Stephen Worth is no longer the impoverished footman who lost everything because of the impulsive actions of a reckless young lady. Having reinvented himself long ago, his sole focus now is revenge.

When a crisis of faith prompts his departure from the Church of England, Margaret Hale’s father moves his family north to bleak, industrial Milton. At first, Margaret is put off by the town’s grit and poverty - a stark contrast to her rural southern hometown. But when she is awakened to the suffering of Milton’s hardworking citizens, she makes it her mission to improve their lives. However, Margaret soon finds herself at odds with the man she is falling in love with - the handsome, bullheaded industrialist John Thornton.

The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good...and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

One of Daphne Wade's guilty pleasures is to watch the Duke of Tremore as he works, shirtless, on the excavation site of his ducal estate. Anthony Courtland is by far the most exciting and handsome man she has ever known, and she dreams of one day being able to speak with him without getting tongue tied. Anthony, meanwhile, only sees her as a hard worker on his excavation team. He considers her a plain young lady and says so to a friend, unaware that Daphne is outside the library door, her heart shattering to pieces. So Daphne decides she will not be so silly any longer.

Lady Isabella Wharton has little interest in the customs of the country. But when her godmother asks her to pay a visit to her bachelor grandson in Yorkshire, she goes to see the newly-titled - and notoriously rustic - Duke of Ormond. Trevor Carey doesn't care about what goes on behind ballroom doors. He is content with the simple life - and isn't ashamed to admit it to a society flirt like Lady Isabella. But the country air brings out a different side of Isabella - one full of longing and passion. Can her sophistication be hiding a desire for love?

John Fielding is not a gentleman. His brutal past has left him scarred, mind and body. But the scars are a valuable reminder of what's truly important. Revenge. And John will have his vengeance on the man who abandoned him when he was just a child. In fact, he'll make the entire bloodline pay for the sins of his father. No one can stop him. Except maybe Cordelia . . . She's everything John is not-kind and generous. She deserves so much better than living in the shadow of her cruel sister. And she certainly deserves better than a beast like him. But that doesn't stop John from wanting her.

In the resplendence of William the Conqueror's London court, the lovely Saxon captive, Nicholaa was forced to choose a husband from the assembled Norman nobles. She chose Royce, a baron warrior whose fierce demeanor could not conceal his chivalrous and tender heart. Resourceful, rebellious and utterly naive, Nicholaa vowed to bend Royce to her will, despite the whirlwind of feelings he aroused in her.

Golden-haired hellion Arabella goes to Naples, Italy, to solve the mystery of her father's missing ships and cargo. But soon she discovers that the man behind the thievery is a man she can't resist.

Aisley’s young life was changed forever when her father accompanied King Alfred into battle and lost his life in a deadly skirmish with the Vikings. Now, almost seven years later, the Vikings are once again rallying on Wessex’s borders, and Aisley fears that her older brother may have treacherous plans to betray the king by aligning himself with the invading Norsemen. But when Aisley encounters a handsome nobleman in the market, she feels the first stirrings of hope. Though they met only once when Aisley was little more than a child, she recognizes the man immediately.

Famed aviatrix Evangeline Starke never expected to see her husband, adventurer Gabriel Starke, ever again. They had been a golden couple, enjoying a whirlwind courtship amid the backdrop of a glittering social set in prewar London until his sudden death with the sinking of the Lusitania. Five years later, beginning to embrace life again, Evie embarks upon a flight around the world, collecting fame and admirers along the way. In the midst of her triumphant tour, she is shocked to receive a mysterious - and recent - photograph of Gabriel.