A novel of social realism, The Odd Women reflects the major sexual and cultural issues of the late nineteenth century. Unlike the "New Woman" novels of the era which challenged the idea that the unmarried woman was superfluous, Gissing satirizes that image and portrays women as "odd" and marginal in relation to an ideal. Set in a grimy, fog-ridden London, Gissing's "odd" women range from the idealistic, financially self-sufficient Mary Barfoot to...

"When Beth disappears, everyone says she's run off with another man. She's just a fly-by-night party girl who can't be trusted. But Natalie, her best friend, doesn't believe it, not at all. She's sure something more sinister is going on. So sure that proving it just might kill her ... Meanwhile, Victor, one of Beth's and Nat's favorite bar patrons, has fallen and ended up in the hospital. When he hears that Beth is gone, he doesn't buy it either....

Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economic struggles, Shirley is an unsentimental yet passionate depiction of conflict among classes, sexes, and generations. Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor. As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal...

"Cerys leaves her life behind in a fiery wreck. Lily slips away from hers early one morning, silent as a shadow. Both are mothers. And both are desperate. When the two women are thrown into each other's paths, they strike a tentative bond. Cerys is a mother with no children to care for anymore, and Lily is doing all she can to take care of a four-year-old on her own. But each keep secrets from the beginning--the scars, the loneliness, and, most importantly,...

"This portrait of life in a quiet English country town in the mid-nineteenth century follows the adventures of Miss Matty and Miss Deborah, two middle-aged spinster sisters living in reduced circumstances." --

The Twentieth-Anniversary Edition of the First Novel of the Acclaimed Mary Russell Series by Edgar Award–Winning Author Laurie R. King.
An Agatha Award Best Novel Nominee

Named One of the Century's Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association

In 1915, Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honeybees in Sussex when a young woman literally stumbles onto him on the Sussex

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Picking up where her blockbuster bestselling Bridget Jone's Diary left off, the Edge of Reason finds Bridget in an up and down relationship with Mark Darcy. It's four weeks later, and already the honeymoon is over: the man of her dreams votes conservative and folds his clothes at night, making Bridget feel pressured to do so as well. But all of these problems pale in comparison to Rebecca, a beautiful, man-hunting arch-nemesis without a girlfriend...

"As England enters World War II's dark early days, spirited music professor Primrose Trent, recently arrived to the village of Chilbury, emboldens the women of the town to defy the Vicar's stuffy edict to shutter the church's choir in the absence of men and instead carry on singing." --

A tender and witty novel of finding one's way to adulthood A Sensible Life opens in 1926. Ten-year-old Flora Trevelyan is on vacation with her family in Dinard, an exclusive seaside resort in Brittany. Left to her own devices by her self-absorbed parents, Flora embarks on a remarkably independent life. Set against the backdrop of Europe between the two world wars, this acclaimed novel tells a deeply affecting story of friendship, family, and love...

The Whitbread Award-winning author of the Old Filth trilogy captures a moment in time for three young women on the cusp of adulthood. Yorkshire, 1946. The end of the war has changed the world again, and, emboldened by this new dawning, Hetty Fallows, Una Vane, and Lieselotte Klein seize the opportunities with enthusiasm. Hetty, desperate to escape the grasp of her critical mother, books a solo holiday to the Lake District under the pretext of completing...