Kirjahaku

Theirs was a world of obsession, genius, and above all... In the turbulent years of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, three poets--Byron, Shelley, and Keats--come to prominence, famous and infamous, for their vivid personalities, and their glamorous, shocking, and sometimes tragic lives. In this electrifying novel, those lives are explored through the eyes of the women who knew and loved them--intensely, scandalously. Four women from widely different backgrounds are linked by a sensational fate. Mary Shelley: the gifted daughter of gifted parents, for whom passion leads to exile, loss, and a unique fame. Lady Caroline Lamb: born to fabulous wealth and aristocratic position, who risks everything for the ultimate love affair. Fanny Brawne: her quiet, middle-class girlhood is transformed--and immortalized--by a disturbing encounter with genius. Augusta Leigh: the unassuming poor relation who finds herself flouting the greatest of all taboos. With the originality, richness, and daring of the poets themselves, Passion presents the Romantic generation in a new and unforgettable light.

When your father is a man of expensive tastes and schemes but very little money, you soon learn to make do. So when Captain Fortune, a well-meaning but profligate ex-soldier in Regency England, tells his daughter Caroline that they are ruined, she automatically starts seeking employment as a governess. Her father, however, has far grander designs for Miss Fortune. Caro is to become the companion of Mrs. Catling, the rich, fierce widow of her father's old colonel. As Mrs. Catling amuses herself by tormenting her relatives and servants, Caro resolves to make the best of the situation, and soon her beauty and intelligence attract the attentions of male admirers. Surrounded by people with an alarming readiness to reveal each other's confidences, Caroline is exasperated to find herself implicated in their indiscretions. But will Miss Fortune be able to avoid losing her reputation without losing her head? And will she find at least one good man amongst the genteel set who will take her side, and, indeed, her fancy?"

"A deeply empathic exploration of obsession and art, genius and madness. . . . Morgan's ability to bring each character to life is virtuosic." --The Washington Post Book World In 1827 Harriet Smithson, a beautiful young Irish actress, determined to avoid the traditional route to stardom via the manager's bed, joins an English company in the bold experiment of taking Shakespeare to Paris. With the ferment of revolution in the air, the new generation is longing for passionate, spontaneous art. And to Harriet's astonishment, it is embodied in her--La Belle Irlandaise. In the midst of this frenzy she finds herself pursued by a strange, intense young composer named Hector Berlioz. So begins a painful and profound love affair. She is his muse; his id e fixe; his obsession. And Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, directly inspired by Harriet, will change music forever.

From an obscure country parsonage came three extraordinary sisters, who defied the outward bleakness of their lives to create the most brilliant literary work of their time. Now, in an astonishingly daring novel by the acclaimed Jude Morgan, the genius of the haunted Bront s is revealed and the sisters are brought to full, resplendent life: Emily, who turned from the world to the greater temptations of the imagination; gentle Anne, who suffered the harshest perception of the stifling life forced upon her; and the brilliant, uncompromising, and tormented Charlotte, who longed for both love and independence, and learned their ultimate price.

Restored to the British throne in 1660 after years of exile, Charles II began a reign famous for dramatic events (the Plague, the Great Fire, the Dutch Wars), the flowering of science and the arts, and for notorious sexual liaisons. With a bevy of mistresses and flamboyantly addicted to high living, the Merry Monarch successfully presided over 'Merry Olde England' in an age of intrigue and religious dissent. When his tolerance extended to acknowledging his illegitimate son at court, James's life changed out of all recognition. This is the story of a remarkable man, and the spectacular upheavals and reverses of the time, told through the eyes of his illegitimate son, James, Duke of Monmouth.

Jude Morgan brings the world of Keats, Byron and Shelley to life in a stunning novel of supercharged emotion, individualism, violence and sensuality.They were the Romantic generation, famous and infamous, and in their short, extraordinary lives, they left a legacy of glamorous and often shocking legend. In PASSION the interwoven lives and vivid personalities of Byron, Shelley and Keats are explored through the eyes of the women who knew and loved them - scandalously, intensely and sometimes tragically. From the salons of the Whig nobles and the penury and vitality of Grub Street, to the beauty and corruption of Venice and the carrion field of Waterloo, PASSION presents the Romantic generation in a new and dramatic light - actors in a stormy history that unleashed the energies of the modern world.

A deliciously entertaining novel of Austenesque love and misunderstanding, from the master of Regency fiction.When Caroline Fortune's prodigal father loses all they possess, he arranges for his daughter to become the companion of the formidable (but extremely wealthy and childless) Mrs Catling. Although uncomfortable with the plan Caroline resolves to make the most of this introduction to polite society, and her beauty and intelligence soon attract many admirers. But, much to her dismay, she is just as quick to realise that love and romance are not what some 'gentlemen' seek and finds herself unjustly implicated in their indiscretions. Exasperated by her predicament can Miss Fortune retain her reputation without losing her head? And will she discover that there is at least one good man who is more than willing to take her side and, indeed, her fancy?

A witty and romantic novel of Regency love, family and appalling scandal, from one of our greatest historical novelists.Sir Clement Carnell was the most domineering and strait-laced of fathers, and his death has left his children Louisa and Valentine with a sense of release. While Valentine throws open the Devonshire estate of Pennacombe to their fashionable cousins from London, Louisa feels free at last to reject the man her father chose as her prospective husband - Pearce Lynley. Soon the temptations of Regency London beckon - including Lady Harriet Eversholt, beautiful, scandalous, and very married, with whom Valentine becomes dangerously involved; while Louisa finds that freedom of choice is as daunting as it is exciting. Will the opportunity to indulge, at last, in a little folly lead to fulfillment - or disaster?

An audacious, brilliant and haunting novel about the composer Hector Belioz, by the author of PASSION.In 1827 Harriet Smithson, a beautiful and talented young Irish actress joins an English company taking Shakespeare to Paris. With the ferment of revolution in the air, the new generation is longing for a kind of passionate, spontaneous art. To Harriet's astonishment, it is embodied in her - La Belle Irlandaise. She finds herself pursued by an intense young composer named Hector Berlioz. So begins a painful and profound love affair. She is his muse; his idée fixe; his obsession. And Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, directly inspired by Harriet, will change music forever. In the course of their marriage, their lives are transfigured and destroyed by genius, inspiration, and ultimately madness. SYMPHONY is set against a background of nineteenth-century theatre, Romantic art and music, revolutionary Europe, inspiration and madness and features Liszt, Delacroix, Dumas, Hugo and Chopin. But at its heart lies the story of a woman who found, almost against her will, that she was a maker of magic.

Charlotte. Emily. Anne. The Brontë sisters - the drama, the passion, and a story that lives for ever...Once upon a time there were three sisters, bound by love and suffering, growing up in wild isolation in a lonely house on the moor. Their story will astonish you: their passionate, dangerous closeness; their struggle against the world; their determination to rise above the fates of their parents and their other lost sisters, to become more than the world ever thought they could be. You don't know their story, but you think they do. They were the Brontës.

The greatest writer of them all, brought to glorious life.How well do you know the man you love? How much do you think you know about Shakespeare? What if they were one and the same? He is an ordinary man: unwilling craftsman, ambitious actor, resentful son, almost good-enough husband. And he is also a genius. The story of how a glove-maker from Warwickshire became the greatest writer of them all is vaguely known to most of us, but it would take an exceptional modern novelist to bring him to life. And now at last Jude Morgan, acclaimed author of Passion and The Taste of Sorrow, has taken Shakespeare's life, and created a masterpiece.

A witty and romantic novel of Regency love, family and appalling scandal, from a latter-day Jane Austen When their strait-laced, domineering father, Sir Clement Carnell, dies, Valentine throws open their Devonshire estate of Pennacombe to their fashionable cousins from London and Louisa feels free at last to reject the man Sir Clement wanted her to marry. Soon, the temptations of Regency London beckon, including the beautiful, scandalous, and very married Lady Harriet Eversholt, with whom Valentine becomes dangerously involved. Meanwhile, Louisa finds that freedom of choice is as daunting as it is exciting. Will the opportunity to indulge in a little folly lead to fulfillment--or disaster? A Little Folly is a novel to make Jane Austen proud and Georgette Heyer envious. An acclaimed author of historical fiction, Jude Morgan weaves together the very best of Regency era writing with "refreshingly original characters, an intriguing plot, and an elegantly ironic style." (RT Book Reviews on Indiscretion). In this exciting new novel, Morgan delivers a story that, yet again, will bring cheers from critics and readers alike.