Kirjahaku

THE PERFECT VISIT: A NOVEL The Perfect Visit tells the story of two bibliophiles who go back in time to rescue lost books and manuscripts. Vanessa Horwood decides on Regency England; Ned Marston goes to Shakespeare's. But Vanessa wants to rewrite history. And Ned wants to meet the Bard himself. The novel takes its title from Jane Austen's Emma "it was a delightful visit - perfect, in being much too short." Vanessa and Ned both plan such perfect visits. And both reach their destinations. Then things go wrong and their sojourns become longer and more dangerous than either had ever imagined. Vanessa falls foul of the law, transported from Jane Austen's genteel world to the dark underbelly of a Regency prison. 1607 London shows an equally black side to Ned when he antagonises one of Shakespeare's rivals, escaping with his life only to find that an accident of time takes him only halfway home. Advance praise for The Perfect Visit "Stuart Bennett's remarkable visit to Regency England is compulsive reading, a treasure house of observation, perceptiveness and detail. Admirers of Jane Austen's novels will feel that they have truly come home." - Stephen Orgel, General Editor, The Pelican Shakespeare.

The Indifferent Suitor is the sequel to Stuart Bennett's The Perfect Visit. Trapped in the past and with every move they make a potential disaster, Vanessa Horwood and Ned Marston try to make the most of their misplaced lives in the year 1833. But Vanessa's aristocratic suitor has challenged Ned to a duel, and Ned knows that even wounding the man could change the course of history. And Vanessa has her own secret - a plan to try to change history in an altogether different way.

In the spring of 1780, Polly Cooper, a young patriot, decides to smuggle rifles to her brothers defending Charleston against the British siege. As she approaches the city, she is captured by 25-year-old Irish Colonel Lord Rawdon, who offers safe passage in exchange for three dances at the next ball to celebrate the British victory. So begins an improbable romance between rebel and redcoat as Charleston falls and Rawdon spends the next year trying to subdue the South Carolina backcountry. As the war continues to unfold, Polly finds herself struggling with social niceties and divided loyalties. As Rawdon wins a succession of battles, he begins to discover that victory in both love and war eludes him. The Charleston Gambit paints a romantic yet realistic picture of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. By addressing many pressing social issues such as slavery, plantation life, and gender dynamics through the lens of a wartime love story, the novel both informs and entertains its readers from beginning to end. Filled with historical detail recounting fashion trends, geographical references, the dangerous reality of battle, and the struggle with disease, The Charleston Gambit accurately captures the beauty, intensity, and heartbreak felt by the entire South Carolina Lowcountry.