Norah Lofts

GAD'S HALLWhen a house comes up for sale at a ridiculously low price there has to be a catch. Doesn't there? Some sort of legal problem. More prosaically, rising damp or subsidence. But Gad's Hall had none of these problems; it was modernised and in good condition. Mr. Thorley, the vendor, had his reasons for the sale and the price so Jill and Bob Spender were happy to make the purchase. What Mr. Thorley did not--could not--know was that there was an unseen occupant in Gad's Hall which had already caused darkness and death and was poised to do so again...THE HAUNTING OF GAD'S HALLAn attic room which shouldn't be opened. An eight-year-old girl whose talent for painting turns... darker. An age-old presence which is about to be let loose, once more to wreak its horrors on the unsuspecting occupants of Gad's Hall.

And now, in this low and critical moment, something in Penelope, something which had understood courage and resource and action, though she herself had never been brave or resourceful or active, stirred and shook itself. Penelope Shadow is quite hopeless at female pursuits, such as housework, looking after children or darning a sock. One day she buys a typewriter and realizes that she has a flare for writing romantic novels. As one bestseller after another springs from her fertile mind, she is able to buy a house and live a comfortable life. Being equally inept at managing staff, she loses a number of housekeepers before employing a capable and attentive young man. When local gossip ensues, he declares his love and they are married. But are his motives true? Is she in danger? As events twist and turn, she has to summon the strength of her feisty heroines to work out what they would do in the novel's denouement.

Kevin Furmage was a visionary... a man whose burning obsession was to make a mark upon the world. When he heard the rumour of a new mountain route, and acquired a hand-drawn map, to the fertile land of California, he became determined to be the first man to lead a group of pioneers along the trail.In the wagon train was a strange and ill-assorted group of people. Madame Jurer with her painted wagon full of girls; Dave Glenny, self-willed, brutal and terrorising his wife and child; Ben and Mahitabel Smith, honest and God-fearing, with a pretty eighteen-year-old daughter who was expected to behave like a woman and think like a child.These were the people faced not only with appalling hardship but also with the problem of living with one another on an untried route with the ferocious cold of a Rocky Mountain winter to endure.

Norah Lofts' Mesmerising Final Novel.When wealthy Penelope Mercer fell in love she would not take no for an answer. So, Adam Woodley, a simple pargeter, who had created the decorations for her father's new house, was to become her husband. A pragmatic man, he had nothing to lose as the love of his own life had died. This unconventional marriage produced a son and a daughter and it was Sarah Woodley-Mercer who inherited both her mother's determination and her father's practical abilities.She would need both-and more-to survive the aftermath of the English Civil War when, abandoned by her brother, she in turn must marry for expediency in order to stay in her beloved home and protect her people. Can Sarah's unflinching courage through a bitterly unhappy marriage hold the little household together throughout the years of Cromwell's rule? And with the restoration of the Monarchy, can she restore her family's fortunes-and finally experience the love she has been praying for?

When the body of four-year-old John Vincent is discovered, hidden in a midden, the already unhappyCornwall family begins to unravel. With no obvious reason for his murder, a scapegoat must be found andhis elder half-sister Charlotte, the sleepwalker, neatly fits the bill. After facing the horror of a trial by jury, Charlotte is found not guilty but suspicion still follows her asshe takes up almost unpaid work as a teacher in the untrustworthy Mrs. Armitage's school. After her fellow teacher and friend, Miss Lamb, vanishes, followed by the tragic death of one ofCharlotte's much-loved pupils, the finger of blame is pointed again. Now even Charlotte begins tobelieve that she is losing her mind and may well be a murderess.

Sir Godfrey Tallboys: Battered and bruised from years as a captive in Spain after an ill-fated crusade, this former knight-errant has returned home to Knight's Acre to his wife and children. But with him is theMoorish slave girl to whom he owes his life--pregnant with his child. Lady Sybilla Tallboys: Exhausted with struggling to keep her children fed and poverty at bay, Sir Godfrey's beautiful wife has grown old before her time. But she, too, has known the fleeting call of forbiddenpassion and is willing to welcome her husband's saviour into their humble home. Tana, Lady Serriff: Exotic and beguiling and aflame with all the jealous passions of the East, Tana sees Sybilla as the obstacle to all her desires. And when Sir Godfrey leaves again to fight another war, Tana's own battle for supremacy for her and her child begins. This turbulent sequel to Knight's Acre weaves a colourful tapestry of a medieval world filled with powerful women struggling against the cruel hand of fate.

Sir Godfrey Tallboys: A knight-errant at the top of his profession and with little thought beyond the next tourney. A long way from beingwealthy but in need of a house for his pretty young wife.Lady Sybilla Tallboys: A loving wife, tolerant of her husband's shortcomings--and with a strong desire for a home where she could raise theirfour children instead of relying on the charity of relatives.Forethought was rare for Sir Godfrey but he decided to build a house even though it took the last of his money. A magnificent tourney in Spain would make his fortune so, leaving England, he went off to fight.But tourney turned to treachery and at home he was reported dead. It fell to Sybilla to fend for herself and her children inthe hope that, one day, Sir Godfrey would return.

"Princesses are born to be exiled. What is the alternative? Spinsterhood?" Thus the future of Caroline Matilda, youngest sister of George III, was settled - marriage to the nearly insane Prince of Denmark. Prompted by a sense of foreboding, she begged that one of her sisters should be sent in her place. But Caroline was the healthiest, the strongest of the English princesses, and as well as being exiled, princesses were meant to be brood mares... Exiled in a strange country, isolated by her inability to speak the language, Caroline forms a close bond with the King's doctor, Johann Struensee. They become lovers, eventually being arrested and charged with treason, with tragic consequences...