18th Century
18th Century Historical Fiction
You can click on many of our covers for interesting additional information!
THE SECRET DIARY OF A PRINCESS
by Melanie Clegg
The dramatic years of Marie Antoinette’s early life, told in her own words. This book follows her privileged childhood and adolescence in Vienna as the youngest and least important of the daughters of the all-powerful Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and tells of the long journey, both emotional and physical that ended with her marriage to the Dauphin Louis of France at Versailles. It is the story of a charming, fun loving and frivolous young girl, destined for greatness, in one of the most magnificent and opulent courts that the world has ever seen. (approx. 98,000 words)
.
.
BLOOD SISTERS
by Melanie Clegg
When Comtesse de Saint-Valèry is dragged from her Parisian home, her three daughters are left to an uncertain fate at the hands of their father in a world that is teetering on the very edge of Revolution. Cassandre, is trapped in an unhappy marriage and part of the dazzling court of Versailles. Lucrèce’s adored husband pushes her away for another woman and Adélaïde, rebels against her destiny.
As the horror and turmoil of the French Revolution unfolds, the three sisters struggle to survive the bloodshed, find love and discover their true selves. (approx. 84,000 words)
.
BEFORE THE STORM
by Melanie Clegg
Unable to attract suitably aristocratic suitors in London, a group of beautiful, wealthy and extremely ambitious English heiresses decide to try their luck in Paris instead. Although they initially take the city of light by storm, they soon discover that the glittering facade of social success hides a multitude of sins and iniquities while their own dark secrets could well destroy everything that they have worked so hard to achieve…
Before the Storm is a tale of passion, betrayal and true love set against the backdrop of the opulent and often treacherous worlds of Georgian London, Versailles and Revolutionary Paris. (approx. 89,000 words)
.
MARRYING MOZART
by Stephanie Cowell
At the age of twenty-one, Mozart, then an out-of-work composer, meets a family of four musical sisters. He will grow close to all of them: one becomes his best friend, one breaks his heart, one inspires him to write great music, and one is always there when anyone needs her. But with the girls’ mother insisting that Mozart is only another penniless musician not worth a second glance, and Mozart’s father firm that his son remain a bachelor, how can the lonely genius marry any of them? The Seattle Times called the novel, “A grand little mini-opera…” (approx. 95,000 words)
.
BETRAYED COUNTESS
Forced from France by her devious guardian on the eve of the French Revolution, Countess Bettina Jonquiere must deliver an important package to further the royalist cause. In England, she discovers the package is full of blank papers, the address false and she’s penniless. Stranded in a Cornish village, Bettina toils in a bawdy tavern and falls in love with a man who may have murdered his unfaithful wife. Tracked by ruthless revolutionaries, she must uncover the truth about her father’s murder—and her lover’s guilt—while her life is threatened. (approx. 125,000 words)
.
.
WITHOUT REFUGE
In 1796, ruined countess Bettina Jonquiere leaves England after the reported drowning of her lover, Everett. In New Orleans she struggles to establish a new life for her children. Soon a ruthless Frenchman demands the money stolen by her father at the start of the French Revolution. In this sequel to Betrayed Countess, Bettina is forced on a dangerous mission to France to recover the funds. She unravels dark family secrets, but will she find the man she lost as well? (approx. 89,000 words)
.
.
THE BLIGHTED TROTH
In 1702, Emilie Basseaux lives with her widowed mother in New France. On the eve of her wedding to Robert Lanzille, she catches the eye of the settlement’s unscrupulous overlord, Seigneur Richard Tonnacour who threatens to kill the parish priest if he performs their marriage. This sets off a catastrophic chain of events that turns her life, and that of her betrothed, into a desperate flight for their lives, separating them, and sending them straight into the arms of peril. It is a compelling story of love and treachery, faith and loss, forgiveness and triumph. (120,000 words approx.)
.
THE WEEPING SANDS
Three narratives of love and loss are interwoven in John Wheatley’s novel which is set on the isle of Anglesey, Wales. Spanning 350 years, from English Civil War to present day, a ruined mansion provides the link between past and present. Meanwhile, the ‘weeping sands’ of the title, the Lavan Sands, at the eastern edge of the Menai Strait provides a melancholy background to the novel’s events.
.
