Set in France and Italy in the late 16th century, this gothic novel centres on Emily St. Aubert, a young woman who loses her father and is taken in by her aunt and her husband, the evil nobleman Montoni. Montoni is cruel and tries to force Emily to marry his friend, locking her in the castle. But true love is destined to prevail...
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Recommendations from
Kate Mosse
Kate Mosse is a best-selling British author of novels, short story collections and non-fiction, including the multimillion selling Languedoc Trilogy – Labyrinth (2005), Sepulchre (2007) and Citadel (2010). Her work has been published in more than 40 countries. She is also the Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction – the largest annual celebration of women’s writing in the world – and sits on the Executive Committee of Women of the World. In 2021 she started the global campaign – #WomanInHistory – to honour, celebrate and promote women’s achievements throughout history.
2
King Solomon’s Mines
By H. Rider Haggard
Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend - and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon...
3
Affinity
By Sarah Waters
Set in and around the women’s prison at Milbank in the 1870s, Affinity is an eerie and utterly compelling ghost story, a complex and intriguing literary mystery and a poignant love story with an unexpected twist in the tale. Following the death of her father, Margaret Prior has decided to pursue some ‘good work’ with the lady criminals of one of London’s most notorious gaols. Surrounded by prisoners, murderers and common thieves, Margaret feels herself drawn to one of the prisons more unlikely inmates – the imprisoned spiritualist – Selina Dawes. Sympathetic to the plight of this innocent-seeming girl, Margaret sees herself dispensing guidance and perhaps friendship on her visits, little expecting to find herself dabbling in a twilight world of seances, shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions.
4
The Long Song
By Sarah Waters
The Long Song tells the story of July, a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation, her mother Kitty and the men and women who live beside them in the last days of slavery in Jamaica. A heart-rending tale you will not be able to put down.
5
Life After Life
By Kate Atkinson
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?