The story of the world's first fashion-obsessed society in eighteenth-century London - and the colourful tales of extravagance, vanity, intrigue, and sexual indiscretion that accompanied it

In Beau Monde on Empire’s Edge, Mayhill C. Fowler tells the story of the rise and fall of a group of men who created culture both Soviet and Ukrainian. This collective biography showcases new aspects of the politics of cultural production in the Soviet Union by focusing on theater and on the multi-ethnic borderlands. Unlike their contemporaries in Moscow or Leningrad, these artists from the regions have been all but forgotten despite the quality of their art. Beau Monde restores the periphery to the center of Soviet culture. Sources in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, and Yiddish highlight the important multi-ethnic context and the challenges inherent in constructing Ukrainian culture in a place of Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, and Jews. Beau Monde on Empire’s Edge traces the growing overlap between the arts and the state in the early Soviet years, and explains the intertwining of politics and culture in the region today.

Bridgerton meets Werewolves Within in this sparkling shapeshifter Regency romance mixed with humor, steamy chemistry, and fantasy. A Duke in want of a wife... Alfred Blakesley, Duke of Lowell, has long been an enigma. No one dares to give a man of his status the cut direct, but there's simply something not quite right about him. What would the society ladies say if they learned the truth—that the Duke of Lowell is a wolf shifter and the leader of a pack facing extinction if he doesn't find his true love? So now he's on the hunt...for a wife. Felicity Templeton has a goal of her own: to remain unwed until her twenty-fifth birthday, when she will inherit a significant fortune. But that all changes when she meets Alfred, the dashing duke who's determined to have her for his very own... "Sparkling wit, scrumptious chemistry!"—Grace Burrowes, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

A revised and updated edition of the first book in Samantha Grace’s critically acclaimed steamy Regency-set Beau Monde Bachelors: Scandals and Rogues series. "CLEVER AND CHARMING, THIS TALE BRINGS IN EVERYTHING REGENCY FANS LOVE." Publisher's Weekly starred review There’s no taming the wicked… Debonaire bachelor Lord Andrew lives for pleasure and makes no apologies. But after a daring heiress falls from the sky and interrupts his plans for a tryst in the gardens, his once exciting life begins to feel dull. When he learns the intriguing miss is staying as his family’s house guest, he abandons London and travels to the country, only to learn the lady he cannot forget is forbidden—even if he is able to tear down the walls she hides behind. Reforming rakes is a fool’s game… After three Seasons of evading fortune hunters and a failed engagement, heiress Lana Hillary is exhausted and looking forward to a quiet month in the country with her best friend. Unfortunately, her social climbing mother views the invitation as the perfect opportunity to play matchmaker. While her mother sets out to win her a Bavarian count, Lana is captivated by her host’s charming brother. Flirting with trouble is meant to be harmless, but soon Lana finds herself entangled with the most infamous scoundrel in England, and their romance is destined for heartbreak.

In Mrs. Bridge, Evan S. Connell, a consummate storyteller, artfully crafts a portrait using the finest of details in everyday events and confrontations. With a surgeon's skill, Connell cuts away the middle-class security blanket of uniformity to expose the arrested development underneath-the entropy of time and relationships lead Mrs. Bridge's three children and husband to recede into a remote silence, and she herself drifts further into doubt and confusion. The raised evening newspaper becomes almost a fire screen to deflect any possible spark of conversation. The novel is compris.

Bridgerton meets New Moon in this sparkling shapeshifter Regency romance mixed with humor, steamy chemistry, and fantasy. The Duke said he'd never get married... The Prince Regent insists his cousin and fellow bear shifter Arthur Humphries, the Duke of Osborn, take a mate to ensure the continuation of their species. After all, Arthur is an Alpha, so he must set a good example. The duke would very much prefer to continue his comfortable bachelor lifestyle, but the Prince Regent is not a bear to be poked. Beatrice, the widowed Marchioness of Castleton, is in possession of a powerful secret. She knows all about Shifters, her horrible late husband being one of them. At any moment, Beatrice could reveal the secrets of the Prince and those like him—unless the Prince can make sure she marries another Shifter. A marriage between the Duke of Osborn and Beatrice is far from ideal for either one, but at least they won't fall in love...right? Witty, fantastical, and entirely unique, A Most Unusual Duke is perfect for readers looking for: A delicious Regency romp with a paranormal twist A devilishly handsome Alpha hero A marriage of convenience A magical world to sink your teeth into Praise for Allen's A Wolf in Duke's Clothing: "Sparkling wit, scrumptious chemistry!"—Grace Burrowes, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author "A playful mix of humor, fantasy, and Regency romance conventions, this genre-bending novel introduces a well-constructed world filled with distinctive and endearing characters."—Publishers Weekly "Sparkling dialogue and steamy chemistry...Regency romance meets shape-shifters, to great effect."—Kirkus Reviews

The colourful, salacious and sumptuously illustrated story of Covent Garden - the creative heart of Georgian London - from Wolfson Prize-winning author Vic Gatrell SHORT-LISTED FOR THE HESSELL TILTMAN PRIZE 2014 In the teeming, disordered, and sexually charged square half-mile centred on London's Covent Garden something extraordinary evolved in the 18th century. It was the world's first creative 'Bohemia'. The nation's most significant artists, actors, poets, novelists, and dramatists lived here. From Soho and Leicester Square across Covent Garden's Piazza to Drury Lane, and down from Long Acre to the Strand, they rubbed shoulders with rakes, prostitutes, market people, craftsmen, and shopkeepers. It was an often brutal world full of criminality, poverty and feuds, but also of high spirits, and was as culturally creative as any other in history. Virtually everything that we associate with Georgian culture was produced here. Vic Gatrell's spectacular new book recreates this time and place by drawing on a vast range of sources, showing the deepening fascination with 'real life' that resulted in the work of artists like Hogarth, Blake, and Rowlandson, or in great literary works like The Beggar's Opera and Moll Flanders. The First Bohemians is illustrated by over two hundred extraordinary pictures, many rarely seen, for Gatrell celebrates above all one of the most fertile eras in Britain's artistic history. He writes about Joshua Reynolds and J. M. W. Turner as well as the forgotten figures who contributed to what was a true golden age: the men and women who briefly dazzled their contemporaries before being destroyed - or made - by this magical but also ferocious world. About the author: Vic Gatrell's last book, City of Laughter, won both the Wolfson Prize for History and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize; his The Hanging Tree won the Whitfield Prize of the Royal Historical Society. He is a Life Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge.