Shelby Hearon has been widely praised for the insight, wit, and subtlety with which her novels limn the complexities of marriage and family ("What Jane Austen is to courtship, Shelby Hearon is to marriage" --New York Newsday), and the ways in which place can profoundly affect us all. Now, with Ella in Bloom, Hearon gives us her sharpest, funniest, most telling novel yet. It is the story of Ella, who has always lived in the shadow of her "perfect" older sister. A gutsy single parent eking out a living for herself and her intrepid teenage daughter Birdie, Ella invents a genteel life, writing to her mother in drought-baked Texas about her heirloom roses, her linen dresses, and other amenities of a respectable life in Old Metairie, Louisiana. Little does her mother know about the run-down, scruffy house Ella really lives in, or that she makes ends meet by watering rich people's houseplants when they flee the coastal summer heat. But when Ella's beautiful sister Terrell, on the way to meet her lover, is suddenly killed in a chartered plane crash, old family patterns are shattered. And Ella, confronting the reality of her life (and of the man she had relegated to the past) comes, finally and fully, into bloom. Wise, wicked, and moving, in Shelby Hearon's hands this portrait of a woman--a woman we all know--is guaranteed to give extraordinary pleasure.

The story follows the journey of Ella, a talented young woman with a captivating voice and a tragic past. Once a part of a loving family, her life takes a dramatic turn after her father's sudden disappearance at sea. Left in the care of her cruel stepmother and stepsisters, Ella is reduced to servitude in her own home. Yet, her love for music and her cherished pet, Mr. Fluffy, provide her solace and strength in the face of adversity. Amid the challenges of her life, Ella discovers her hidden talent as a singer and transforms into the enigmatic and renowned "Aria Serenade" in the glittering palaces of France. Her mesmerizing performances captivate the nobility, and her enchanting voice becomes the talk of the town. However, as she navigates the complexities of her dual identity, Ella becomes entangled in a web of love and destiny. Her heart belongs to Prince William, the crown prince of France, with whom she shares a secret love. Their paths intersect, leading to profound moments of connection and tenderness. Still, the constraints of royal obligations threaten to keep them apart. As the story unfolds, Ella's journey takes her from the opulent courts of France to the Royal Court in Germany, where her life has changed in extraordinary circumstances. The past is unveiled, secrets are revealed, and the power of love and forgiveness prevails.

"Three lives converge as a wildly talented baker returns to Dove Pond to face her past in this entry in the charming series that proves that sometimes miracles really do happen.."--

‘Feisty and fabulous. Love it. Love Tracy Bloom!’ Milly Johnson ‘Pure Joy!’ Katie Fforde ‘Love this – just the pick me up I needed!’ Jo Thomas 'Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.' Debbie Johnson ‘It's laugh out loud!’ Adele Parks

The only way to secure her dream is to marry a handsome stranger . . . When Rose and Jack meet, she has just lost her uncle, and with him her dream of owning a coffee shop. Rose wanted nothing more than to open a café in her uncle’s building. But her uncle’s will is clear – the building goes to Rose’s husband. Not to her. Then, his lawyer, Jack, offers an unusual solution… she can marry him. She’ll get the café and he’ll get the building. For some reason, Rose agrees. It might be a marriage of convenience but it’s anything but simple. Despite it being his idea, Jack is unbearably surly... But then he does something that shows Rose he might just have a softer side. Maybe love can start with a contract… but will Rose still feel that way when she learns the full terms of their deal?

Ella and Grace are off to London to represent Eden College in an international art competition. They'll be staying in a proper English boarding school, and their art will be on show in a real London gallery! But then Grace's artwork goes missing from the exhibit. And so does a multi-million-dollar painting. Are the two thefts connected? Now Ella has two mysteries to solve!

Although erotica has always existed, "pornography" is a recent phenomenon: as late as the eighteenth century the word did not exist. From the secret museums to the pornography trials of Madame Bovary and Lady Chatterly's Lover, to Mapplethorpe, cable TV, and the Internet, Walter Kendrick explores how conceptions of pornography relate to issues of freedom of expression and censorship. He provides, too, a fascinating portrait gallery of the jurists, artists, guardians of public morality, sleaze merchants, and civil libertarians who have played roles in the changing definitions of pornography.