New Releases by Elizabeth Boyle

A heartwarming, magical story of a woman lost in time, who must assist two others in untangling the lies surrounding their lives if she wants to return to her own. One wish could change everything. At least it did for Madeline Drake. When a snowy accident topples her through a slip in time, she wakes to find herself in tiny, turn of the century, Bethlehem, Wyoming, far from her hectic modern existence. And as much as it is a shock to her, her arrival upends the tenaciously rooted lives of the town’s odd collection of lost souls. But the rules are clear—she has to stay until Christmas before the door home will open. Having never been much for rules, Madeline begins an out-of-control campaign to return sooner rather than later, but finds her arrivals as unwittingly upended the lives of the town''s proper postmistress, Ninny Minch, and that of a grieving widow, Savannah Clarke, who has been hiding behind a wall of grief and guilt for decades. Now Madeline’s got to fix those broken threads. While helping anyone other than herself doesn''t come easily to her—and despite her best efforts to avoid entanglements—fragile bonds of friendship form with Ninny and Savannah. Madeline discovers—much to her surprise—that trust and acceptance once given, may be strong enough to untangle even the most closely woven secrets. Including a few of her own. As Christmas draws near and time runs out, Madeline finds herself even more entwined in Bethlehem’s currency of wishes and hope, until she starts to question if this small town might actually hold the keys to a life of purpose and empowerment she’d never imagined. If you are looking for that warm and cozy holiday read, a book to share with your dearest friends , your book club, and your family, O Little Town of Bethlehem is sure to delight and have you reaching for a cup of tea and, perhaps, another slice of Ninny’s Christmas cake.

''Like nothing else you will read'' Hilary Mantel Top 25 History Books of the Year, The Times - the perfect gift for book lovers this Christmas! Every day a beloved father dies. Every day a lover departs. Every day a woman turns forty. All three happening together brings a moment of reckoning. Medieval historian Elizabeth Boyle made sense of these events the best way she knew how - by immersing herself in the literature that has been her first love and life''s work for over two decades. Fierce Appetites is the exhilarating and deeply humane result. Not only does Elizabeth Boyle write dazzling accounts of ancient stories, familiar and obscure, from Ireland and further afield, but she uses her historical learning to grapple with the raw and urgent questions she faces, questions that have bedevilled people in every age. She writes on grief, addiction, family breakdown, the complexities of motherhood, love and sex, memory, class, education, travel (and staying put) with unflinching honesty, deep compassion and occasional dark humour. Fierce Appetites is captivating and original - as an insight into the mind and heart of a groundbreaking scholar, and as a wise and reassuring account of what it is to be human. _____________________ ''Wonderful . . . I laughed. I cried. I was blown away'' The Times ''Pure nectar for the imagination'' Irish Examiner ''Unusual, arresting and genuinely enriching'' Irish Times ''I loved this luminous, radical book about bodies in time. It is a deeply personal history, that simultaneously brings medieval myth and poetry to breathing, bleeding life. An education for the mind and the heart'' Clare Pollard ''Highly original . . . engagingly candid [and] thought-proviking'' Irish Independent ''An eloquent plea for the value of curiosity and the life of the mind, standing up the robustness of scholarship against the frailty of individuals, the resilience of myth against brittle daily preoccupations. It''s an agile story, irreverent, capacious and constantly surprising: like nothing else you will read'' Hilary Mantel ''Bracingly honest, fiery, funny, scholarly, Fierce Appetites really is a wildly good book'' Hilary Fannin ''Extremely intriguing . . . I found myself completely absorbed'' Ryan Tubridy ''I absolutely loved this utterly original book. Immersing myself in Elizabeth Boyle''s considerable brain was a true privilege, and the way she uses medieval narratives to unpick her own present was endlessly surprising and beautiful. I read it in two sittings, devouring her perspective on life, love, loss'' Clover Stroud ''Fiercely smart, strange, surprising, unsettling, unflinching'' Jennifer O''Connell, Irish Times ''An outstanding achievement. Fierce Appetites defies easy categorization, is brilliantly written and simply deserves to be read'' Darach Ó Séaghdha ''Everything is illuminated, magnified, revisioned: sexual desire, motherhood, family. Her writing is unorthodox, unnerving, and very exciting'' Tanya Shadrick

History and Salvation in Medieval Ireland explores medieval Irish conceptions of salvation history, using Latin and vernacular sources from c. 700–c. 1200 CE which adapt biblical history for audiences both secular and ecclesiastical. This book examines medieval Irish sources on the cities of Jerusalem and Babylon; reworkings of narratives from the Hebrew Scriptures; literature influenced by the Psalms; and texts indebted to Late Antique historiography. It argues that the conceptual framework of salvation history, and the related theory of the divinely-ordained movement of political power through history, had a formative influence on early Irish culture, society and identity. Primarily through analysis of previously untranslated sources, this study teases out some of the intricate connections between the local and the universal, in order to situate medieval Irish historiography within the context of that of the wider world. Using an overarching biblical chronology, beginning with the lives of the Jewish Patriarchs and ending with the Christian apostolic missions, this study shows how one culture understood the histories of others, and has important implications for issues such as kingship, religion and literary production in medieval Ireland. This book will appeal to scholars and students of medieval Ireland, as well as those interested in religious and cultural history.

Lord Rimswell is a man of honor and absolutes. If he says something is impossible, it is. Yet his life of right and wrong is turned upside down when he finds himself in a compromising situation with the most unyielding, yet maddeningly beautiful, woman in London. If only he had not given in to the irresistible temptation to kiss her. Now he must marry her. Miss Roselie Stratton is the very definition of impossible--headstrong, outspoken, and carrying a reticule of secrets that could ruin more than her reputation. Kissing Brody is hardly the most ruinous thing Roselie has ever done as a secret agent for the Home Office...nor will she let a marriage of convenience stop her from continuing her work. Little does Roselie realize that she has underestimated Brody's resolve to keep her safe--for he has hopelessly fallen in love with her and is determined to do the impossible by stealing her heart in return.

The pampered daughter of a duke … Lady Arabella Tremont has spent her entire life protected and overshadowed by her restrictive father. But she is a Tremont, after all, and the morning after she is nearly ruined at a ball by a handsome stranger, Arabella's father demands she make an arranged match with the heir to a dukedom. In desperation, Arabella takes matters into her own hands. Takes a London holiday with the most unsuitable of chaperones … Major Kingsley is in London to avoid his parents' dreadful house party. To his surprise he runs into the enticing—and unforgettable—minx he met at a ball the previous night. Arabella, or Birdie, as he knows her, insists he owes her three favors—for he's put her in a terrible pinch. Kingsley agrees, if only to delay his trip home and because the notion of spending the day with this enchanting bit of muslin is too tempting to resist. But all too quickly he discovers Arabella's requests are hardly what he expected …

Harriet Hathaway has only ever wanted one man: the Earl of Roxley. After a passionate interlude at a house party, Harriet is convinced Roxley will do the right thing and propose. But when she returns to London, she finds the roguish earl on the verge of proposing to another.

Sensible gentleman of means seeks a sensible lady of good breeding for correspondence, and in due consideration, matrimony. It's exactly the sort of advertisement that makes practical-to-a-fault Daphne Dale's heart flutter. A sensible gentleman is the perfect match, and she's even more convinced once they're exchanging sensible romantic letters. That is, until Lord Henry Seldon strays into her path. He's everything she's vowed to avoid - a rakish charmer whose very touch dissolves her practical sensibilities . . . and her resolve. (Bestseller)

The Seldons and Dales have been mortal enemies for centuries … But that hasn't stopped the roguish Crispin, Viscount Dale, and the impetuous Lady Henrietta Seldon from waging their own battle … of the heart. Every stray glance, every chance encounter threatens to reveal the secret passion that keeps drawing them together. But finally, after years of flirting with disaster … Crispin and Henrietta find themselves locked in a wine cellar, and now there is no denying the love and loyalties that have lured them in and torn them apart time and time again. Will this one last chance—this tempting night of desire—ignite a fire that will never be extinguished, no matter the price?

“Wit, passion, and adventure, Elizabeth Boyle has it all!” —Julia Quinn New York Times bestselling RITA® Award winner Elizabeth Boyle is a wonder, and with Along Came a Duke—the first book in her delectable Rhymes with Love series based on well-known nursery rhymes—she proves once more that no one writes wittier, more endearing and original historical romance. Returning once more to England during the colorful Regency Era, Boyle transports readers to the small town of Kempton, where a local curse prevents the female residents from wedding—a fact that cannot deter a plucky young heiress who needs to marry to inherit her fortune, as she strikes out for London to wed a rakish and unsuspecting duke. Funny, touching, and wonderfully sensuous, Along Came a Duke is a prime example of the exceptional romantic magic that puts Elizabeth Boyle in the same master class as Lisa Kleypas and Christina Dodd.

In an attempt to discover who betrayed him and left him for dead, Lord Langley enters into a false engagement with Minerva, Lady Standon, and they try to obey the rules they set down for each other until love enters the picture.

Level-headed Lady Elinor Standon will not allow her greedy stepfather to wed her younger sister to the highest bidder! The only way to stop this evil plan is for Elinor to to gain control of her sister’s guardianship, but to do that she needs to get married. Convinced that nothing less than a duke will do, she hires Mr. St. Maur, Esq. to help her land her lofty lord… However her plans go awry as she discovers that beneath her solicitor’s rumpled coat and haughty demeanor is a man all-too-desirable to ignore and she finds herself falling for more than his unconventional legal advice. James Tremont, the ninth Duke of Parkerton, is astonished by the freedom and anonymity he’s gained simply by donning his brother’s ill-fitting jacket, especially when an exquisite, peer-hunting beauty mistakes him for a solicitor… Now he finds himself tangled up by more than her legal woes. For until he can undo the straight-laced yet delectable Elinor, his identity must remain a mystery — because by not having revealed it immediately, this dedicated bachelor may have already sabotaged his one chance for the madness of finding his one true love. - Author's website

"The Earl of Clifton intended one day to find the perfect countess ... then he met Lucy. The improper daughter of an infamous spy, Lucy Ellyson saved Clifton's life and taught him everything he needed to know about serving his country ... even how to fall in love. He vowed he would come back and make her his unlikely countess, but the war kept them apart for too long, and when he finally returned, she'd vanished. Lucy hadn't gone far--living a new life in the heart of Mayfair. But proper Society hasn't taught her how to mend her scandalous ways, and when Clifton happens upon her, she's landed in the sort of trouble that only a hasty marriage can solve. He's more than willing to be the hero she taught him to be and make her his countess, but all too quickly, secrets from their past threaten the passionate love that ignites them both ..."--Page 4 of cover.

She spied him in the shadows . . .And in an instant, Thalia Langley knew the man before her was no saint. He might claim to be the Duke of Hollindrake's unassuming country cousin, but no man that handsome, that arresting, could be anything but . . . well, he simply must be an unrepentant rogue. His cat-like grace and power leave Tally shivering in her slippers at the notion of all the wicked, forbidden things he might be capable of doing . . . to her.Indeed, Lord Larken is no bumbling vicar, but a master spy there in his majesty's service to find — and murder — a notorious pirate freed in a daring prison escape. Devoted to the Crown, Larken's not about to let an interfering (and not entirely innocent) Mayfair miss disrupt his ruthless plans. Yet how can he be anything but tempted by this lady in a little black gown . . . a dress tantalizing enough to lead even Larken astray.

A Secret Admirer . . . They say he's a shameless rake who cares for nothing but pleasure, a rogue who spends his nights in London's lustiest locales, gambling and carousing until dawn. But Lady Hermione Marlowe refuses to believe that the handsome gentleman she's loved from afar for so long could be so wicked. If only she had a way to prove to the ton that Lord Rockhurst is as proper as the rest. If only she knew what he really did under cover of the night . . . A Clandestine Encounter . . . Lord Rockhurst knows what they say about him, and he doesn't care. Let them think his nights are filled with craven debauchery. Only he knows his true purpose, his dangerous goal. But when a mysterious woman falls into his arms—and thereby saves his life—Rockhurst will struggle to save his secret. Who is this creature with such tempting curves and an enticing touch? Rockhurst can only wonder how he can trust her . . . for he knows he cannot resist her.

He's at her service . . . Though she can't afford the coal to heat her drafty Mayfair mansion, Felicity Langley still clings to her dream of marrying a duke—one she's had since her very first curtsy. After all, she's been promised to the very lofty Duke of Hollindrake for the last four years. Now all she has to do is meet him. But what Felicity doesn't realize is that she has met her duke—he's the altogether too handsome man who Felicity has just mistaken . . . for her new footman! By rights, Thatcher should immediately set this presumptuous chit straight and tell her he has no intention of honoring the arranged betrothal. But he's quickly smitten by Felicity's delightful determination, her irrepressible charm . . . and her breathtaking sensuality. Yes, she'd wed him in an instant were his true identity revealed—but Thatcher's vowed to marry only for love. So begins his deception and his conquest of this uncommon woman who doesn't believe in romance, but is about to find her heart and passion set aflame by the unlikely man she's sworn to resist.

A shy spinster magically transforms into her beloved Viscount's seductive mistress in a "witty and sensual historical Regency . . . nothing short of brilliant" ( Booklist). When a promised inheritance turns out to be a fraud, shy spinster Charlotte Wilmont makes an impetuous wish that despite her lack of charm and fortune, she could capture the heart of the one man whom she's forever adored—Sebastian, Viscount Trent. With that utterance, Charlotte awakens shocked to find herself intimately entwined with Sebastian. But the respectable man she knew is now a most rakish devil and she is . . . well, by some inexplicable magic, London's most infamous mistress. Being the scandalous Lottie Townsend affords Charlotte unimaginable freedom—passionate nights with Sebastian, endless days of shopping, and adoring fans. But all too soon, Charlotte finds that being a man's mistress isn't the same as being his wife. Yet if she returns to her old, respectable life, can Charlotte trust there will be enough magic left to recapture Sebastian's heart . . . and reawaken his rakish desires?