Showing results by publisher "Mantle" in Historical Fiction

As the long summer holiday stretches ahead, ten-year-old Alix wants to spend every second on the beach and in the water. But with her parents unusually distracted and her older sister now more interested in boys, she finds herself alone. Then Alix meets Kahu. He’s on holiday too, and he lets her in on a secret: a few years ago, a little girl went missing and was presumed drowned. But no one ever found her body.

1724. In a village tavern on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Maggie Dickson’s family drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them. Passers-by avert their eyes from the cheap-looking coffin on the rickety cart. Despite protesting her innocence, Maggie was hanged that morning for the murder of her new-born child. But as her family pray her soul rests in peace, a figure appears at the door. It is Maggie. She has survived her execution.

When trauma cleaner Essie Pound makes a gruesome discovery in the derelict Edinburgh boarding house she is sent to clean, it brings her into contact with a young policewoman, Emily Noble, who has her own reasons to solve the case. As the two women embark on a journey into the heart of a forgotten family, the investigation prompts fragmented memories of their own traumatic histories - something Emily has spent a lifetime attempting to bury, and Essie a lifetime trying to lay bare.

Winter, 1888. In the inhospitable lands of Utah Territory, glovemaker Deborah Tyler awaits her husband’s return home after months working across the state. But as his due date comes and goes without a word, Deborah starts to fear the worst. Facing a future alone, matters are only compounded when a desperate stranger arrives on her doorstep. And with him, trouble. For although the man claims to just need a place to rest for the night, he wouldn’t be here in the bitter month of January if he wasn’t on the run. And where he goes, lawmen are sure to follow.

1896, Bannin Bay, Australia. When British pearl-boat captain Charles Brightwell goes missing out at sea, rumours of mutiny and murder swell within the bay's dens and back alleys. Only his headstrong daughter, Eliza, refuses to believe her father is dead, and sets out on a dangerous journey to uncover the truth. But in a town teeming with corruption, prejudice, and blackmail, Eliza soon learns that the answers she seeks might cost more than pearls. How much is she willing to sacrifice to find them?

Thirty-year-old Hetty Cartwright is tasked with the evacuation and safekeeping of the natural history museum’s collection of mammals. Once she and her exhibits arrive at Lockwood Manor, however, where they are to stay for the duration of the war, Hetty soon realises that she’s taken on more than she’d bargained for.Protecting her charges from the irascible Lord Lockwood and resentful servants is work enough, but when some of the animals go missing, and worse, Hetty begins to suspect someone - or something - is stalking her through the darkened corridors of the house.

Clara and Pippo are just children: quiet, thoughtful Clara is the older sister; Pippo, the younger brother, is forever chatting. The family has only recently arrived in the city carrying their few possessions. When Mamma goes missing early one morning, both Clara and Pippo go in search of her. Clara turns right; Pippo left. As a result of the choices they make that morning, their lives will be changed forever.