Bøker av Gretta Curran Browne

FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY PUBLISHED & BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF "TREAD SOFTLY ON MY DREAMS"A STAND ALONE NOVEL - and Book 3 of The Macquarie Series.A mixture of the Arabic blood of her father, and the English blood of her mother, Elizabeth (Beth) Jarvis grows up on the estate of Jarvisfield in Scotland. A dark-haired, dark-eyed girl of uncommon beauty who enslaves the hearts of two young men, while loving only one.Lachlan Macquarie Junior, rich and golden, and the heir to his famous father's estate, is the joy of his mother's heart, until she finally realises that the only man her son is capable of respecting, and the only one who can control him, is Beth's father, George Jarvis.Based on the true-life stories of the Macquarie, Jarvis and Dewar families, and set in the natural beauty of the Island of Mull, JARVISFIELD is a stand-alone novel in its own right, and the third book in The Macquarie Series.

A stand-alone novel, and also the second novel in The Macquarie SeriesAs a young British officer, Lachlan Macquarie served his country in America, the West Indies, India and Egypt, but now he is being asked to go to a wilderness on the other side of the world where famine and strife amongst the inhabitants is flourishing.A firm hand is needed, but when he arrives Lachlan surprises the population by showing them he is not only firm, he is also fair.George Jarvis, now grown to a young man, travels with him, and it is there George meets Mary Neely, a young, embittered English girl, who falls in love with George and learns from him about the goodness of life.Set in the early nineteenth century, The Far Horizon is a story about the genesis of a nation, and the man who turned a convict colony into a country, and named it Australia.

A Stand-Alone Novel - also Book One of The Macquarie Series "Fabulous and heartbreaking ... fresh and authentic in every detail ... it has to be the best book I have read about the British in India since M. M. Kaye's "The Far Pavilions" - Dr Aileen Keegan. Set in the beauty of Scotland, the magic of India, and the hostility of China, peopled with memorable characters of all races, By Eastern Windows is the story of a young British soldier, Lachlan Macquarie, posted to India where he meets Jane Jarvis, a young girl from the Caribbean - beautiful, different and exciting - who becomes the greatest love, and the greatest tragedy, of his life. It is also the story of the young men who travelled with him, far from home, serving their King in a country they came to love, while coping with the complex differences between East and West.

"BROWNE HAS A TALENT FOR DRAWING US INTO HER CHARACTERS AND SITUATiONS" - Irish News. Set in the mid 19th century, on the beautiful Island of Mull, the largest of Scotland's Western Isles, on the estate of Jarvisfield owned by Lachlan Macquarie Jnr - a young man deeply unhappy with his lot in life. In love with Beth Jarvis - the young girl of mixed blood whom he had believed would be not be accepted in Scotland's high society, leading him to marry someone else, now much to his regret. Beth - the daughter of George Jarvis, who has thoughts of no other man but John Dewar, the young naval officer who loved her and left her. John Dewar - a young lieutenant serving in the Royal Navy's "West Africa Squadron" patrolling the coast of Sierra Leone to prevent privateers transporting captured African slaves in the hold of their ships. A beautifully told dramatic and moving story of a young couple in love, and a young couple in hate, and the people around them who observe it all.Based on the true story of the Macquarie, Jarvis and Dewar families, THE WAYWARD SON is a complete stand-alone novel in its own right, and is also the fourth and concluding book in the 'Macquarie Series.

Two people - married unhappily to others - but desperately in love with each other, living in a time when wedlock was a padlock for life, with no opening key.For Lord Byron, Teresa Guiccioli is not his only desperate love; he also loves Italy, and cares for the Italian people now under the crushing rule of Austria. Can he fight the Austrians with scathing poetry, or join the secret Italian organisation of the 'Carbonari' who are preparing to take back their country with war?Yet it is while he is in Italy that his own nation of Britain makes a huge political request of him - insisting he is the only man who can do it - and so once again he dons the red military uniform of a commissioned British officer and leave Italy for Greece, knowing that the hardest stage of his journey still stretches ahead."There was a helplessness about Byron, a sort of abandonment of himself to his "destiny" as he called it. He believed in Fate, and when Fate spoke to him clearly, he always answered the call." --- Quinnell.

"Good night-or rather, morning. It is four, and the dawn gleams over the Grand Canal and unshadows the Rialto. I must to bed; up all night - but, 'it's life, though, damme, it's life!' "An Englishman in Italy, Lord Byron's life in Venice is full of fun, laughter, and devil-may-care romancing - until he meets his last and truest love, the eighteen-year-old Teresa Gamba Guiccioli, for whom he risks everything, even the danger to his own life; and moreso, his own pride.Every part of Venice is reflected in his poetry - walking across the bridge that connects the Doge's Palace to the prisons from which none returned, he invented the name that made it famous all over the world - "The Bridge of Sighs" - because of the sad sighs, he believed, that those condemned prisoners would release on seeing Venice and freedom for the last time.But it is Byron's letters back home to England that bring Venice and its people to life with irresistible high spirits, bewitching and picturesque, with rumours and jokes and flippant with effervescent self-ridicule, occasionally solemn, but not often."He [BYRON} is the most enjoyable letter-writer in the world." -- Elizabeth, Countess of Longford.

The Boy ... The Man ... The LegendWith the instant success of his brilliant new works, The Corsair and Lara, Lord Byron's literary fame as a poet of stature has spread to all parts of America and throughout Continental Europe. Mary Chaworth still invades Byron thoughts, but two other women now seek to move her completely out of his way - Miss Annabella Milbanke, who has now turned into a persistent letter-writer in the hope of renewing Byron's interest in her; and his half-sister Augusta Leigh, who wishes only the best for him.Lady Caroline Lamb finally sees a way to wreak her obsessive revenge on Byron, so damning and so unproven, it infuriates all his friends who rush to his defence, but the catastrophic aftermath rings down through history, destroying Byron's reputation, and almost destroying the man.

A WORLD APART: An Epic Novel From Ireland's Past The Michael Dwyer story continues ... powerful in its drama and truth ... and his fame in the history of Ireland begins. Now a close friend of Robert Emmet, Michael does everything in his power to help the young aristocrat succeed in his revolutionary aims, but traitors abound everywhere, attempting to bring down both young men. A winner, a fighter, a survivor, Michael remains free and undefeated, but his friends all know that the greatest danger to his freedom and his life, is the girl whom Michael is so passionately in love with, Mary Doyle. All are certain that if Michael falls, it will be because of her."Here is a real blockbuster, magnificent, passionate, poignant." - BOOKS IRELAND "A powerful historical novel." - GUERNSEY EVENING PRESS""Highly recommended." - IRISH WORLD"Powerful! A love story which endures more than half a century and spans two continents.' - BRECON & RADNOR EXPRESS""Gretta Curran Browne has a talent for drawing us into her characters and situations."- IRISH NEWS

WINNER OF READERS' FAVORITE GOLD MEDAL AWARDAN EPIC NOVEL FROM IRELAND'S PAST"We were taught nothing about Ireland or its history in school, and when I learned of our part in that struggle I felt shame. I think the whole world should know about young men like Tone and Robert Emmet. Oscar-winning Actor, COLIN FIRTH, Sunday Times MagazineThe Emmets are Protestants, belonging to the elite society of Ireland's ruling class. Born in 1778, Robert Emmet, the youngest son of the State Physician of Ireland, has grown up in the heart of a prosperous and loving family, one of the most respected in Dublin city. From his parents he acquired a deep love of Ireland and a commitment to justice. From his brother Thomas he acquired an understanding of the divisions and inequalities of his country.In the historic year of 1798 Robert's life changed from its charted course to one of rebellion. A brilliant student at Trinity, he casts aside all hopes of a scientific career, all the privileges of his class, to join the United Irishmen - a society dedicated to the union of Protestant and Catholic. But the men in Dublin Castle determined on the continuance of English rule, force him to flee to France. But even as his boat sails away from his beloved homeland, he looks back and knows he will return - to the cause of his country's liberty, and to the beautiful girl he has fallen in love with, Sarah Curran, the daughter of Ireland's most talented lawyer.He returns - and meets Anne Devlin, a passionate and brave Catholic country girl, who becomes his most devoted companion.Set against the background of the beauty of Ireland, the dark clouds of its past, as well as the humour and dreams of its people, this is a passionate and powerful true story of three young people, Robert Emmet, Anne Devlin, and Sarah Curran, drawn together in love, in hope, and tragedy."Although I started off thinking this would be a love story, an incredible tale of political corruption also began to unfold."THE IRISH TIMES.

Living amongst the richest people of the highest strata of London Society and being fallen over by its glamorous women, Lord Byron, the "Idol Poet" of his time, has never quite got over the raw emotions of his unrequited love for his country cousin Mary Chaworth.Until they meet again, and Mary finds new hope for a happier life with the man she had once rejected as a teenage boy, and now deeply loves.Byron brings down the wrath of the newspapers for using his poetry to criticise the bloated Prince Regent, and speak up for the starving English poor; but the attacks on his name do not trouble him at all.Although he remains troubled by Lady Caroline Lamb, who is now stick-thin and gaunt-faced from the pain of her insane love for him; hiding in his publisher's waiting room and sneakily following him through the streets, until he complains in a letter to Lady Melbourne - "I am being haunted by a skeleton!" A story full of humour and drama and colourful events and people from the Regency era, including Beau Brummell; the courtesan Harriette Wilson, and so many others ¿ all mad and bad and delightful to know.

"Byron only had to come, and to be seen, in order to conquer."At twenty-seven, Lady Caroline Lamb reads the story of a young aristocrat's strange journey through unknown and barbaric parts of Europe in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and declares her opinion that the author would certainly be "mad, bad, and dangerous to know."A few weeks later she actually meets him, and becomes obsessed to the point of erotomania.From the wilds of Albania to a life of luxury as one of the beau monde in Regency London, George Gordon Lord Byron is astounded at the burst of fame that engulfs him on the publication of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage."I awoke one morning and found myself famous."Meticulously researched, and adapted into novel form, 'A Strange World' is a vivid and truthful portrait of the most iconic young man of his time, and Britain's first superstar.

THE BOY - THE MAN - THE LEGEND -- Covering his earliest years to the age of twenty-three -, this fascinating novel goes "behind the screen" to tell the private and personal story of the most iconic young man of his time - Lord Byron - whose charisma, beauty and literary genius helped him to overcome personal difficulties and rise from obscurity to become Britain's first superstar." I'VE READ ABOUT BYRON BEFORE, BUT NEVER LIKE THIS."-- M.L.Keegan. "This fast-paced historical novel is a well-crafted telling of Byron's troubled start on the path to poetic greatness." -- KIRKUS REVIEWS. "Well crafted and meticulously researched" -- PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY."UTTERLY COMPELLING." -- John McLaren, Author of BLACK CABSBeginning when he is a boy of ten years old, we join George Gordon when he is living a miserable life with his manic Scottish mother in a few rented rooms above a shop in Aberdeen; unaware that his true surname is not Gordon, and that his true heritage is with the English aristocracy - who soon come to claim him.A life of wealth and privilege is then bestowed upon him, which eventually sets the stage for him to prove his own individual worth, in his own way, and in his own time."My Name Alone shall be my epitaph." --- BYRON

Having left England behind him, Lord Byron arrives on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where he meets the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont. Four young people seeking a new life.All are brought to life in that happy and haunted summer of true friendship, love, and story-telling; when during a period of stormy weather over the Alps, Mary writes 'Frankenstein'; and Byron writes 'The Vampyre', later plagiarised and published by his physician John William Polidori.Based on their own words in the letters and journals of Byron, Shelley, and Mary, the author brings the reader inside the Villa Diodati to vividly share in the world of these leading icons of the Romantic Movement during that famous summer in 1816.

From Venice to Ravenna and on to Pisa and Genoa, Lord Byron's journey through life and Italy continues. But now he is a man sincerely in love with only one woman, living in a quasi-domesticated happiness with her; until his own nation of Britain makes a political request of him - insisting he is the only man who can do it - and so once again he courageously dons the red military uniform of a commissioned British officer, and leaves Italy - knowing the hardest stage of his journey still stretched ahead."There was a helplessness about Byron, a sort of abandonment of himself to his destiny, as he called it. He believed in fate. And when fate spoke to him clearly, he always answered the call."-------- Quinnell

The Man ... The Poet ... The LegendHaving left England behind him, Lord Byron arrives on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where he meets the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont. Four young people seeking a new life.All are brought to life in that happy and haunted summer of true friendship, love, and story-telling; when during a period of stormy weather over the Alps, Mary writes 'Frankenstein'; and Byron writes 'The Vampyre', later plagiarised and published by his physician John William Polidori.Based on their own words in the letters and journals of Byron, Shelley, and Mary, the author brings the reader inside the Villa Diodati to vividly share in the world of these leading icons of the Romantic Movement during that famous summer in 1816.

"Good night-or rather, morning. It is four, and the dawn gleams over the Grand Canal, and unshadows the Rialto. I must to bed; up all night - but, 'it's life, though, damme, it's life!' "An Englishman in Italy, Lord Byron's life in Venice is full of fun, laughter, and devil-may-care romancing - until he meets his last and truest love, the eighteen-year-old Teresa Gamba Guiccioli, for whom he risks everything, even the danger to his own life; and moreso, his own pride.Every part of Venice is reflected in his poetry - walking across the bridge that connects the Doge's Palace to the prisons from which none returned, he invented the name that made it famous all over the world, "The Bridge of Sighs", because of the sad sighs, he believed, that those condemned prisoners would release on seeing Venice and freedom for the last time.But it is his letters back home to England that bring Venice and its people to life with irresistible high spirits, bewitching and picturesque, with rumours and jokes and flippant with effervescent self-ridicule, occasionally solemn, but not often."No one need doubt that the letters, perhaps even more than 'Don Juan,' are the beginning and middle and the end of Lord Byron." - Michael Ratcliffe in The Times