Sally Gardner is an international best-selling author. Wray Delaney is the pen name of Sally Gardner, the award-winning children’s novelist who has sold over 3 million books worldwide and been translated into 22 languages.
The Bride Stone:
AN ESTATE ON THE LINE. 1796. Duval Harlington, recently released frm prison in France, is on his way home. Memories of the tranquil family estate kept his spirits high through his worst days in La Force, so it is no small sorrow to return and find Muchmore thrown into chaos. His despicable father, he learns, has died. And while he has left the estate to Duval, there is one small stipulation: he must be married, or else lose everything. A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE. With only two days and seven hours to find a wife, devoted bachelor Duval is prepared to walk away. But then he stumbles upon a wife sale. With women being bought and sold like chattels, Duval is horrified by what he sees. Until he lays eyes on one intriguing figure. A BRIDE WITH A HIDDEN PAST. Duval makes an extravagant bid, and he and Edmée are married with minutes to spare. But little does Duval know, this is only the beginning of his troubles. For Edmée is not who she says she is, and her secrets will soon threaten to dismantle everything he holds dear.
The Weather Woman
The rich and atmospheric novel from prize-winning author Sally Gardner, set in the 18th century between the two great Frost Fairs. Neva Friezland is born into a world of trickery and illusion, where fortunes can be won and lost on the turn of a card.
She is also born with an extraordinary gift. She can predict the weather. In Regency England, where the proper goal for a gentlewoman is marriage and only God knows the weather this is dangerous. It is also potentially very lucrative. In order to debate with the men of science and move about freely, Neva adopts a sophisticated male disguise. She foretells the weather from inside an automaton created by her brilliant clockmaker father. But what will happen when the disguised Neva falls in love with a charismatic young man? It can be very dangerous to be ahead of your time. Especially as a woman.
©2022 Sally Gardener (P) 2022 Head of Zeus
The Snow Song
Women imprisoned by superstition, chained by guilt.
Perched on a mountain in a land of ancient forests is a village, rife with secrets. Cut off from the outside world it is run by the elders, men to whom tradition is all.
Edith lives alone with her alcoholic father who is forcing her to marry the village butcher. But she is in love with a shepherd who promised to return to her.
As the village becomes isolated in a sea of snow, Edith loses her power of speech. And it is this enchantment that will have far-reaching consequences, not only for Edith but for the whole village.
©2020 Sally Gardner (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
An Almond for a Parrot
I would like to make myself the heroine of this story and my character to be noble – an innocent victim led astray. But alas, sir, I would be lying…. Tully Truegood: orphan. Magician’s apprentice. Whore.
In prison, accused of murder, Tully begins to write her life story. A story that takes her from a young daughter-skivvy in the back streets of 18th-century London to her stepmother Queenie’s fairy house – a place where decadent excess is a must…. Trained by Queenie to become a courtesan and by Mr Crease, a magician who sees that Tully holds similar special powers to his own, together they make Tully the talk of the town.
But as Tully goes on a journey of sexual awakening, she falls in love with one of her clients, and the pleasure soon turns to pain. Especially when the estranged husband she was forced to marry by her father suddenly seeks her out. Now Tully is awaiting her trial for murder, for which she expects to hang…and her only chance of survival is to get her story to the one person who might be able to help her.
The Beauty of the Wolf
©2019 Wray Delaney (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers
‘What some might call beauty, I find monstrous’ In the age of the Faerie Queene, Elizabeth I, Lord Francis Rodermere starts to lay waste to a forest. Furious, the sorceress who dwells there scrawls a curse into the bark of the first oak he fells: A faerie boy will be born to you whose beauty will be your death.
Ten years later, Lord Rodermere’s son, Beau is born – and all who encounter him are struck by his great beauty. Meanwhile, many miles away in a London alchemist’s cellar lives Randa – a beast deemed too monstrous to see the light of day. And so begins a timeless tale of love, tragedy and revenge… A stunning retelling of Beauty and the Beast
