The Village: Book 1

"This series is wonderfully entertaining & darkly serious." Set in the early 1900s when men rule & females meekly follow - well, not all females…

At the heart of this series is Elzira & her three desperate suitors. The main storyline is woven with clever episodic plots led by a colorful cast of characters who will keep you entertained.

There's a love-sick farm boy. A wealthy widower with a dark past. Rough & tough lumberjacks with their own brand of justice. Brothers with a thirst for vengeance. A stalker with a death wish. A milk-delivery boy who does more than deliver milk. A maddening priest. Mean girls. Scheming mamas. An obnoxious old woman. Frustrated parents. Disloyal siblings. A scandalous bride. One-eared Hugo. One-eyed Clem. The bull-killer. A band of old geezers. A prisoner in the attic. A crazy lady & her god-awful wig. A thief on the run. A spoiled socialite & her cheeky maid.

BOOK 1. Not all arranged marriages are ill-fated. But when Elzira is told she is engaged to Theo, she sees only misery ahead & does what she must to end it. Trouble follows, her reputation is tainted, & the hope of finding love is dashed. When a wealthy widower asks for her hand, Elzira cannot refuse. He is a stranger, but her parents want her gone, and she is determined to embark on this loveless marriage come hell or high water.

BOOK 2. During Luc & Elzira's short engagement, Luc crosses the line, & things spin out of control. To save face, Luc marries Marguerite & spreads lies that have Elzira drowning in a swirl of adversity & family conflict. After long-buried secrets are exposed, the village is shaken to the core. ***** Miles away, Xavier reads a baffling letter - his grandfather wants him to meet Elzira. The life of a lumberjack is a lonely & dangerous existence, but Xavier is ambitious - & unmarried - & he'd like to keep it that way. No problem. After six months of insanity, the last thing Elzira needs is another pretty boy to complicate her life. But when they meet, the unexpected happens. Their attraction is immediate. Sexual. Keeping their love at bay ignites a fiery passion, & the honeymoon sizzles.

BOOK 3. How did Luc Leduc become the man we all love to hate? We go back in time to visit his disturbing childhood, his disruptive influence in a boarding school, & his early days as a white-collar cutthroat. ***** Fast-forward a few years. After Luc & Marguerite marry, life at the manor is grand. Or is it? Very few know what goes on behind the manor door & they're not talking. Luc is a beastly psychopath, and Marguerite has dirty little secrets of her own that must never see the light of day if she wants to survive this marriage. ***** When Luc's mistress pays Marguerite a visit, things get ugly. Marguerite may be terrified of Luc, but she's not about to kowtow to her husband's whore. What unfolds is both comical & heartbreaking.

BOOK 4. A chronicle of Xavier & Elzira's lives from 1913 through the '70s. The land is unforgiving, the summers are scorching, the long winters harsh & deadly. While Xavier eeks out a living, Elzira gives birth to twenty children. Amid enduring poverty & backbreaking labor are times of joyous celebrations. But their lives are all too often overshadowed by devastating losses & unimaginable sorrow that threaten to crush them both. Inspired by a true story.

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كتاب : 30 يونيو 2024