Susan Howatch Livres

Superbattante et hypervolontaire, Carter Graham a réglé son existence comme du papier à musique. Son credo ? Tout maîtriser. Sa méthode ? Le self-control. Son but ? Gagner. A trente-cinq ans, femme d'affaires accomplie, il ne lui reste qu'à réussir sa vie privée comme sa vie professionnelle, trouver le mari idéal et faire deux ou trois enfants d'affilée avant de reprendre sa florissante carrière. Un plan parfait. D'ailleurs, depuis sa rencontre avec Kim Betz, ses désirs semblent devenir réalité. Mais Carter aurait-elle oublié que les plus beaux rêves peuvent se transformer en cauchemar ? Kim va la plonger dans un univers de faux-semblants, d'illusions et de bizarreries, où le mensonge le dispute à la malveillance et où le mystère confine au maléfice. L'homme qu'elle a décidé d'aimer cacherait-il un monstre ? Ou bien est-il la victime de l'entourage obscur que forment les ombres de son passé ? Pour la première fois de sa vie, Carter chavire, ne sait plus, perd pied. Jusqu'à la crise. Jusqu'à l'angoisse. jusqu'à se tourner, en désespoir de cause, vers les fameux guérisseurs de l'église St Benet. Quitte à découvrir que toute passion a sa part de noire et que le vrai bonheur est toujours une épreuve, bien et mal indissolublement mêlés.

Reissue of the author's most famous and well-loved work, the Starbridge series, six self-contained yet interconnected novels that explore the history of the Church of England through the 20th century.

Following "Glittering Images", "Glamorous Powers", "Ultimate Prizes", "Scandalous Risks", "Mystical Paths" and "Absolute Truths", this book concludes a series of novels set against the backdrop of the power and politics of the Church of England in the 20th century.

A paperback edition of the companion novel to THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT, which continues the story of the Van Zale dynasty with Vicky's fight for survival against the three men who use her as a pawn in their struggles for wealth and power.

Jon Darrow, a man with psychic powers, is a man who has played many parts: a shady faith-healer; a naval chaplain, a passionate husband, an awkward father, an Anglo-Catholic monk. In 1940 Darrow returns to the world he once renounced, but faced with many unforeseen temptations he fails to control his psychic, most glamorous powers. Corruption lies in wait for him, and threatens not only his future as a priest but his happiness with Anne, the young woman he has come to love.

Robert Godwin's tumultuous ride on the Wheel of Fortune begins with his passion for his sensual cousin Ginevra, as they waltz to 'The Blue Danube' beneath the chandeliers at Oxmoon, his beloved family home in Wales. As Robert discovers, his rational, well- ordered mind will be forever altered by his obsession for Ginevra, and his destiny will be forever linked to Oxmoon by the skeletons which lurk in the family closet...For fifty years, from the sinister summer afternoon of 1913 to the 1960s, the Godwin family are sucked into a maelstrom of passion, disorder, madness and murder. Fortunes rise and fall in this sweeping, compulsive tale, until the Wheel of Fortune finally comes full circle

In 1963, when traditional values are coming under attack, a young woman in her twenties, Venetia Flaxton, becomes disastrously involved with her best friend's father, the powerful, dynamic but ultimately mysterious Dean of Starbridge Cathedral. Yet, as a married man and a senior Churchman, Aysgarth has nothing to offer her but an admiration which spirals out of control into an obsessive love. As Aysgarth begins to take scandalous risks to further their friendship, pressures rise and the dangers multiply. Venetia finds herself trapped in a desperate web of love and lies from which it seems impossible to escape. Witty, compassionate and compelling, Scandalous Risks explores not only the reality of sin and the fantasy of sexual obsession, but the overpowering human need for redemption, love and lasting happiness.

“No writing today can equal [Susan] Howatch's ability to write compelling novels that combine theology and psychology in a complex, fast-moving plot offering beautifully delineated characters and the suspense of a mystery/thriller. . . . The denouement will leave readers breathless.”—Publishers Weekly Nicholas Darrow is a strong-willed and independent-minded man, full of the energy and assurance of his age and his moment in time—he is twenty-five in 1968. A magnet for attention and attraction, Nicholas is already beset by a troubled past, and expert at ignoring the grip it has on his life. But as he follows his father into the Anglican priesthood, his fascination with his own psychic powers results near-tragedy. It will only be by facing the truth about his relationship with his father that Nicholas can find his way out of the seemingly impenetrable darkness that engulfs him. . . . Told with all the drama, intelligence, and emotional depth we have come to expect from Susan Howatch, Mystical Paths is a breathtaking novel about the powerful, often painful, but finally indestructible ties between parent and child. And like its four highly praised predecessors in the Church of England series, it is a novel that celebrates the redeeming power of self-knowledge and faith. “Intelligent, compelling, and fascinating.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Beneath the smooth surface of an Episcopal palace lurks the salacious breath of scandal. Charles Ashworth is sent to untangle the web of self-delusion and corruption only to become embroiled in a strange menage a trois that threatens to expose the secrets of his own past! In Glittering Images tension and drama combine in a compelling novel of people in high places, of desperate longings and the failure to resist them, of lies and evasions, of tarnished realities behind brilliant glittering images.