Frouse Books

Sometimes love waits a world away, and happiness must be fought for.In the year 1811, impassable barriers separate the world of carriages, battles and bonnets from the world of witches, goblins and fae.Until the Solstice comes. Then the walls fall, and anyone may pass out of England and into Aylfenhame…Three courageous heroines will take that step. Sophy Landon, impoverished and alone; Isabel Ellerby, trapped by the prospect of an unwelcome marriage; and Bessie Bell, a mistreated housemaid.But courage brings its own rewards. Curses, betrayals and a dark history may wait in the realm of the fae, but so do adventure, and magic, and dreams.And for those with heart enough, true love.These are stories of escape, of freedom, of joy snatched from the jaws of despair. They're stories of the road to happiness, winding though it may be. Of a brightness in the sky on the darkest of days, and above all: of love, and its power to change everything.This compendium contains three blissful novels of love, magic and adventure: Miss Landon and Aubranael, Miss Ellerby and the Ferryman, and Bessie Bell and the Goblin King.

Once upon a chime... Every day at four o’ clock, an enchanted twilight sweeps over Vale Argantel. Strange things happen under its eldritch influence: mists boil up out of the ground, rain pours out of a cloudless sky, and the roses grow wild and fey. Such is the way of things. But when her friend falls through a magic mirror and disappears, Margot realises something’s changed. An ancient enchantment has gone awry, and chaos quickly spreads. Magic-drunk, confused and hampered at every turn, Margot must find a way to reclaim Oriane — and before anybody else disappears. But for Oriane, things are stranger still. Lost in a topsy-turvy world, how can she ever find her way home? For she’s adrift in a place very like Argantel — eerily familiar, yet strangely different; a place which follows none of the usual rules… Praise for Gloaming: "One part Eleanor Farjeon, one part Lord Dunsany, one part Vera Chapman, but mostly her unique self, Charlotte English is the first new (to me) writer to make me excited in a long, long time. Her faultless prose by turns ascends with the lark, leads you down secret paths like the willow-the-wisp, bewitches you into bewilderment, and sparkles with eye-bedazzling wonder, taking you at last to an enchanted ending that leaves you as drunk on words as her protagonists on ensorceled rose-wine. Please, milady, more!" - Mercedes Lackey

Distantly upon the horizon, bejewelled light shone like stars; tantalising, inviting. Then the palace-in-glass was gone, fading away into the velvet night like a snuffed lamp. Between the sands and the starlight, ancient powers rise, and the oldest of tales becomes new.  An old sorcerer travels the starlight bazaars: cursed and magic-blighted, he has glass where his heart should be. A half-jinni enchantress seeks her missing son: daughter of a fallen king, hers is a great and daunting power. A trio of camels walks the sands: loyal sisters in service, there is more to their past than meets the eye.   What unites these tales (and many more) is a marvel of sorcery and beauty: a great palace of ensorcelled glass, glimpsed only under the stars, and vanishing with the dawn... The third Wonder Tale from Charlotte E. English combines the magic and colour of ancient stories with her trademark wit and whimsy. A fresh journey into the strange lands of fairytales.

‘You may have noticed,’ said Maut, ‘that the Tree is on the move.’ On the edge of the town of Kottow stands the tallest (and oddest) Tree in the land. It’s a staid and solid arbour — until the Tree picks up its mighty old roots and wanders off, taking its resident band of misfits away with it. Whither goes the Tree? Not even the wizard can say. 'There is something mighty fey about all this, or my name ain't Diggory Stokey.' Far away from Kottow, a forest lies lost in the mists of a dream. There’s much to mend in this hoary old wood, for the Summer’s been swept from the glittering skies, and no one’s keeping an eye on the Winter... 'Enchanted forests,' Mudleaf spat. 'Bah. Like it's been raining magic this long age through.' The good folk of Kottow aren’t used to so wayward a magic — not even Maut Fey, the one with the sunlight behind her eyes. But magic will have its way with them, whether they will or no. Summertide’s waiting. Can the folk of the Tree bring it back, or will the wild magic wash them away? “If you mixed elements of the Faraway Tree, Narnia, Frozen and A Midsummer Night’s Dream together, you might get something like Summertide. Maybe.” — The Author ‘Almond tarts for her MAJESTY!’ someone else roared. ‘Apple ice-wine for her majesty!’ Praise for the Wonder Tales: “...large helpings of wit and whimsy... readers who enjoy the old-fashioned language of classic fairy tales will be pleased with this one.” - Publishers Weekly on Faerie Fruit “Her faultless prose by turns ascends with the lark, leads you down secret paths like the willow-the-wisp, bewitches you into bewilderment, and sparkles with eye-bedazzling wonder...” - NYT bestselling author Mercedes Lackey on Gloaming