Mercedes Kelly: 5 books

When London journalist Laura inherits her grandmother's cottage in a rural Cornish fishing village, her eccentric neighbours waste no time in getting her to join their bizarre games. Everyone knows their neighbours' business, and when Laura strikes up an affair with a rugged young fisherman, you can...

Floradora is a lion tamer in a Mexican circus. She inhabits a curious and colourful world of trapeze artists, snake charmers and hypnotists. When her father dies owing a lot of money to the circus owner, the dastardly Lorenzo, Flora's life is about to change. Lorenzo and his accomplice - the...

Janet McKinnon has been incarcerated in the Sultan's harem for two years. Rosemary McKinnon has recently joined her. Both women were married to a handsome but dissolute Scottish missionary based in Kenya, whose sexual tastes ran contradictory to his religious calling. Mathilde Valentine is...

Princess Angeline lives on a paradise island in the South Seas. Married to Prince Hari and accepted into the native culture, she has a life of sensual fulfilment which she shares with her hedonistic friends. When Hari's gorgeous young manservant, Adam, is kidnapped and taken to nearby Monkey Island,...

From the cabinets of wonderof the Renaissance to the souvenir collections of today, selecting, accumulating, and organizing objects are practices that are central to our notions of who we are and what we value. Collecting, both private and institutional, has been instrumental in the consolidation...