Its New York, 1924, and Prohibition is in full swing, which means so is the Mafia. Grace Hanson is a seventeen year old that's just graduated from high school, waiting for her life to begin. In the meantime, she lives with her father, Dr. George Hanson. Unfortunately, her father has gotten himself into a bit of a tough situation. To get him out of it, Grace makes an agreement with some dangerous men: Her marriage for her father's life. Now Grace has been thrust deep into the world of the underground mafia. Trying to catch her bearings, and cope with her new husband, Luca, and his family of criminals may prove to be too much for her.

Lady Helena Rowley's fate was sealed before she was born. As the only child of the powerful Earl of Alverton, it is her duty to marry well - a duty she intends to fulfil, even if that means leaving the man she truly loves behind. But then recently-orphaned Mary Thorpe arrives at Alverton Hall, throwing Helena's plans into total disarray. Loud, blunt and clumsy, Mary is everything a lady shouldn't be, despite Helena's desperate attempts to conceal Mary's peculiar behaviour from their esteemed neighbours. As if things couldn't get any worse, Mary has a secret - and when the truth is revealed, Helena's life will be turned completely upside-down. Plunged headfirst into an adventure that will take her a world away from the quiet, orderly life she knows, Helena will have no choice but to place her trust in the wild young girl. Forced to be independent for the first time in her life, Helena might just begin to realise that a lady's fate is her own to decide. #43 in Historical Fiction on 02/07/2017.

#WATTYS2017 Winner - HIGHEST RANKING # 5 - DOWNTON ABBEY meets Libba Bray's THE DIVINERS in this YA Historical Fantasy set in 1922 England. Unlike all the Debutantes she knows, eighteen-year-old Vita couldn't care less about her coming out ball. Trapped in her gloomy country estate, all she wants is to spend the summer dancing to jazzy numbers in East End clubs with her best friend Izzy. Freshly returned from a year abroad, Izzy is ready for the thrill of the London Season, with its endless whirl of balls, shopping sprees and horse races. Most importantly, she's counting on Vita to help her find the rich and handsome husband every high society girl deserves. But when Vita is kidnapped and found barely alive in an East London alleyway, the carefree summer the girls had planned turns into something much stranger than they could ever have imagined. With flappers turning up dead all over the city, and Vita terrified of hybrid monsters she swears she can see lurking in Mayfair's marbled houses, Izzy can't help noticing that darkness is seeping into their lives. As Vita starts to believe she's turning into a monster herself, Izzy suspects her friend's sanity is slipping away. Both girls have to find out what's happening before they lose their friendship and status, and their crowd of Bright Young Things becomes a thing of the past. *** A Wattpad Featured Story from 16/02/17 to 25/07/17 HIGHEST RANKING: # 5 on the Wattpad Historical Hot List *** THE BRIGHT AND THE LOST Pinterest Board: http://uk.pinterest.com/emcastellan/the-bright-and-the-lost/ *** Cover designer: Amalia Chitulescu *** Copyright © 2016. All works posted here are the property of EM Castellan. Please do not use without permission. Any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

In a world where jugglers entertain on the street, a boy loses his parents in a factory fire. Taken from the Lower East Side to New England, Harry is abandoned at The Elizabeth Home for Destitute Children. In Theda Bara’s Tent follows the spirited boy’s quest for love and prosperity. He finds comfort at the movies and is befriended by the young theater owner, Louie, who will one day become a Hollywood legend. The orphanage closing is the beginning of Harry’s adventures in a wider world. He encounters screen stars, Tin Pan Alley song pluggers, bootleggers, dare-devil cameramen, movie moguls, and a young gossip columnist who steals his heart. Rich in historical context, with a cast of characters real and imagined from the movies’ early days, this page-turner follows Harry Sirkus as he makes a mark in the flourishing film industry and goes on to become a famous news broadcaster. Harry’s personality is so captivating and vivid readers will be hard-pressed to remember that the author made him up.

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION In 1955, mixed-race Ethan Harper leaves his progressive hometown for a summer in Alabama where he's not welcome, except by resident free spirit, Juniper Jones. ***** After getting himself into a bout of trouble, 16-year-old Ethan Harper's parents send him to Ellison, Alabama, to live with his aunt and uncle for the summer. But the year is 1955, and Alabama is a far cry from his beloved home of Arcadia, Washington. As much as it's hotter in temperature, it's colder in every other way, and Ethan learns the hard way that people see his mere existence as a threat. Amidst all the mayhem, a fiery, free-spirited, oddball walks into Ethan's life. Her name is Juniper Jones. She is the first person in Ellison who seems unfazed by their racial differences, and she promises to give Ethan a summer he will always remember, filled with endless adventure and discovery. With Juniper, Ethan can breathe, he can be, despite the incessant attention and bullying their newly formed friendship attracts. Can the two survive the summer, run in the light and block out the noise of the outside world? [Published version comes out June 16, 2020 with Wattpad Books!] [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]

She never wanted anything more than to be loved, but providence had something else in store for the young Beatrice Fisher. Orphaned and then adopted by the Lee Family of Virginia, she looked to have a life filled with happiness, but when her friend Nathan Hale steps back into her life and the taxes spark the battles of Lexington and Concord, her life will never be the same. She finds herself at the epicenter of the British Empire when she agrees to spy for the Continental Commander George Washington and is almost swept off her feet by the handsome and charming John André. Her adventures don't cease with the Battle of Yorktown. Thrown back into regular life with haunting images of her past, Bea finds herself needing to settle down. With her dear friends embroiled in politics, Bea finds herself in a dizzying waltz in a brand new world filled with new faces and excitement, but can she find the one thing she wants most of all? Can she find love amid the scandal and frightening pace of her new life or will her greatest nightmare of being unloved and alone finally be realized?

Set in Lille, France, in the years leading up to the second world war, Of Silence tells the story of a boy, Charles, and six other people - a baker, a teacher, a tailor, a hostage, an actress, and a soldier. The plot follows Charles from the day he's found on the streets of Lille as a young boy, as he grows and learns to love, and finally, as he's caught in a series of tragic events that shatter into dire consequences. Filled with prose, growth, and a little bit of romance, Of Silence is a compelling read that draws the reader in and doesn't let them go until it's all over. highest rank: #1 in historical fiction || wattpad featured 250516 || yourstoryindia finalist || cc2k15 honorable mention

(Featured Story 2016 & 2017) Oregon, 1940s: Eve Miller, a young war widow, rebels against the ordinariness of womanhood in the post-war era. Eve is enlightened as she succumbs to the sensual temptation of an adulterous affair. In its aftermath, Eve Miller's life unravels and leads to unexpected violence and moral isolation. Exuberance Is Beauty, is a contemporary interpretation of Adam and Eve's biblical allegory and Eve's fall into desolation. The story examines the consequence of erotic obsession and the repentance the female protagonist must pay for her sins of the flesh. Exuberance Is Beauty has been described as "an intense psychological thriller," "hauntingly beautiful," and "terrifying." WHAT WATTPADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT JEFF: * controlling, heartless, psychopath man! * I really don't like Jeff, he's a bully and controlling her life. * Manipulation then seduction, a typical narcissist. Poor Eve. * Jeff is such an evil narcissistic...I bet he does mistreat his wife...physically and threatening to dump her if she doesn't back his projects and that he has had affairs regularly...It will all come out eventually. I just loathe him WHAT WATTPADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT EVE: *Why do I feel Jeff will ruin her chance of happiness? * I am trying to understand Eve but to be sincere I just cant. Jeff's behaviour is disgusting but it was wrong for her to follow him to his bed. I understand that she feels she now has control over her life but I just have this bizarre fear that she'd go back to him again, it seem as if they are obsessed and dats not love * I felt bad for her knowing that the only reason for all of this is a man- a controlling, heartless, psychopath man! * She didn't deserve any of this * What a frightening life this character led. I only hope some of the women that were tortured during this time frame were able to recover to some degree

Nadia, orphaned by the first Vigilant Men uprising, is taken in by Mr. Lennox, an ominous man with a vision to create the most stunning ballet company in existence. He teaches the already talented girl to dance like an unearthly creature, bestowing upon her almost magical powers of a most breathtaking kind. However, as he builds the famous Lennox Company, the uprising once again stirs the nation, and the opulent ballet finds itself out of place in the new and austere culture of the Vigilant Men. Throughout it all, Nadia falls in love with her partner, Ferdinand, a famous young dancer who awakens her long silent heart. A jealous Lennox, the growing civil unrest, and a nation at war conspire to separate the dancers forever. Nadia must find a strength inside of her to brave her new world and fend for herself against the coming of an uncertain future.

Clara Massey has loved Jack Devereux, the younger of the two Devereux brothers, since childhood and dreams of the day they are to wed. Her father has arranged their marriage, a union she believes befitting and fated since youth, but after her mother dies of consumption and she is sent to a prestigious Boarding School for Young Ladies, time has wrought certain changes that she is ill-prepared to handle, changes that could potentially wreck havoc on her winsome heart. Jon Devereux is reputedly a scoundrel and considered a notorious rake among the London masses, but their colored opinions of him have not swayed his incorrigible ways, in fact, they simply fuel them all the more, dubbing him London's Devil. He has little interest in matrimony and honors his lecherous ways, until he sets eyes on his Massey brat and is riveted by the stunning beauty she's become. Clara is not the slightest bit surprised to learn that Jon Devereux, her childhood tormentor, is London's very devil himself. She recalls nothing but his brusque manners and incessant taunts, yet he is anything but the unruly boy she remembers and vows to steer clear of London's Devil, but she would soon learn that Jon Devereux is a creature of habit and fully intends to thwart her every whim. She is certain he is nothing more than an impish cad of libertine ways, but when plans go awry and secrets are disclosed leaving Clara with a discarded, broken heart - she will later discover an unwarranted love for the unlikeliest of suitors.