In 1876, western men sweep mail-order brides off their feet as soon as they arrive in town, but not Isabel Grant. Capt. Pichon rejects her for being "a skinny, school-girl" and is left in town to wait three days for the next train. Sgt. John Webster delivers the news to her and is drawn to protect this porcelain doll. Isabel discovers her independence, but she finds out she doesn't have the legal right to be independent. Will she go back to a life of poverty? Will she be forced to marry? Will she be allowed to stay? Read about Isabel in Porcelain White.

1558. Elizabeth, the last of King Henry's heirs, is a traitor's daughter. Now, she is England's last hope. After five gruesome years, Bloody Mary is on her deathbed. She lives her sister Elizabeth a daunting inheritance: the throne of England. The bishops will not anoint a heretic. A foreign queen plots for the throne. And Englishmen and foreigners alike are starting to notice Elizabeth's growing infatuation for a man who spent his youth in a traitor's cell. And the people demand a prince to fill the empty throne by Elizabeth's side: a husband that may wrest away every morsel of her power. Tides are turning in England, and no one is safe. Not even the queen.

Emma Woodhouse, aged 20 at the start of the novel, is a young, beautiful, witty, and privileged woman in Regency England. She lives on the fictional estate of Hartfield in Surrey in the village of Highbury with her elderly widowed father, a hypochondriac who is excessively concerned for the health and safety of his loved ones. Emma's friend and only critic is the gentlemanly George Knightley, her neighbour from the adjacent estate of Donwell, and the brother of her elder sister Isabella's husband, John. As the novel opens, Emma has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor, her best friend and former governess. Having introduced Miss Taylor to her future husband, Mr. Weston, Emma takes credit for their marriage, and decides that she rather likes matchmaking.