For two years, England has been in the grip of Civil War. In Banbury, Oxfordshire, the Cavaliers hold the Castle, the Roundheads want it back and the town is full of zealous Puritans. Consequently, the gulf between Captain Justin Ambrose and Abigail Radford, the sister of a fanatically religious shopkeeper, ought to be unbridgeable. The key to both the fate of the Castle and that of Justin and Abigail lies in defiance ... but will it be enough?
A Splendid Defiance is a dramatic and enchanting story of forbidden love, set against the turmoil and anguish of the first English Civil War.

Though not a sequel to The Black Madonna, this novel is linked to it through character and taking place at the same time.

England, 1666; the year when people who take prophecy seriously believe that the world is going to end.
For Chloe Herveaux, marriage to wild, unpredictable Alex Deveril offers escape from a home she hates. For Alex, waking up with an epic hangover, the discovery that he has acquired a bride is an unwelcome shock. But while the marriage remains in name only, other forces are gathering.
England is once again at war with the Dutch and Prince Rupert suspects that sabotage is at work within the fleet. Instructed to find and stop the traitor, Alex enters a dark labyrinth of intrigue - where no life is safe and nothing is what it seems.
Chloe, meanwhile, navigates the shark-infested waters of Charles the Second's Court and plots a course of her own aimed at financial independence. But as the intriguing facets of Mr Deveril's personality are gradually revealed to her, Chloe's mock-marriage becomes fraught with difficulties - the greatest of which is Mr Deveril himself.
Absorbed in his search for a traitor, Alex spares little thought for his bride. But as the flames of the Great Fire sweep over London, Alex and Chloe face their ultimate test. Their world is at risk ... their choices may save it.

Meet Adam Brandon … acutely intelligent and master-swordsman but gradually realising that he isn’t yet ready for the future he had previously planned. Victim of a cruel deception, Camilla Edgerton-Foxe has a jaundiced view of the male sex and a tongue as sharp as her wits … but she also possesses an extraordinary talent. A peculiar encounter offers Adam the kind of employment for which he is uniquely suited and which will exercise his mind as well as his muscles. The fly in the ointment is that Miss Edgerton-Foxe comes with it … as does Rainham, viscount and master of disguise, with a frequently misplaced sense of humour. From Paris, via London, to the mists and mysteries of Romney Marsh, these three are sent on the trail of something darker and infinitely more dangerous than the kegs of brandy that come ashore at the dark of the moon.

B.R.A.G. Medallion honoree.
Max Brandon is receiving bills for services he never ordered and goods he did not buy. For reasons he can't begin to guess, someone is 'borrowing' his identity to cause him maximum annoyance.
When the games move closer to home, almost forcing him to fight a duel … more particularly, when they draw in Frances Pendleton, a lady he never expected to see again … Max vows to catch the man behind them, no matter what the cost.
The result is a haphazard chase involving ruined abbeys, a hunt for hermits, a grotesque portrait … and a love story which, but for this odd trick of fate, might never have been given a second chance.

Stella Riley's Rockliffe series has been recommended in The Times.
She is also the 2019 Readers' Favorite Gold Medallist for Historical Romance.

Lord and Lady Sarre cordially invite you to spend Christmas at Sarre Park …
Celebrate among old friends … and perhaps a gate-crasher or two. There will be wassailers and kissing-boughs; music, dancing and romance; laughter and some tears. And above all, expect the unexpected because at Christmas anything can happen.
So accept your invitation today for what promises to be the most talked-of house-party of 1778 … and is also a last Huzzah to the Rockliffe series.

2021 Book Excellence Awards Winner
B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
2019 Gold Winner of Readers' Favorite Annual Contest
Rockliffe Series recommended in THE TIMES

The performance finished in a flourish of technical brilliance and the young man rose from the harpsichord to a storm of applause.

Julian Langham was poised on the brink of a dazzling career when the lawyers lured him into making a catastrophic mistake. Now, instead of the concert platform, he has a title he doesn’t want, an estate verging on bankruptcy … and bewildering responsibilities for which he is totally unfitted.
And yet the wreckage of Julian’s life is not a completely ill wind. For Tom, Rob and Ellie it brings something that is almost a miracle … if they dare believe in it.
Meanwhile, first-cousins Arabella Brandon and Elizabeth Marsden embark on a daring escapade which will provide each of them with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The adventure will last only a few weeks, after which everything will be the way it was before. Or so they think. What neither of them expects is for it to change a number of lives … most notably, their own.
And there is an additional complication of which they are wholly unaware.
The famed omniscience of the Duke of Rockliffe.

As England slides into Civil War, master-goldsmith and money-lender, Luciano Falcieri del Santi embarks on his own hidden agenda.
A chance meeting one dark night results in an unlikely friendship with Member of Parliament, Richard Maxwell. Richard’s daughter, Kate – a spirited girl who vows to hold their home against both Cavalier and Roundhead – soon finds herself fighting an involuntary attraction to the clever, magnetic and diabolically beautiful Italian.
Hampered by the warring English and the quest itself growing daily more dangerous, Luciano begins to realise that his own life and that of everyone close to him rests on the knife-edge of success … for only success will permit him to reclaim the Black Madonna and offer his heart to the girl he loves.
From the machinations within Parliament to the last days of the King’s cause, The Black Madonna is an epic saga of passion and intrigue at a time when England was lost in a dark and bloody conflict.

Stella Riley is the 2019 Readers’ Favorite Gold Medallist for Historical Romance and proud to have been awarded five B.R.A.G. medallions.

In ancient Wales, two kings battle for their lives. In a land where battles can last decades, trouble is brewing and the stakes are high. The queen of the northern tribes has a new son and the king of the south has young Saxon bride.

At the heart of the conflict are the bishops, who are torn between their faith and their duty. Powerful knights and warlords see the opportunity to grow rich but know there the loser will pay a heavy price. This is a tale of love and sacrifice, soldiers and spies, heroes and assassins, who meet in the war to end all wars.

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The narrative faithfully also follows EVERY move in the queen sacrifice game, known as "The Game of the Century" between Donald Byrne and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer in New York City on October 17th, 1956.

"Set this chessboard and its pieces before your most learned men, to see if their intellects can fathom this subtle game." (Challenge from an Indian King)

Sir Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, is known of as the 'Kingmaker'. This is his story of medieval adventure, power and influence at the heart of one of the most dangerous times in the history of England.

Richard Neville is one of the wealthiest nobles in England but becomes a warrior knight, bravely protecting the north against invasion by the Scots. A key figure in what have become known as ‘the Wars of the Roses,’ he fights in most of the important battles. As Captain of Calais, he turns privateer, daring to take on the might of the Spanish fleet and becoming Admiral of England. The friend of kings, he is the sworn enemy of Queen Margaret of Anjou. Then, in an amazing change of heart, why does he risk everything to fight for her cause?

England, 1441. Lady Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, hopes to become Queen of England before her interest in astrology and her husband’s ambition leads their enemies to accuse her of a plot against the king. Eleanor is found guilty of sorcery and witchcraft. Rather than have her executed, King Henry VI orders Eleanor to be imprisoned for life.

More than a century after her death, carpenters restoring one of the towers of Beaumaris Castle discover a sealed box hidden under the wooden boards. Thinking they have found treasure, they break the ancient box open, disappointed to find it only contains a book, with hand-sewn pages of yellowed parchment…

Written in a code no one could understand, the mysterious book changed hands many times for more than five centuries, between antiquarian book collectors, until it came to me. After years of frustrating failure to break the code, I discover it is based on a long forgotten medieval dialect and am at last able to decipher the secret diary of Eleanor Cobham.

Can a servant marry a queen?

1422: Owen Tudor, a Welsh servant, falls in love with the Queen of England.
The beautiful Catherine of Valois, widow of the warrior king, Henry V, is lonely.... and her son, the future King Henry VI, shows signs of the family madness.
As the country simmers on the brink of civil war, will Owen risk everything to protect her?
Discover how they change British history – and establish a dynasty...
The Tudors.

Would you dare to defy King Henry VIII?

Mary Tudor watches her elder brother become King of England and wonders what the future holds for her.

Henry plans to use her marriage to build a powerful alliance against his enemies....

Will she risk his anger by marrying for love?

Will Mary’s loyalty to Henry be tested by the ambitious Boleyn family?

Based on actual events of courage, passion and adventure in the turbulent and dangerous world of the Tudor court.