Weekly ballet classes are Harriet Morton's only escape from her intolerably dull life. So when she is chosen to join a corps de ballet which is setting off on a tour of the Amazon, she leaps at the chance to run away for good. Performing in the grand opera houses is everything Harriet dreamed of, and falling in love with an aristocratic exile makes her new life complete. Swept away by it all, she is unaware that her father and intended fiancé have begun to track her down… A Company of Swans is a sweeping tale of romance, freedom and the beauty of dance from award-winning author, Eva Ibbotson

A collection of short stories by the author of Madensky Square reveals the writer’s ability to write funny and erudite historical fiction. Known for her neatly fashioned romance fiction, Ibbotson (Madensky Square) here collects 19 decorous stories of love gained and lost. With settings that range from the early 1990s to the present day, they generally feature surprise endings, some of them sadly contrived. In the title story, Max, a lawyer and confirmed bachelor in pre-WW I Vienna, attends the opera, where Helene, a singer of Wagnerian heft, is hurt in an onstage accident. She hires Max to file suit; they marry; later, Max takes a mistress. On his wife’s death he is free to marry his paramour, but Helene’s will dictates otherwise — she knew that forbidden fruit is sweetest. The London grocer in “Doushenka” is obsessed by Russia. Traveling to St. Petersburg, he falls in love with a young ballerina, but their relationship is ended by his sacrifice on her behalf, and for the rest of his life he must be content with the memories of his Great Love. A Great Love is the essential element in these old-fashioned tales, of which “Sidi” is the most celebratory-and blatantly sentimental. Eschewing the angst and alienation discussed in much contemporary fiction, Ibbotson offers leisurely details of a more genteel era whose passing she obviously laments. Her stories, however, are oversweet and ultimately cloying. Women who enjoy romantic fiction will enjoy these heartwarming stories, first published in Great Britain in 1984. Ibbotson concentrates on the infinite variety of Great Love-its discovery, development, recognition, loss, and denouement. Her characters, males and females of all ages and professions, are frequently seen during the Christmas season and in prewar Vienna and Russia. In many stories, people find and lose each other-often with an O. Henry twist. Ibbotson, a winner of the Romantic Novelists Association award, writes charmingly about love, forgiveness, loss, and happiness. Highly recommended

Beschreibung: Rick traut seinen Augen nicht, als eines Morgens etwas Rosiges, Durchsichtiges auf seinem Bett sitzt und behauptet, Humphrey der Schreckliche zu sein. Als die übrige Familie sichtbar wird, könnte man durchaus einen Schreck bekommen . Aber die Gespenster suchen bloß ein neues Zuhause, und täglich werden es mehr! Mit seiner Freundin Barbara startet Rick eine Aktion zur Rettung aller Geister, deren jahrhundertealte Spukstätten dem Fortschritt zum Opfer fallen. Die Autorin Eva Ibbotson wurde in Wien geboren und emigrierte 1933 als Kind mit ihren Eltern nach England. Sie studierte Physiologie an der Universität von London und ging danach als Wissenschaftlerin nach Cambridge. Dort lernte sie ihren Mann, einen Berufskollegen, kennen. Nach einigen Jahren in Bristol zog sie mit ihrer Familie nach Newcastle-upon-Type, wo sie heute noch lebt. »Irgendwann zwischen der Geburt ihres dritten und vierten Kindes« begann Eva Ibbotson zu schreiben, zuerst Kurzgeschichten und Beiträge für Frauenzeitschriften. Als die Kinder größer wurden, machte sie das Schreiben zum Beruf. Seitdem hat sie viele Bücher für Kinder und Erwachsene veröffentlicht, die in mehrere Sprachen übersetzt wurden. »Aktion Geisterrettung« ist nach »Hecky Hexe« und »Ein Spukschloß wandert aus« ihr drittes Buch im Erika Klopp Verlag. Titel der Originalausgabe »The Great Ghost Rescue« Macmillan Children's Books, London 1975

Europa am Ende der dreißiger Jahre: In diesen wirren Zeiten rettet der britische Professor Quinton Somerville das Leben der Wiener Studentin Ruth Berger durch eine Paßehe – die allerdings in England so schnell wie möglich wieder gelöst werden soll. Ruth indes träumt vom Wiedersehen mit ihrem Liebsten, einem vielversprechenden jungen Pianisten, der in Wien zurückblieb. Und Quin, der Professor, hat nichts als seine wissenschaftliche Karriere im Kopf. Verwirrt und entwurzelt, taucht Ruth in die Welt der Emigranten ein, wo sich der einstige Heldentenor als Butler durchschlägt, der Dichter Kaffeehauskellner wird und die Kunststudentin sich als Kammerzofe verdingt. Die unvorhergesehenen Entwicklungen nehmen ihren Lauf, als Ruth unverhofft einen Studienplatz an der Universität»ihres« Professors erhält, der verliebte Pianist aus Wien anreist und die Auflösung der Scheinehe, von der niemand weiß, sich langwieriger als gedacht gestaltet. Ruth und ihr Professor kommen sich bei all dem näher, als sie je für möglich gehalten hätten ... Ein zauberhafter Liebesroman, voller Wärme, Charme und Intelligenz, reich an ungewöhnlichen Charakteren und fesselndem Zeitkolorit. Originaltitel: The Morning Gift

Zu seinem 10. Geburtstag hat Henry auch dieses Jahr nur einen Wunsch: einen Hund. Aber seine reichen und vielbeschäftigten Eltern wollen davon nichts wissen. Henry bekommt bloß einen Leihhund fürs Wochenende – Fleck! Bei beiden ist es Liebe auf den ersten Blick. Als er Fleck wieder abgeben soll, flieht Henry kurzerhand – zusammen mit vier weiteren Hunden, die es satthaben, an irgendwelche Leute vermietet zu werden. Eine abenteuerliche Odyssee quer durch England zu Henrys Großeltern beginnt

For use in schools and libraries only. When the kindly old aunts decide they need help caring for creatures who live on their hidden island, they decide to kidnap a few children, since adults can’t be trusted

As long as stories and people have existed, parents have been telling cautionary tales to their children, warning them what might happen to them if they are nasty, reckless or just bad-mannered. But these are cautionary tales with a difference. True, the offenders have the usual vices — they are rude, snobbish, disobedient, aggressive and bossy — and are bound to come a cropper. But the way in which they get their comeuppance is ingenious in every case, and always has something to do with an imaginary monster. In these adventures you will be introduced to a Frid, a Kraken, a Boobrie and several other creatures populating Eva Ibbotson’s fertile mind

Eva Ibbotson’s magical novel; set in that most poignant of all times and places, Vienna before the First World War. Susanna’s dress shop stands in the delightful Madensky Square and is the very hub and heart of life. Susanna sympathizes with her neighbours, watches over Signi, the wretched, orphaned child prodigy, and with her infallible eye for dress, turns an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. Of all the colourful characters in Madensky Square, only her dear friend Alice has the slightest inkling that Susanna hides more than one secret. This hidden life full of passion and anguish gradually unfolds in a city of romance, music and gossip. ’Sunshine and shadows, laughter and tears… the grace and gaiety of a Viennese waltz’ Sunday Telegraph

Spring, 1922 — Tessa is a beautiful, tiny, dark-eyed princess — who’s given up her duties to follow her heart, working for nothing backstage at the Viennese opera. No one there knows who she really is, or that a fairytale castle is missing its princess, and Tessa is determined to keep it that way. But secret lives can be complicated. When a wealthy, handsome Englishman discovers this bewitching urchin backstage, Tessa’s two lives collide — and in escaping her inheritance, she finds her destiny…

All Hal ever wanted was a dog. Then his wealthy parents discover Easy Pets, a convenient dog-rental agency. Fleck arrives on Hal's birthday, but when Hal discovers that Fleck must be returned, he runs away-along with a group of joyfully escapees from Easy Pets

A hundred years ago, in the Himalayan peaks of Nanvi Dar, the daughter of an English earl is kidnapped by a huge hairy monster. In a secret valley Agatha Farlingham is introduced to a family of motherless yetis and devotes her life to their upbringing. She teaches them to speak, tells them stories and insists on polite manners. But as the decades pass, tourists come to the mountains, a hotel is built and yeti-hunters arrive. Agatha knows that there is one place in the world where they would be protected — her ancestral home at Farley Towers. When a boy and his sister stumble upon her hidden valley, she knows she has found the courageous people who will carry out her plan. The excited yetis are smuggled into the bridal suite at the hotel. A freezer lorry is waiting to put them into semi-hibernation on the long trip home. But the baby yak that has fallen in love with the youngest yeti foils the refrigeration plan and they set off on a hugely entertaining road trip half way…

Eva Ibbotson’s charming and warm-hearted tale, A Secret Countess was originally published as A Countess Below Stairs. Anna, a young countess, has lived in the glittering city of St Petersburg all her life in an ice-blue palace overlooking the River Neva. But when revolution tears Russia apart, her now-penniless family is forced to flee to England. Armed with an out-of-date book on housekeeping, Anna determines to become a housemaid and she finds work at the Earl of Westerholme’s crumbling but magnificent mansion. The staff and the family are sure there is something not quite right about their new maid — but she soon wins them over with her warmth and dedication. Then the young Earl returns home from the war — and Anna falls hopelessly in love. But they can never be together: Rupert is engaged to the snobbish and awful Muriel — and anyway, Anna is only a servant. Or so everybody thinks…