Charles Hammerton

In a Philadelphia convent, two nuns battle it out to be elected to the position of head abbess, and neither is about to let anything stand in the way of getting what she wants.

Returning from her honeymoon with her husband, scholar Jorgen, the cold and manipulative Hedda Gabler is unmoved by the sacrifices he's made to provide her with an elegant home. But when she learns that Jorgen's rival for a university position, Ejlert, has made a surprising comeback with a recent publication, she's quick to push him back into his former alcoholism, steal the sequel to his book and even encourage the writer to kill himself.

The outbreak of World War I places Scots officer Geoffrey Richter-Douglas in an uncomfortable position. Although his allegiance is to Britain, his mother was from an aristocratic Bavarian family, and he spent his summers in Germany as a child. When Geoffrey is approached by a German spy who offers him a chance to defect, he reports the incident to his superiors, but instead of arresting the spy they suggest that he accept her offer--and become an Allied agent. In Germany, among old friends, Geoffrey discovers that loyalty is more complicated than he expected, especially when he finds himself aboard the maiden voyage of a powerful new prototype Zeppelin, headed for Scotland on a secret mission that could decide the outcome of the war.

Henry VIII of England discards his wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.