10 h 22 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the most valuable gift in a room full of secrets is the power to lift someone’s spirits?
In The Brightener, C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson bring together romance, polite society and a gentle mystery. Drawing rooms, manners and social ambition shape a world where appearances matter. Beneath its charm lies a question worth lingering over: how do people treat one another when they have something to hide?
The title points to the tale’s warm heart: a person with a gift for leaving others happier. Here, kindness is an art, set alongside the puzzles of society and the pull of romance. The Williamsons’ light, sociable touch invites you to enjoy the secrets without losing sight of the people who keep them.
What you’ll discover
- Secrets behind good manners Explore a polite social world where hidden pasts and guarded appearances give charm an edge.
- The art of kindness Consider the quiet skill of entering a room and leaving its people feeling lighter.
- Romance with a light touch Enjoy a warm, sociable tale that brings romantic feeling into a world of manners.
- A gentler kind of mystery Follow the appeal of secrets and puzzles without the pace of a violent thriller.
- Hope beneath the surface Find an inviting story where the way people treat each other matters alongside their secrets.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy a chatty heroine, country-house puzzles, cunning detective work and romance that sparkles with humour. It suits anyone who likes to guess the answer before the last chapter.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Princess loses everything in one night
- Spy Night at the Abbey comes first
- A clever old lady invents the Brightener
- Stolen heirlooms put two cousins under suspicion
- A coffin floats beside the yacht Naiad
- A fake advertisement catches a real princess
- Dun Moat hides something behind a baize door
- Joyce's cheerful manner hides sorrow
- Old loyalties shape Elizabeth's choices
Who’s who
- Elizabeth, Princess di MiramareA penniless young widow who turns her charm and wits into a career as a Brightener and solves mysteries along the way.
- Sir James CourtenayeA red-haired American baronet and former cowboy, her distant cousin, who rents the Abbey and keeps turning up when she needs help.
- Mrs. Caroline CarstairsThe lawyer's shrewd American wife who invents the profession of Brightener and plans her young friend's future.
- Roger FaneA quiet millionaire with a sad past who wants to marry Lady Shelagh Leigh despite her snobbish guardians.
- Terry BurnsA shell-shocked American flier whose interest in life returns when Elizabeth starts an elaborate joke with him.
- Joyce ArnoldA brave, gentle nurse and secretary who loves Robert Lorillard and sings in a sweet twilight voice.
- Rosemary BrandrethA beautiful woman in mourning who agrees to marry a dying man she once loved, while hiding a secret.
- Mr. SmithA cheerful private detective whom Elizabeth hires again and again to watch people and test her theories.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 22 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Il Brillante in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Il Brillante
by C. N. Williamson; A. M. Williamson · 1921
Penniless Princess Elizabeth hires out her charm to brighten troubled lives.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What do you do when you are twenty-one, a widow, and you do not have a penny? Mrs. Carstairs invents a job for Elizabeth, Princess di Miramare: she becomes a Brightener, paid to lift the lives of lonely and troubled people.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Princess loses everything in one night
The story opens in a secret arbor in a Roman garden. She soon learns that the princess is herself.
Her grandmother has died, and her husband Paolo, a prince she married only hours before he went back to the Front, has been killed in a plane crash. She also learns that she cannot pay for the funeral. Her grandmother had hoped a rich marriage would save the family and the Devonshire home, Courtenaye Abbey. The marriage brings her little, because Paolo dies before the entail on his castle is broken.
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What is The Brightener about?
It follows Elizabeth, a young widowed princess who earns her living as a Brightener, helping lonely and troubled people. Four linked adventures bring her into mysteries involving stolen heirlooms, a moated house and the private troubles of people she hopes to help.
What is a Brightener in the book?
A Brightener is a job invented by Mrs. Carstairs. A well-bred, charming woman lifts the spirits and social standing of lonely clients for a high fee, serving men from a safe distance and women as a gilded companion.
Who are Elizabeth and Sir James Courtenaye?
Elizabeth is the granddaughter of the owner of Courtenaye Abbey, left penniless after her husband and grandmother die. Sir James is her distant American cousin, a former cowboy. He rents the Abbey, and he helps her in each case.
The author
C. N. Williamson
1857–1920 · British novelist and motoring journalist
British writer and motoring journalist, novelist frequently as duo with wife A. M. Williamson.
More by C. N. Williamson; A. M. Williamson
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