Charlotte Lamb Books In Order

Publication Order of Barbary Wharf Books

Publication Order of Enemies & Lovers Books

Publication Order of Forbidden! Books

Publication Order of Man Talk Books

Publication Order of Pages & Privileges Books

Publication Order of Secrets Books

Publication Order of Sins Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Charlotte Lamb born Sheila Ann Mary Coates was an English author from Essex, England. She was born in 1937 just before the beginning of World War II and during her childhood was moved from home to home to avoid the London bombings. She then went to the Ursuline Girls Convent and graduated aged sixteen. After leaving the convent, she went on to work as a clerk at the Bank of England. Not satisfied with the education she had received at the convent, she educated herself by visiting the enormous library at the Bank of England after work and during her lunch breaks. Charlotte would then go on to find a job at the BBC, where she worked as a secretary and it was there that she met political reporter Richard Holland, who would later become her husband. Since she was such a voracious reader, her husband suggested that she should try her hand at writing a romance. It took three days to pen her first novel even with three children needing her attention. While she raised her five children that included a pair of twins, she penned several more titles. For her writings, she used both her maiden and married names Sheila Coates and Sheila Holland. She would publish “Follow a Stranger,” which was the first of her “Mills & Boon” series that she penned as Charlotte Lamb. She would also publish more titles under the nicknames Laura Hardy, Victoria Wolf, and Sheila Lancaster.

Charlotte made her name in romance writing as she revolutionized the genre. She was among the very first authors that explored sexual desire. She skirted the boundaries of sexual desire and this is evident in the aspects of the sexual revolution that are common in her novels that hark back to the 1970s. Lamb introduced then taboo subjects in romance fiction that included aspects of rape and child abuse even as she created dominant and confident heroines. She was also among the forerunners in the creation of the modern romantic heroine who is imperfect, independent, and perfectly capable of leading in a romantic or sexual relationship. Since she published “Prisoner of the Heart” in 1972, Lamb has become one of the most prolific authors in the romance genre with more than 160 novels in the “Enemies & Lovers,” “Barbary Wharf,” and “Sins” series alongside tons of single standing titles. Most of her novels have been “Mills & Boon” titles. Charlotte has said that it is her work ethic and skill in writing that has made it possible to be so prolific. Working from 9 am to 5 pm, she typically pens a minimum of 2000 words every day and at one time completed a full-length novel in less than a week at a more leisurely pace, she usually takes an average of a fortnight to complete her novels.

Since 1977, Charlotte Lamb has been living as a tax exile on the Isle of man alongside her children and husband. She passed on in 2000, in her home on the Island though her legacy still lives on among her fans and the romance fiction community at large. Several posthumous titles such as “Boardroom to Bedroom,” “A Notorious Rake,” and “The Wildest Rake” were published after her death.

Charlotte Lamb’s “Besieged” is the debut novel of the “Barbary Wharf” series of novels. The lead is Gina Tyrell, a woman who had known that Nick Caspian the media tycoon was trouble right from the time they met. He is one of the most handsome men she ever met, but she also knows that he is a dangerous and ruthless man who went for what he wanted. What he wanted at the moment was the company Barbary Wharf, that owned the most prestigious daily in London. He also wanted to acquire the “Sentinel” and lastly the woman named Gina who would prove a complication due to her loyalty to Sir George Tyrell. He has entrusted Piet van Leyden with trying to change her mind since he was desperate to get the paper before it died. But Piet never thought he would be charmed by Sir George’s assistant named Hazel Forbes that was so charming that it was inevitable that he would fall in love. The novel does not emphasize the romance instead focusing on the corporate wars between the established old company that is led by a scruffy and gruff old man and his granddaughter in law on one side versus the young, ruthless and shady corporate raider whose background is little known. Will Nick manage to gobble Barbary Wharf and add it to his many conquests or will the old established order remain?

Battle for “Possession” by Charlotte Lamb tells the story of Roz Amery. Once upon a time, she had been one of the best foreign correspondents though Danielle Bruneille her boss had never given her the chance to gain more experience. He is a man he had known from her teenage years as she had a huge crush on him at the time. Nonetheless, he had mocked her when she gathered the courage to kiss him as he thought she was too young to get into a relationship with him. They had been at odds in love and work since Sentinel is her boss at the foreign affairs office at the paper and Roz thinks him one of the most opinionated and arrogant men she ever met. But then she found herself in some kind of relationship with the man. How had that happened when their clashes at the Sentinel had become the stuff of legend just like those of Gina Tyrell and Nick Caspian at the London Daily. She knew that Gina and Nick’s war was still on but since Nick desperately wanted to control the Sentinel that was part of Barbary Wharf, she secretly hoped he wanted her too.

Lamb’s “Playing Hard to Get” is the story of Valerie Knight who believes she understands what commitment means. She works at the “Sentinel” as a feature writer and has always fought to write what she believes in. She is also cognizant of the fact that getting and writing a good story requires that one takes some risks. But while her commitment to her job is unquestioned, it is not so clear cut when it comes to her private life. She had been the target of a relentless pursuit by the paper’s financial editor Gib Collingwood. She obviously had a crush on him but also wants to keep her distance as she is not so sure she is ready to deal with the results of a dalliance with him. Could she just be emulating Gina Tyrell that had rejected the advances of Nick Caspian the Sentinel boss. Or maybe she was just playing hard to get.