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By Marcia Willett. 2021
'We'll always be together, won't we?'Childhood friends and cousins Leo and Alice had imagined their whole lives playing out on…
their beloved Devon beach. But one night when they are teens, sitting on the sand beneath the stars, Alice tells Leo a secret that must never be shared with anybody else . . . then packs her bag and flees.Leo is left to build his own life - without Alice. He surrounds himself with other family and friends and on the whole is content and fulfilled. But he is left with a sense of what - or who - is missing. So decades later, when he receives a note from Alice asking if she can come home, he doesn't hesitate to agree.But as the stars align and their reunion draws near, Leo is left to consider their separation and what so many years apart means for a relationship solidified in youth and a secret which could affect the whole family.Praise for Marcia Willett:'A warm and engaging read.' Trisha Ashley, bestselling author of The Garden of Forgotten Wishes'A beautifully woven tale of families and their secrets...' Liz Fenwick, bestselling author of The Cornish House'Riveting, moving and utterly feel-good.' Daily Mail'Sweeping powers of description transport her readers to another time and place.' Rosanna Ley, author of The Orange GroveReaders love Starry, Starry Night:'Perfect comfort reading' *****'A very absorbing tale with lovely descriptions of the West Country' *****'Like meeting an old friend' ******** Don't miss Marcia's charming, festive novella, Christmas at the Keep - out now! ***By Various. 2009
A stunning new collection of short stories about motherhood, selected and introduced by Candice Brathwaite.______________'To describe my mother would be…
to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colours of a rainbow' MAYA ANGELOUThe story of motherhood is an endlessly rich one: it's one of love - and all the highs and lows that come with that world-turning emotion - and, in the purest sense, of life itself. Within these pages, some of the finest writers in the world explore motherhood in wildly varying modes, from single parenthood to sisters coparenting, from the deepest hardships to the biggest celebrations.Selected and introduced by Candice Brathwaite, author of I Am Not Your Baby Mother.Stories by Lydia Davis, Anita Desai, Mary Gaitskill, Tessa Hadley, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Irenosen Okojie, Casey Plett, Tabitha Siklos, Helen Simpson, Ali SmithBy Tobias Wolff. 1984
The Barracks Thief is the story of three young paratroopers waiting to be shipped out to Vietnam. Brought together one…
sweltering afternoon to stand guard over an ammunition dump threatened by a forest fire, they discover in each other an unexpected capacity for recklessness and violence. Far from being alarmed by this discovery, they are exhilarated by it; they emerge from their common danger full of confidence in their own manhood and in the bond of friendship they have formed.This confidence is shaken when a series of thefts occur. The author embraces the perspectives of both the betrayer and the betrayed, forcing us to participate in lives that we might otherwise condemn, and to recognize the kinship of those lives to our own.By Clare Chambers. 2020
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021'A WORD-OF-MOUTH HIT' Evening Standard 'A very fine book... It's witty and sharp…
and reads like something by Barbara Pym or Anita Brookner, without ever feeling like a pastiche'David Nicholls'Perfect'India Knight 'Beautiful' Jessie Burton'Wonderful'Richard Osman 'Miraculous'Tracy Chevalier 'A wonderful novel. I loved it'Nina Stibbe 'Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans 'This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I honestly don't want you to be without it'Lucy Mangan'Gorgeous... If you're looking for something escapist and bittersweet, I could not recommend more' Pandora Sykes'Remarkable... Small Pleasures is no small pleasure'The Times'An irresistible novel - wry, perceptive and quietly devastating'Mail on Sunday'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian'An almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' The Sunday Times 1957, the suburbs of South East London. Jean Swinney is a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and - possibly - happiness. But there will, inevitably, be a price to pay.Book of the Year for: The Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Daily Express, Metro, Spectator, Red Magazine and Good HousekeepingBy Megan Rogers. 2023
Layla Byrnes is exhausted. She's juggling a demanding job as an anaesthetist, a disintegrating marriage, her young kids, and a…
needy lover. And most particularly she's managing her histrionically unstable mother, who repeatedly threatens to kill herself. But this year, it's different. When her mother rings just before Christmas, she doesn't follow the usual script. Instead, she tells Layla that there's something she needs to tell her about her much-loved father. In response, Layla drops everything to rush to her childhood home on the wild west coast of Tasmania. She's determined to finally confront her mother - and find out what really happened to her father - and lay some demons to rest.By Funso Aiyejina. 2021
The latest release from Caribbean publisher Peekash Press celebrates some of the major new voices in Anglophone Caribbean literature. Difficult…
parents and lost children, unfaithful spouses and spectral lovers, mysterious ancestors and fierce bloodlines--the stories, poems, and memoirs in this new anthology tackle everything that’s most complicated and thrilling about family and history in the Caribbean. Collecting new writing by finalists for the Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize, a groundbreaking award administered by the Bocas Lit Fest, Thicker Than Water shows us how a new generation of Caribbean authors address perennial questions of love, betrayal, and memory in small places where personal and collective histories are often troublingly intertwined. From the Introduction by Funso Aiyejina: "Thicker Than Water confirms that the Caribbean is blessed with quietly penetrating, effortlessly urbane, and socially committed prose writers; environmentally passionate and historically anchored creative nonfiction writers; and thematically courageous and stylistically daring poets who manipulate language to create poetry that is daring, engaging, fluent, and confident. These are writers who are emotionally complex and critically engaged. They are the heirs to a multistoried and multifaceted Caribbean literary tradition that is as multichromatic and multilayered as its complicated history. These writers boldly engage with a Caribbean that is not constrained by its clichéd images of sea, sun, and sand. They are products of their history but they are not hog-tied by it. Here are writers who see what many do not see and dare to speak what many fear to think.” Featuring brand-new writing from: Lisa Allen-Agostini, Nicolette Bethel, Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, Vashti Bowlah, Richard Georges, Zahra Gordon, Barbara Jenkins, Lelawatee Manoo-Rahming, Ira Mathur, Diana McCaulay, Sharon Millar, Monica Minott, Philip Nanton, Xavier Navarro Aquino, Shivanee Ramlochan, Judy Raymond, Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Lynn Sweeting, and Peta-Gaye V. Williams.By Louise Allen. 2019
Once secluded in her father’s castle, a young lady is finally ready for society as a marriage of convenience leads…
to true passion in this Regency romance.Cloistered away in a castle since birth, Madelyn Aylmer is unfamiliar with the ways of Regency London. But now she must venture out into the world and fulfill her eccentric father’s dying request: that she wed nobleman Jack Ransome! Though Jack may have a title, the fortune that once came with it was lost long ago. Now, to regain his ancestral lands, he agrees to a marry Madelyn and vows to introduce her to society. But what Madelyn hadn’t expected was the way her body reacts to Jack, especially to his promise of a union filled with unbridled passion!By Lydia Kwa, Sheung-King, Eddy Tan, Bingji Ye, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Isabella Wang, Yilin Wang, Sam Cheuk, Anna Kaye. 2023
By Robbie Arnott. 2022
Ned West dreams of sailing across the river on a boat of his very own. To Ned, a boat means…
freedom - the fresh open water, squid-rich reefs, fires on private beaches - a far cry from life on Limberlost, the family farm, where his father worries and grieves for Ned's older brothers. They're away fighting in a ruthless and distant war, becoming men on the battlefield, while Ned - too young to enlist - roams the land in search of rabbits to shoot, selling their pelts to fund his secret boat ambitions. But as the seasons pass and Ned grows up, real life gets in the way. Ned falls for Callie, the tough, capable sister of his best friend, and together they learn the lessons of love, loss, and hardship. When a storm decimates the Limberlost crop and shakes the orchard's future, Ned must decide what to protect: his childhood dreams, or the people and the land that surround him...By Ann Patchett. 2019
Danny Conroy grows up in the Dutch House, a lavish mansion. Though his father is distant and his mother is…
absent, Danny has his beloved sister Maeve: Maeve, with her wall of black hair, her wit, her brilliance. Life is coherent, played out under the watchful eyes of the house's former owners in the frames of their oil paintings. Then one day their father brings Andrea home. Though they cannot know it, her arrival to the Dutch House sows the seed of the defining loss of Danny and Maeve's lives. The siblings are drawn back time and again to the place they can never enter, knocking in vain on the locked door of the past. For behind the mystery of their own exile is that of their mother's: an absence more powerful than any presence they have known.By Kimberly Holt. 1998
Louisiana, 1950s. Twelve-year-old Tiger Ann Parker begins to feel embarrassed in front of the other kids about the "slowness" of…
her parents. Her grandmother is the one who keeps the family intact. After Granny dies, Tiger has a chance to move to the city with her sophisticated aunt, but she is reluctant to abandon the parents who love her. For grades 6-9By Gloria Whelan. 2006
Michigan, 1942. With their parents working for the war effort, Mirabelle and her siblings travel to live with their grandparents…
on Turtle Island. Fourteen-year-old Belle is resentful when her more sophisticated fifteen-year-old cousin Caroline joins them, but during the summer they become real family. For grades 6-9. 2006By Elmore Leonard. 2007
Federal marshal Carl Webster, from Hot Kid (DB 60336, BR 16125), travels to Detroit in 1944 to search for escaped…
German POWs. Webster interviews beautiful Honey Deal, the divorced wife of Nazi meatcutter Walter Schoen, and investigates Ukrainian spy Vera Mezwa. Strong language and some violence. 2007By Gary D. Schmidt. 2007
Long Island, 1967. Seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood knows that Mrs. Baker "hates his guts" because she would have Wednesday afternoons free…
if he went to catechism or Hebrew school like his classmates. Mrs. Baker worries about her husband in Vietnam and introduces a reluctant Holling to Shakespeare. For grades 5-8. Newbery Honor. 2007From rags to riches By the earl’s side! Abandoned as a small child, Annabelle Smith has only vague memories of…
her past. Now living as a healer in London’s poverty-stricken East End, she receives a life-changing visit from the rich and imposing Lytton Staines, Earl of Thornton. He needs a cure for his ailing sister and helping him thrusts Belle into his dazzling life of luxury. But it’s Lytton who makes her world come alive! Gentlemen of Honor miniseries Book 1 — A Night of Secret Surrender Book 2 — A Proposition for the Comte Book 3 — The Cinderella Countess “Sophia James again delivers a truly wonderful love story filled with adventure and surprising twists”—Goodreads on A Night of Secret Surrender “A full-throttle ‘noir Regency’, this is the sort of read I hope for when Harley advertises a broken heroine, a dark hero, and a perilous romance”—Goodreads on A Proposition for the ComteBy Christine Merrill. 2018
If the truth comes out… …there will be scandal! In this Those Scandalous Stricklands story, Hope Strickland must find the…
lost items of her family’s estate. Mysterious Gregory Drake, expert at fixing the problems of the aristocracy, is hired to help. As they embark on the search, Hope finds herself drawn to the handsome stranger. He may not be a gentleman, but Hope’s tempted to put aside her marriage prospects for a forbidden night—in Gregory’s bed! Those Scandalous Stricklands miniseries Book 1 — A Kiss Away From Scandal Look out for the next book, coming soon! “Readers will enjoy the strong characters, swift pace, lively wit and the wickedly fun escapades that stubborn lovers can get into” — RT Book Reviews on “Her Christmas Temptation” in Regency Christmas Wishes “Merrill pens another winner” — RT Book Reviews on The Wedding GameBy Kirby Larson. 2014
When her family is forced into a Japanese internment camp, Mitsi Kashino is separated from her home, her classmates, and…
her beloved dog, Dash. Heartbroken, Mitsi clings to her one connection to Dash: the letters from the kindly neighbor who is caring for him. For grades 3-6. 2014By Kirby Larson. 2016
New Orleans, 1940s. Polio-survivor Fish Elliot and his neighbor Olympia team up in order to save a starving stray dog…
they call Liberty, and they find other unlikely allies willing to help. For grades 3-6. 2016By Deborah Rodriguez. 2023
THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF KABUL, THE BESTSELLER THAT CAPTURED THE HEARTS OF MILLIONS WORLDWIDE Kabul,…
August 2021 Sunny Tedder is back in her beloved coffee shop. After eight years away, she's thrilled to reunite with her Kabul 'family': Yazmina now runs a pair of women's shelters from the old cafe, and dreams of a bright future for her two young daughters. Her sister Layla has become an outspoken women's rights activist and, thanks to social media, is quite the celebrity. Kat, Sunny's friend from America, is wrapping up her year-long stay in the land of her birth, but is facing some unfinished business. And finally there's elderly den mother Halajan, whose secret new hobby is itself an act of rebellion. Then the US troops begin to withdraw - and the women watch in horror as the Taliban advance on the capital at ferocious speed...Set against the terrifying fall of Kabul in 2021, Deborah Rodriguez concludes her bestselling Little Coffee Shop trilogy with a heart-stopping story of resilience, courage and, most importantly, hope.Praise for Deborah Rodriguez'Eye-opening and uplifting' - Grazia 'Restores belief in humanity' - Daily Telegraph 'Heart-warming' - Cosmopolitan'Beguiling' - Woman 'Captivating and addictive' - Take a Break'Full of heart and intelligence' - Look MagazineBy Deborah Rodriguez. 2023
THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF KABUL, THE BESTSELLER THAT CAPTURED THE HEARTS OF MILLIONS WORLDWIDE Kabul,…
August 2021 Sunny Tedder is back in her beloved coffee shop. After eight years away, she's thrilled to reunite with her Kabul 'family': Yazmina now runs a pair of women's shelters from the old cafe, and dreams of a bright future for her two young daughters. Her sister Layla has become an outspoken women's rights activist and, thanks to social media, is quite the celebrity. Kat, Sunny's friend from America, is wrapping up her year-long stay in the land of her birth, but is facing some unfinished business. And finally there's elderly den mother Halajan, whose secret new hobby is itself an act of rebellion. Then the US troops begin to withdraw - and the women watch in horror as the Taliban advance on the capital at ferocious speed...Set against the terrifying fall of Kabul in 2021, Deborah Rodriguez concludes her bestselling Little Coffee Shop trilogy with a heart-stopping story of resilience, courage and, most importantly, hope.Praise for Deborah Rodriguez'Eye-opening and uplifting' - Grazia 'Restores belief in humanity' - Daily Telegraph 'Heart-warming' - Cosmopolitan'Beguiling' - Woman 'Captivating and addictive' - Take a Break'Full of heart and intelligence' - Look Magazine