Showing results for "Girl" in Small Town & Rural

When five-year-old Elsie Button was snatched from a garden in a sleepy town on the Welsh island of Anglesey, and a local man later confessed, it sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community. How could one of their own do such a thing? Especially when his own little girl was the same age – and the victim's best friend. Kathryn and her family left under the cloak of darkness one night, unable to bear the shame, and the anger of their neighbours. She hardly remembers that time. Now, she suffers the consequences of living under an assumed name, always looking over her shoulder.

Claire’s little sister Holly has been working on the millionaire’s playground of Martha’s Vineyard, going to barefoot beach parties and flirting with the local rich kids. But now she’s missing and none of the locals seem to care, including the police. They think a message Claire received is proof she’s safe. But Claire knows for a fact that her sister didn’t send it. What will she have to risk to find out the truth? Who are the locals protecting? And what does it have to do with another girl who went missing five years ago?

The arrival of Thomas Campbell and his elder brother has the small village of Beauford astir. Not only is Thomas tall, dark, and handsome, he is also rumored to be a most notorious rake. Miss Claire Gardner is young, innocent, and completely infuriating. Yet given an opportunity, Thomas can't help teaching the headstrong beauty a lesson in desire.

Brought to you by Penguin. The girl in the lake was never supposed to be found. When her body surfaces in the frozen waters of Cayuga Lake, a note left on the body turns Brendan Holmes from private investigator to prime suspect. With his name on the line and a deadly adversary closing in, Holmes...

In the 1970s, the girls were best friends sharing a house and good times: Zara, the famous diva actor; Val, the uptight solicitor; Jackie, the wild child and Pauline, the quirky introvert. Now they're in their twilight years, and Zara suggests that they live with her to support each other through old age. Initially, being housemates again is just as much fun as in their heyday. But then Zara reveals the real reason she asked them to move in with her, and suddenly things take a sinister turn.

A beautifully controlled and powerful story of love and conscience, will and desire which begins when a mysterious young girl arrives to take up a post at the seedy H-tel du Lion d'Or in a small French town in the mid-1930s. The Girl at the Lion d'Or is the first book in Sebastian Faulks' French...

How could things have gone so wrong between Syl Jameson and Viola Harrison? Syl and Viola are like sisters growing up in the small, stifling town of Love Hill. Though they are as different as light and dark, they connect. And for Syl, Viola’s family is a warm refuge away from the unaffectionate place that Syl calls home. But the reality is Syl can get a little needy and jealous. Viola can get a little toxic. And, like everyone in Love Hill, they have secrets. Eventually their friendship is bound to snap.

Eleven years ago, Maple Close was scarred by a horrific crime. Three teenage girls who lived on the secluded cul-de-sac were mutilated and killed in what became known as The Wise Monkey Murders. Their neighbour, seventeen-year-old Zara, was found guilty. Now, true-crime podcaster Daisy retreats to her grandfather's home on the close, following a brutal attack. Reluctantly, Daisy begins to dig into the dark history of Maple Close and its residents for a new podcast series... and soon uncovers secrets that were buried for a reason. Someone is watching her. Someone knows she's getting too close.

When octogenarian sisters-in-law Sadie and Bronagh find themselves at the centre of a scandalous (and slightly explosive) bake-off fiasco, there’s only one thing to do – steal Sadie’s grandson’s gleaming red Ferrari and make a run for it. Sadie is the practical one, all cardigans and contingency plans. Bronagh treats rules as loose suggestions – especially if mischief or wine is involved. What begins as a quick getaway across Ireland soon spirals into a wild, cross-country adventure filled with fake identities, unexpected friendships, and more than a few brushes with the law.

Everyone loves Summer Ryan. A model student and musical prodigy, she's a ray of light in the struggling small town of Grace, Alabama - especially compared to her troubled sister, Raine. Then Summer vanishes. Raine throws herself into the investigation, aided by a most unlikely ally, but the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous her search becomes. And perhaps there was always more to Summer than met the eye . . .

When nineteen-year-old Andrea Jacobsen agreed to participate in a Selecta-run training program after being fired from her job, she didn't realize that the corporation would be assuming guardianship over her... or that she'd be sent to live in a small town where naughty girls are corrected the old-fashioned way. But as her panties are taken down for a much-needed lesson over her newly assigned guardian's knee, it isn't just being bared and spanked with several handsome suitors watching that leaves Andrea blushing crimson.

Vee is nervous about returning to the village of Willowbrook. Not only is Dragonfly Cottage – the house her late mum left her – in need of a total refurb, but the neighbours still remember Vee as a troublesome teen, even though she’s now in her fifties. Luckily, Vee’s quickly swept up by the Saga Louts, three irrepressible women whose friendship, humour and zest for life prove impossible to resist. With Rick, the handsome local handyman who’s helping to renovate the cottage also at her side, Vee begins to feel like it’s never too late to start again.

Nineteen-year-old Roisin McGinley dreams of joining the herring gutter girls in Ballycuan and earning vital money for her family. But when her parents and formidable grandmother forbid it without explanation, Roisin defies them and sets off determined to forge her own path. Billeted with the stern Mrs Fitzsimons, Roisin soon feels she’s traded one set of rules for another, especially with Killian, the landlady’s taciturn fisherman son, glowering in every doorway. Yet as she gets to know him, Roisin glimpses the gentler man behind Killian’s stormy exterior, and a tender connection sparks.

When Alex arrives in Provincetown to patch things up with his new wife, Mina, he finds an empty wine glass in the sink, her wedding ring on the desk, and a string of questions in her wake. The police believe that Mina, a successful romance author, simply left, their marriage crumbling before it truly began. But what Alex finds in their empty cottage points him toward a different reality: Mina has always carried a secret. And now she's disappeared.

It’s the 1960s in North Carolina, and Lorraine Delford has it all—an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and an idyllic home complete with a white picket fence. Yet every time she looks through her father’s telescope, she dreams of leaving it all behind to go to space. It’s ambitious, but Lorraine has always been exceptional.

Tel Aviv, 1970. Mati Netaim's life is turned upside down when she loses her parents in a terrible car crash. Reeling from the loss, she arrives at their home in the moshav, prepared to pack up a life full of happy memories. But when she looks inside her mother's drawer, she finds more than happy memories—she finds something that will change her life forever. Inside an innocent-looking envelope, yellowed with age, Mati finds a photograph of a man she does not recognize, holding a baby girl who has Mati's own blue eyes.

Brought to you by Penguin. From the Sunday Times bestselling author Nancy Revell. When Lucy’s estranged mother dies unexpectedly, her grief is overwhelming. Lucy was disowned when she married penniless horse-trainer Danny for love, leaving her blue-blooded family’s fortune in tatters. But...

When war breaks out, Rose Flaherty is eager to do her bit. Swapping city life in Birmingham for the fields of Somerset, she joins the Land Army to help keep Britain fed. But life on the farm is tough, the work backbreaking – and the farmer’s son, Jimmy, isn’t exactly welcoming. An accident in the orchard brings Rose into the path of nurse Daisy and ATS clerk Elsie, and soon the three girls form an unbreakable bond. But even their quiet corner of the countryside can’t escape the shadow of war.

When, at the age of 71, Gina Knight's husband of four decades left her unexpectedly, she thought her life over. Until she met Dorothy Reed – a woman so full of the joie de vivre you'd think she was 21, not nearly 90. Gina would do anything for Dorothy. So when Dorothy suggests she take on the role of companion for one of Dorothy's old friends, Gina sees no reason to say no.

1941. The Blitz rages over London. And even in Cornwall, the war is being fought. When Violet loses her sister in the Blitz, she must take her nieces to safety in Cornwall. On the coast, she meets carefree chorus girl Eva, who is also running from the dangers of London. But Porthcurno hides a secret military base, and soon Violet and Eva realise there’s a battle to fight in Cornwall, too. Together with local Hazel, who works on the base, they must come together to help the war effort. But will their friendship be enough to keep them safe?