Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Animals

Hettie and Tilly are summoned to a mysterious tea party hosted by Tilly's long-lost great-aunts. The ancient windmill they live in is not what it seems, and very soon the mill begins to reveal its terrifying secrets of murder and betrayal. Tilly must face her family's demons as Hettie fights to unravel the tragedies of the past. Who are the hippy cats camped in the field? Why do the walls of the windmill whisper at night? And who haunts the derelict priory? Will Hettie and Tilly have the wind blown out of their sails before this baffling case is brought to a grinding conclusion?

Following the deaths of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns from sixty years in Australia to the English village of her childhood. Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss. Helen retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and habit. Then, one cold autumn night, a chance encounter with an abandoned pet mouse on the street outside her house sets Helen on a surprising journey of friendship, and a way back into life itself.

Hillside Farm, nestled in the rolling hills of the Welsh countryside, is a safe haven for Ella. Living on the remote farm, with just horses and her aunt Bron for company, Ella thinks she has finally found a place where she can forget her past and find peace. But the arrival of a small girl called Hope and her father, Harry, changes everything. As Ella helps the pair come to terms with their loss, she realises that she too deserves happiness. But is it too late to find it?

In Tokyo—one of the world's largest megacities—a stray cat is wending her way through the back alleys. And, with each detour, she brushes up against the seemingly disparate lives of the city-dwellers, connecting them in unexpected ways. But the city is changing. As it does, it pushes her to the margins where she chances upon a series of apparent strangers—from a homeless man squatting in an abandoned hotel, to a shut-in hermit afraid to leave his house, to a convenience store worker searching for love. The cat orbits Tokyo's denizens, drawing them ever closer.

For a long time, she and her husband have their dog and she almost certainly doesn't want to have a child. But then the dog dies and she learns she can't have a child even if she wanted to, and she begins to think about horses again. When she hears about a mare who needs looking after part-time, it sounds like an ideal arrangement. Something to care for two days a week, without getting in too deep. But as she brushes and feeds and rides the horse, affection grows into obsession and she must confront what it means to love a being who did not come from her body and who does not belong to her.

The phenomenal number one bestseller, which sold over twenty million copies and was made into a classic film starring Robert Redford and Scarlett Johansson. This stunning 25th anniversary edition features exclusive new content from Nicholas Evans. 'A love story, a gripping adventure and an...

Hettie and Tilly set out to investigate an old crime and a spate of new murders. Why is Mavis Spitforce dressed as a pumpkin? Can Irence Peggledrip really talk to cats from the spirit world? Did Milky Myers murder his family on Halloween; longer ago now than anyone can remember? These are the questions that the tabby duo must answer before the latest case for The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency can be solved.

Faced with an increasing body count, our feline detectives sharpen their claws and set out to catch a serial killer. Did Pomadora Moseley really murder her family on the rollercoaster at Butlins? Is Clara Toddlebury's Country Dance Class under threat? And why does Mr Whisker lock himself in his headmaster's study?

Manor Farm has reinvented itself as the South of England's premium petting zoo. Now, instead of a working farm, humans and beasts alike are invited (for a small fee) to come and stroke, fondle, and take rides on the farm's inhabitants. But life is not a bed of roses for the animals, in spite of what their leaders may want them to believe. Elections are rigged, the community is beset by factions, and sacred mottos are being constantly updated. The Farm is descending into chaos. What's more, a mysterious ‘illness' has started ripping through the animals, killing them one by one.

Tama is just a helpless chick when he is rescued by Marnie, and this is where his story might have ended. “If it keeps me awake,” says Marnie's husband Rob, a farmer, “I'll have to wring its neck.” But with Tama come new possibilities for the couple's future. Tama can speak, and his fame is growing. Outside, in the pines, his father warns him of the wickedness wrought by humans. Indoors, Marnie confides in him about her violent marriage. The more Tama sees, the more the animal and the human worlds—and all the precarity, darkness and hope within them—bleed into one another.

Ren lives alone on the remote frontier of a country devastated by a coup. High on the forested slopes, she survives by hunting and trading - and forgetting. But when a young soldier comes to the mountains in search of a legendary creature, Ren is inexorably drawn into an impossible mission. As their lives entwine, unravel and erupt - as myth merges with reality - both Ren and the soldier are forced to confront what they regret, what they love and what they fear. 

Human, Animal is an ode to the wild, an elegy for what we have lost and a reproof of our society's inability to find common ground. Since the death of his brother, veteran dairy farmer George has been struggling to keep the family business afloat. His troubles only worsen when animal rights activists descend on his cowshed one morning to film content for their social media.

Fran Gandolfini can’t help taking in strays; with four dogs, five cats and two bearded dragons, she refuses to give up on a creature in need. The only thing Fran has given up on, in fact, is her love life. Moving from the city to Penhallow Sands to work in the Tea Shop, Ethan Clarke hopes he’s made the right choice for his daughter, Tilly. His past means he struggles to trust people, but Fran might be the one person capable of changing that. Until a life-changing secret that Fran’s keeping for a friend causes a rift between them.

Forty-somethings Fred and Nel embark on an Arctic cruise with a pair of long-time university friends. What they haven’t counted on is the presence of a further journalist friend Heather, and her nemesis, a climate change-denying American oilman called Marvin Ridley. With a potential superpower conflict over oil also now brewing in the background, Fred and Nel discover that this is a journey to the end of the earth in more ways than one.

When solitary and struggling A&E doctor Ivy invites the Geologist home one night, her cat Berry's hackles are raised. As the Geologist becomes more and more a part of Berry's life, Berry determines to get rid of him. Meanwhile, as Ivy wrestles with her feelings for boyfriends old and new, she's entirely unaware of her cat's designs.

Connie Darke is trying to run away from the traumas in her past, and it's led her home, to the small rural council estate she left almost 20 years earlier. Matilda Reynolds has spent most of her long life in the Worcestershire village of Stonecastle, and she's content there, with her animals and her solitude. Until a fall lands her in hospital, and Matilda has to turn to her strange young neighbor Connie for help looking after her home. Out of their tentative arrangement, each woman gains a new sense of community.

Laura Lange didn't come to Key West to fall in love. As a recent college grad - with a useless degree in English - she came to work at the historic Hemingway home as a tour guide. Why not? She wrote her thesis on the iconic author. She has no other job offers. And she's desperate. Now Laura is falling desperately in love - with the 54 frisky felines who freely roam the estate. These descendants of Hemingway's original cat have not only stolen her heart - they're changing her life in ways she never imagined.