Showing titles in Family Life

Seventeen-year-old Constance has had a privileged upbringing in Clapham, with staff to attend to her every need. But her parents have always been cold and distant, never showing her love.Craving affection, Constance falls into the arms of Albie Jones, the cook’s grandson. But one fateful encounter leaves her ashamed and pregnant, and she is soon shunned from the family home. Heartbroken and threatened by scandal, Constance is forced to wed Albie and moves to Battersea, where she suffers unforgiving stares and cruel whispers from the neighbours.

Good with his hands, be it crafting a piece of wood, playing his guitar, or pleasing a lover - he excels at them all. Friendly, flirty, and talented, he's cool under pressure, and hot everywhere else. But he keeps his heart closed, even as his interest and emotions are tested. Olivia Rourke works alongside him at BAM. Talented, private, and intriguing, she touches something inside him he can't deny. He wants to know her. In every possible way. He wants her to know him. Her past tells her to stay clear. Van is everything that she wants, and exactly what she cannot have.

Durraghglass is a beautiful mansion in Southern Ireland, now crumbling in neglect. The time is the present - a present that churns with the bizarre passions of its owners' past. The Swifts - three sisters of marked eccentricity, defiantly christened April, May and Baby June, and their only brother, one-eyed Jasper - have little in common, save vivid memories of darling Mummy, and a long lost youth peculiarly prone to acts of treachery.

To eight-year-old Bunny Morison, his mother is an angelic comforter in whose absence nothing is real or alive. To his older brother, Robert, his mother is someone he must protect, especially since the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918 is ravaging their small Midwestern town. To James Morison, his wife, Elizabeth, is the center of a life that would disintegrate all too suddenly were she to disappear. Through the eyes of these characters, William Maxwell creates a sensitive portrait of an American family and of the complex woman who is its emotional pillar.

In a small town, three mothers wave goodbye to their children at the school gates. Naomi has lived in Exton Cross since she was born, and she knows everything there is to know about everyone. Aleema hates it here. It’s been three years and she’s yet to make a single friend. And she’s sure the other mums whisper about her behind her back. Kelly is an outsider. New to the town, she arrives with nothing but her son—and a dark secret. By the end of the school day, one of their children will be missing. And rumours will swirl that one of them knows why.

When siblings Dan and Hayley Daley inherit their late grandmother's derelict Victorian farmhouse, it seems like a dream come true. All they have to do is fix the place up and sell it for a tidy profit! Except - as anyone who has renovated an old house knows - things are never that easy. The walls are rapidly crumbling around them, the architect is a certified lunatic, the budget is spiraling...and then there's the disturbingly intelligent cow to worry about.

Esther Hamilton, is finally finding her feet after her split with her horrible ex, and is looking forward to her new single life. She has a job she loves in the busy Accident and Emergency department, a new home and for the first time ever, a chance to just have fun with her good friends. Love is very much off the cards…Until the arrival of Joe Carter – the brother of Esther’s best friend, Danni.

Thirteen-year-old Abby Hubble lives in an unhappy home in the Sierra Nevada foothills where her father makes life miserable for her and her mother, Mary. One day Abby witnesses a man dump a litter of puppies into the nearby river. Diving in to rescue all seven, she knows she won’t be able to bring them home. Afraid for their fate at the pound, she takes them to an abandoned cabin, where all she can offer is a promise that she’ll be back the next day.

Welcome to Italy. A place that holds the answer to Zia-Lucia Costa Chalmers’ many questions. Not least, how she ended up with such a mouthful of a name. When Zia discovers that her mother wasn’t who she thought she was, she realises the time has come to search out the Italian family she’s never known. However, as she delves into the secrets of her past, she doesn’t bargain on having to think about her future, too. But with local vineyard owner, Piero, living next door, Zia knows she has a serious distraction who may prove difficult to ignore.

English hairdresser, Ethel, is alone after the deaths of her family and her wartime fiancé. Widow and single mother, Alice, bringing up two daughters, receives an unexpected inheritance that will transform her life. War bride, Joan, is mother to three small children with a fourth on the way and money in short supply. All are brought together in a rural Canadian town where they each try to build a future - often in spite of the men in their lives.

Don’t miss this poignant and heartwarming WW2 novel for fans of Rosie Clarke, Dilly Court and Rosie Archer. Scotland, 1944 Fearless Seffy was hoping for a transfer to England to be near Callum, the Canadian soldier she has given her heart to. Instead she is instructed to train a new group of...

79-year-old Gloria Frensham is a hoarder. She lives amongst piles of magazines, cardboard boxes and endless knickknacks that are stacked into every room of her home and teeter in piles along the landing and up the stairs. She hasn’t left the house in years, but when a sudden smell of burning signifies real danger, she is forced to make a sudden departure and leave behind her beloved possessions. Determined she’s not ready for a care home, Gloria sets out to discover what life still has to offer her.

When 73-year-old Jen announces that she is going to marry Eddie, a man she met just a few months previously on a beach on Boxing Day, her four best friends from aqua aerobics are flabbergasted. The wedding is booked and, when the groom decides to have a stag trip to Las Vegas, the ladies arrange a hen party to beat all others - a week in the city of love, Paris.

The April Fool’s Day had been a roaring success for all, it seemed - except for poor Mr. Cartell, who had ended up in the ditch - forever. Then there was the case of Mr. Percival Pyke Period’s letter of condolence, sent before the body was found - not to mention the family squabbles. It was a puzzling crime for Superintendent Alleyn.

Get ready for the ultimate Galentine's Day read in this brand-new laugh-out-loud novel about friendship, relationship woes, and finding your self-worth, perfect for fans of Kristen Bailey and Sophie Ranald! 'I adored this book!! I couldn't put it down' Reader review...

From the moment she learns of the stranger's visit, Molly Tattersall is filled with a sense of fear. Then her mother disappears, leaving behind a letter asking Molly to take care of her five brothers and sisters. Molly's wayward father rejects his responsibilities, leaving Molly to choose between the young man she has given her heart to and the family she adores. It is the cruellest decision of her life, with long-reaching and heart-breaking consequences. Only one thing is certain – Molly's life will never be the same again.

Emma Rini is in a rut so deep she could shelve books there. While her sister awaits her first baby, and her parents kick off retirement with vow renewals and travel, Emma stays put among the stacks of the family bookshop. In fact, she can’t remember the last time she took a vacation. Or had a romance that hovered above disappointing. When her parents assume she’ll take over the shop for them without a break, she realizes she needs to get away—back to the nineteenth century.

Secret femme-fatale in training Millicent Whittenburg needs to escape her unpleasant and restrictive betrothal. Taking matters into her own hands, she plans her eventual ruin! Then she can disappear from society to carry out the Queen’s deadly missions. Step 1: seduce the one man who despises marriage more than her!

Nora Brown teaches high school English and lives a quiet life in Seattle with her husband and six-year-old daughter. But one November day, moments after dismissing her class, a girl’s face appears above the students’ desks—“a wild numinous face with startling blue eyes, a face floating on top of shapeless drapes of purples and blues where arms and legs should have been. Terror rushes through Nora’s body—the kind of raw terror you feel when there’s no way out, when every cell in your body, your entire body, is on fire—when you think you might die.”

Seven months ago, our family left suburban Connecticut for my parents’ isolated lake house in a naïve attempt to reconnect. Life had imploded, or so I thought then. I hoped the change would reset us: a montage of Hallmark moments—card games in candlelight, spontaneous hugs and important, healing chats. What I got was a nuclear holocaust five days after we arrived. A week ago, the lake house burned to the ground. Our last place of safety. Now, I watch my children huddle together, their faces lit up by our tiny campfire beneath the towering blackness of endless pine forests.