Showing titles in Small Town & Rural

A spa stay turns into a homicidal holiday.... A bit snobbish and a trifle high strung, Sybil Foster prides herself on owning the finest estate in Upper Quintern and hiring the best gardener. In fact she is rapturous over the new asparagus beds when a visit from her unwelcome stepson sends her scurrying to a chic spa for a rest cure, a liaison with the spa's director...and an apparent suicide. Her autopsy holds one surprise, a secret drawer a second.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe comes a #1 Sunday Times bestselling grumpy x sunshine Christmas romcom! ❄️ ‘A charming break from reality’ Publishers Weekly ❄️❄️❄️❄️ Every book in the Dream Harbor series can be read as a standalone...

In the bustling world of Dublin's advertising scene, Kitty O’Sullivan, a copywriter, feels an unexplainable void in her life that she can't quite pinpoint. Her five-year relationship with Dave is stagnant, her creative juices have dried up and she’s even entertaining thoughts of marriage as a cure-all! Something’s missing from her life but she can’t work out exactly what it is…When Dave decides to take time out from ‘them’, Kitty finds herself momentarily liberated to explore life and have some fun. She and best friend Shazza are corralled into joining a five-aside football team.

Former Hostile Operations Team soldier Blaze "Shadow" Connolly knows what it’s like to lose everything. He’s got nobody except his job and his team and that’s the way he likes it. But when he walks into a gas station during a robbery and locks eyes with Emma Grace Sutton, he knows he’ll do anything to protect the pretty girl with the blue glasses.

Brought to you by Penguin. Tammy loved her childhood growing up in the harbour town of Porthmellow. But when her father went bankrupt and her mother abandoned them, she was quick to learn that nothing lasts forever. Now, Tammy spends her days creating works of art in the golden Cornish sand, and...

As war tightens its grip, the residents of Harbour House are doing their bit for King and country—keeping calm through air raids, blackouts and family issues. When Elizabeth Roby's glamorous young cousin Lucinda Somiton arrives from London, scandal at her heels and a broken heart in her past, she brings a spark of chaos to the quiet Essex town. Accustomed to champagne parties and bright lights, Lucinda struggles to adjust to ration books and village gossip. But when she volunteers to aid the war effort, Lucinda begins to find a sense of purpose—and perhaps a chance to redeem her name.

Suzy Medley is having a bad day...when a shabby terrier turns up at her door. Just like Suzy, Scout has been abandoned, although only Suzy has been left with a financial mess and a business in tatters thanks to her ex. Suzy takes Scout in, and her chaotic world changes in unexpected ways: strangers have never been more welcoming, and her teenage kids can’t wait to come home to visit. Then a chance encounter on a windy Hebridean beach makes things more complicated, because Suzy isn’t the only one who needs a friend.

When Amber Archer inherits a mysterious house from relatives she thought were long dead, she sees it as her ticket out of the current chaos consuming her New York life. A little time out in the sticks can't hurt, can it? Nestled in the middle of nowhere is The Willows, the premier racing stables in Kentucky owned by Rowan Payton. The loss devastated her, and she doesn't want to feel that way ever again. Her controlled and ordered life isn't ready for the tornado of a city girl.

Following her recent marriage to Lucas, Louisa is delighted to discover she is expecting. But after everything she’s lost since the war began, dare she believe that this is a sign of brighter days ahead? Meanwhile, Louisa’s friends Kate and Jeannie struggle to balance factory work alongside their responsibilities at home, with shortages, illness and bad news from the front putting them under ever more pressure. Then unexpected news means that Jeannie can finally get her heart's desire but can she accept her happiness at someone else's expense?

As the sun rises over the little Provence village where single mother Adeline has escaped with her little girl Lily, she breathes deeply. This is their new beginning. Here, she can forget the lies her family told her. Here, she can start her story again. Later she opens the door to the town’s tiny bookstore, where she is to work, ready to meet the mysterious owner Monique for the first time. She expected an ordinary bookshop. But this bookstore feels somehow different… magical. Breathing in the smell of books, she feels a jolt of something. It feels like a new chapter beginning.

Sam Philips' time in the forces changed him forever. Supported by his friends, Sam is keen to help make beautiful Mill Grange a safe retreat for injured army personnel...but his crippling claustrophobia means Sam is living in a tent on the grounds! Enlisting the help of charming village stalwarts Bert and Mabel Hastings, Tina Martins is determined to find a way to help him conquer his fears. But why does she feel like he is keeping a secret?

Through the changing seasons, amidst a sprawling ducal country estate, ex-steelworker George Purse's role as a gamekeeper goes beyond mere employment. With determination, he safeguards the birds, nurturing them with care, even as they become targets for the wealthy elite. As the Glorious Twelfth approaches, George must orchestrate flawless hunts for the Duke and his esteemed guests, ensuring their satisfaction while fending off the persistent poachers who threaten the delicate balance of the land.

When Lori Hawthorne trades her high-powered city life for the unexpected inheritance of her late aunt's neglected fruit farm in Sedona, Arizona, she soon realizes that mending a broken orchard is only half the battle. Seeking a chance to rewrite her story, she's determined to breathe new life into both the farm and her own existence.

It begins in Enugu, at Uncle Kelechi’s glittering 50th birthday, a night of laughter, highlife music, and family pride. For young Unoma, it is a world of color and belonging. For her father and his brother, it is the night that exposes the deep differences between them. Weeks later, tragedy strikes. One life is lost, another forever changed, and the truth buried beneath years of silence. Decades on, that silence still governs Unoma’s world.

Anton, 60 Jahre alt, ist Stepptänzer. Ja, er ist nicht mehr so schnell wie früher, aber mit seiner Erfahrung und Ausdruckskraft tanzt er – noch – allen davon. Wer sollte ihm also die Stelle als Choreograf an einer Theaterbühne streitig machen? Doch die neue Intendantin sieht das anders – und engagiert ausgerechnet Emma, Antons Tochter. Anton ist verletzt, wütend, traurig und zugleich stolz auf seine Tochter. Zeigen kann er ihr das nicht. Die Absage spült etwas in ihm hoch, das er nicht länger verdrängen kann: das Gefühl des Älterwerdens.

In Liberty, Illinois — a small coal-mining town fallen on hard times - one obsession swallows everyday life: the Queen of Hearts contest. Built around a weekly drawing, the game can be over in a moment - or stretch on for months, sometimes even a full year. As the jackpot climbs past one million dollars, residents invest more than money. They invest hope, pride, desperation, and the belief that one turn of luck could finally mean relief.

Alaric is a driven astrophysicist who’s only in Willow Creek so he can finish his book and give his twin daughters the chance to reconnect with their aunt. He doesn’t have time for the inconvenient attraction aroused by the sassy, always glass half full niece of his eccentric innkeeper. Farrah is in Willow Creek because it’s her last resort. She inherited partial ownership of the town's bed and breakfast and she's putting her life back together in the wake of the pandemic. She thinks her aunt’s houseguest is arrogant and annoying.

David and his girlfriend, Stephanie, move to a small town in the Napa Valley with plans to start a winery with the windfall from David's skateboarding success. Shortly after upending their life to chase this dream, Stephanie dies. David, grief-stricken and rudderless, must navigate new, small town dynamics while uncovering the sordid truth of his relationship. He also must come to terms with the guilt of his own seemingly unearned financial success.

Set in the wild landscapes of North Florida and Appalachia, Song of the Unsung Mushroom is a lyrical, genre-blurring novel about loss, identity, and the hidden intelligence that pulses beneath our feet. Nature and technology dissolve into one, reshaping what it means to be human.

A spellbinding and heartwarming Japanese bestseller about a young woman who inherits a stationery store from her late grandmother and becomes the trusted scribe of the town You always told me that writing is life itself. After many years abroad, Hatoko reluctantly returns to Kamakura to take...