Rural Fiction

A collection of stories from the most famous Western author of all time! Desert Death-Song is a compilation of some of Louis L’Amour’s greatest stories, many of which might otherwise be difficult to find. Whether he was writing under his early pen name, Jim Mayo, or his own, L’Amour’s stories are unforgettable, touching on rough and rugged American ideals, and set in the untamable frontier of the Western United States.

Between 1821 and 1826, the prolific writer and journalist William Cobbett travelled the countryside of the South of England on foot and horseback. Rural Rides is a fascinating account of his journeys, and depicts a way of life in transition, juxtaposing lyrical descriptions of the countryside with criticism of the poverty of agricultural workers. A man of radical politics who encouraged the rural rising of 1830, Cobbett went on to become MP for Oldham and sought to represent the interests of both industrial and agricultural workers. Above all, Rural Rides celebrates agrarian England.

When Danni Carter moves to Cornwall from London, she hopes it will be the fresh start she so desperately needs. She’s nervous, but hopefully the change of scene will help her to finally forget her feelings for Lucas Newman, a man she can never be with, because he’s already engaged to Danni’s best friend, Esther. But when Lucas and Esther decide to follow Danni to Cornwall, and both announce they will be working with her at the new St Piran’s hospital, Danni is thrown into turmoil again.

My name is Christine, and I'm on the run from a cult that wants me dead. Annabelle Lane is the cult's cunning and venomous leader, who forced me to commit crimes that are unforgivable. Annabelle's threats aren't to be taken lightly, and everybody knows that once you're in the cult, you're in it for life.

Betty Sweet never expected to be a widow at 40. With so much life still in front of her, she tries to figure out what's next. She couldn't have imagined what God had in mind. When her estranged sister is committed to a sanitarium, Betty finds herself taking on the care of a 5-year-old nephew she never knew she had. In 1960s LaFontaine, Michigan, they make an odd pair. Betty with her pink button nose and bouffant hair. Hugo with his light brown skin and large brown eyes. But more powerful than what makes them different is what they share: the heartache of an empty space in their lives.

Pietro è un ragazzino di città, solitario e un po' scontroso. La madre lavora in un consultorio di periferia, e farsi carico degli altri è il suo talento. Il padre è un chimico, un uomo ombroso e affascinante, che torna a casa ogni sera dal lavoro carico di rabbia. I genitori di Pietro sono uniti da una passione comune, fondativa: in montagna si sono conosciuti, innamorati, si sono addirittura sposati ai piedi delle Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

What if we're all just searching for something? Anna Stewart is lost. After barely surviving a car accident as a teenager, Anna is scared of settling. Flitting between jobs, boyfriends and homes whenever she gets bored, she has no idea what the future holds. Then her brother Brodie, minister of Glendale, suggests she moves to the beautiful Scottish village, lining up a housekeeper job for her at Glendale Hall. Out of options, Anna agrees to take the job just for the summer.

When Gus Shepard’s quiet artistic life is upended by his mother’s death in 2003, he’s sent to the rural town of Livingston, Montana, to live with his estranged woodworking father. For Gus, it’s a place filled only with grief, painful childhood memories, and too much sawdust—until he meets Bridger Owens, a local skateboarder with a rebellious streak.

Ever since childhood, Emma Merrill and Sophia Mason were bound by a passion for painting. Like all young best friends, they promised to never lose touch. But the girls came from different worlds, and their paths diverged when Emma went to an elite college and Sophie worked her way through state school. After a decade they’ve reconnected, both in a time of need. Emma has been struggling with depression since her college years, and she’s lost herself under the suffocating influence of her controlling and manipulative mother.

Bookkeeper Megan has always lived life by a set of very rigid rules, but with impending divorce papers on the horizon, she throws herself into a new challenge. She finds solace and purpose in her volunteer work at a dogs’ home but with finances tight, and soon-to-be ex-husband Lyle controlling her purse strings, she might have to trade the work for something more permanent. But spending her time in the fresh countryside air, Megan discovers a glimmer of hope for a new beginning, finding strength, love, and the promise of a brighter tomorrow – and maybe, even possibly, a new romance.

When Brid Harcus is sent to the Orkney Islands, in the far reaches of Scotland, she has high hopes for her trip being short, straightforward and lucrative. Her mother has inherited a cottage from her Great Aunt Jennet which has been unlived in and unloved for decades, and the time has come to make it habitable and saleable. Easy, right? But Midness Cottage has other ideas. For one thing it’s rather more ‘fixer upper’ than Country Living. And Brid definitely hadn’t planned for the strongly held local belief that the cottage is meant to be the home of the Orkney Witch.

Das "Polackenkind" ist die fünfjährige Vera auf dem Hof im Alten Land, wohin sie 1945 aus Ostpreußen mit ihrer Mutter geflohen ist. Ihr Leben lang fühlt sie sich fremd in dem großen, kalten Bauernhaus und kann trotzdem nicht davon lassen. Bis sechzig Jahre später plötzlich ihre Nichte Anne vor der Tür steht. Sie ist mit ihrem kleinen Sohn aus Hamburg-Ottensen geflüchtet, wo ehrgeizige Vollwert-Eltern ihre Kinder wie Preispokale durch die Straßen tragen - und wo Annes Mann eine Andere liebt.

As a toddler, Elodie Jacques was abandoned by her mother and left in the care of her French grandmother, Gabriella in Dartmouth, Devon. Now 24 years old, Elodie struggles to reconcile the deep anger for the mother she has never since seen. When Gabriella unexpectedly announces she wants the two of them to spend Christmas and her 70th birthday in her home town of Juan-les-Pins in the South of France, Elodie is thrilled. Gabriella meanwhile has her own ulterior motives for wanting to return after 40 years, a homecoming potentially filled with memories, secrets and recriminations.

Teacher Charlotte Kingston is sent to close a school on an isolated Scilly Isle where she used to spend holidays with her grandparents. But when two visiting children find themselves in need of a place to stay, Charlotte agrees to care for the boys, and decides to keep the school open a little longer. Hearing about her family from the islanders, Charlotte starts decoding her grandmother's old letters from WWII, and a story emerges of forbidden love and a brave man who would risk everything for his country, even giving up the woman he loved.

Thea Slocombe, nee Osborne, is trying to settle into normal, domestic life with Drew and his two children in Broad Campden. But in the course of an attempt to make friends locally, she finds the body of a close neighbour and suddenly feels much less settled and secure. No longer a house-sitter, she has no choice but to stay in the village and deal with whatever happens next. And doing this risks damage to her marriage.

Raised in a cult where opinions and freedom in women were not tolerated, Mara Greene narrowly escaped a life as a child bride—one where she would’ve been shared and owned by all the men in the compound. Her testimony helped put the cult leader in prison, but she’s never truly gotten past the horrors inflicted on her. Her conditioning to keep silent persists even now—despite having found a safe haven at the Resting Warrior Ranch.

Lorna is following her dreams. But can she follow her heart? Lorna Ferguson has dreamt of opening her own bed and breakfast in the village of Glendale for as long as she’d pictured falling in love. Although her love life remains hopeless, Lorna is determined to secure Dove House – the home she imagined living in as a child – to start this new venture with her family. Along with brother Adam, Lorna starts restoring the house to its Art Deco glory.

Luke Anderson has spent fifteen years behind the curtain—designing flyers, managing egos, cleaning blood off concrete floors, and holding together a small-time Indiana wrestling operation that its owner keeps trying to burn down. He's not a wrestler. He doesn't take bumps. But he's the one who makes sure the show goes on—even when the champion can't stand up, the new kid can't be trusted, and a rich outsider with deep pockets is circling. Every Friday night at the Elmwood Armory, a few hundred fans pay to believe in something they know isn't real.

Clementine’s swapped a London flat for a Scottish castle - but will she get her fairytale ending? After discovering they had inherited an enormous fortune, as well as the titles of 'Lady’, the lives of the five Hiverton sisters have never been the same. While oldest sister Ariana settles in Norfolk, fashion designer Clementine heads to the Scottish Highlands to investigate their newly inherited castle. Not bad for a girl brought up in poverty in a tiny house in East London.

When Eleanor Markham is asked to run a festival on St. Brannock's Island, she instantly accepts. She needs something new to focus on after the death of her beloved mother, and she knows that her mother was adopted from the island. When she arrives, Eleanor is welcomed by the islanders. All except rugged farmer Bruno Roskelly. He doesn't want the festival to take place on his land but Eleanor soon realises his gruff exterior hides a kind heart that was broken many years ago.