Showing results by publisher "Orion" in Literature & Fiction

There's a city far away.... My parents often spoke of it as if it had always been there and always would be. I had seen it in paintings, I had read of it in stories, the richest, most powerful place on earth...the centre of everything. It drew people from every corner of the empire and beyond, hungry for wealth and power, or in some case, more wealth and more power. They were dazzled by its brightness. And like moths drawn to a candle...many were burnt alive by its fire.... Tumanbay.

Charlie hates the holidays, and this year is shaping up to be her worst yuletide ever. Her boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, her flat is out of bounds after a gas leak, and her mother has gone to spend Christmas in Melbourne with her fifth husband. Finding herself single, mildly concussed and temporarily homeless, Charlie hesitantly agrees to dust off her wellies and spend the festive season in Devon, looking after Cosy Canine Cottages, her cousin Jez's dog-care centre.....

Maddy Hamilton is at sea with her life. Her world was turned upside down when she discovered a message on her boyfriend's phone from a woman who was definitely not her. Then, when she thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, her boss delivered a second blow - there were cutbacks at work and Maddy was one of the unlucky ones. Six weeks after the break up, Maddy moves into Maxwell House to live by herself for the first time in 36 years. Lonely, heartbroken, and in desperate need of something, she finds a very unruly, very unloved patch of garden.

I found I didn't know who I had become. I couldn't find the woman you'd met. I only knew that if you didn't want her, neither did I. There is more than one way to stay close to someone...if you're prepared to do whatever it takes. Skye meets the feckless but handsome Johnny Strachan in the Alps, where she reluctantly falls into a heady love affair. At home, Johnny has promised to call her - this is just the beginning after all. But when Skye hears nothing from him, it seems it's actually the end.

The Persian War is over, and an unaccustomed decade of peace has come to ancient Athens. Philocles, an aspiring comic playwright, is making his living as a writer for hire, but this year is the highlight of his career - he has a play in a drama competition at a prestigious festival. The last thing he wants to find on his doorstep the day before is a dead body. Just who is this dead man? Is it just a robbery gone wrong? With the play that could make his name on the horizon, Philocles must find out who this man is, why he has been murdered - and why the corpse was in his doorway.

1944, Covent Garden. The mini Blitz has begun, with so much fear in the air best friends Sukie and Pattie are desperate to help in any way they can. Joining the mobile canteen workforce a few days a week, Sukie tries to bring a little bit of cheer to those devastated by the bombings, while Pattie finds herself drawn towards the returning evacuees searching for their families. What they both want more than anything is for the war to be over, but one wish will help them see that sometimes love, hope and happiness is always there, you just need to look hard enough.

It's 1943. Evie Yeo's best friend Sukie and sister Pattie are leaving Devon behind and heading to London to work in a hotel. Sukie's fiancé, Wesley, is in a swing band that's booked to play the bar and with Sukie 'upstairs' on reception and Pattie a chambermaid 'downstairs', they see and share all aspects of the hotel and meet all of its residents. From the military officials in town for meetings at the war office, to people from the theatre helping to bring joy to the capital in wartime, an eclectic mix of people come together at this small hotel in Covent Garden.

George and Stella's marriage is over. They can't decide exactly when that happened (Was it the Coke can? Or that comment about Jurassic Park?), but they both agree that it has. A couple of months after the separation, Stella's mother, Margaret 'The Force of Nature' Foy sends out invites for her murder mystery anniversary party - with George on the invite list. Stella hasn't told her parents about the divorce, she couldn't bring herself to.

The three Cadogan children, Jessica, Kirsty and Patrick, haven't spoken to each other for three years. An argument after their mother's death was the latest excuse to blame one another for their family's troubles in a long, unhappy series that's lasted almost a decade. When their father, Gerry, dies, they are given instructions as to where he wants his ashes to be scattered. But first they must together drive his old camper van up the country to the Scottish Isle of Islay.

Charlotte Bold is nothing like her name - she is shy and timid and just wants a quiet life. When her job doing the traffic news on the radio in London is relocated to Sunshine FM in Mumbles, she jumps at the chance for a new start in Wales. But when she arrives she discovers that she's not there to do the travel news - she's there to front the graveyard evening show. And she's not sure she can do it. Thrust into the limelight, she must find her voice and find a way to cope.

Maddie is over the moon when her boyfriend Nick proposes in Paris. And spending five days in Florence with his family sounds like the perfect way to get to know her future in-laws. But Maddie is in for a rude awakening. Nick's parents are too posh for words, his daughter doesn't want to know her - and just why has his ex-wife come along?! And if that wasn't complicated enough, who should be at the same boutique hotel but Aidan, the one that got away two years ago...

Jinx Sullivan should be enjoying a peaceful retirement in the Cotswolds—but peace has never really been her style. As a child prisoner of war in Japanese-occupied Singapore, Jinx witnessed unspeakable horrors, then faced prejudice and poverty as a refugee in post-war Britain, before life took an unexpected turn under the questionable mentorship of Penny Williamson—a social worker and WW2 spy. Jinx and Penny teamed up for a series of dangerous adventures, which saw them dodging the CIA in 50s Florence and plotting heists in swinging London. Now 89, Jinx craves one last escapade.

A child in danger, an isolated house in the depths of winter - and a killer on the loose.... Snow-covered fields and moors stretch away on all sides of Herondale House. Despite rumours of an escaped killer on the run, Deborah Lindsay knows that she must control her fear - she has a young charge, 13-year-old prodigy Carreen, to care for. But the isolated Yorkshire farmhouse already holds the terrible secret of one death - and after an increasing number of sinister 'accidents', Deborah begins to wonder how long it will be before evil strikes again....

In the eclectic Brooklyn neighbourhood of Cobble Hill, the lives of four married couples and their children are about to flip from complicated to combustible. Mandy is so underwhelmed by motherhood that she's faking a debilitating disease to get the attention of her ex-boyband celebrity husband, Stuart. There's the unconventional new school nurse, Peaches, who Stuart secretly has a crush on, and her disappointing husband, Greg, who wears noise-cancelling headphones - everywhere.

When Lili Lowe gets photographed in a 'compromising' position with her boss, married MP Teddy Landen, in the back of a car, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the centre of a media frenzy. She turns, as most daughters would, to her mother. Yet Lydia Lowe is a former talent agent, and it's not long before the whole world knows the name Lili Lowe. As the spotlight brightens on Lili, and her three sisters Von, Dani and Abby, they are all confronted by a new reality-and it's soon clear that fame, and fortune, comes with a price...

Five years after leading a strike at the sewing factory, newly pregnant Ellen is rushed off her feet at the Clydebank Clothing exchange, the heart of the community. Ellen is missing her husband James who is away with the Royal Navy, and worried about how to make ends meet. She desperately wants to confide in her best friend Sadie. However, Sadie is hiding a heart-breaking secret of her own which places strain on their friendship.

After a kid's party faux-pas, mother Janine anonymously vents about her father-in-law's behaviour on internet forum Am I The Villain Here? When the community is invited to take sides the post goes viral, with mild-mannered Roy ending up in the national newspapers and sparking protests at his local library. REASONABLE PEOPLE explores how judging others reveals our deepest, most unreasonable selves - with Hulse's trademark heart, humour and humanity.

It is 1950 and Kitty Longthorne is now a Sister at Manchester's Park Hospital, and as busy as ever. With dizzying numbers of children with polio being admitted to the children's ward, a sharp uptick of major trauma from road accidents and growing political and racial conflict affecting her patients and staff, there's no shortage of drama at the hospital. But Kitty is determined that everyone is treated with respect.

Paris, 1926. A young dancer Ray Cohen arrives from London to compete at the Exhibition Paris. He is led astray by Hugo, a charismatic dancer born of the streets, who introduces him to the city's nightlife and a beautiful stranger called Hannah Lindt. His life is forever changed. London, 1941. With the heroic Raymond de Guise away fighting in North Africa, his beloved wife Nancy must balance her new position - as Head of Housekeeping at the Buckingham Hotel - with her duties as a new mother to their child.

London, 1930s. Years after she first fled to South Shields, Cathy is known by everyone as the landlady of the Robin Hood pub. But Cathy has a secret from her life before - a daughter, June, whom she had to leave behind. After all these years, can June accept her? Cathy's friend Sofia faces her own dilemma. Encountering a man from her past, Sofia is given the opportunity to return to her hometown, Naples. It would mean escaping her own troubles in the Sixteen Streets... if only she dares take the chance.