Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Genre Fiction

In his debut collection of short stories, Robert Sheehan disappears into characters, challenging the complacencies of everyday experience, often from entirely unexpected angles. Informed by the author’s peripatetic life, Disappearing Act reflects on the absurdity of human behaviour. Sheehan delves deep into his characters’ streams of self-talk and self-imposed delusions, exploring the dark impulses that lurk below the shiny surfaces of many outwardly normal lives.

Adrian Mole is middle-aged but still scribbling. Working as a bookseller and living in Leicester's Rat Wharf; finding time to write letters of advice to Tim Henman and Tony Blair; locked in mortal combat with a vicious swan called Gielgud; measuring his expanding bald spot; and trying to win-over the voluptuous Daisy.... Adrian yearns for a better more meaningful world. But he's not ready to surrender his pen yet.

Pearl Street, Liverpool, Christmas 1942. Despite the drama and tragedy of the War, the street’s spirit and friendship in adversity binds them together. Since her husband was injured, Eileen has worried about the growing distance between them. Lena Newton longs for a baby but with her husband posted in the Navy, it's looking unlikely. And Kitty has hidden away since she discovered her lover was married, too ashamed to return in disgrace with her baby.

1940: Dover waits for the Nazi invasion… but what if Hitler's agents are already here, among them? Canadian journalist Jessica Marshall is reporting from Dover as the town is on the brink of a German invasion. But her story never makes it into the paper… Meanwhile, Louis Renard, an intelligent, damaged man and onetime Scotland Yard murder detective, is recuperating from wounds received in the Dunkirk invasion, working in Dover's barely functioning police station.

Six children - Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny and Louis - meet in a garden close to the sea, their voices sounding over the constant echo of the waves that roll back and forth from the shore. The book follows them as they develop from childhood to maturity and follow different passions and ambitions; their voices are interspersed with interludes from the timeless and unifying chorus of nature.

A big-hearted, captivating, modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice, with hijabs instead of top hats and kurtas instead of corsets. Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been overtaken by a demanding teaching job. Her boisterous Muslim family, and numerous (interfering) aunties, are professional naggers. And her flighty young cousin, about to reject her 100th marriage proposal, is a constant reminder that Ayesha is still single.

In brief, precise vignettes, full of gentle melancholy and surprising humour, Posthuma tells the story of a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.

It has always been Maddie Willand's dream to take over her father's plant nursery. But after his sudden death, she is devastated to discover that she might lose The Potting Shed forever. Maddie's bossy older sister, Sabi, is joint owner of the nursery, and she's convinced that the best thing for both of them would be to sell up. Determined to keep the business going, Maddie can't afford any distractions, but staying focused might be harder than she thinks when her search for legal advice throws her into the path of attractive lawyer Ed...

The MacLeans live in a close-knit community in Glasgow at the start of the Second World War. When Ruby MacLean is 17, she falls pregnant and is forced to marry Gerry Reilly. As their daughter is born, Gerry heads off to war, leaving Ruby to cope alone. Many years later, now retired, Ruby looks back at her family history and uncovers a tale of lies that she could never have suspected....

Sector General: a massive deep-space hospital station on the Galactic Rim, where human and alien medicine meet. It's 384 levels and thousands of staff members are supposedly able to meet the needs of any conceivable alien patient–though that capacity is always being strained as more (and stranger) alien races turn up to join the galactic community. Sentient viruses, interspecies romances, undreamed-of institutional catering problems–it all lands on Sector General’s doorstep.

When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash, a lawyer appears on her doorstep and tells her her husband was not who he said he was and she is a very rich widow. She retreats to a lonely house in the countryside to recover. But there’s a well in the cellar, a spectacularly cold room, and one night, Everly wakes up with a foot hanging over the emptiness of the well and the echo of her daughter’s voice in her ears…

Dotty, Lucy and Annabelle all turn up for work at Coventry's department store Owen Owen at the same time as war is declared. Dotty is an orphan, Lucy is the sole carer for her little sister, and although Annabelle has led a life of privilege until now, everyone's having to pinch the pennies at the moment. The three form an unlikely bond, and with disaster at every turn, they're going to need each other...

The year is 2381. The place is Urban Monad 116 of the constellation Chippitts. The population of this one-thousand storey super-structure is 800,000+ and always growing. After two centuries of ruthless, selective breeding, the essence of life is to be blessworthy and to multiply; to afford one's neighbours any type of sexual fulfilment and, above all, to avoid the evil of frustration. But, within this seemingly blissful vertical world there are individuals who feel such perverse desires as a longing for privacy, a wish to descend from the heights, to walk on earth and bask in the sunshine.

Heather’s beloved daughter, Kayla, is her world. She is 15, a brilliant basketball player and a fierce friend. Heather and Kayla have always had a special relationship. For so many years it was just the two of them, watching Friends, baking cupcakes and laughing together. But now Kayla knows her time is short, and she wants to give something back to the mother she loves more than anyone else in the world. A gift that will change Heather’s life.

Sisters Carol and Jackie haven't had the easiest of childhoods, but as they grow up and begin their own lives, both hope for happier times ahead. Stylish Carol works in Lewis' department store while Jackie dreams of a career on the stage. But the sisters are heartbroken when they discover they have been dating the same man, and an unexpected pregnancy causes a rift between them. As the sisters' troubles spiral, will their sisterly bond be destroyed forever?

Scuttler's Cove is a working village, nestling in dramatic coastal scenery in Cornwall, where life has gone on uninterrupted for centuries... until this seaside idyll was discovered by the rich. Now the quaint harbour-front cottages have been snapped up by second-homers and rental companies, and the locals can barely afford to live in their own town. It is a very different place for Merrin Moon, who left for university at the age of eighteen and never looked back. Now in her thirties, she returns to the Cove for the first time since, after the death of her mother.

The fourth book in Adrian Mole's diaries, where we catch up with a hapless Adrian and his desperate attempts to win back the love of his life.

1979. In the vast and often unforgiving city of London, two Irish outsiders seeking refuge find one another: Milly, a teenage runaway, and Pip, a young boxer full of anger and potential who is beginning to drink it all away. Over the decades their lives follow different paths, interweaving from time to time, often in one another's sight, always on one another's mind, yet rarely together.

Everyone has a friend like Carl. The friend you can't say no to. The friend you have to say no to. I'm finally in a good place. A lovely home. A steady job. And Jason. Reliable, honest, kind Jason—my boyfriend. My best friend. I trust him implicitly. But if anyone can lead Jason astray, it's Carl. His best friend. And now Carl's on our doorstep. Begging for help.

1941. The midst of the Blitz. Bombs are raining down on the city. In one terrifying moment, trainee nurse Pippa Luscombe’s life is turned upside-down when her hospital takes a direct hit. As Pippa comes to terms with the full extent of the tragedy, she must pick up the pieces of her life. But the incident has left lasting scars. She determines to dedicate her life to her nursing career, and forget about finding love of her own. Until one day she discovers she has an unexpected admirer. A patient hands her a piece of paper. A heartfelt note to his butterfly girl.