Showing titles in Family Life

Firefly Summer is warm, humorous, sad and happy. Reading it is a joy' Irish Independent In the summer of 1962, an American millionaire arrives in a small, sleepy Irish town with far-reaching consequences. For the children of the Ryan family, the long hot summers are usually spent playing in the ruins of a large, abandoned house.

Lucy Sullivan is 26 and living it up (and occasionally down) in London. Hers is a life of quiet, undisciplined desperation. But when she and three friends visit a psychic for a bit of fun and the woman's predictions start coming true, Lucy is horrified. For the fortune-teller insisted she'd soon be married - within the year, in fact. Not only does Lucy not have a boyfriend, but the chances of getting one are looking slim. Between the bottles of wine, antidepressants and her addiction to self-help books, she's not quite ready to walk, or even stumble, down the aisle sober.

Dilly is devastated: with her husband unable to work and four children already at home, they cannot afford to feed their newborn baby. Heartbroken, she delivers her baby girl to the Farthing family, who have just lost their own daughter to measles. This act of desperation will change the lives of both families irrevocably. But when the chance for true love finally comes, will Dilly choose family over her own happiness?

A woman who longs to avoid risk at all cost learns that men who love danger are the most exciting in this moving novel from New York Times best-selling author Danielle Steel.

Thirteen-year-old Leni is coming of age in a tumultuous time. Caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, she dares to hope that Alaska will lead to a better future for her family, and a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown. As Leni grows up in the shadow of her parents’ increasingly volatile marriage, she meets Matthew. And Matthew – thoughtful, kind, and brave – makes her believe in the possibility of a better life.

I thought moving to this quiet cul-de-sac was the fresh start my husband and I needed, escaping the noise of our cramped flat in Hounslow. I left India and all that was familiar for a new life with him in England. But my husband works all hours, leaving me alone in a house that doesn’t feel like a home. Our neighbours notice the bruises on my arms. They draw the obvious conclusions. They seem kind, but they’re hiding something. I just can’t shake the feeling that someone is always watching me . . . waiting. My husband’s working late. Again. That’s when I see it.

Back in the long ago '90s, Rachel Walsh was a mess. But a spell in rehab transformed everything. Life became very good, very quickly. These days, Rachel has love, family, a great job as an addiction counsellor, she even gardens. Her only bad habit is a fondness for expensive trainers. But with the sudden reappearance of a man she'd once loved, her life wobbles. She'd thought she was settled. Fixed forever. Is she about to discover that no matter what our age everything can change? Is it time to think again, Rachel?

Rebecca Waterhouse is just 13 when she witnesses her mother's death at the hand of her father in Seaview Cottage. But what else did she see? Years later, Rebecca's daughters Iris and Jessie know their mother will never speak of that terrible night. But when Jessie goes missing, with her gravely ill newborn, Iris realises the past may hold the key to her sister's disappearance.

Eleven years ago, Jem and Ralph fell in love. They thought it would be forever, that they’d found their happy ending. Then two became four, a flat became a house. Romantic nights out became sleepless nights in. And they soon found that life wasn’t quite so simple anymore. Now two people who were so right together are starting to drift apart. As they try to find a way back to each other, back to what they once had, they both become dangerously distracted. But maybe it’s not too late to recapture happily ever after....

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met, fell in love, and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it...right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children's librarian, and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra's ex, Miles Nowak.

At 18, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service.

There are one thousand stories up and down your street. There are nine thousand stories in your neighbourhood. This is the one about true crime journo Noah Cork, and the most important story he almost missed in pursuit of his dreams.

The Grey sisters had only each other when their mother died years ago. Their father provided for them physically on Water's Edge, the ranch that had been in their family for three generations, each of them however, longed for their father's love.

Ria and Marilyn have never met - they live thousands of miles apart, separated by the Atlantic Ocean: one in a big, warm, Victorian house in Tara Road, Dublin, the other in a modern, open-plan house in New England. Two more unlikely friends would be hard to find: Ria's life revolves around her family and friends, while Marilyn's reserve is born of grief. But when each needs a place to escape to, a house exchange seems the ideal solution.

Meet Mercy Blain, whose house has just burnt down. Unfortunately for Mercy, this goes beyond the disaster it would be for most people: she hasn't been outside that house for two years now. Flung out into the world she's been studiously ignoring, Mercy goes to the only place she can. Her not-quite-ex-husband Eugene's house. But it turns out she can't stay there, either. And so begins Mercy's unwilling journey.

Of three brothers, it was Ethan who shared his father's passion for the Maryland shore. And now with his father gone, Ethan is determined to make the family boatbuilding business a success. But amidst his achievements lie the most important challenges of his life.

Brittany, 1821. After Grand-mere Ursule gives her life to save her family, their magic seems to die with her. Even so, the Orchires fight to keep the old ways alive, practising half-remembered spells and arcane rites in hopes of a revival. And when their youngest daughter comes of age, magic flows anew. The lineage continues, though new generations struggle not only to master their power, but also to keep it hidden. But when World War II looms on the horizon, magic is needed more urgently than ever - not for simple potions or visions, but to change the entire course of history.

When a simple mix-up leaves their father Joe’s estate to Eden, their long-absent mother, Clare and Aaron decide it’s finally time to track Eden down. But it’s been over thirty years since she left their remote outback mining town, and they’ve never heard from her again. Aaron is dealing with a new marriage that’s currently trapped in immigration limbo, and his teenage daughter Cady is clearly going through a personal crisis of her own.

Nala and Rajan, a young couple, begin their married life in 1946, on the eve of Ceylon's independence from Britain. Arranged in marriage, they learn to love each other and protect their growing family, against the backdrop of increasing ethnic tension. As the country descends into a bloody civil war, Nala and Rajan must decide which path is best for their family; and live with the consequences of their mistakes.

In need of an escape from her ex-fiance's betrayal, and the lucky recipient of a surprise inheritance, Sonya MacTavish leaves behind her life in the city and moves to a Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine. The house is beautiful but comes with surprises - footsteps in the night, doors slamming, music playing - and in her dreams Sonya sees glimpses of the past and the brides who once lived there. As the house reveals more of its history and the sad stories of the brides murdered there, Sonya discovers an antique mirror. She finds herself drawn to the mirror, sensing it holds dark secrets.