Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Family Life

When Bea Hanlon follows her preacher husband, Max, to a remote island in the Pacific, she soon sees that their mission will bring anything but salvation.... Advent Island is a place beyond the reaches of Bea's most fitful imaginings. It's not just the rats and the hordes of mosquitoes and the weevils in the powdered milk. Past the confines of their stuffy little house, amidst the damp and the dust and the sweltering heat, rumours are spreading of devil chasers who roam the island on the hunt for evil spirits. And then there are the noises from the church at night.

Lala has lived a dazzling life. Born in Poland just after the First World War and brought up to be a perfect example of her class and generation, Lala is an independent woman who has survived some of the most turbulent events of her times. As she senses the first signs of dementia, she battles to keep her memories alive through her stories, telling her grandson tales of a life filled with love, betrayal and extraordinary acts of courage. Sweeping from 19th-century Kiev to modern-day Poland, this enthralling family saga is a celebration of a beautiful life well lived.

It’s the 1950s, and Grundy’s Travelling Fair arrives in town. When night falls, the local town is drawn to the fair. But when the fairgoers head home, the Grundys are left behind. Hours are long and the work backbreaking. But family and friends hold things together.

Who can you trust if you can't trust yourself? Twenty-seven-year-old Lizzie has a great relationship with her teenage stepson, Sam, even though they could pass for brother and sister. When Sam becomes sullen and withdrawn, Lizzie starts to suspect that something sinister is going on at school. But no-one believes her, and then suspicion falls on Lizzie herself....

Five years ago Susannah Harper's son, Joel, went missing without trace. Bereft of her son and then of her husband, Susannah has rebuilt her life around helping others. But then, on the last night of Hull Fair, a fortune-teller makes an eerie prediction. She tells her that this Christmas Eve, Joel will finally come back to her. As her carefully constructed life begins to unravel, Susannah is forced to confront the buried truths of her family's past.

Father and son Landyn and Vale Midwinter are men of the land: Suffolk farmers. Times are hard as they struggle to sustain their property, livelihood and heritage in the face of competition from big business. But an even bigger, more brutal fight is brewing: a fight between each other about the horrible death of Cecelia, beloved wife and mother, in Zambia 10 years earlier. A past they have both refused to confront - until now.

When Jen goes to her grandmother's house for the last time, she's determined not to dwell on the past. As a child Jen adored Lily and suspected she might be a witch, but the spell was broken long ago, and now her death means there won't be any reconciliation. In Lily's house Jen and her daughter, Marianne, reluctantly confront the secrets of the past and present - and discover how dangerous we become when we're trying to protect the ones we love.

They whisper her name in the ballroom’s shadows – the Marquis’s mistress! It will take all of Alice Sweetly’s acting skills to play this part: smile until it no longer hurts, until they believe your lies, until you believe. If the Marquis of Razeby thinks he can let his mistress go easily, he is so very wrong. Each night she appears before a rapturous Covent Garden audience, taunting him with her beauty.

In the first flush of love, Jonty promised to buy Lydie a ruby necklace when his art career took off. But the ruby never materialised and Lydie is left heartbroken when the relationship ends. Nearly 30 years later, Lydie still thinks of Jonty, stuck in a marriage to a man she never loved. And then he comes back into the picture, changing her life beyond anything she could have imagined.

Hannah and Juliet Goodwin have been best friends since childhood, but when Juliet's boyfriend Luke is killed just as Hannah marries the affluent Michael, a wedge is driven between them. Juliet begins to neglect her job, her health and all those who love her the most. Then she finds herself drawn into a betrayal that threatens to destroy Hannah's happiness forever.

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They’re alike in every way, except one - Willow is afraid on the inside. And it is all because of a secret - one that binds the sisters closely together. For a very long time Willow has felt separated from Holly by one terrible moment in time - a moment that meant Willow’s life was never the same again. And when the past catches up with her, Willow realises it’s finally time for her to face her fears, and learn to laugh again.

New Year's Eve, 1940: Evie Chase, determined to make a difference to the war effort, joins the ATA, the civilian pilots who ferry Tiger Moths and Spitfires to bases across Britain. Two other women nervously join up: Stella Grainger and Megan Jones. Billeted in a tiny cottage, they must learn to live and work together. Brave, beautiful and fiercely independent, they find romance, confront loss, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime.

Weaving together a multitude of narratives, Wuhan is a historical-fiction epic that pulls no punches: the heart-in-mouth story of a peasant family forced onto a thousand-mile refugee death-march; the story of Lao She - the influential Chinese novelist - who leaves his family in a war-zone to assist with the propaganda effort in Wuhan; the hellish battlefields of the Sino-Japanese war; the incipient global conflict seen through a host of colourful characters - from Chiang Kai-Shek, China's nationalist leader, to Peter Fleming, British journalist based in Wuhan.

Suzanne is engaged to be married to the man of her dreams - except the lead up to her wedding is beginning to feel more like a nightmare. Can Suzanne uncover the truth about her fiancé ahead of her big day? Bella's life was on track until the day of the hen party when everything changed. Now she must find the strength to rebuild her future - and decide who she wants to spend it with. Mandy's grandmother has fallen in love, but her family don't approve. For her grandmother's dreams to come true, Mandy has a secret wedding to plan, and a very special dress to find.

A beautiful, unforgettable novel that will be devoured by fans of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman. Mani and Nu. Sister and brother. Forced to flee their home in fear of their lives, Mani and Nu find themselves in a dark London flat. When the worst happens, fate abandons them far from the family who might love them. And so Mani accepts an offer of marriage in hope of finding comfort for Nu - but her dreams of happiness soon evaporate, and she is left with no way of revealing the truth about the life she and Nu are leading.

Emma Maria Rossini appears to be the luckiest girl in the world. She's the daughter of a beautiful and loving mother, and her father is one of the most famous film actors of his generation. She's also the granddaughter of a rather eccentric and obscure Italian astrophysicist. But as her seemingly charmed life begins to unravel, and Emma experiences love and tragedy, she ultimately finds solace in her once-derided grandfather’s theorem on the universe.

When actress Evie Lawrence is injured in a hit-and-run accident, she wants nothing more than to retreat to her woodland home in Wicklow to recover. But when she's forced to admit that she needs help, her grand-niece Amber is volunteered by her mother to move into Heronbrook House for a few weeks to take care of her. However, Evie has been estranged from her sister's family for many years and hopes that Amber's arrival doesn't mean that her dark secrets, or what happened in Heronbrook years ago, will be uncovered.

Jay Lewis is a troubled soul. A single father, just trying to keep everything together, he knows he sabotages any real chance of happiness. Tormented by nightmares and flashbacks, he can’t forget the events from one fateful night that steered the course of the rest of his life. Struggling against the crushing weight of guilt, Jay knows there are wrongs he needs to put right. Determined to get closure, he seeks out old friends and a past love. But in his quest for a more peaceful future, is he ready to face the trauma of his past?

You can call me Ella. Whenever you come to a crossroads, I’m that perpendicular track. My bad rap comes from the fact that the choice I offer is always, unapologetically, carnal. After making the courageous decision to leave her abusive husband, Perdie and her three young children start over and finally find the safety and love they all deserve. But years later, when tragedy strikes, Perdie is left wondering if the choice she made to leave has led them to this moment. If she were given the opportunity to take it all back and stay, would she?

When Alina's son, Fin, traces his long-absent birthfather, it's the catalyst for decades of secrets to implode in Alina's neatly ordered life. With the sudden appearance of Rory, and the ever-present pull of a very different life in Bangladesh, she's left reeling.