Showing results by publisher "Hodder & Stoughton" in Women's Fiction

Zainab, Funmi and Enitan first meet at University in northern Nigeria, all learning how to become themselves. It's an experience that binds the three very different women together. When Enitan moves to New York to elope with a white man, Zainab and Funmi are left behind, with drastically different fortunes. Over the course of 30 years, their lives and friendships diverge and change. Funmi is separating from her husband, trying to understand her daughter Remi. Zainab finds herself the sole breadwinner for her husband and their four sons.

Christmas on Nantucket finds Winter Street Inn owner Kelley Quinn and his family busily preparing for the holiday season. Though the year has brought tragedy, the Quinns have much to celebrate: Kelley has reunited with his first wife, Margaret; Kevin and Isabelle have a new baby; and Ava is finally dating a nice guy. But when Kelley's wife, Mitzi, shows up on the island along with Kevin's devious ex-wife, Nora, and a dangerously irresistible old fling of Ava's, the inn is suddenly overrun with romantic feuds, not to mention guests.

Esta has known nothing but Eden's Isle her whole life. Raised by her grandmother, after a fire claimed her parents and scarred her face, she's instructed to piety, to deference and acquiescence by a religious society that will not suffer anything else. Cut off from the moral iniquity of the mainland, the island believes it can stay free of the Seawomen—creatures from the water that came upon land to corrupt God's creation and Man.

Some of the stormy weather of the past few seasons seems to have finally lifted for the Quinns. Kevin is about to tie the knot with Isabelle, and there's hopeful news about Bart, who has been captured by enemy forces in Afghanistan. That doesn't mean there aren't a few dark clouds on the horizon as the family juggle health scares and love triangles. But if there's one holiday that brings the Quinn family together, it's Christmas. And this year promises to be a celebration unlike any other.

Tess is heartbroken when Seb breaks up with her and can't help blaming herself. If only she'd done things differently. If only she could make right all her regrets...But she can't. It's over. She has to forget about him. Drunk and upset on New Year's Eve, she wishes she'd never met him. But when she wakes up to discover this dream has come true, she realises she has a chance. To do it all over again. And to get it right this time....

Despite her broken heart, when Dilly Gently joins Magnus Olensen's new band, the chemistry between them is explosive. Both impossibly romantic dizzy blondes with the souls of poets, they could be made for each other. But before they have chance to declare themselves, Dilly's friend Nell confides that she has a huge crush on Magnus, and Dilly nobly steps down in order to play reluctant matchmaker.

Can a trip away lead you home? After a bad breakup, eternal optimist Evie Miller has moved to the small village of Willowbrook to finally pursue her dream of opening a craft shop. Unfortunately, with money worries and an ex-boyfriend determined to track her down, her fresh start isn't going entirely to plan. Jake Hartwood is also looking to escape his past. Haunted by the loss of his wife, he's determined not to get close to anyone again - and the last thing he wants is to be celebrating this December.

Wolfe is the bunker's resident pharmacist. While the inhabitants wait for the outside world to heal, she doles out ibuprofen, sanitary towels and Xanax—all under the watchful eye of the increasingly erratic and paranoid leader. But when the leader starts to ask things of Wolfe, favours she can hardly say no to, her world is thrown off its axis once again. Forming an unlikely alliance with the young Doctor Stirling, her troubled assistant Levitt and Canavan, Wolfe has to navigate the powder keg of life underground, knowing her every move is being watched.

An ordinary day. An ordinary bank. An ordinary street in an ordinary town. Nothing ever happens until one day a shocking robbery turns life upside down for five people - Cillian, a police detective; Martha, the woman he thought was the love of his life; Tobias, who came to Ireland after World War II and now lies in a coma, shot in the bank robbery; Roman, the young Polish teenager who is suspected of pulling the trigger; and his mother, Rosa the cleaner, who dreamed of a better life for herself and her son - and things will never be ordinary again.

There are many reasons to bake: To feed; to create; to impress; to nourish; to define ourselves; and, sometimes, it has to be said, to perfect. But often we bake to fill a hunger that would be better filled by a simple gesture from a dear one. We bake to love and be loved. In 1966, Kathleen Eaden, cookery writer and wife of a supermarket magnate, published The Art of Baking, her guide to nurturing a family by creating the most exquisite pastries, biscuits and cakes.

The year is 1831. Down the murky alleyways of London, acts of unspeakable wickedness are taking place, and no one is willing to speak out on behalf of the city's vulnerable poor as they disappear from the streets. Out of these shadows comes Hester White, a bright young woman who is desperate to escape the slums by any means possible. When Hester is thrust into the world of the aristocratic Brock family, she leaps at the chance to improve her station in life under the tutelage of the fiercely intelligent and mysterious Rebekah Brock.

A lifetime ago, a patient escaped Nazareth mental asylum. They covered their tracks carefully. Or so they thought. Thirty years ago, Marianne Smy committed a crime then fled from her home to leave the past behind. Or so she thought. Now, Marianne has been forced to return. Nazareth asylum has been converted to luxury flats, but its terrible hold on her is still strong. A successful academic, a loving mother and a loyal wife, she fears her secret being revealed and her world shattering. She is right to be scared.

A story of friendship, family, love and loss set against the grimy and glittering streets of '50s Soho. For fans of Kate Furnivall and Rachel Rhys. In a city of strangers, who can you trust? London, 1952. Dina Demetriou has travelled from Cyprus for a better life. She's certain that excitement, adventure and opportunity are out there, waiting - if only she knew where to look. Her passion for clothes and flair for sewing land her a job repairing the glittering costumes at the notorious Pelican Revue. It's here that she befriends the mysterious and beautiful Bebba.

For fans of The Help and The Invention of Wings, a searing and sweeping debut novel that gives a new and unforgettable perspective on modern-day domestic workers. Set in the blistering heat of Singapore, The Maid's Room follows the lives of two Filipina maids - sisters Dolly and Tala - who are working hard to send money back home and British expat Jules, who has left her job as a midwife to move to Singapore with husband David.

Celeste Morton has eagerly awaited her passage into adulthood. Like every woman, she holds a map of the future in her skin, every mole and freckle a clue to unlocking what will come to pass. With puberty comes the changeling period - when her final marks will appear, those that will solidify her fate - and that of those around her. The possibilities are tantalising enough to outweigh her worry that the future she dreams of won't be the one she's fated to have - or the fact the changeling period is the most dangerous in a woman's life. A time when abduction is rife.

Everyone who meets her thinks they know Liddy James. A single mother of two, she is one of New York City's top lawyers (with the ruthless reputation and capsule wardrobe to match) and seems to juggle her complicated life with ease. Her work is all-consuming, her divorce was devastating, her sons are playing up and she's forgotten what more than five hours' sleep a night feels like, but still here she is, on top of the high wire. Until she isn't.

Seven-year-old Jake's heart is failing, and he doesn't want to leave his dad, Simon, alone. So he makes a decision: to find Simon someone to love before he goes. Beth is determined to forget the past. But even when she leaves New York to start afresh in a Lake District village, she can't shake the secrets that haunt her. Single dad Simon still holds a candle for the woman who left him years ago. Every day is a struggle to earn a living while caring for his beloved son. He has no time for finding someone new.

Milly isn't okay, but she looks it online. But everyone lies about their lives on Instagram, don't they? One day, sick of all the pretence, Milly creates Mizzenial, a new channel inspired by the straight-talking magazines of her childhood. But even here, she still can't quite admit how lonely she really is. Can she take her own advice, finally open up and start to move on?

Can you ever outrun the past? It's Zoe's wedding day. She's about to marry Jamie, the love of her life. Then a phone call comes out of the blue, with the news that her mum, Gina, has been arrested. Zoe must make an impossible decision: should she leave her own wedding to help? Zoe hasn't seen Gina for years, blaming her for the secret that she's been running from ever since she was 16. Now Gina is back in her life, but she's very different to the mum Zoe remembers.

Left profoundly deaf after an accident, Émile is no stranger to isolation—or heartbreak. Now, as Nazi planes loom over Guernsey, he senses life is about to change forever. Trapped in a tense, fearful marriage, Isabelle doesn't know what has become of Émile and the future she hoped for. But when she glimpses him from the window of the French House, their lives collide once more. Lieutenant Schreiber is more comfortable wielding a paintbrush than a pistol. But he has little choice in the role he is forced to play in the occupying forces—or in his own forbidden desires.