Showing results by author "Barbara Trapido" in All Categories

Jem is a joyful mystery to Alice. She is something to give thanks for. And when she disappears from Alice's life, as suddenly as she entered it, a whirl of glamour, subversion and literary references, Alice is left bereft. But then she meets Giovanni, presumptuous and hectoring, passionate and beautiful, who leads her back to her childhood friend and the mystery and chaos still surrounding her. Alice finds herself being seduced all over again.

Lydia is killed in a car accident, but she returns to her bereft sister as a benign ghost who nonetheless comes to haunt the lives of those around her in unexpected ways: Jonathan Goldman, whose flat Lydia is running from when she is knocked down; his daughter, Stella, who has discovered her father has been having an affair with the gladiatorial Sonia; Stella's genius painter-boy lover, Izzy, whom she leaves behind as she flees to the arms of kindly Peregrine. Along with good stepmothers, bad mothers, strange professors and wicked monks, their lives collide in a breathtaking finale.

Bright, stylish Katherine is offered a place to study philosophy by Jacob Goldman. She little expects to find herself in the Goldmans' home, a rambling house in Sussex, while Jacob's untidy but enchanting wife Jane gives birth to their sixth child, little Rosie does headstands, stroppy Jonathan goes off fishing and Roger wins her heart by playing beautiful music on his violin. Katherine and Roger embark on a love affair that ends in tears and she leaves for Rome.

Sparky Christina and her saintly adopted sister Pam couldn't be more different. And when they meet similarly mismatched friends Jago and Peter, the four embark on a dazzling series of pairings and partings, outrageous coincidences and 11th-hour entrances interrupted one disastrous Halloween when schoolboy revelry turns horribly wrong. Three years on, as Christina analyses the wit, cruelty and crossed genders of Shakespearean comedy, the cast of her own life reunites and the curtain falls on some gloriously unexpected partnerships.

Alison has two failed marriages under her belt, a house full of junk and an assortment of 'bohemian' friends. When she meets Noah ,she finds a serenity never thought possible: until Noah goes away to a conference and things start to go wrong.

It is 1995, and brilliant Australian Caroline can command everyone, except her own ghoulish mother. This means that things aren’t easy for Josh and Zoe, her husband and 12-year-old daughter. Josh teaches mime in Bristol and Zoe reads girls’ ballet books and longs for ballet lessons. Meanwhile, on the east coast of Africa, Hattie Thomas, Josh’s first love, has taken to writing girls’ ballet books from the turret of her fabulous house.