Showing results by author "Joanna Trollope" in All Categories

When a man and a woman get married, things can get complicated. When they have children from previous marriages, "complicated" can become the understatement of the year.

Dairy farmer Robin Meredith has just buried his Californian wife Caro who, though a central figure at the farm for more than twenty years, had remained a mystery to the family. With Caro gone, her adopted daughter Judy feels cut adrift. To Robin’s brother, Joe, Caro had been the emblem of a freedom he’d glimpsed in America and his grief is far deeper than the family suspects. Even Robin and Joe’s parents, entrenched in the adjoining farm, feel suddenly vulnerable to time and change as well.

Gina and Laurence had been the best of friends ever since they were teenagers. They had never been in love - just friends.

Now, Gina is married to the exquisitely tasteful Fergus and lives in stylish perfection at High Place. Laurence is married to down-to-earth Hilary and they have spent their married life turning The Bee House into both home and hotel. Then, with elegant disdain, Fergus announces he is leaving Gina and their teenage daughter. As Gina's misery ricochets through the two homes, she turns for emotional support to Laurence, her dearest friend....

Lifelong friends, now in their sixties, James, a teacher, and Hugh, a TV personality, both live with attractive women 25 years their junior. But the age difference is a time bomb, ticking away at the heart of both relationships. Kate's hunger for a life more in keeping with her own age threatens to bring her eight years with James to an end. And how is Julia to cope when her own career begins to blossom while Hugh's is withering before their eyes? The arrival of Miss Beatrice Bachelor, a razor-sharp Oxford spinster, fuels the discontent in both girls.

We all need to know where we come from, where we belong. But for David and Nathalie, this need to know is even more urgent, since they are adopted. Brought up by the same parents but born to two different mothers, they have grown up as brother and sister, and share a fierce loyalty.Their decision, in their late thirties, to embark upon the journey to find their birth mothers is no straightforward matter.

Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. Up until now, Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully, uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather. But now the time has come for things to change.

Best-selling author Joanna Trollope has been described as one of the most insightful chroniclers and social commenters writing fiction today. Her books have been translated into over 25 languages, and several have been adapted for television. This collection comprises the BBC Radio dramatisations of her historical novel Parson Harding's Daughter (written under the nom de plume Caroline Harvey) and two of her most popular contemporary novels, A Spanish Lover and Second Honeymoon, as well as an edition of the literary chat show The Book Café.

Set partly in London and partly in America, this story follows the fortunes of a small group of the young and the single. They are the children of '60s swingers. Their lives are blighted by indecision and too many choices with too little time.

They were six female friends, different in age and circumstances, but with one common need: the warmth and support of their Friday nights. It was a time to share secrets and fears, triumphs and tragedies and, above all, to feel safe in the company of women friends. But things never stay the same forever, especially when a man is introduced into the mix.

Edie Boyd er uddannet skuespiller og har netop sendt sit tredje og sidste barn ud i verden. Edies mand, Russell, glæder sig til et fredeligt liv med Edie efter mange travle år med familie og arbejde. Men Russell glæder sig forgæves. Den tomme rede sender Edie ud i et følelsesmæssigt stormvejr, og for at dulme følelsen af ensomhed beslutter hun at genoptage sin karriere som skuespiller. Og så begynder familien at stille krav igen.

Hvorfor vælger nogle kvinder at leve sammen med langt ældre mænd? Og hvorfor mener mændene selv, at de er heldige? Stedet er Oxford, England. Kvinderne er Kate og Julia. Mændene er de 25 år ældre venner, James og Hugh. Alt er tilsyneladende fredeligt og idyllisk - i såvel ægteskabet, som i det papirløse samliv. Men da James kommer til at køre ind i en ældre dame på cykel ved navn Beatrice Bachelor, bliver der vendt op og ned på alting.

I "Den spanske elsker" møder vi tvillingerne Lizzie og Frances. Lizzie har ægteskab, fire børn og et hyggeligt lille landsbygalleri. Frances er karrierekvinden med den charmeforladte lejlighed i London, hende der er ude af stand til at indgå i et længerevarende forhold. Men så tager Frances på juleferie til Spanien og indleder en affære med den charmerende hotelejer Luis. Og i takt med at affæren udvikler sig, åbner den spanske elsker hendes øjne for de følelser, der altid har været Lizzies domæne.

Robin Meredith har lige begravet sin kone Caro, der kun blev 45 år. Hendes død og begravelse bliver begyndelsen til store forandringer i familien, der altid har betragtet hende som fremmed. De forskellige familiemedlemmer bliver imidlertid tvunget til at finde ind til det fremmede i dem selv. "Den nærmeste familie" er en roman om nomader og fastboende, om at leve på landet og med sig selv. Den giver et indblik i de kræfter, der skaber forandring og viser, hvordan man kan være sin egen lykkes smed.

Den engelske forfatter Joanna Trollope er fast overbevist om, at livet begynder ved de fyrre. Hun er fascineret af de øjeblikke i folks liv, hvor de pludselig gør det uventede. Hvor midaldrende mænd gør sig fri af deres roller, og hvor midaldrende kvinder springer ud af flasken og smider proppen væk. Et sådant øjeblik oplever Anna Bouverie i "Præstens kone". I tyve år har hun spillet andenviolin til sin mand, sognepræsten Peter, uden at kny.

Gina og Fergus, Laurence og Hilary. To almindelige, intelligente og rare middelklassepar, én datter, tre sønner, i årevis de bedste venner. Men da idyllen krakelerer hjemme hos Gina og Fergus, og Gina søger trøst hos Laurence og Hilary, er det mere end venskabet kan baere.