Search results for ""Headline""

Born into terrible poverty, Millie Ash's hopes for a better life are threatened by a fatal accident in Dee Williams' heartrending new sagaMillie Ash, born into terrible poverty in the backstreets of the East End, has always wanted to better herself. She gets her chance when she lands a position as a lady's companion, her charge the disabled daughter of a well-to-do London family. Millie adores her work, and even starts to develop feelings for the son of the house. But years later a tragic accident causes Millie to lose her job and, along with it, the life she so loved. As she goes from job to job, working variously as a typist, factory worker and nurse, will she ever find happiness, and love, again?

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The greatest writer of them all, brought to glorious life.How well do you know the man you love? How much do you think you know about Shakespeare? What if they were one and the same? He is an ordinary man: unwilling craftsman, ambitious actor, resentful son, almost good-enough husband. And he is also a genius. The story of how a glove-maker from Warwickshire became the greatest writer of them all is vaguely known to most of us, but it would take an exceptional modern novelist to bring him to life. And now at last Jude Morgan, acclaimed author of Passion and The Taste of Sorrow, has taken Shakespeare's life, and created a masterpiece.

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His first wife was everything you're not. But was she everything she seemed?Lily, a young woman left alone in the world on the death of her grandparents, finds purpose when she befriends Harry Summers, a grieving widower, whose wife Sarah recently took her own life in Barcelona. The pair fall in love and Lily finally finds the security she has never had. But Lily's life takes a darker turn when she realises there may be more to Sarah's death than meets the eye. Anxious to find the truth before she marries her beloved Harry, Lily sets off to Barcelona in search of answers. What she discovers is more shocking than she could ever have imagined...

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Tabloid reporter Simone Glass should be having a ball working for her trashy LA rag. After all, dishing out the dirt on the sleazy side of LA's celebrity culture isn't exactly rocket science. Strangely enough though, no one wants to talk to her on record, so she's forced to go undercover...But after a soap star's suspicious 'suicide', Simone's detective work suddenly takes a more sinister turn. It becomes clear there's a savage killer tearing Tinseltown apart. Simone may think she's piecing the jigsaw puzzle together, but is she about to become to the next Hollywood casualty?

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From the acclaimed author of THE PIRATE'S DAUGHTER comes a story of three women born into the divided, troubled paradise of Jamaica.Easter, 1981. With Jamaica in a state of emergency, the Landing family gathers to bury one of its own. For Monica Landing, who had not spoken to her daughter for fifteen years, the death of Lana is the cruellest kind of loss. For Lana's youngest sister, Jean, it is an imcomprehensible tragedy. All she knows is that her beloved homeland holds no future for her. But flight means crossing a landscape where soldiers turned executioners and armed gangs rule. It means making her way through the memories that engulf her, with perhaps the only man she has ever loved by her side. THE TRUE HISTORY OF PARADISE captures the grace, beauty and brutality that are indelible parts of the Jamaican experience.

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Half term may be over but the chaos has just begun. Mr Logan has run off and eloped with Miss Sharkreve leaving the Lower Sixth with a new housemistress - the tyrannical, catty Mrs Dicks. And with the rules getting tighter at St Cecilia's the students are getting way more creative in finding ways to break them - especially as they're all feeling a bit frisky.Tally, broken hearted and on the rebound, sets her sights on safe bet Rando, while Alice and Tristan decide to take their relationship to the next level. Things between Dylan and Jasper are seriously heating up - could she finally have found a guy who won't disappoint her? As tensions reach an explosive high, a pool party at Rando's country estate should be just the thing to cool everyone down. Or will it push the temperature up a notch?

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A warm and uplifting story of how a woman falls in love with a place and its people: a landscape, a community and a fragile way of life. A rural idyll: that's what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cévennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and her dream is to set up in business as a seamstress. But this is a harsh and lonely place when you're no longer just here on holiday. There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbours, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol. And that's before the arrival of Catherine's sister, Bryony...

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Money? Important. Love? Not so much. Well, that's how Isabella sees it. Running away from her horrific childhood, all she's interested in is getting to LA, working for the super-rich, and marrying one of them. Then she can wallow in the WAG lifestyle she's wanted for years. And it's all going to plan, with a rich husband, richer father-in-law and bottomless bank account. But then someone pulls a string and the house of cards she laboured so hard to build comes crashing down around her. It's time for Bella to learn - it's not what you love, it's who you love, and how much, that gets you through this life...

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Within six months of them breaking up with her, Peg Silver's ex-lovers always meet and marry the women of their dreams. A major lifestyle change is clearly called for, which is why she says goodbye to Manhattan and hello to a gorgeous farmhouse in tiny, backwater Vermont. Finally, she hopes, she's bound to meet the ultimate, all-organic country man of her dreams. Instead, Peg finds herself at Inward Bound - a proactive adult-education retreat for the hapless and hopelessly lovelorn. What has she done? However, things could be finally starting to look up in the shape of Linus, Inward Bound's sexy, scruffy, smart and still-single founder. Is Peg about to find her cure?

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Francesca and Amanda are in trouble. When they took over their parents' coffee bar in Brooklyn Heights, they thought they'd have a business for life. Now, they've managed to run it into the ground, and emergency action is required. Clever, thoughtful Francesca thinks that brainpower is the key to starting over, whereas Amanda firmly believes that a sweet smile and great hair get one a lot further in life. Who is right?

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A fabulously funny and absorbing romance from the outrageously hilarious Suzanne Macpherson Emily Rith Griffin is dead. Perfectly beautiful, perfectly rich and perfectly bitchy until the day she keeled over in the local supermarket, she's now happily haunting the fresh produce aisle. Lila Abbott sees dead people. She also has a knack for convincing them to quit haunting places and go rest in peace somewhere else. But getting Emily Ruth to give up the ghost is tough. There's something suspicious about her death and Lila needs to find out what. Surely it can't be anything to do with Emily Ruth's ex-husband, the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Lucas? Maybe Lila should investigate him more closely. Just in case...

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Lucca, City State for hundreds of years, keeper of secrets and relics, possessor of the Holy Face of Christ, has Napoleon's army at its gates, the emperor having declared himself King of All Italy.A continent away in Bexleyheath, Mabel Flinchurst gazes down from her window upon the Advent Fair. With all the hustle and bustle she doesn't see the pilgrim walk into the church of St Anthony's across the square, and slit his own throat. But Lucca and this suicide are strands from the same rope, a rope that is being wound unseen about Mabel, ready to rip her from her cosy world. When Mabel's friend, Toby, is kidnapped she enlists the help of compulsive list-maker and missing-persons finder, Whilbert Stroop. Together they are drawn into a mystery that began many centuries ago, and soon they find themselves losing a race against time and treachery, as an unknown enemy, and murder, begin to snap at their heels...

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The end of the war brings more than just her husband home... Alexandra Conner writes a heart-rending saga of family strife, dreams abandoned and love triumphant, in The Soldier's Woman. Perfect for fans of Rita Bradshaw and Catherine Cookson.When Faith Granger's husband Samuel comes back from the First World War he is a changed man. Although still loving to his wife and daughter, Samuel struggles to settle down to normal, civilian life, and Faith seems unable to reignite their old passion. Then Leonie Bonnard, a shy young Frenchwoman, arrives. She tells Faith she is a war widow looking for a room to rent for herself and her young child, and Faith takes her in, but when Samuel comes face to face with the 'lodger' he realises that his past has caught up with him: he is the father of her child. Leonie threatens to tell Faith everything, and insists that Samuel leave his family for her. How will Faith react when she realises her life has been ruined by a trusted interloper? What readers are saying about The Soldier's Woman: 'Love Alexandra Connor books. Totally involving characters, believable plots, always with surprising twists. Excellent!''What a wonderful story. I couldn't put the book down''This is the first time I have read a book by this author, and I have to say, Alexandra Connor is an author I will come back to. A very good book to read, you will not want to put it down, a storyline on the move that keeps you wanting more'

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When Nell Bailey is wounded in a Flying Bomb attack, it is up to her daughter, Josie, to hold the family together. But Josie's new responsibilities don't stop her imagining a brighter future - a future she hopes to share with Jonny Francis, whom she has loved for as long as she can remember.Her younger brother Tommy, however, does not adjust so easily to the changes in family life. The mounting tension between himself and Josie reaches its peak and Tomy storms out of the house, vowing to live with his dad. But when he finds himself caught up in the notorious Pedlar's plan to assassinate an eminent political figure, he begins to wish that he'd left well enough alone, for nothing will ever be the same again...

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Chef Anna Rowan is living her personal dream, running chi-chi restaurant TART with her boyfriend (and general manager) Byron Smith. It seems like being the stars of a reality-TV show about a restaurant can only be a good thing - they've got nothing to hide, right? Unfortunately, while the restaurant may not have any secret problems, maybe Anna and Byron do - and under the hot glare of the TV cameras, there's really nowhere to hide...

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It's every girl's dream: to be catapulted from a boring, everyday existence into a world of fame, riches, adoring fans and critical acclaim. This fabulous and page-turning novel follows the path of the loveable Naomi, from her days waiting tables in New York's East Village, to signing a record deal and playing packed stadium gigs. It's as if one day she woke up to find the dreams she had as a shy, gawky teenager from nerdsville had all come true at once... But stardom isn't always all it's cracked up to be. Soon Naomi's adrift in a world where lovers are players, where friends quickly become enemies, and where you never quite know just who you can trust. Can Naomi learn to play the game of fame before her star comes tumbling down?

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When Izzy Duncan meets two gorgeous guys in one week through her job at a glitzy uptown gallery, she has no hesitation which one to choose. Charming, well-mannered art dealer Avery wins over the scruffy, moody artist Grady any time. But then she discovers that Avery seems to have more than a few dark secrets - secrets that only Grady knows the answers to...

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Gorgeous ex-underwear model Lola Carlyle is a survivor, but when humiliating photos of her appear on the Net, she decides enough is enough and flees to the Bahamas for some peace and quiet. Or so she thinks... Max Zamora may be a government agent with his cover blown, but when he commandeers Lola's yacht she sure as hell isn't going to give in without a fight. After her attempts to escape cast the pair adrift and into a series of near-death situations, Lola realises she's never been so scared in all her life. Her only hope of getting out alive rests with sexy, dangerous Max. But trapped on-board with Lola, his mind's soon on other things... With everything hotting up in more ways than one, is Lola Carlyle about to reveal all?

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Psychic Clair Ivars has a flair for reading tarot cards, yet a total blind spot when it comes to predicting her own future - especially matters of the heart. Which might explain why she's surprised to find herself accidentally engaged to vodka magnate Jack Heron after knowing him for only a few hours. What it doesn't explain, however, is an increasingly strange series of events... and it definitely doesn't explain the peculiar way Clair keeps thinking about Jack's business partner, the tall, dark, mysterious and infuriatingly sexy Mike...

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'He is the Napoleon of Crime...He is the organiser of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city'. A man like Sherlock Holmes has many enemies. Violent murderers, deviant villains, ghosts of old loves, blackmailers and poisonous scribes, to to name but a few. But none are so deadly, so powerful, as Professor Moriarty. Moriarty - the only man who can compete with Holmes' genius. The only man who can, perhaps, ultimately defeat the great detective ...

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A heartrending London wartime saga from much-loved author Pamela Evans.For the Porters and the Mills, family and friendship are the glue that binds everything together. So when the Porters' home is destroyed in the Blitz and only seventeen-year-old Nell and her little sister Pansy survive, all their lives are shattered. Peg Mills is determined to look after her best friend's daughters. And, in time, the girls begin to thrive - Pansy, evacuated to the countryside and Peg's loving mother, and Nell in her new job at the local newspaper. But trouble is on its way. Nell discovers her handsome suitor Gus Granger is hiding a dangerous secret. And, just when she needs him the most, her closest confidant Ed Mills is declared missing in action. Nell suddenly realises that Ed means much more to her than just a friend. But will she ever see him again to tell him her true feelings?

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When two young female artists are murdered in what looks like ritualistic killings, the pressure is on to find a highly professional murderer. What is the link with the art world? Is the killer a disgruntled art critic? A twice-jilted lover? The arrival of the father of one of the victims, millionaire businessman Davor Boras, brings in the big guns of the Home Office, MI5 and the CIA. It's not long before Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner gets called back to the frontline. With an estranged son, a dubious assistant and connections in very high places, what is more important to Boras: business or family? There's too much at stake - there's going to be bloodshed - and Skinner's men are at risk of getting caught in the crossfire...

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It's 1931 and eighteen-year-old Greta is working in a laundry in Liverpool, where she lives with her widowed mother and thirteen-year-old brother Kenny. When a scruffy black and white collie follows Greta home one day, Kenny wants to keep the animal, but they can't afford to feed him. And so Greta tracks down the owner: Mungo Masters, a wealthy man who runs funfairs in three towns. Mungo falls for Greta, though he's her mother's age, and doesn't bother to tell her that he's married already. When Mungo gives Greta and Kenny jobs at one of his fairs, it seems life is looking up. But Mungo is not good news...

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Point-to-point jockey Jess Haddon has maintained a resolute silence about the identity of the father of her little daughter, Izzy. But that hasn't stopped the rumours swirling around their small Dorset village. Izzy's adoring grandmother Belinda is not the only one who believes Jess must have had a fling with charming Johnnie Bearsden before he moved to America with his family.Belinda is certain Jess's secret cannot be kept for ever. And when she discovers Johnnie is back in the area, she knows everything is about to change. Sooner or later the story must break, and when it does, there will surely be terrible consequences.

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October 1940. The London borough of West Ham is in the grip of yet another night of bombing, and undertaker Francis Hancock is in the grip of yet another night of temporary insanity.A veteran of World War One, Francis is forced by the nightly air raids to relive the trauma of the trenches, and all he can do is try to outrun the horrific flashbacks. So when he sees a man lurching through the rubble, screaming about being stabbed but with no visible wound, Francis dismisses it at the ravings of another lost soul... until the man's body turns up at his funeral parlour, two days later. Suspecting foul play, Francis feels compelled to discover what really happened that night - but he finds himself pitted against violent thugs, an impenetrable network of lies and his own fragile sanity.

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Jo Brand tells it like it is in her darkly comic and sharply observed novel about the things we do for love.Billy is a lad. He's a laugh, he's loud, he behaves badly and Sarah is besotted with him. But after another 'accident' involving Billy's temper, Sarah's face and a night in the A&E, Sarah's friends Martha and Flower decide that it's time to take action. What should they do? Reason with him? Send him to anger management classes? Hire a hit man?

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What are the raw ingredients of long-term success, and how are they best mixed together to achieve your business goals? Overnight success is one thing, but success that is sustained is a completely different - and much more challenging - discipline.Steve Redgrave is uniquely placed to how long-term success is achieved. During his sporting career, Steve learned to face the challenges of redefining goals, learning new skills, fighting off renewed competition, making difficult choices and staying motivated. In ENDURING SUCCESS, Steve mixes his view on the nature of success with the key lessons of leading businesses, people and brands. The result is a fresh take on long-term success.

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Following strict criteria laid down by Rangers based on talent, length of service and ambassadorship to the club, here are the top Rangers players of all time. Stretching from the club's inception in 1872 to the present season, all eras are covered. But will the fans agree with the chosen eighty-four? Are Ally McCoist, Gazza, Sandy Jardine, Graeme Souness in there? Yes, of course. Are Mark Hateley, Davie Wilson, Ian Ferguson, Terry Butcher in there? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Each of the entries to the Hall of Fame includes fascinating information and in-depth play reviews about each team member and trivia to get you talking.This great book is absolutely sure to inspire and invigorate the Gers supporters, but will everyone agree?

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It is said that weddings are made in heaven. But then again, so are clouds, rain, hail, hurricanes, thunder and lightning...In Allan Morrison's latest hilarious observational offering, we follow all that happens to loving couples - starting with that electric spark when they first meet. Once a courtship has settled down and the girl has decided she can't do any better, it's time for all those familiar moments: the meeting of the in-laws, the living together, the rituals of hen nights and stag dos; the Big Day; the honeymoon and then the hard stuff - sticking together.Humorous and gentle by turn, Allan adds his own gentlemanly warmth to a topic close to everyone's heart.

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From his childhood amidst the steel mills of South Yorkshire to Olympic glory and beyond, Seb Coe's story is one of extraordinary achievement.One of the greatest middle-distance runners of all time, Seb earned four Olympic medals during a world-record breaking career. THE WINNING MIND is Seb's account of the challenges, hard graft, set-backs and victories that he experienced during his career, retold with the passion and commitment that ultimately made him such an inspirational sporting champion.As an athlete, politican, business speaker and key figure in the delivery of the 2012 Olympic Games, Seb Coe has striven to achieve success in every challenge he has faced. This is the story of one man's quest for excellence and the power of the winning mind.

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'Age is irrelevant, unless you happen to be a bottle of wine' Joan CollinsKeren Smedley is passionate about altering outdated stereotypes about age and helping people to change their beliefs and attitudes to ageing. As a professional life coach - for Saga among other organizations - she has been asked every kind of question you could imagine, and some you couldn't, about the uncertainties and problems of today's baby boomer. Whether it's about sexuality, money, relationships, health, friends, planning for the future, the best selection of those questions is contained here in WHO'S THAT WOMAN IN THE MIRROR? You will be impressed by the wisdom of the answers - and the endless variety of the questions. Like an extended problem page for baby boomers, this book will inform as it entertains.

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OUR LIVERPOOL is an oral history about the real Liverpool - about the city before its slick transformation to European City of Culture and about the spirit that remains at its heart. Here, at last, is Liverpool's grievous and glorious past. And here, through the people's voices, we find old Liverpool, without the gift-wrap. Its stories pulsate with the rhythms of an alternately funny, flippant, belligerent, stubborn and warm heart, and they broadcast the values of a community, which are the city's true legacy to the modern world. Piers Dudgeon has listened to dozens of people who remember the city as it was, and who have lived through its many changes. They talk of childhood and education, of work and entertainment, of family, community values, health, politics, religion and music. Their stories will make you laugh and cry. It is people's own memories that make history real and this engrossing book captures them vividly.

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Graeme Sims discloses his gentle techniques for making any dog confident, happy and well behaved.Graeme Sims - the man who 'speaks dog' - is hailed as one of the world's most respected dog trainers. His approach depends on his matchless ability to get into the mind of the dog - to be truly a 'dog whisperer'. He explains how our misinterpretation of dogs' reactions can cause them unhappiness and contribute to behavioural problems. In a series of case studies, he shows how, with understanding and patience, we can reach the nervous, the difficult or the disturbed rescue dog, and help them finally to feel that they have a real home. His book gives you a chance to look at life from the dog's point of view and to understand thoroughly what you see; it is for anyone who wants to earn the right to be their dog's best friend.

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Many years after becoming the youngest person ever to be awarded the VC for attacking a company of Panzer Grenadiers on his own - an action that proved a turning point in one of the major battles of the Second World War - John Kenneally made an extraordinary confession. The courageous hero of the Irish Guards, who had taken on a whole company single-handed was not, in fact, John Kenneally at all, but Leslie Jackson, the illegitimate son of Neville Blond and Gertrude Robinson (a 'high-class whore'), who had deserted his former regiment, the Honourable Artillery Company. In THE HONOUR AND THE SHAME, he tells his story with great verve and frankness - a story of riotous living, great courage on the front line, and intense loyalties. Full of the escapades of battle - from the triumphant Tunisian campaign to the bloodbath of Anzio - and the many adventures of a freewheeling youth, THE HONOUR AND THE SHAME is a vivid portrait of a fascinating man.

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From 1958-75 Billy McNeill was at the heart of everything Celtic did. An uncompromising but fair centre half, he captained the club for twelve hugely successful years. Later in his life he returned for two more periods as Celtic manager, winning the undying support of the club's legion of fans for his complete commitment to the cause. In this remarkable autobiography, he recalls the glory days of the Lisbon Lions alongside Bobby Lennox and Jimmy Johnstone; playing for Scotland with Billy Bremner and Denis Law; coming to England as a manager; and reveals just how good a babysitter Kenny Dalglish was. Told with great humour and intelligence, this is a fascinating story from one of Scotland's greatest heroes.

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Garry Sobers is a cricketing legend, the greatest all-rounder of all time. In this revealing and honest autobiography, Sobers talks about his upbringing and about the tragic accident that inspired him throughout his career. He explains how he helped the West Indies to become the most feared cricketing nation in the world, setting them on a course of success that would run for another 20 years. He also provides authoritative views on the current state of the game and the future of cricket.

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Looking back over the past forty years, Judith Chambers realises she has led a sad and lonely life. Her parents never loved each other, let alone their only daughter. And, by forcing Judith to stay at home and work in the family business, her parents stopped her from making friends or finding happiness. Then her father's death gives her the chance to spread her wings. At first, she struggles to survive in the outside world, but just as she is making headway, an unexpected visitor from her past arrives. Not only does this threaten to destroy the new life she has built for herself, but it also forces her to deal with difficulties she is ill equipped to cope with. For Judith Chambers, though, there's no going back.

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A couple fall in love at first sight - a magical encounter. They search for a home, and soon they are building a charmed life together on the fringes of Wimbledon Common. But when summer arrives, and with it, two gregarious neighbours, their haven is transformed. In the course of lazy days of sunshine and long, hedonistic nights, the boundaries between the two households blur, and the lovers' faith in each other is put to the test. Deep-seated tensions surface, which gradually give way to fears that echo through their days, and haunt their nights. NIGHTDANCING is an unforgettable portrayal of the transforming power of young love, and the darkness that can be born of an ordinary relationship.

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Maggie moves to Brighton after splitting up with her long-term boyfriend, and, unable to find a job, starts work as a lapdancer. Failing to make any new friends, she writes letters compulsively, and the highlight of her day is the sound of the morning post being delivered. Maggie gradually becomes obsessed with the married couple, Libby and David, living next door. Libby has given up work after having a baby, and is finding life as a full-time mother very difficult. Just as she persuades David that she should return to work, he is asked to take a sabbatical from his management-consultant job. He's always longed to travel, and convinces Libby that they should spend six months in Cuba, learning Spanish. Maggie, deciding she too wants to travel, follows them to Havana, where the horrors of her past - in particular her young sister's violent death - begin to haunt her. And as Maggie starts to break down, she tries to take over Libby's life...

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It's July 1930 and Lorna Mathews couldn't be happier. She thought she was about to lose her job but instead the business's new owner, Mr Wyndham, wants to keep her on. Lorna's mother, though, is horrified by the news and finally confesses that Lorna was the result of an affair with Oliver Wyndham, whose family cast her out when Oliver died and the pregnancy was revealed. Shocked to the core to learn that the man she has always thought to be her beloved father simply adopted her at birth, Lorna resolves to find out everything she can about the past and especially about the tragic death of Oliver Wyndham. Working with the Wyndhams, she soon begins to stir up old secrets and the truth starts to emerge. But Lorna hasn't reckoned with falling in love with a member of the family she should hate...

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It's 1942 and Dorothy Taylor, now eighteen, dreams of distant lands far from the grey backstreets of Rotherhithe where she has spent all her life. As the war rages on, excitement comes in the form of the Americans posted in London. Although Dolly is engaged to Tony, a boy from her street who has been called up, she can't help but fall in love with Joe, a dashing American GI who eventually asks her to marry him. But America is not all she imagined it would be, and she's shocked by the cool welcome Joe's mother gives her. As she struggles to make friends and understand the man she's married, Dorothy begins to realise that she made a terrible mistake when she walked away from Tony, and wonders if he even remembers the innocent young girl who broke his heart. Only when she returns to Rotherhithe can she find out if there is still a chance of happiness for the two of them.

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It's 1956, and while many women are doing jobs they'd never dreamed of before the war, Molly Hawkins is chained firmly to the kitchen sink. Her husband Brian believes his wife's place is in the home, but is too idle to seek regular employment for himself. Molly worries that her six-year-old daughter Rosa is going without, but is willing to sacrifice luxuries - and her own happiness - for her little girl to have a dad.Then a family friend dies suddenly, leaving Molly a share in a successful pottery business. To Brian's horror, it's on condition that Molly takes a job at the pottery. Seizing the chance to bring in much needed income, Molly accepts the position, and soon gains strength from her new-found independence. It's a strength she will need to take her through the tragedy that lies ahead...

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A dark, deliciously grown-up take on Judy Blume - the story of a young girl's challenging coming-of-age that is funnier than it ought to be.Jasira, a teenaged Arab-American girl, is sent away by her mother to live with her father, after the mother's boyfriend begins paying her too much attention. But Jasira's father is unable to show her the affection she craves, or to handle her feelings about her rapidly changing body. America is about to go to war in Kuwait, and Jasira becomes ever more isolated at school, and begins to look for love in all the wrong places. Mr Vuoso, a neighbour and army reservist who catches her looking at his copy of Playboy while she is babysitting his son, is quick to take advantage of her vulnerability. Things look very bad for Jasira until a pregnant neighbour, Melina, offers her a lifeline, and in the novel's hilarious, and heartbreaking climax, manages to bring father and daughter, finally, a little closer to one another.

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It's a cold winter's night in 1906 but nothing can dampen the high spirits of Constance Bannerman and her fellow skivvy and best friend, Nella. For tomorrow, Constance can escape her life of drudgery at Doctor Sowerby's home in Newcastle by marrying her handsome sweetheart, the prosperous John Edington. But Constance's last night of servitude is to end in terror. As a final act of spite, Mrs Sowerby throws her out of the house late that evening where she is met by the doctor's dissolute son, Gerald. In the front yard, surrounded by freezing fog, Gerald attacks and rapes her. Distraught and unsure of what to do, Constance marries John the next day with a heavy heart. She cannot tell John what has happened, for his is a respectable family, and shame will not allow her to reveal the truth to Nella. But the worst is yet to come, for John Edington himself has a shocking secret that will make Constance feel more alone than ever...

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Cornwall: 1793. As the Lovedays' finances recover from near ruin, it is clear their trials are far from over. Adam, returning from Trevowan with Senara - now his wife - and their baby son, finds himself at loggerheads with his father. Edward refuses to accept his son's choice of bride, and Adam finds it impossible to continue working in the family shipyard. To support his wife and child, he works as an English agent in France, the country still in the grip of the Terror. Meanwhile, St John is in trouble again. His involvement in the murky world of smuggling has made him some dangerous enemies - not least the corrupt Thadeous Lanyon. When Thadeous is found murdered, St John is arrested. If found guilty, he will be hanged. Can the Lovedays pull together over this? Or will these new trials finally tear them apart?

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Constance Keating has lived a life of internal exile, alienated from her family and from Ireland. Now she has returned to her family home to die. While that painful, messy process takes place she replays, like a home movie, the fragments of her past. And, as the festooned Christmas tree awaits its day, so Constance also waits, hoping her child's father will come and that the final outcome will be on her terms.

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Much has been written about Charles Darwin but this is the first biography of his strong, intelligent wife. Emma Wedgwood, granddaughter of the famous Josiah, married Charles Darwin in 1839, three years after he returned from his extraordinary voyage on the Beagle. Their life together was intellectually exciting though overshadowed by personal tragedy. Edna Healey has discovered new, and hitherto unpublished, material and has had the full support of the Darwin family in writing this major biography.

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Jenny and Laura Nightingale are as different as chalk and cheese. Jenny's pretty face and lively sense of humour make her everyone's favourite girl, whereas Laura is mean and moody and she's never out of trouble. Their mother, Mary, loves them both and frets about Laura's behaviour, but soon that's the least of her worries... Her father's new young wife, Celia, is about to bring shame on the family by leading Laura astray. Jenny attracts the attention of two young lads in her street who both want to court her. Mick and John have been mates since they were kids but now war is declared, and it's every man for himself! Meanwhile Laura's resentment begins to build and it's only a matter of time before things come to a head. Who will learn that a little tenderness goes a long way?

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