Search results for ""Author Gill Hornby""

[b]Bicentenary Edition" Celebrating 200 years of Jane Austen[/b]In a country parsonage in the late 18th century, there lived a large family of seven children. They were all bright and clever and noisy, so nobody really noticed when little Jane turned quietly into a genius…The modest, obedient youngest daughter of the Reverend Austen was to grow up to be one of the greatest writers in the English language. And the story of how she succeeded is every bit as romantic as one of her novels…

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The Bridgeford Community Choir is in crisis. Numbers are down. The choir leader is in hospital. The tea urn is behaving in an ominous fashion. Something must be done. New joiners Tracey Leckford and Bennett Parker might just be able to save the day. But Tracey is hiding a huge secret about her past. And Bennett - while equipped with a beautiful singing voice - is entirely baffled by the world and everything in it. Can they really fit in with dependable old regulars like Annie? As the choir suffers through fights, feuds and the perils of the school fair, it becomes clear that their struggles are not just about music, but the future of their community. In order to save their singing group and their town, the Bridgeford Singers will have to find a way to work together - in harmony.

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From the number one bestselling author of Miss Austen, a powerful and moving novel featuring Jane Austen's closest friend and confidante . . .* Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month *'So envious of anyone yet to read this. A triumph!' Nigella Lawson'A masterly piece of storytelling.' Helena Kelly'The great writer is brought to life in this clever, well-researched piece of fiction' The Times'Thoroughly entertaining, Godmersham Park has some of the same understated wit and sharp observation as Austen's novels' Sunday Times'Displays a keen sense of wit and rich characterisation ... a thoroughly enjoyable book' Observer________________January 1804: Anne Sharpe arrives at Godmersham Park in Kent to take up the position of governess.At thirty-one years old, she has no previous experience of either teaching or fine country houses. But her mother has died and she desperately needs an independent income if she is to survive.For her new charge, twelve-year-old Fanny Austen, Anne's arrival is all novelty and excitement.But Anne is keenly aware that her new role is an awkward one: she is neither one of the servants nor one of the family, and to balance a position between the 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' members of the household is a diplomatic chess game. One wrong move may result in her instant dismissal.She has just begun to settle into her position when dashing Henry Austen and his younger sister Jane come to stay.Both take an immediate interest in the pretty, clever governess who quickly becomes drawn into the above stairs life of the Austen family.Despite her best endeavours, Anne finds that she is beginning to fall in love. But has her survival at Godmersham Park just become a good deal more precarious?________________More love for Godmersham Park . . .'If you love Jane Austen you're sure to enjoy Gill Hornby's stylish glimpse into the life of young governess Anne Sharp ... this elegantly written tale skilfully recreates a world where governesses are midway between the family upstairs and the servants downstairs.' The Independent 'Utterly absorbing and illuminating ... Gill Hornby's best book yet.' Esther Freud'I read it straight through without looking up.' Karen Joy Fowler'Meticulously researched, Hornby's absorbing novel revels in the joys and tensions of life above and below stairs.' Mail on Sunday'An invigorating riff on an author whose life and works keep on giving, and an ideal companion for your beach towel this summer.' Metro'Gill Hornby has created another winning tribute to the genius of Jane.' Woman________________Readers can't get enough of Godmersham Park . . .***** 'An utter joy - powerful, moving, clever and entirely delightful.'***** 'I enjoyed the pace of the story as well as learning about the family.'***** 'I was quite transported by Godmersham Park, which often feels as if from Austen's own pen.'***** 'I have never loved a book so much!'***** 'I thoroughly enjoyed the story.'Sunday Times bestseller, January 2023

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It's the start of another school year at St Ambrose. But while the children are in the classroom colouring in, their mothers are learning sharper lessons on the other side of the school gates. Lessons in friendship. Lessons in betrayal. Lessons in the laws of community, the transience of power... and how to get invited to lunch.Beatrice - undisputed queen bee. Ruler, by Divine Right, of all school fund-raising, this year, last year and, surely, for many years to come.Heather - desperate to volunteer, desperate to be noticed, desperate just to belong.Georgie - desperate for a fag.And Rachel - watching them all, keeping her distance. But soon to discover that the line between amused observer and miserable outcast is a thin one.Wickedly funny and brilliantly observed, The Hive is a fascinating and subtle story about group politics and female friendship. From the joys and perils (well, mainly perils) of the Lunch Ladder, to the military operation that is the Car Boot Sale, via the dos and don'ts of dressing your child as a Dalek, all human life is here.

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The Sunday Times bestselling novel, set to be a major TV drama series.'You can't help feeling that Jane would have approved.' OBSERVER'So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I adored it.' CLAIRE TOMALIN________________________Throughout her lifetime, Jane Austen wrote countless letters to her sister. But why did Cassandra burn them all?1840: twenty three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury, and the home of her family's friends, the Fowles.She knows that, in some dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, there is a cache of family letters which hold secrets she can never allow to be revealed.As Cassandra recalls her youth and her relationship with her brilliant yet complex sister, she pieces together buried truths about Jane's history, and her own. And she faces a stark choice: should she act to protect Jane's reputation, or leave the contents of the letters to go unguarded into posterity?Based on a literary mystery that has long puzzled biographers and academics, Miss Austen is a wonderfully original and emotionally complex novel about the loves and lives of Cassandra and Jane Austen.________________________'The perfect book to wrap yourself around on a dark night' STYLIST'Celebrates unexamined lives, sisterhood and virtues such as kindness and loyalty' SUNDAY TIMES'This is a deeply imagined and deeply moving novel' KAREN JOY FOWLER, author of The Jane Austen Bookclub'It's a delight, one of those that you don't want to end.' RTE'A charming novel' SUNDAY MIRROR'Hornby brings to life the Austen family, using the known to speculate on what might have been.' THE TIMES Audio Book of the Week'Extraordinary and heart-wrenching.' LARA PRESCOTT, author of The Secrets We Kept'Gill Hornby ingeniously imagines what Cassandra Austen's own life might have been like.' DEIRDRE LE FAYE, editor of Jane Austen's Letters'Tender and touching' DAILY MAIL'Utterly absorbing.' ARTEMIS COOPER'Delightful.' SUE RYAN, founder of Henley Lit Fest

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