A young girl's tragic loss will shape her dreams and her future... 1930 - Douro Valley, Portugal Twelve-year-old Catherine is watching the Rabalo race in Porto when the sound of a shot being fired changes her life forever. Her beloved mother, mistress for some years to Walter Shellard, a Bristol based wine and port merchant has received distressing news that her lover, Walter, has married a wealthy heiress. In her anguish she takes her own life, leaving poor Catherine alone and heartbroken. Angry and grieving, Catherine is sent to live under the guardianship of her eccentric Aunt Lopa in a small farmhouse high above the rich vineyards of the Douro valley. Here, she learns to adapt to her new life and her strange aunt but still blames her father, a man she barely knows, for her mother's tragic death. Coming of age, beautiful Catherine is summoned to Bristol by her estranged father who presumes she'll be as malleable as most other women. But Catherine is her father's daughter, as strong as he is and still thirsting for revenge.

She must face the terror of war alone to survive... 1939 - India When headstrong Nadine Burton learns that the woman she thought was her Indian Ayah was in fact her mother, she rebels against her father in a flamboyant display of disrespect and dares to dance with her two local best friends at a public party. Her father, local official, Roland Frederick Burton is furious. He arranges for her to be exiled from India and married off to Australian Martin McPherson, owner of a rubber plantation north of Singapore. Within a year Singapore falls to the Japanese. Martin is killed and Nadine becomes a prisoner of war, imprisoned in Sumatra, where her dancing skills don't go unnoticed by the captors. Amidst the horror she finds a friend in a Japanese American major caught up in the war whilst visiting his grandparents in Japan. Much like her, he straddles two cultures and worlds. As their love deepens, boundaries are crossed and together they must unite to survive.

A heart-warming new story from Emma Chichester Clark celebrating 25 years of beloved characters Lily and Blue Kangaroo. Blue Kangaroo has gone everywhere with Lily for as long as they can both remember. So when Lily and her friends are planning their very first sleepover Lily is so excited for a new adventure with her beloved Blue Kangaroo! But when she hears her friends saying they're too old for stuffed toys Lily knows she wonTMt be able to take Blue Kangaroo with her. How will she last a night without him? Luckily Blue Kangaroo knows just what to do Celebrating 25 years of Blue Kangaroo heralded author Emma Chichester Clark brings her classic gentleness and charm to this brilliant new story in the return to her much-loved characters Lily and Blue Kangaroo.

Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband Patrick, celebrating their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, Patrick is much older than J.B. Though when they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all new gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. He is a film director. A cult figure. But now his success is starting to wane, and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. While her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his. For days they sail in the sun. They lay about drinking, reading, sleeping, having sex. There is nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits and Patrick falls off the ship. J.B. is left alone as the search for what happened to Patrick - and the truth about their marriage - begins...

Journalist Ben Harper is on his way home when he sees the flames in the churchyard. The derelict community centre is on fire. And somebody is trapped inside. With Ben's help the person escapes, only to flee the scene before they can be identified. Now the small town of Haddley is abuzz with rumours. Was this an accident, or arson? Then a skeleton is found in the burnt-out foundations. And when the identity of the victim is revealed, Ben is confronted with a crime that is terrifyingly close to home. As he uncovers a web of deceit and destruction that goes back decades, Ben quickly learns that in this small town, everybody has something to hide.

When new bride Kaveri Murthy reluctantly agrees to investigate a minor crime during the blood moon eclipse to please her domineering mother-in-law, she doesn't expect to stumble upon a murder - again. With anti-British sentiments rising, a charismatic religious leader growing in influence, and the fight for women's suffrage gaining steam, Bangalore is turning out to be far more dangerous than Kaveri ever imagined, and everyone's motives are suspect. Together with the Bangalore Detectives Club - a mixed bag of people including street urchins, nosy neighbours, an ex-prostitute and a policeman's wife - Kaveri once again sleuths in her sari and hunts for clues in her beloved 1920s Ford. But when Kaveri's life is put in danger, she realises that she might be getting uncomfortably close to the truth. She must draw on her wits and find the killer - before they find her...

Late November 1980. Student Nick Hartley returns from a lecture to find his house full of police officers. As he discovers that his ex-girlfriend has been found murdered in a nearby park, and her new boyfriend is missing, he realises two things in quick succession: he is undoubtedly a suspect as he has no convincing alibi, and he has his own suspicions as to what might have happened... Late November 2019. A dig near Scotch Corner unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more recent than the Roman remains the archaeologist is looking for. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in, and as an investigation into the find begins, the past and the present meet with devastating consequences.

A perfect new start in Cornwall... Meredith's life is at a standstill. She's stuck in a dead-end job, approaching fifty, and her dating life is a string of disasters. But one evening, while browsing the internet, she sees an ad for a lighthouse, and in a moment of impulsiveness, she makes a ridiculous bid for it. With the help of local handyman Clem, she sets about renovating. And as they work together, a bond begins to form. But when Meredith finds out that Clem is keeping a secret from her, it changes everything. Will they find a way to build something more meaningful together?

As the eldest child of a single mother, Kylie's always had more important things on her mind than smiling. Controlling her job, her home, and her romantic life (not to mention her family) takes all her concentration. She's always succeeded, though, because that's who Kylie is. Until one Monday morning, when she discovers that the local pharmacy where she works is being taken over by a huge corporation, putting her stable job at risk. This leads to a cascade of disasters. Plus, her boyfriend is acting suspiciously, and she finds herself caring for a high-maintenance Pomeranian. When her fiercely independent mother breaks an ankle and needs help, it?s up to Kylie, as usual, to fix things. She reluctantly packs her bags, but back in her childhood home, things start to unravel. Could it be that Kylie's carefully curated life is not so perfect after all?

Gabriella Jacques, is happy to be back in her childhood home, Villa Espoir in the South of France ready to embrace fresh experiences with friends new and old and to heal some deep family scars. Recently widowed Harriet Rogers, hopes to rebuild her family life and reconnect with Elodie, the daughter she abandoned into her mother Gabby's care to follow her heart. But when an acquaintance from the past seeks her out, Harriet fears a secret from her past will ruin her plans. Elodie Jacques, adores her new life in her Grandmother's old home as a freelance journalist. Her relationship with her mother is tense as she struggles to understand why her mother won't talk to her about the past, as until their past is resolved, there can be no future. Will these three women, all living under the same roof after two decades adrift be able to put aside the past and find harmony in the present together?

Sometimes when you can't see the way forwards, the best thing to do is to look back... When Jessie left home at eighteen, she swore she'd never go back. But when life takes a turn for the complicated, she's forced to move in with her twin, Isaac, and his two best friends. To her dismay, one of these is Elliot, the boy Jessie once loved, until his life was changed forever by a terrible accident that Jessie still blames herself for. Cohabiting with three alarmingly unhouse-trained males was not in Jessie's life plan so when Isaac, Elliot and Arthur offer her a generous rent discount if she'll help them with their 'Boys to Men Project', designed to end years of disastrous dating, she reluctantly accepts the challenge. As Jessie embraces the comfort of being home, revelling in her new job at her parents' day centre full of people determined to grow old disgracefully, she realises her housemates aren't the only ones needing to make some changes. And maybe, if she can finally forgive herself for Elliot's accident, she can start to look forward to a future, with or without him by her side.