Showing titles in Small Town & Rural

Mr Finchley takes a fancy to a horse-drawn caravan that he sees for sale, but his new wife does not relish the prospect of a caravan journey, so he sets off alone to explore the countryside and go house-hunting. While learning to handle the horse and the caravan, he encounters a variety of eccentrics and country characters, and several unsuitable houses. It gradually emerges that the caravan contains a secret, and Mr Finchley finds himself in real trouble. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.

Eleanor Sharpley has been living a lie. Needing to escape her London life quickly, Eleanor throws her things into the back of her car, and heads to her erstwhile best friend Charlie’s family farm. But Charlie isn’t there. Instead she finds Charlie’s grieving brother, Daniel, her eight-month-old daughter, Hope (a daughter Eleanor had known nothing about) and a crumbling and unloved Damson Farm.

Gayle is a highly successful and motivated business woman, but her success has come at a price - she hasn’t spoken to her daughters, Ella and Samantha, for years. But when Gayle has an accident at work, she realises she needs to make amends with her family. And so she invites herself to join Ella and Samantha for their Christmas in the beautiful Scottish Highlands. The sisters are none too pleased that their mother has inserted herself into their Christmas plans. They have each other - and don’t need their mother back in their lives. Or so they think....

Anthony Trollope's series of witty, gently satirical stories of provincial life are set in the fictional town of Barchester and the surrounding county of Barsetshire. With a focus on the lives, loves and tribulations of the local clergy and rural gentry, the canvas is broad and colourful, with a set of iconic characters in whose lives we become intimately involved as they grow up, grow old, and fall in or out of love and friendship across the years.

When 73-year-old Jen announces that she is going to marry Eddie, a man she met just a few months previously on a beach on Boxing Day, her four best friends from aqua aerobics are flabbergasted. The wedding is booked and, when the groom decides to have a stag trip to Las Vegas, the ladies arrange a hen party to beat all others - a week in the city of love, Paris.

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again The Healers is the fifth mystery novel in the Inspector Ramsay series by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series. Isolated farmer Ernie Bowles was found lying on his kitchen...

Along with his volunteer work at the local fire department, running his Amish farm keeps Jamie Riehl busy. He barely has time to eat at the family table, never mind find someone to date. But when he meets Kayla Dienner, he is smitten. Kayla tries hard to deny her attraction to Jamie. After all, she's spent the last year discouraging her younger brother, Nathan, from becoming a firefighter. The death of their older brother in a fire a year ago is fresh in her mind - she can't bear the idea of putting her heart on the line every time the sirens blare.

Brought to you by Penguin. VINTAGE CLASSICS MURDOCH: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. To celebrate her centenary Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels. ‘I saw...

Olivia Bingham has bad luck with men. She’s been ghosted more times than she can count, but this Christmas she’s finally met someone really special online: Fraser Douglas, a Scottish chef working at an idyllic hotel in the Highlands. He’s sweet and sensitive, thoughtful and funny – not to mention incredibly good looking. But just when she thinks things couldn’t be going any better, Fraser’s dating profile vanishes, and Olivia fears the worst.

The Harrisons were always a close-knit family. But with the grandchildren fast becoming adults and elderly Pamela struggling to adapt to widowhood, the four children of the middle generation find themselves equally lost in a changing world. As preparations for 42-year-old Cassie's long-awaited wedding gather pace, sibling and marital bonds are stretched to breaking point. Adultery, an unwanted pregnancy, and shadows of past losses threaten to turn their year of celebration into one of upheaval . . .

From the No. 1 bestselling author of THE AMERICAN BOY comes a brilliant new historical thriller set during the French Revolution. Selected as Historical Novel of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times, and picked as one of Radio 4’s Crime Books of the Year. Paris, 1792. Terror reigns as the...

When it comes to hockey, unflappable Maple Creek sports reporter Joy Barlowe is privy to a lot of behind-the-scenes locker room activity. Like stumbling upon Dalton Days in all his unabashed glory. After the muscled goalie goes on to score better than he ever has, he proposes Joy take another peek before his next match. It works, and a provocative pregame tradition is born.

Few women in Compton Magna could fail to notice the arrival of Luca O'Brien. The village stud's new manager, known internationally as the Horse Maker, brims softly spoken sex appeal from his wild blonde curls to his leather boot soles. Gossipy riding quartet The Saddle Bags are all smitten. Only his old friend Ronnie Percy sees how much Luca's changed from the rising star she met a decade ago, the golden armour masking deep secrets. But as Ronnie soon discovers, Luca's slow smile and sympathetic hands belie a volcanic core.

There are two things Joey Greer is great at: Raising horses and holding grudges. Eight years ago, her high school sweetheart abandoned her, skipped out on his family, and fled to Hollywood, of all places. She vowed never to forgive or forget. Now big-shot screenwriter Jackson Pierce is back in Blue Moon demanding another chance. No matter how good it feels when he sneaks past her defenses to land a kiss or a compliment, she is determined to pretend he doesn’t exist. Except maybe when he’s naked in her bed.

An ebullient Mr Finchley is about to propose marriage to a lady he had rescued from mishap, when he is sent to Paris by his firm. There he manages to upset a boat, adopt a stray orphan, and get himself kidnapped. The fine tangle he gets into takes some unravelling! Only when eventually back in London does he complete the proposal of marriage that was interrupted at the start. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway best seller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.

You don't choose the book. The book chooses you… 'A book I was sorry to finish.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A timeless story that emphasizes the healing and transformative power of books.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Long ago, a bookshop was born – the beating heart of all those who find hope within the pages...

For Willow, the ramshackle café overlooking the beach, together with its warmhearted community, offers friendship as a daily special and always has a hearty welcome on the menu. But when a handsome stranger blows in on a warm spring breeze, Willow soon realises that her quiet country life will be changed forever.

Tig Costello has arrived in Darren, Kentucky, commissioned to paint a portrait honoring her grandfather Benjamin. His contributions to the rural Appalachian town and his unimpeachable war service have made him a local hero. But to Tig, he’s a relative stranger. To find out more about him, Tig wants to talk to the person who knew her grandfather best: Eloise Price, the woman who murdered him fifty years ago.

Following their father's death, Cass and her sister Sid will do whatever it takes to keep their family's dive school afloat. It used to be the go-to destination in Cornwall for those keen to explore the ocean's hidden depths. But when Cass returns from a long trip, she's shocked to discover how bad things have become. The business is in decline. Sid's new boyfriend has far too much control over the accounts - and her sister. Then, Cass discovers a body in the water. And as more girls go missing, she wonders just how far someone will go to keep their secrets buried.

Back-up plans are for people who plan on losing. All it took was eight seconds for me to win the biggest competition of my life, and one second to lose everything except that championship buckle. I had left my family's cattle ranch at eighteen with no intention of ever coming back for good. Now I was back, stuck in a wheelchair with a beautiful disaster attempting to burn my house down.