After the death of his wife, Hamilton Forsyth scandalises the small Ayrshire town of Saltcoats by departing for pastures unknown. His three adult children are left reeling with shock
- & with the family ironmongery shop to run. Walter, son & heir, looks set to manage the business & marry the suitable Clarissa Pinkerton but drops a bombshell on his sisters by saying he's going to marry the housemaid Sarah who is pregnant. Unable to tolerate the housemaid becoming mistress of their house, the girls find there are few choices within their social structure. Reluctantly, Belle moves in with her meddling Aunt Beatrice. Tarred with the brush of her brother's behaviour & thwarted in love, Morna moves down the social scale & into a boarding house. Gradually, she finds her feet, a job as a teacher
- & an interest in the suffragette movement. Belle's main interest lies elsewhere
- with Samuel Gilmartin, an attractive rogue with a head for business & an eye for the main change. She in turn scandalises society by marrying him.


...

Read by Anna Stone. A spellbinding novel about the fragility of a young marriage, from Anita Shreve, one of our great chroniclers of the mysteries of the human heart. Margaret & Patrick have been married just a few months when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure
- a year living in Kenya. While Patrick practices equatorial medicine, Margaret works as a photojournalist. Shuttling between tony expatriate suburbs & squalid shantytowns, Margaret quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn't know about the complex mores of her new home, & about her own husb&. A British couple invites the newlyweds to join them on a climbing expedition to Mount Kenya, & they eagerly agree. But during their harrowing ascent, the unthinkable happens. In a reckless moment, a horrific accident occurs, & a life is claimed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Margaret struggles to understand what happened on the mountain & how these events have transformed her & her marriage, perhaps forever.
...

Join Diana Henry as she creates a different array of diet ideas
- with less meat & heavy food, more vegetables, fish & grain-based
...

Cressida Collins is the queen of makeovers. With a well-placed stitch, button or seam, she can transform any frock in The Vintage Dress Shop & give customers their Cinderella moment. Like her beautifully organised workroom under the eaves, Cress’s life away from the shop is just as orderly & mapped out. But when her boyfriend of fifteen years drops a bombshell, it explodes all the carefully laid plans Cress had for her future. It’s going to take more than needle & thread to put Cress’s own life back together. Will she ever be brave enough to say goodbye to her old dreams & start over? But after designing a dress for a customer & transforming her into the woman she always wanted to be, Cress realises that it can be fun not to follow a pattern. Then there’s her blossoming friendship with Miles, a very handsome & very sexy film director… Cress is about to discover that leaving a few loose threads might be the best way to mend her broken heart… A wonderfully uplifting, fun... ...

Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris with Martine Mc Cutcheon as Jodie Ricks in this BBC Radio 4 comedy detective drama. Charles finds himself uncharacteristically employed in a film, having landed the part of Szabec, a middle management vampire in ' The Wreathing'. His co-star is swimwear model turned actress Jodie Ricks & before long, Jodie is using Charles as a confidant. Poor Jodie is in terrible trouble
- not only is she being blackmailed over some compromising photos, but she is also carrying the baby of the film's producer, Elliot Roth, who now wants nothing to do with her. Then things take an even nastier turn when it appears that someone is trying to kill Jodie. Always keen to help a damsel in distress, Charles sets about trying to solve the mystery... Starring Bill Nighy & Martine Mc Cutcheon & dramatised by Jeremy Front.
...

1939. All over Britain children are being evacuated, & Eve Armstrong is headed for Devon.

As the train pulls out of London

...

Read the timeless tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, the mean old miser who hates Christmas. When the cold-hearted man comes face to face with Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present & Yet-to-Come, he is forced to reflect on the selfish life he leads. The three Ghosts remind Scrooge of the man he used to be, the cold truth of who he is today & what will happen if he does not change his ways. Read this classic tale & re-live the magical film moments with the pages of fun pictures! ...

Details:
Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly old skinflint. He hates everyone, especially children. But at Christmas three

...

Classic / British English Scrooge is a cold, hard man. He loves money, & he doesn't like people. He really doesn't like Christmas. But when some ghosts visit him, they show him his past life, his life now, & a possible future. Will Scrooge learn from the ghosts? Can he change? ...

Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly old skinflint. He hates everyone, especially children.

But at Christmas three ghosts come

...