Crow Lake is that rare find a first novel so quietly assured so compelling & with an emotional charge so perfectly controlled that you sense at once that this is the real thing
- a literary experience to relish a book to lose yourself in & a name to watch. Here is a gorgeous slowburning story of families growing up & tearing each other apart in rural Northern Ontario where tragedy & hardship are mirrored in the landscape. Centre stage are the Morrisons whose tragedy is insidious & divisive. Orphaned young Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt's protegee her curious fascination for pond-life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist she can identify organisms under a microscope but seems blind to the tragedy of her own emotional life. She thinks she's outgrown her family who were once her entire world
- but she can't seem to outgrow her childhood or lighten the weight of their mutual past.

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From its bravura opening onwards THE CROW ROAD is justly regarded as an outstanding contemporary novel. It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bachs Mass in B Minor & I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach. Prentice Mc Hoan has returned to the bosom of his complex but enduring Scottish family. Full of questions about the Mc Hoan past present & future he is also deeply preoccupied: mainly with death sex drink God & illegal substances... ...

From its bravura opening onwards THE CROW ROAD is justly regarded as an outstanding contemporary novel. ' It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach's Mass in B Minor & I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.' Prentice Mc Hoan has returned to the bosom of his complex but enduring Scottish family. Full of questions about the Mc Hoan past present & future he is also deeply preoccupied: mainly with death sex drink God & illegal substances... ...

The Crow Trap is the first book in Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope series -- which is now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn VERA. Three very different women come together at isolated Baikies Cottage on the North Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal.. . Rachael the team leader is still reeling after a double betrayal by her lover & boss Peter Kemp. Anne a botanist sees the survey as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. & then there is Grace a strange uncommunicative young woman hiding plenty of her own secrets. Rachael is the first to arrive at the cottage where she discovers the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella it appears has committed suicide -- a verdict Rachael refuses to accept. When another death occurs a fourth woman enters the picture -- the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope.. . Also available in the Vera Stanhope series are Telling Tales Hidden Depths Silent Voices & The Glass Room. Ann Cleeves Shetland series (BBC television drama SHETLAND) contains five titles of which Dead Water is the most recent. ...

The Crow Trap is the first book in Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope series -- which is now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn VERA. Three very different women come together at isolated Baikies Cottage on the North Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal.. . Rachael the team leader is still reeling after a double betrayal by her lover & boss Peter Kemp. Anne a botanist sees the survey as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. & then there is Grace a strange uncommunicative young woman hiding plenty of her own secrets. Rachael is the first to arrive at the cottage where she discovers the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella it appears has committed suicide -- a verdict Rachael refuses to accept. When another death occurs a fourth woman enters the picture -- the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope.. . Also available in the Vera Stanhope series are Telling Tales Hidden Depths Silent Voices & The Glass Room. Ann Cleeves Shetland series (BBC television drama SHETLAND) contains five titles of which Dead Water is the most recent. ...

The long awaited return to Robert Lows Oathsworn series Island of Mann 979AD. A man lies dying with a message he cannot take to his grave a sworn secret that must be passed on only to Olaf Tryggvasson kin of Harald Fairhair of the Yngling line & true prince of Norway also known as Crowbone. When the message finally arrives so begins a quest to discover its meaning & for Crowbone to gain what is rightfully his: the crown of Norway. With a band of Chosen Men Crowbone begins an unforgiving journey that will see him face the challenge of new enemies & confront his suspicions of treachery from old friends. Looming over all is his ultimate rival; Gunnhild the Witch Mother of Kings Crowbones arch-enemy who will stop at nothing to prevent him from knowing what & where this secret is. In the fifth installment of his Oathsworn series Robert Low is back to his full-blooded Viking best this time visiting the harsh terrain of the North Sea coast in a tale about one mans quest for survival & the unexpected alliances that emerge as the very bonds that tie the Oathsworn together are put to the test. ...

The long awaited return to Robert Low's Oathsworn series Island of Mann 979AD. A monk lies dying with a sworn secret he must pass onto Crowbone the true heir to Norway's throne before he breathes his last. The monk's words will decide the fate of a kingdom. But once the secret is revealed Crowbone's long-time enemy Gunnhild the Witch Mother of Kings threatens his path to the crown & will stop at nothing to prevent him from attaining his royal destiny. Crowbone & his men must survive an unforgiving journey & face their sworn rival. It is a quest that will test the very bonds that tie the Oathsworn together. ...

Life in the South of France isn't full of the charming peace that you might imagine. In St Denis a summit in a local chateau is threatened by Basque separatists animal rights campaigners are causing havoc & it's about to get worse. A local archaeological team unearths a well-preserved skeleton. Yet it's a lot more recent than they'd hoped
- boasting a Swatch & a bullet-hole. Meanwhile an influx of visitors makes Saint Denis unusually crowded & the key to the body appears to lie with one of these outsiders. Bruno must think fast & keep his wits about him in order to work out how these events are connected. Especially if the answer lies a little closer to home.
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Catherine Alliott bestselling author of A Rural Affair" & " One Day in May" this text asks the question
- how many
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Peopled with characters like Great Aunt Rachel built like a Churchill tank & with a personality to match these are the stories of a childhood of the hard years of the Depression & then the departure of the islands young men to fight in the Second World War. Together they bring alive the warmth & closeness of a unique Hebridean community. ...