A girl Nell was convinced should have a good time at seventeen have met her true love at eighteen be engaged at nine & marry at twenty-one. While her mother regards the Locarno Dancehall as a den of iniquity for seventeen-year-old shop-girl Nell Mc Clusky its the centre of the universe. Where else is she going to meet the man of her dreams wholl take her away from the hum-drum realities of life on a council estate in 1950s Edinburgh? At first Alistair Rutherford doesnt look that promising. He dresses more like a student than Nells idol Buddy Holly. But Alistair comes from a wealthy family & is studying to be a lawyer two things that mean that Nell soon has plans to leave her dance hall days far behind her. But the reality of marriage is far different to Nells romantic notions... ...

Tis the season to be jolly... But can Eve find happiness through the frost...? Eve has never liked Christmas not since her beloved fiance was killed in action in Afghanistan on Christmas Day. So when her adored elderly aunt dies the last thing she is expecting is to be left a theme park in her will. A theme park with a Christmas theme... And thats not the only catch. Her aunts will stipulates that Eve must run the park with a mysterious partner the exotically named Jacques Glace. Who is this Jacques & why did Aunt Evelyn name him in her will? But Eve isnt going to back down from a challenge. Shes determined to make a success of Winterworld no matter what. Can she overcome her dislike of Christmas & can Jacques melt her frozen heart at last...? ...

Winter in Denton is cold bleak & busy time for Detective Inspector Jack Frost whose unsolved crime figures are mounting as he struggles to bring them down in the face of manpower shortages & budget cuts. Denton is having more than its fair share of crime. A serial killer is murdering local prostitutes; a man demolishing his garden shed uncovers a long buried skeleton; an armed robbery at a local mini-mart; a ram-raid at a jewellers & a series of burglaries. But Frost's main concern is for the safety of a missing schoolgirl. Nine weeks ago Vicky Stuart eight years old didn't return home from school & in spite of exhaustive enquiries & extensive searches has never been seen since. Another little girl from the same school is reported missing. Her body is found...raped & strangled. Frost's prime suspect strongly protesting his innocence hangs himself in his cell leaving a note blaming Frost for driving him to suicide. Subsequent evidence points to the man's innocence. Coarse insubordinate & fearless DI Jack Frost is in serious trouble. ...

Winter Games" is a dazzling tale of secrets & betrayal & the perfect novel for fans of " The Bolter" by Frances Osborne & all those fascinated by the Mitford sisters. Munich 1936. She doesnt know it but eighteen-year old Daphne Linden has a seat in the front row of history. Along with her best friend Betsy Barton-Hill & a whole bevy of other young English upper-class girls Daphne is in Bavaria to improve her German to go to the Opera to be finished. It may be the Third Reich but another war is unthinkable & the girls are having the time of their lives. Arent they? London 2006. Seventy years later & Daphnes granddaughter Francie Fitzsimon has all the boxes ticked: large flat successful husband cushy job writing up holistic spas... The hardest decision she has to make is where to go for brunch
- until that is events conspire to send her on a quest to discover what really happened to her grandmother in Germany all those years ago. Praise for Rachel Johnson: " Wonderfully readable". (" Guardian"). " Shiveringly brilliant". (Jilly Cooper). " Very funny relentlessly observant". (" Daily Mail"). " Sharp funny & knowing". (India Knight). Rachel Johnson is a journalist who has written two previous novels & two volumes of diaries. " The Mummy Diaries" " Notting Hell" " Shire Hell" & "A Diary of The Lady" are all available now from Penguin."
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Winter Games is a dazzling tale of secrets & betrayal & the perfect novel for fans of The Bolter by Frances Osborne & all those fascinated by the Mitford sisters. Munich 1936. She doesn't know it but eighteen-year old Daphne Linden has a seat in the front row of history. Along with her best friend Betsy Barton-Hill & a whole bevy of other young English upper-class girls Daphne is in Bavaria to improve her German to go to the Opera to be 'finished'. It may be the Third Reich but another war is unthinkable & the girls are having the time of their lives. Aren't they? London 2006. Seventy years later & Daphne's granddaughter Francie Fitzsimon has all the boxes ticked: large flat successful husband cushy job writing up holistic spas... The hardest decision she has to make is where to go for brunch
- until that is the discovery of a photograph of Daphne sends her on a quest to discover what really happened to her grandmother in Germany all those years ago. A dazzling tale of secrets & betrayal Winter Games is powerful novel of innocent lives caught up in the march of history. Johnson has a brilliant eye for the telling specifics... She is a natural comic writer & has a breezy Mitfordian tone that makes you laugh at the same time as wincing in recognition... To write an entertaining romp set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany is a tricky feat to pull off. Yet Johnson has done it
- & done it in style". (Observer). "A rip-roaring read". (Evening Standard ' There's never a dreary moment in this blast of a book.. . Johnson's descriptions are irresistibly exuberant.. . As addictively fizzily invigorating as the Alpine air itself' Daily Mail ' Johnson delivers a genuine sense of time & place.. .there isn't a dull sentence in this sure-footed novel' Jenny Colgan Telegraph ' An excellent romp. Full of 'tally-ho' Mitfordian charm.. .a witty fast read' Red ' Excellent on period detail the blundering innocent abroad & young heartbreak' Sunday Times ' The Jane Austen of W11' Scotsman Rachel Johnson is a journalist who has written two previous novels & two volumes of diaries. The Mummy Diaries Notting Hell Shire Hell & A Diary of The Lady are all available now from Penguin."

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The Great War took much more than lives. It robbed a generation of friends lovers & futures. In Freddie Watson's case it took his beloved brother & at times his peace of mind. Unable to cope with his grief Freddie has spent much of the time since in a sanatorium. In the winter of 1928 still seeking resolution Freddie is travelling through the French Pyrenees
- another region that has seen too much bloodshed over the years. During a snowstorm his car spins off the mountain road. Shaken he stumbles into the woods emerging by a tiny village. There he meets Fabrissa a beautiful local woman also mourning a lost generation. Over the course of one night Fabrissa & Freddie share their stories of remembrance & loss. By the time dawn breaks he will have stumbled across a tragic mystery that goes back through the centuries. By turns thrilling poignant & haunting this is a story of two lives touched by war & transformed by courage.
...

You know what its like. Dark at teatime & sleeping indoors: nothing ever happens in the winter holidays. Or so Nancy thinks. Then the lake ices over completely & the Swallows & Amazons along with Dick & Dorothea
- the Ds
- plan a race to find the North Pole. How will they reach it if they cant sail? By sledges of course! But when a blizzard blows up & there is a mix up about signals the Ds disappear into the Arctic night. Disaster looms. Can the Swallows & Amazons save their friends?

...

' You know what it's like. Dark at teatime & sleeping indoors: nothing ever happens in the winter holidays.'" Or so Nancy thinks. Then the lake ices over completely & the Swallows & Amazons along with Dick & Dorothea -- 'the D's' -- plan a race to find the North Pole. How will they reach it if they can't sail? By sledges of course! But when a blizzard blows up & there is a mix up about signals the D's disappear into the Arctic night. Disaster looms. Can the Swallows & Amazons save their friends?" ...

' Well ' said Nancy ' You know what it's like. Dark at teatime & sleeping indoors: nothing ever happens in the winter holidays.' Nothing
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...

When Marnie receives a phone call that summons her to the side of a once-beloved friend she is wrenched from her orderly London life & sent back into a past from which she has fled but never escaped. Ralph Marnie & Oliver once knew each other well & are still inextricably bound by ties of love & betrayal. Now they meet again in Ralph's secluded cottage in the Scottish highlands to spend the precious days that Ralph has left with each other. As they reminisce Marnie is taken back to the summer years ago when everything changed between them & heartbreak & desire broke up their little group. Will Ralph have the chance to say what needs to be said before it's too late? & can they put the devastating events of twenty years ago to rest & rekindle the intimacy they once shared? ...