This title features two timeless stories from New York Times" bestseller Debbie Macomber! " The Matchmakers": Dori Robertsons little son wants a new father. Hes already chosen the guy
- his sporting hero Gavin Parker. & Gavins daughter wants her dad to marry again too. Gavin suggests he & Dori start dating just to keep the kids happy. But their children have some more tricks up their sleeves! " The Courtship of Carol Sommars": Peter Sommars is fifteen & he needs a little more independence. Which is why hed like his mum Carol to start dating. He even knows the perfect man-Alex Preston his best friends dad. Alex is interested but Carols doing everything she can to sidestep his pursuit. Which only makes Alex & the boys more determined."
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Along a blacked-out wartime street a girl is scurrying a basket on one arm. As the sirens begin & the bombs crash down she is filled with panic & with a heavy heart abandons her burden in a sheltered doorway meaning to return later. Even as she disappears in the resulting chaos the bundle in the basket begins to wail. Years later two young unfortunates meet on a miserable November day. Martin has been desperately trying to hitch a lift along the lonely windswept road & when he sees a weeping girl in front of him he hurries to catch her up. Rose & Martin become unlikely companions until they go their separate ways not expecting to meet again. However fate decrees otherwise. ...

Destitute. Quinta Haig is struggling to make ends meet at Top Field with her ailing mother Laura. Their small Yorkshire farm is run-down & isolated & when the only way to take their goods to market is lost Quinta is prepared to sacrifice almost anything for both of them to survive. Desired. Noah Bilton a wealthy neighbour has designs on Top Field as well as ideas for the future of Laura & her daughter. He offers an uneasy solution to keep them out of the workhouse but Laura Haig will have nothing to do with it or him. When strangers appear at Top Field looking for shelter Quintas hopes are renewed
- but Noah is resolved to take what he wants by fair means or foul. Deserted. Quinta finds love against all odds but is deserted at her most vulnerable. The hardships that follow give her a steely determination to seek retribution from the man who has wronged her
- but can revenge ever bring back her happiness?

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When seventeen-year-old Belinda Phillips falls in love with a handsome Anglo-Indian officer she knows that he is a man she can never hope to marry. When he is reported missing believed killed in action Belinda discovers that she is pregnant. Facing disgrace & ruin she has no option other than to accept an arranged marriage with a middle-aged widower knowing she must keep the secret of her childs birth for ever. Reluctantly she sends her beloved daughter to a foster mother in Cripplegate little realising she has entrusted Cassys care to Biddy Henchard a woman who runs a notorious baby farm in an area full of poverty & disease. Despite her terrible upbringing Cassy survives the old womans cruel neglect. All the while she dreams of a mother she has never known hoping she will come & save her from her dreadful fate. But when Biddy dies suddenly ten-year-old Cassy finds herself destitute & with little hope of ever finding the mother she so longs for... ...

From rural rags to brief riches & back to ruin this is a moving saga of hard work bad luck & finally hope for a familys future. Gloria Sullivan cant quite believe where she has ended up. Growing up with no money worries she fell head over heels in love with the handsome hardworking Irishman employed by her father. They were the golden couple
- until the Wall Street crash when everything was lost. Finally she agreed to start again in London with husband Joe & their small son. World War Two was raging & Joe laboured on the docks by day & fighting fires by night. He was a hero
- but one dreadful fire left him terribly injured. Once more Gloria resolved to leave everything behind & to take Joe home to his family farm in Ireland his only hope of recovery. Gloria now dutifully nurses her husband but she cant settle in the countryside. Then a nearby American base begins recruiting civilians. Gloria tells everyone its her chance to do her bit
- but will she be tempted to do much more?


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Taken in by her grandparents to ease the pressure on her poverty-stricken family Katie Benfield knows she's one of the lucky ones. Even so she dreams of a better life & of pursuing a nursing career. Despite many hardships Katie achieves her goal but tragedy strikes Winton Colliery & both her grandfather & Katie's childhood sweetheart Billy are killed in a mining accident. Shocked & distraught Katie finds herself vulnerable to the advances of the owner of the mine Matthew Hamilton a married man who wastes no time in taking advantage of her. Thrown out by her grandmother her reputation & career in tatters Katie finds herself facing a home for unmarried mothers. Only Matthew Hamilton offers her a way to keep her baby but only if she forgoes her principles & becomes his mistress... ...

Gosport 1941. Fourteen-year-old Vera has led a sheltered life with her overbearing religious mother & older sister. But her world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Lovell family on her street. Vera quickly befriends the daughter Angela an impulsive worldly young woman who opens Vera's eyes to what she has been missing. But Vera unaware of the effect she has on men invites the unwanted attention of Angela's father with devastating consequences. Outraged at the news that her teenage daughter is pregnant Vera's mother sends her to a home for wayward girls. After giving birth to a baby boy Vera manages to escape the brutality of the institution only to end up homeless. Alone & struggling to make ends meet Vera is determined to give her son a better life
- at any cost. But just as their fortunes seem to change for the better everything Vera has worked for is threatened... June Hampson brings heartbreak warmth & humour to this compelling tale of family tragedy & a young mother's fight for her son.
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Gosport 1941. Fourteen-year-old Vera has led a sheltered life with her overbearing religious mother & older sister. But her world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Lovell family on her street. Vera quickly befriends the daughter Angela an impulsive worldly young woman who opens Vera's eyes to what she has been missing. But Vera unaware of the effect she has on men invites the unwanted attention of Angela's father with devastating consequences. Outraged at the news that her teenage daughter is pregnant Vera's mother sends her to a home for wayward girls. After giving birth to a baby boy Vera manages to escape the brutality of the institution only to end up homeless. Alone & struggling to make ends meet Vera is determined to give her son a better life
- at any cost. But just as their fortunes seem to change for the better everything Vera has worked for is threatened...
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When the truth lies buried in the past... Finding herself pregnant Julia Winter is forced to leave home rather than bring shame on her family. Reduced to living in the slums of Liverpool she eventually finds work in a respectable hotel where Eunice Hawkins the manager's wife is also expecting. For a while Julia dares to hope for a better life for herself & her unborn child. But soon tragedy strikes
- Julia's baby is stillborn at the same time as Eunice gives birth to a healthy baby girl Amanda. Although heartbroken at the death of her own baby Julia helps to look after Amanda. However Paul & Eunice Hawkins hide a secret too terrible to reveal & it is only after their untimely deaths & teenage Amanda's sudden disappearance that Julia finds out the truth. & just when she might have a chance of happiness at last she is faced with the hardest decision of all...
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THE FOURTH PATRICK MELROSE NOVEL The once illustrious once wealthy Melroses are in peril. Caught up in the wreckage of broken promises child-rearing adultery & assisted suicide Patrick finds his wife Mary consumed by motherhood his mother in thrall to a New Age foundation & his young son Robert understanding far more than he should. But even as the family struggles against the pull of its ever-present past a new generation brings a new tenderness & the possibility of change. ...