Chrissie in the twenty-three years shed been together with Richie had always believed that he loved her. He loved their three daughters & their house in Highgate & their happy lively existence. But if she really was the love of his life why had he never given her the one thing that would have made her life perfect? Then suddenly Richie is no longer there & without him Chrissies carefully constructed life is in jeopardy. The one big fact she had always tried to keep from her daughters threatens to overwhelm them all. For Richie had still been married to his first wife the one with a son that he had abandoned in Newcastle. & now with Richie gone & the practicalities of wills & money to be sorted out it is finally time for the two families to face each other... ...

This is the intriguing & moving autobiography of Jacqueline Smith; the story of an extraordinary life. From the beginning in a family run like an army regiment fate made sure that Jacqueline despite her quite normal hopes & dreams would undergo dramas & events to horrify & traumatise the strongest of characters. Jacqueline leads the reader from the hacking to death in Kenya of her native best friend & her whole family to her tempestuous first marriage to a social psychopath who came with the package of the mother in law from hell & his ultimate destruction of their family unit. She hadnt ever wanted to run a pub but we see that happen during her first marriage & not only get her acclaimed by Egon Ronay but would lead to settling her fate for the future. She spent years struggling to bring up her sons one very like his father & then met the man who would indeed change her life forever. Ron & Jacqueline moved to Northern Cyprus where she became the first female Chef & owner of a French Restaurant famous & acclaimed to be excellent enough for the Michelin Guide. The book takes you through the two devastating illnesses that threatened Jacquelines life & on to her subsequent meeting with a Hotelier who would have an amazing impact on her already full life. The Other Grocers Daughter is well-written with a lively style that will appeal to female readers & a style comparable to Catherine Cookson. Reliving all the old memories good & bad was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had. I realised that to other people my life had never been normal & it made sense to try to put it all into perspective
- the book did that for me " says Jacqueline behind her motivation to tell her story."
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Jonathan & Theos childhood is one in which money is abundant but nurture is scarce. With a father who died when they were very young & a mother who starts drinking at lunchtime the brother & sister are largely left to roam around their sprawling estate in rural Wales looking after only themselves & each other. Until that is their grandmother Eve returns to the family home. Eve is a figure who is as enchanting as she is forbidding & she takes the children under her wing answering their questions about their family history that have always been ignored. Yet as they grow older they discover that much of what theyve been told is a fiction & that something very sinister lies in their past. ...

Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize & Costa Novel of the Year this international bestseller has become a reading group classic. We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story & we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless you need to know something so we will just say this: It is extremely funny but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there but the book doesn't. & it's what happens afterwards that is most important. Once you have read it you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds. ...

First published in 1944 during the darkest days of the war Lord Wavells great anthology of English poetry
- enhanced by his own
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Pamela Jackson nee Mitford is perhaps the least well known of the illustrious Mitford sisters & yet her story is just as captivating & more revealing. Despite shunning the bright city lights that her sisters so desperately craved she was very much involved in the activities of her extraordinary family picking up the many pieces when things went disastrously wrong
- which they so often did. Joining her sisters on many adventures including their meeting with Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany Pamela quietly observed the bizarre funny & often tragic events that took place around her. Through her eyes we are given a view of the Mitfords never seen before. Loyal to the core she possessed the constancy & kindness that underpinned the wilder exploits of the Mitford family. Indeed innocence along with courage & kindness was one of her remarkable qualities. But it was the innocence of a woman who had lived & suffered loved & lost & overcome adversity. Journalist Diana Alexander who was Pamelas friend for many years here reveals the unknown Mitford or as her lifelong admirer John Betjeman described her Gentle Pamela.
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Saras mother told her that she shouldnt marry Conrad
- that the twenty-five-year age gap between them would tell in the end. The
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The Trevelyan family is in grave trouble. Their private bank of Tubal & Co. is in on the verge of collapsing. Its not the first time in its three-hundred-&-forty year history but it may be the last. A sale is under way & a number of important facts need to be kept hidden not only from the public but also from Julian Trevelyan-Tubals deeply traditional father Sir Harry who is incapacitated in the family villa in Antibes. Great families great fortunes & even greater secrets collide in this gripping satirical & acutely observed story of our time. ...

Ginny & Adam Trustlove arrive on holiday in Italy torn apart by personal tragedy. Two weeks in a boathouse on the edge of peaceful Lake Orta is exactly what they need to restore their faith in life
- & each other. Twenty-four hours later the silence is broken. The Sale family have arrived at the main villa: wealthy high-flying Marty his beautiful wife Bea & their privileged confident offspring. It doesnt take long for Ginny & Adam to be drawn in especially when the teenage Pippi introduces a new friend into the circle. For there is something about Zach that has everyone instantly beguiled something that loosens old secrets
- & creates shocking new ones. & yet not one of them suspects that his arrival in their lives might be anything other than accidental.. .

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A dramatic novel of passion politics & betrayal from the author of The Other Boleyn Girl. Mary Queen of Scots fights to regain her kingdom whilst under the guard of Queen Elizabeth's trusted accomplice Bess of Hardwick. Mary is Queen of Scotland but she has been forced to flee her land & take refuge in an England that is ruled by her cousin Elizabeth. But England precarious in its Protestant state set against the mighty powers of Spain France & Rome doesn't need a charismatic Catholic figurehead at large. So Elizabeth's chief advisor Cecil devises a plan in which Mary will live under guard with his trusted accomplice: Bess of Hardwick. Bess is a self-made woman a shrewd survivor. She is newly married to her fourth & most distinguished husband the Earl of Shrewsbury. But what marriage can withstand the charms of Mary? Or the threat of rebellion that she always carries? Mary must wait in her privileged imprisonment for the return to Scotland & her infant son; but waiting is not the same as doing nothing... With her characteristic combination of superb storytelling & authentic historical background Philippa Gregory brings to life this period of great change in a riveting tale of betrayal loyalty politics & passion. ...