Showing results by publisher "Zaffre" in Genre Fiction

Everybody has a story to tell. Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison has moved up the ranks, fighting every step of the way to break through Scotland Yard's glass ceiling. Now, on her first day as the head of the Vice Squad, a high-profile case threatens to destroy everything she has worked for. When Tennison's latest investigation reveals an influential public figure as her prime suspect - a man with connections to politicians, judges, and Scotland Yard - she's given a very clear message about the direction her investigation should take.

At the heart of Dover's Market Square lies the Castle's Café. A bustling, homely place run by the formidable Nellie Castle and her six children. Since the scandalous birth of her beloved son 10 years before, Marianne, Nellie's eldest daughter, has preferred to stay in the kitchen, hidden away from the town gossips. Overcome with shame, Marianne has never revealed the name of Donny's father - not even to her own mother. But with World War II just around the corner, Marianne's past catches up with her. And suddenly the lives of the Castle family become a lot more complicated.

When Libby Nicholls arrives in London, broken-hearted and with her life in tatters, the first person she meets on the bus is elderly pensioner Frank. He tells her about the time in 1962 he met a girl on the number 88 bus with beautiful red hair just like her own. They made plans for a date, but Frank lost the ticket with her number written on it. For the past sixty years, he's ridden the same bus trying to find her. Libby is inspired by the story and, with the help of an unlikely companion, she makes it her mission to continue Frank's search.

Marina is a divorced mother of three preschoolers. Lilah is a shy and lonely librarian. Opal is a broke post-menopausal fitness guru. These three strangers have nothing in common-except for the man who's been lying to all of them. And who they are now holding hostage in a basement. EAT, SLAY, LOVE is a book about making friends, finding joy, and discovering the woman you really are . . . though sometimes, becoming your best self involves committing abduction and murder.

After Jimmy's shocking departure, Nellie Castle is feeling bereft. And with Rodney being elusive, she's determined to do all she can to help her youngest son Bert get back on his feet following the terrible injuries he sustained in the bombing. Plagued by guilt and nightmares, the last thing Bert wants is to return to the café - being there only makes his guilt over Gladys's death worse. His relationship with nurse Vi is helping somewhat, but when he receives a formal summons to the trial of the woman who tried to kill him, he is plunged back into the depths of despair.

Emily Laurence is a liar. She is not polite, she's not polished, and she has never taught a child in her life. This position was meant to be her sister's - brilliant, kind Amy, who isn't perpetually angry, dangerously reckless, and who does like children. But Amy is unwell and needs a doctor, their father is gone and their mother is useless, so here Emily is, pretending to be something she's not. If she can get away with her deception for long enough to earn a few month's wages and slip some expensive trinkets into her pockets along the way, perhaps they'll be all right.

Hope Nicely hasn't had an easy life. But she's happy enough living at 23 Station Close with her mum, Jenny Nicely, and she loves her job, walking other people's dogs. She's a bit different, but as Jenny always tells her, she's a rainbow person, a special drop of light. It's just...there's something she needs to know. Why did her birth mother abandon her in a cardboard box on a church step 25 years ago? And did she know that drinking while pregnant could lead to Hope being born with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder?

When her daughter was born with cystic fibrosis, Kate Micklethwaite vowed that Daisy would never be defined by the illness. When Daisy starts school, Kate meets her new teacher, the kind and charming Mr Spencer Swanson. Now, with more time on her hands, Kate can start thinking about her own future. With her Open University dissertation deadline looming, Kate needs to decide what she wants next. But as she and Spencer get to know each other, Kate notices that people are whispering behind her back once more.

Poplar, 1890. Hester Stainsby grew up in Poplar, in London's East End. Living with her father, Fred, her younger twin siblings, Harry and Polly, and self-centred Granny Garter, Hester toils day and night in the laundry room of Poplar Hospital to help put food on the family table. But when Fred is badly injured in an accident at the East India Docks, Hester finds herself the sole breadwinner, with the weight of the world on her shoulders. So as to make a better life for herself and her family, Hester trains to be a nurse and throws herself into her work.

As the much doted-on daughter of the local doctor Violet Stroud had a comfortable, happy childhood - despite a distinct lack of love from her cold-hearted mother. But when her father unexpectedly dies, Violet's life is turned upside down. As secrets about the family come to light, Violet finds herself homeless and with no one to turn to apart from Edie, the family's gentle and loving housekeeper.

Twenty-two-year-old aspiring writer Edith 'Eddie' Miller and her best friend, Rose, have always done everything together—climbing trees, throwing grapes at boys, sneaking bottles of wine, practicing kissing.... But following their debutante ball Rose is suddenly talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified. When Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson, he invites her to his crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside. The entourage of eccentric artists indulging in pure hedonism is exactly what Eddie needs in order to forget Rose and finish her novel.

It's 1942 and the Second World War is raging on. Maggie Carpenter led a seemingly quiet life as a teacher in Manchester, but as the fighting intensifies she quits her peaceful existence to do her bit for the war effort. As part of an army of girls working on the canals to deliver essential supplies around the country, Maggie's world is far from comfortable. She has to share a tiny cabin with two strangers, where there's no running water and a questionable lavatory set-up.

When 40-year-old Rabbit Hayes dies, she leaves behind a family broken by grief: her mother, Molly, her brother, Davey, her daughter, Juliet, her sister, Grace, and her best friend, Marjorie. They all have to learn how to cope with their grief, but despite fighting individual battles, they are drawn together by their love for Rabbit, and their love for each other. Laugh, cry and shout with joy for the colourful, unruly Hayes family as they battle with the loss of their beloved Rabbit, who in her own crazy way taught each of them how to live and goes on showing them how to love.

Summer 1999: Twentysomething Sawyer is striving to make it in New York. Between her assistant job in publishing, her secret dreams of becoming a writer, and her upcoming wedding to her college boyfriend, her is plate full. Only one problem: She is facing an incredibly lonely summer as her fiancé has been spending longer and longer hours at work...with an all-too-close female colleague, Kendra. When Kendra's boyfriend, Nick, invites Sawyer to meet up and compare notes about their suspicions, the meeting goes awry.

At the dark heart of the Holocaust, there was a wooden hut whose walls were painted with cartoons; a place where children sang, staged plays and wrote poetry. Safely inside, but still in the shadow of the chimneys, they were given better food, kept free of vermin, and were even taught meditation to imagine full stomachs and a day without fear. The man who became their guiding light was a young Jewish prisoner named Fredy Hirsch. Historian and biographer Wendy Holden tells the inspirational and uplifting true story of Fredy Hirsch: The Teacher of Auschwitz.

Ailsa Rae is learning how to live. She's only a few months past the heart transplant that - just in time - saved her life. Life should be a joyful adventure. But.... Her relationship with her mother is at breaking point, and she wants to find her father. Have her friends left her behind? She's felt so helpless for so long that she's let polls on her blog make her decisions for her. She barely knows where to start on her own. Then there's Lennox. Her best friend and onetime lover. He was sick too. He didn't make it. And now she's supposed to face all of this without him. But her new heart is a bold heart. She just needs to learn to listen to it....

Sunny grew in the mother and baby home on Grove Lane, London. The daughter of a wartime nurse and a Polish pilot, she was abandoned by her mother shortly after her birth and taken in by Nan, the warm and gentle proprietor of the home. Never having known her parents, Sunny has always felt like she doesn't quite fit in, but now, at 16 years old, she is ready to find her place in the world. Heading out to start her first job, she finally feels she has some idea of who she wants to be. As 1950s post-war London is changing at a rapid pace, so is Sunny.

Orphaned at a young age, Rosa has always looked out for her younger sister, Grace, protecting her from the dangers and bullies of the workhouse. So when Grace is suddenly faced with a world without Rosa, she finds herself alone and forced to make difficult decisions about her future. Can she really walk away from everything she has built to protect the children Rosa has left behind? Returning to the gang-ruled streets of East London, Grace is determined to build a better future for herself and for the children of Bell Lane - no matter what the cost....

Maggie and Liz may be sisters (and yes, named after a pair of much more famous siblings) but that's about all they have in common. Maggie is a free spirit - travelling the world, flitting through life and relationships without ever really having to connect. Liz, meanwhile, is the lynchpin of Little Martin village society and determined to be the perfect wife, mother and homemaker - even if she does live in a new build. When Liz and Maggie's beloved grandmother, Queen Vic, dies in a characteristically flamboyant fashion, they are left to deal with the aftermath - inheriting the family home.

1934. Following the death of her mother, 12-year-old Tess Rainbow takes on the responsibility of caring for her family. When a plane crash-lands near their home on Romney Marsh, she meets the charming Moray Tann, a young pilot from Scotland, who turns out to be the son of one of her father's rivals. Once nursed back to health, Moray returns to his duties—but not without leaving a mark on Tess' heart.