Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

A wonderful warm festive treat from Sunday Times bestseller Trisha Ashley. The perfect gift isn't always under the tree... Single mum Cally's life is all about her little girl Stella. She's resigned to the fact that the only romance she's going to get is from the rom-coms she watches, and with her busy job and her daughter, she doesn't have time to even think about love. But life gets very tough when Stella gets sick.

Aiming to make a fresh start in life, Sydney agrees to tutor the teenage daughter of an affluent couple during a summer spent in their New Hampshire cottage. But when the Edwards' two grown sons arrive, Sydney finds herself caught up in a web of old tensions and bitter divisions. As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened.

Carrie White is no ordinary girl. Carrie White has the gift of telekinesis. To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie – the first step towards social acceptance by high school colleagues. But events will take a decidedly macabre turn on that horrifying and endless night as she is forced to exercise her terrible gift on the town that mocks and loathes her...

Read by the critically acclaimed actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. When Esther Greenwood wins an internship at a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther's life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously.

Another summer is in full swing on the island of Roone, and preparations are underway for a big birthday party at the local hotel. But beneath the air of celebration, many of the islanders have their own struggles to contend with. Imelda, isolated by her recent heartbreak, has no memory of accepting a month-long bed and breakfast booking, but when a stranger turns up on her doorstep looking forward to his stay, she has little choice but to take him in.

A traveller on a train returning to London smells the burn of brakes as it hisses to a stop in the middle of the countryside. He sees a white-faced woman leap from the train and race to the aid of a sheep stranded on its back, unable to rise, in a field. Righting it, she turns, and he sees her face is full of tragedy. Considering tragedies of his own, he does not intrude, but the image lodges in his mind: a strange but familiar despair, unable, despite itself

When Kendra Tamale returns to England from Australia, she rents a room from Kyle, a divorced father of two, and begins a new job. She's looking forward to a fresh start and a simple life. But then she bumps into the man who shares her awful secret, and things fall apart. The only way to fix things is to confess to the terrible mistake she made all those years ago. But that's something she swore never to do.

It's 1977 and Jack Sheffield is appointed headmaster of a small village primary school in North Yorkshire. So begins Jack's eventful journey through the school year and his attempts to overcome the many problems that face him as a young and inexperienced headmaster. The many colourful characters include Ruby, the 20-stone caretaker with an acute spelling problem; a secretary who worships Margaret Thatcher; a villager who grows giant carrots; a barmaid/parent who requests sex lessons, and a five-year-old boy whose language is colourful in the extreme.

Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl, providing a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood. Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and, as a book restorer ,devotes her days tending to broken, battered books. When she discovers a notebook carefully concealed in an old Bible, Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love....

Leila has never met Tess, but she now knows more about Tess than anyone in the world. She’s read all of her emails, researched her past and asked Tess for every detail about her friends and family.Tess has never met Leila. But if she wants to slip away from the world unnoticed, she needs to trust Leila with her life.At first, Leila finds it easy to assume Tess’s identity, and no one has any reason to distrust her. But as Leila is soon to discover, there is much more to a person than the facts and there are things about life you can learn only by living it...

Sun, sea and secrets... A week on the sunny Greek island of Kethos is just what Alice Archer needs, even if she has to put up with her difficult sister. Stella's tantrums and divalike demands are a fair price to pay for crystal-clear waters, blue skies and white clifftop villas. When Alice meets Milo, a handsome gardener at the Villa Argenti, for the first time she suddenly feels beautiful, alluring and confident. But is it just holiday magic, or will the irresistible pull between Alice and Milo survive against all odds?

Impetuous Ali Anderson has always been a loose cannon. While she’s still trying to come to terms with the death of her baby son and subsequent divorce from Elliot, she takes it upon herself to play God with her best friend’s incomprehensible marriage. Ali’s meddling has disastrous consequences. Finding herself cut off from those she loves, she comes to realise that a little forgiveness goes a long way...

Stephen Fry's breathtakingly outrageous debut novel, by turns eccentric, shocking, brilliantly comic and achingly romantic. Adrian Healey is magnificently unprepared for the long littleness of life; unprepared too for the afternoon in Salzburg when he will witness the savage murder of a Hungarian violinist; unprepared to learn about the Mendax device; unprepared for more murders and wholly unprepared for the truth.

Anna Cole grew up poor, but her mother's love made her feel rich every day. Then her mother died, and Anna was sent to a care home. As a teenager, Anna vowed that one day she would have children of her own and create the happy, noisy family life she always craved. Then, one day, Anna meets Theo Montgomery in a lift. Theo has kind eyes but a sad past. His family were rich, but his childhood was full of neglect. Theo can't imagine bringing a child into this cruel world, but he does want a soul mate. Someone to love him unconditionally; someone with whom he can share his family's wealth.

Von der unbedingten Anwesenheitspflicht im eigenen Leben. Selma, eine alte Westerwälderin, kann den Tod voraussehen. Immer wenn ihr im Traum ein Okapi erscheint, stirbt am nächsten Tag jemand im Dorf. Unklar ist allerdings, wen es treffen wird. Davon, was die Bewohner in den folgenden Stunden fürchten, was sie blindlings wagen, gestehen, verschwinden lassen oder in Ordnung bringen, erzählt Mariana Leky in ihrem Roman - und natürlich noch viel mehr. Was man von hier aus sehen kann ist das Porträt eines Dorfes, in dem alles auf wundersame Weise zusammenhängt. Aber es ist vor allem ein Buch über die Liebe im Modus der Abwesenheit.

For five years, Sally and Clive have been lost in a passionate affair. Now he has dumped her, to devote himself to his wife and family, and Sally is left in freefall. It starts with a casual stroll past his house, and popping into the brasserie where his son works. Then Sally befriends Clive's wife and daughter on Facebook. But that's alright isn't it? I mean, they are perfectly normal things to do. Aren't they?

Joey Cooley is a golden-curled child film star, the idol of American motherhood. Reginald, Third Earl of Havershot, is a boxing blue on a mission to save his wayward cousin from the fleshpots of Hollywood. Both are under anaesthetic at the dentists when something strange happens - and their identities are swapped. Suddenly Joey can use his six-foot frame to get his own back on his Hollywood persecutors. But Reggie has to endure everything Joey had to put up with in the horrible life of a child star - including kidnap.

Catherine Cookson's well-loved novels Hamilton and Goodbye Hamilton tell the story of Maisie, who invented an imaginary horse to keep her company through the long years of an unhappy marriage and before she became a best-selling author. In this engaging sequel, Hamilton has vanished from Maisie’s life, and in the days after the death of her second husband she takes comfort from the company of a cheerful, bright-eyed little cockney boy named Harold.

Essays in Love is a stunningly original love story. Taking in Aristotle, Wittgenstein, history, religion and Groucho Marx, Alain de Botton charts the progress of a love affair from the first kiss to argument and reconciliation, from intimacy and tenderness to the onset of anxiety and heartbreak.

Meredith’s daughter, Anna, comes across a prayer book that is inscribed by three generations of mothers to their daughters. These are the women of Meredith’s family, who have all had lives full of love and also hardship. But the youngest in the line, Meredith, has never found true love. She has a beautiful teenage daughter to come home to, a fabulous career in television, but no one special to share it all with. Behind the tirelessly successful façade lies the story of a woman who could not keep love in her life.