Showing results by publisher "Orion Publishing Group Limited" in Family Life

Every table at Quentins Restaurant has a thousand stories to tell: tales of love, betrayal and revenge. Ella Brady wants to make a documentary about the renowned Dublin restaurant that has captured the spirit of a generation and a city in the years it has been open. In Maeve Binchy's magical Quentins you will meet new friends and old: the twins from Scarlet Feather, the Signora from Evening Class, Ria from Tara Road, and a host of fresh faces.

Clara Casey has more than enough on her plate. Her daughters Adi and Linda were no problem during the usually turbulent teens. Now in their twenties, Adi is always fighting for or against something: the environment or the whale or battery farming; while Linda lurches from one unsatisfactory relationship to the next. As if this wasn't enough, Clara, a senior cardiac specialist, has a new job to cope with - and now her ex-husband wants something from her.

High on the cliffs of the west coast of Ireland, overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean, is Stone House. Once falling into disrepair, it is now a beautiful hotel specialising in winter holidays. With a big, warm kitchen, log fires and understated, elegant bedrooms, it provides a welcome few can resist, whatever their reasons for coming...Henry and Nicola are burdened with a terrible secret, and are hoping the break at Stone House will help them find a way to face the future.

When Will - soon to be known as 'Posh Lad' - starts as an apprentice for Stanley Lampitt, he expects horses, fresh air and a solid training in forge-work and horses. What he gets is Stanley, 'six-foot-six of tattooed muscle, with a gleaming shaven head', and Ewan, raised at the bad end of the Cribbs Estate. It's a baptism of fire. After a rocky start - Will doesn't drink Yorkshire tea - the three settle into a rhythm, barrelling around Yorkshire in a series of dodgy vans, forging iron and shoeing horses.

When Danny Lynch tells his wife Ria that he has a young pregnant mistress, Ria thinks that her world has ended. Little does she know that within weeks a telephone call from America will open up a whole new world for her. Marilyn Vine, escaping from her own private demons, wants to exchange her house in Westville, New England, for a house in Dublin during a few summer weeks. Ria Lynch's big Victorian house in Tara Road is perfect.

The wonderful and heartwarming new novel full of secrets, lies and family ties from Sunday Times best-selling author Cathy Kelly. Bess is hoping to show everyone just how happy her recent marriage is, but behind all the party planning the cracks are beginning to show. Why is joining a family so difficult?

Wiltshire, 1922. Fifteen-year old Pudding Cartwright has begun the career she always wanted, as 'girl groom' to the Hadleigh family's horses at Manor Farm. Irene Hadleigh is struggling to adjust to her new life in sleepy Slaughterford, having married Alistair to escape a scandal in London. At a loss to occupy herself, Irene sets about restyling Manor Farm, and during the work the chance finding of a strange object hidden away in the house for years will change everything.

Laura's life has just been turned on its head, and with an empty nest and a crumbling marriage she launches a new business from her own kitchen, making artisan jams, chutneys and relishes from her grandmother's cookbook to sell at the local farmer's market. So can her flair for cooking, her most special family recipes and a better understanding of her grandmother's past help her find a happy future?

When Katharine is found dead at the foot of her stairs, it is the mystery of her life which consumes her daughter, Laura. The medical examiner's report, in which precious parts of Katharine's body are weighed and categorised, motivates Laura to write her own version of events. To bear witness to the unbearable blank space between each itemised entry. What emerges is a picture of a life lived in the shadows as well as an attempt to discover how and why her mother died.

Meet the adults. Claire and Matt are divorced but decide what's best for their daughter, Scarlett, is to have a 'normal' family Christmas. They can't agree on whose idea it was or who said they should bring their new partners. But someone did - and it's too late to pull the plug. Claire brings her new boyfriend, Patrick, a seemingly eligible Iron-Man-in-Waiting. Matt brings the new love of his life, Alex - funny, smart and extremely patient. Scarlett, their daughter, brings her imaginary friend Posey. He's a rabbit.

Baby Frankie is born into an unusual family. Her mother is desperate to find someone to take care of her child and she doesn't have much time. Noel doesn't seem to be the most promising of fathers but despite everything, he could well be Frankie's best hope. As for Lisa, she is prepared to give up everything for the man she loves; surely he's going to love her back? And Moira is having none of it. She knows what's right, and has the power to change the course of Frankie's life....

From the best-selling author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen comes a story of inheritance, a great country house, and a way of life that is disappearing...Ed Hartlepool has been living in self-imposed exile for five years, but with a settlement regarding his inheritance looming, he must return to his ancestral seat, Hartlepool Hall.

In the bitter winter of 2009, following the death of their grandmother, Erica Calcott and her sister Beth return to Storton Manor, a grand and imposing Wiltshire house where they spent their summer holidays as children. When Erica begins to sort through her grandmother's belongings, she is flooded with memories of her childhood - and of her cousin, Henry, whose disappearance from the manor tore the family apart. Erica sets out to discover what happened to Henry.

Among the many evening classes starting all over Dublin is an "Introduction to Italian". On the surface, it could be just one of hundreds in which some students will succeed and some will fall along the way. But the Italian class at Mountainview School has its own special quality, and the hopes and dreams of so many people are tied up in the twice weekly lessons.

January 1941. Peggy Collins has learned a lot during her time as a Spark Girl. Posted to Swansea as a driver to the squadron leader, she often hears things she shouldn't, and she knows to be discreet, understanding how serious the phrase 'loose lips sink ships' really is. Peggy meets and falls in love with pilot Jim Hudson, but her heart is broken when he becomes missing in action, and Peggy is left fearing the worst. That isn't the end of the shocks in store for Peggy, and she is forced to remember a promise made long ago. But can she keep her word while the bombs fall?

Twenty-year-old Jenny is struggling to make friends at university and moves in to Sunset Promenade to escape her problems. Her roommates are a little older than she was expecting - Sunset Promenade is a private nursing home, taking in students to save money. At first the new residents clash, but when Jenny introduces a movie night the group realise they have more in common than they think....

Dan and Sally Oliver and their friend Chloe Hennessey are lucky to be alive. Three years on, after surviving one of the world's biggest natural disasters - the Boxing Day tsunami - their lives have changed dramatically.Dan and Sally are now parents. Dan is enjoying being a stay-at-home father taking care of their young son, and Sally is the bread winner and loves her job as a partner in a Manchester law firm.

Scarlet Feather is set in contemporary Dublin, and is the story of Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, who go into business together as caterers. Tom is the son of a builder and his fanatically devout wife, both of whom are disappointed that he hasn't joined the family building firm. Cathy's father is an inveterately optimistic gambler on the horses, and her mother, Lizzie, is a domestic cleaner.

Sophia Beaumont-Brown was an 'it' girl. But now she's in the papers for all the wrong reasons. She's single, sofa surfing and not speaking to her family; only her grandmother has any faith left in her. From her hospital bed, Tilly Beaumont sends Sophia letters about her life: dispatches about wartime England, about family secrets and, finally, about the most beautiful thing she ever owned - a necklace of the most incredible pearls. If Sophia's prepared to listen, she'll unlock the secret story of generations of incredible women.

Spring 1940. Kitty Williams has suffered more than her fair share of tragedy, but rather than wallowing, she's more determined than ever to do her part in the battle against Hitler. Stepping up her own war effort, Kitty leaves her hometown of Coventry and joins the Auxiliary Territorial Service (Women's Army - ATS), where she finds new friends in Di, Peggy and Mary but also new obstacles to overcome in both her professional and personal lives.