Showing results by publisher "Zaffre" in Friendship

In the midst of WWII, an English mother, Norah, places her eight-year-old daughter on a ship leaving Malaya, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. In Singapore, a Welsh-Australian nurse, Nesta, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as the island falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed.

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never had a place to call home, and when she moves into the crumbling Shelley House, she thinks it will just be temporary. Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House for longer than anyone can remember, and if you believe the other tenants, she's as cantankerous as they come. When the building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home...and even less likely investigators when they suspect that foul play is coming from inside the house.

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.

Ever feel like you're losing a race you never signed up for? Everyone in Amy's life seems to be getting married, having children and settling down (or so Instagram tells her), and she feels like she's falling behind. So, when her long-term boyfriend surprises her with a dream holiday, she thinks he's going to finally pop the big question. But the dream turns into a nightmare when, instead, she finds herself on the set of a Big Brother-style reality television show, The Shelf.

Library assistant June knows a lot about the regulars at Chalcot Library, yet they know very little about her. When her mum - the beloved local librarian - passed away eight years ago, June stepped into her shoes. But despite their shared love of books, shy June has never felt she can live up to the village's memory of her mum. Instead, she's retreated into herself and her memories, surviving on Chinese takeaways-for-one and rereading their favourite books at home.

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?

In an increasingly lonely world, three women strike up an unlikely friendship and find that community, female friendship and the wonders of nature can truly be powerful healers.

There are rumours of war besetting the country but sisters Daisy, Violet and Holly Graham have other things on their minds. With the family smock mill keeping them busy and the local brewer boys turning their heads, the girls are looking forward to a summer of fun. But their plans soon come crashing to the ground as war is declared. As their brothers, Asa and Clem, and the three Brewer lads Ren, Alder and Rosen, all volunteer to do their part for the war effort and are shipped off, the women are left with the problem of how to keep the business running.

Nicole and her friends are living the dream. No dull, tedious retirement for them - instead the nine friends have clubbed together to purchase a magnificent (if crumbling) château in Normandy. And after three years of shared dinners, fine wine and gorgeous scenery, they have finally settled into a routine. But money for the upkeep of the château soon runs low and the make-shift family need to come up with a plan to keep their dream on track. They decide to set up as a B&B and soon the arrival of visitors brings a welcome new dynamic to their community.