Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Friendship

Seeking release from their small-town existence, two teenagers drive north on a vaguely plotted road trip. Adam and Teddy hope to leave boyhood behind. But they carry with them all the upsets and resentments they have accrued in their unhappy lives to date.

Bella Beckett is clearing out her mother Betty’s house when she finds a hidden diary. On the cover, two words are written: BURN THIS. According to the diary, thirty-five years earlier, Betty witnessed the murder of Bella’s childhood friend, Vicky. The diary is quickly dismissed by the police as fiction–Betty’s attempt at creative writing–but Bella is convinced they are wrong. As she uncovers a series of dark connections, it is clear Vicky’s killer is still at large. And they weren’t just someone familiar to Betty, but a person Bella herself knows well…

Liv Granger has been flailing through life since her teens. When her brother, Joe, announces his engagement to his long-term boyfriend, Liv realizes that she has never been able to commit to anything—a career, a fixed address, a relationship—and she may, in fact, be a massive loser. With the help of Joe and Henry, her oldest friend, Liv comes up with the Loser List: ten tasks to change her life. The most challenging—three dates with the same person. After each increasingly disastrous date, Henry is always there to the rescue.

Kiki grew up in New Zealand, dreaming of one day going to Glastonbury Festival. Now, mourning the loss of her beloved Yaya—the woman who raised her—she travels to the UK to follow that dream. It is only when she leaves home that she realises just how sheltered her life has been up until now. Ned lives an active and exciting life. Well, he did until the accident. Now, he's woken from his coma, except no one knows. He can hear everything happening around him but can't make his body respond.

George McGlory—recent widower, part-time librarian, pub quiz enthusiast and lover of loud shirts witnesses a public health funeral and is deeply moved by the sight of the lonely coffin with no flowers and no mourners in attendance. He joins forces with Elena, a florist, Edwin, an undertaker, Sid, the owner of a bric-a-brac and second-hand furniture emporium, and Roxy his library colleague to form The Light a Candle Society and banish lonely funerals for good.

Josie and Finn seem to lead a charmed life, with successful careers, an enviable relationship and an adorable son. But parenthood is no easy ride when your adorable son is hyperactive. When Josie unexpectedly finds herself pregnant again, her feelings are mixed. How can you love your child yet fear to have another who might be just like him? Finn thinks she's overreacting so she turns to her best friend, Clarky. He’s always been there for her, even if Finn suspects ulterior motives.

June cleans houses. Ray is a janitor at the public tennis courts in Dun Laoghaire. After lives spent picking up the pieces, he's not romantic material, and she's not even friend material. When it comes to learning how to be with other people at the age of 70 plus, they are unlikely companions, even more unlikely friends.

When eighteenth-century poet Alison Cockburn accepts a light-hearted challenge from her good friend Katherine Hume to live as a man, in order to infiltrate the infamous Edinburgh Skating Club, little do they both realise how her new identity will shape their futures. Together they navigate their way through the sights, sounds and faces of Enlightenment Edinburgh, from Old Town to New Town and from joyous friendship to a deep affection.

Skye is on the brink of a huge career move. She also has a wonderful boyfriend who she's sure is about to commit to her. Life is perfect! Until it's not. She loses her career and her boyfriend in one day. Escaping to the small coastal town of Eastercraig in Scotland, Skye hopes to find some peace to mend her broken heart and plan her next move. What she wasn't planning on was bumping into a handsome rugged stranger on the beach. Skye is immediately drawn to him. But the feeling isn't mutual. He's clearly not happy to meet Skye, and makes sure she knows it.

Climbing in Heels, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas's debut, is a fictional tale of the rise of three secretaries at the hottest agency in 1980's Hollywood, giving you a glimpse into the boys-will-be-boys club and the women who wanted a seat at a table where they were expected to serve. It's the story of friendship, betrayal, survival, standing up when they pass you by, and saying I won't go when they want you gone. And it's also a story about how some of those women became very much like the monsters who trained them.

Diana Parks is a beautician with a temper, and she's not the only member of Ottersea WI who's had enough of bullies and slimeballs. When the body of lecherous landlord, Raj Sumal, washes up on the beach, it's up to Detectives Jim Paddon and Grace Brown to solve the mystery. They start to suspect Raj's wife, Sukhi, who likes walking on the cliffs. Meanwhile, at Ottersea Oceanworld, Jane the Octopus hears people's secrets and understands everything during a sweltering summer of strange deaths, new friendships, and a whole lot of ice cream.

Recently widowed Venetia Hamilton Hargreaves is left with a huge house, a bank balance to match and an uneasy feeling that she's been sleepwalking through the last fifty years. Determined to live fully again, she embraces life with an enthusiasm and purpose she'd forgotten she could muster. Buying the dilapidated Phoenix Ballroom and with it a drop-in centre and spiritualist church could be seen as reckless, but Venetia's generosity, courage and kindness provide a refuge for a touching cast of damaged and lonely people who find their chosen family.

Agnes has run her family's restaurant, The Shark Biscuit, for the last six years, ever since her father's health took a turn and she had to step in to keep the doors open. Now she's crippled with guilt because it's her fault it's closing. One more night and she's free. Harrison loves squaring off against the infuriating yet enchanting Agnes, but in six hours he will no longer be by her side, day after day. When Agnes' ex-boyfriend brings his entire family in for dinner to show support, thinking it will win her back, she begs Harrison for help. Pretend to be her boyfriend.

Nia and Jade had been inseparable ever since their best friend, Michal, introduced them at her tenth birthday party. But now it's been three years since Michal died of cancer—since the brutal fight Nia and Jade had in the weeks after—and they're barely on speaking terms. Until Nia reads a letter Michal wrote for her 29th birthday, asking her and Jade to go on the southern Jewish history road trip they'd planned before she died.

These days it's a meaningless job and a comfortingly empty apartment. Then, after a decade of estrangement, she receives a letter from her former best friend. Fiona's throwing a party for her newly adopted daughter and wants Khaki to join the celebration. Khaki is equal parts terrified and tempted to reconnect. Their platonic love was confusing, all-consuming, and encouraged their worst impulses.

Chance brings together Nina Thomas and elderly Laura Chadwick just at the time when Laura is in need of a friend to help with an interfering family member. Their growing bond is one thing that Nina will be sorry to leave behind as she relocates from Australia to England, but they promise to stay in touch. It will prove to be a significant friendship.