Showing results by publisher "Zaffre" in Small Town & Rural

Everyone loves Summer Ryan. A model student and musical prodigy, she's a ray of light in the struggling small town of Grace, Alabama - especially compared to her troubled sister, Raine. Then Summer vanishes. Raine throws herself into the investigation, aided by a most unlikely ally, but the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous her search becomes. And perhaps there was always more to Summer than met the eye . . .

Effie has always loved her quiet life in Cornwall - sea swims, beach walks, reading, and knitting. After university in London, she returned home, craving the calm of the coast. But while her friends move forward, Effie feels stuck. So when she's offered the chance to open a bookshop in the seaside village of Polcarrow - with a flat above the shop - Effie leaps at the opportunity. A bookshop by the sea? It's the dream. Adjusting to life on her own is tough at first, but she soon finds friendship in Lola, the local café owner, and her warm circle of friends.

Suffolk, 1924. After the death of her fiancé in the field hospitals of France, Angel becomes nurse to the MacDonald family in the small village of Uffasham. Taking residence at the appropriately named Angel Inn, she is met by many new faces - and old ones, too. Edith, a fellow nurse from the war, while taking great interest in Angel's new life, refuses to let her forget her old one. As Angel grows closer to her employer, Robert, Edith threatens to expose a secret that could ruin everything.

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.

It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother - who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community - she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life. When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep. Then Lucy goes missing.

Dover 1940 As firebombs fall on Dover, Edie Castle's life is thrown into turmoil when the garage where she lives and works is damaged and her beloved boss is arrested. With no job and nowhere else to go, Edie returns to Castle's Café and her formidable mother, Nellie. Living with her mother is never easy, but tensions reach boiling point when an old friend of Nellie's arrives looking for a place to stay. Meanwhile, desperate to clear her boss's name, Edie turns to his nephew for help.

Tabby is stuck. She still lives in the small town she grew up in . . . the town she's barely ever left. So, when her dad drops a bombshell over their weekly Sunday dinner, Tabby takes a look at her own life. She lives firmly in her comfort zone and doesn't know how to break out. Sometimes she wishes she could go back and start all over again. When she meets Bea, a free spirit like no one else she's ever known with an 'interesting' sense of style, Tabby quickly befriends her, recognising in Bea the change she's been craving.

August 1914. Twelve-year-old Mattie and her little sister, Evie, lead an idyllic life in the Suffolk countryside, playing in the meadows and picking watercress in the streams. Living with their family in Plough Cottage, little do they know that this perfect childhood will soon come to an end with the start of the First World War. As the years pass the girls go on to live very different lives. Mattie travels from Suffolk to Plymouth and then to Canada and America, whilst Evie remains in England and pursues her career.

When Frank Woods at number 79 Primrose Square comes home to a surprise birthday party thrown by his wife and adoring children, it is his guests who get the real surprise. Finding himself alone, he befriends the cantankerous Miss Hardcastle, who hasn't left her home for decades, and Emily Dunne - fresh out of rehab and desperate to make amends. As gossip spreads through Primrose Square, every relationship is tested, and nothing in this close-knit community will ever be the same again....

Emma Patrick's life is spiralling out of control. On the cusp of her 50th birthday, she realises that she's been so focused on work that she's lost any real connection to people. When Emma's ageing father needs her help, she decides to go back home to the countryside to spend some time with him. But returning to Little Bramble after years away is filled with complications and people she'd rather avoid.

Clare Greene and Sam Wilson are getting married, and everyone in Little Bramble is excited for the event of the year. But Clare and Sam are busy people and have left organising their wedding to the last minute. Luckily, wedding planner Hazel Campbell has recently moved to the village. She had what she thought was a wonderful life in Edinburgh with a successful business and a wedding of her own to plan, but when she caught her fiancé with her best friend she fled, leaving her whole life behind. Little Bramble seems like the ideal place for Hazel to start over.

After a crushing breakup and the loss of her beloved grandmother Ruby, Lola escaped to the charming Cornish village of Polcarrow to start over with just her dreams of opening a café to keep her company. But Polcarrow has other plans. With the help of her spirited best friend Freya, a surrogate grandfather in Alf and a community that quickly feels like family, Lola finds herself drawn into village life - and straight into the path of Tristan, the disarmingly attractive local vicar. As sparks fly and Christmas magic fills the air, long-buried family secrets begin to surface.

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.

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.

Aspiring writer Brooke Sinclair dreams of seeing her words in print, which she should have thought of five years ago before falling for her teaching assistant and being driven out of uni when their illicit romance came to light. When her ailing mentor, Professor McCallister, asks her to co-write her memoir, she jumps at the chance. Her insistence that Brooke hike the rugged, eighty-mile Skye Trail for authenticity's sake is the least of her worries - the photographer she hired is none other than Jack Sutherland, Professor McCallister's nephew and the TA who broke Brooke's heart.