Six-year-old Birdie Adams wants to run away and join the circus but guesses she’ll have to go to the first grade and hang around with her new baby brother instead. Maybe her big sister needs a little help, too. The circus will have to wait.Twelve-year-old Melanie Adams wants her friend to stop bugging her to get her first kiss. Melanie’s already had her first kiss, but won’t spoil the special secret by talking about it. Norah Adams is a good mother and wife who wants to keep her family safe and happy, but tucking the order form for dogtags in her daughters’ lunch boxes is a big change from the everyday bologna sandwiches.Lola Carter wants the life her sister, Norah, has. Instead she has a factory job, an alcohol and prescription drug addiction, and an abusive boyfriend. Even if President Kennedy prevents World War III, these women’s lives will be changed forever.

    But when the baby dies of natural causes while under her roof, and knowing her neighbour will be devastated, Minnie swaps it with one of the infants in her care.Now seventeen, Jewel Nightingale knows nothing of her true origins. But assaulted by her hateful cousin and making the dreadful discovery that she is pregnant, she faces a desperate dilemma. Fleeing her job as a domestic maid, she follows an advertisement to a house in Bolton's dark slums, where a woman promises to help her when the child is born. Little does Jewel know that there’s a terrible price to pay . . .Can she keep herself – and her baby – safe? And what will happen when Jewel discovers the truth about where she came from? Gritty and page-turning historical saga set in Northern England in the late 1800s, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin.

    That superpower was what we know today as India under the Mughal Empire. Years of internal strife, attacks by Afghan raiders and finally conquest by the British led to the decline and destruction of this mighty empire.But what if India had never been conquered by the British? What if it remained a mighty and prosperous nation under the rule of the Mughal Empire?A nation known as Hindustaan.Dilli, 1857. The Mughal Empire is at the peak of its power and is gearing up to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of its victory over the British, an occasion where the popular Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar is widely expected to announce his successor. The Empire is thrown into sudden chaos when the Emperor is assassinated and a new regime seizes power in a bloody coup. In this maelstrom, three unlikely companions find themselves thrown together by fate. Ranveer, a young officer in the elite Mughal cavalry, who is now hunted by the very Empire he served; Theo, a rakish English traveller with a mysterious past and Maya, a beautiful and spirited Princess they rescue. Together, they embark on a series of dramatic adventures across Hindustaan. A journey that takes them from bloody skirmishes with Afghan raiders, rescue missions in remote forts, joining a coalition of rulers who band together against the new despotic regime to protect their independence, and finally back into the heart of Dilli for a dramatic mission.The stage is set for a monumental struggle that will decide not just their fate, but that of the whole of Hindustaan.

    And when her estranged aunt Amelia decides to take them in, she will have a difficult choice to make…

    Life, as the daughter of a Victorian millhand, had never been easy, but now she was mother and housekeeper both to the little family left behind. As one tribulation after another beset her life, so a longing, a determination grew - to venture out into a new world of independence and adventure, and when the chance came she seized it. America, even on the brink of civil war, was to offer a challenge that Ruth was ready to accept, and a love, not easy, but glorious and triumphant. A giant of a book - about a woman who gave herself unstintingly - in love, in war, in the embracing of a new life in a vibrant land.

    Her father has gone to bring home a son missing because of the war. Loyal servants give her support and comfort and are at her side when she learns of her father’s death. She promises to fulfill her father’s dream but someone doesn’t want her to, the one person she should be able to trust. He sets out to defeat her until another man, a Northern stranger, comes to her aid.

    But that’s before she sees the perfect child. There he sits in his stroller, angelic and beautiful, magnetic and serene– and he makes Jane question everything she has and everything she thought she wanted. Suddenly all she can see are babies and pregnant woman everywhere. Were there always so many of them? And while there was once a man in her life–her one true love, Sam, gone from this world too soon–there is no man now. Jane must make a choice: possibly become a bitter and childless old lady, letting her biological clock tick on ’till menopause, or tend the ache in her heart now, by becoming a single mother. As Jane struggles to make the most important decision of her life, friends and family offer no shortage of opinions. There’s Ray, her “hubstitute” and gay best friend who would be jealous of any kid who got Jane as a mom; Sheila, her sister, who went from zero to sixty when she eloped with Raoul–who had two young twin sons– and has mixed feelings about being a new mommy; her strict, Catholic father who can’ t imagine what level of hell Jane would banish herself to if she becomes a single mother; and the women of Families with Children from China who are preparing to adopt orphan daughters–without a man in sight. Just as she thinks she’s made up her mind, Jane discovers one small wrench in her plans: handsome, charming, funny Peter, who just happens to be (unhappily) married. . . . And Baby Makes Two is a heartbreakingly honest, wonderfully addictive, and funny novel about love and loss, family and friendship. Judy Sheehan, co-creator of the smash hit Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, has perfectly captured the delights and dilemmas of the scariest job in the world: motherhood.From the Hardcover edition.

    It's nothing like the suburb you might live in . . . Unless, that is, an insane, Listerine-guzzling Realtor sold you your house? Or perhaps your postman happens to have a disturbing relationship with his claw hammer? A grieving Dan LaBarbara knows something is different in Helltown as soon as he comes back home. Yeah, sure, the town always been a little off. You can feel that about the place, like if you stepped into a house whose only occupants were freshly murdered corpses in an upstairs bedroom. But this is something else entirely. Standing in his little brother Barbie's basement workshop, holding one of those dioramas Barbie's been building since the accident, the ones that seem to move when you hold them, Dan can feel Barbie's terror. Barbie must know something is coming, something big, something evil. He's trying to warn Dan in the only way he knows. Why else would Barbie build a diorama depicting a man-sized version of a cartoon rabbit with bloody teeth about to devour a trembling teenager? Why else would he spend so much time crafting an intricate model of Death standing over a pimply teenager in the school library? And let's not even talk about that little model of the mob of undead surrounding the massive tower of vicious black spines behind the high school. Hilltown has a story to tell, and the lonely brain-damaged man who builds magical dioramas in his basement workshop has been telling it all along. As the evil closes in around them, Dan and his new love interest Jessica must do the impossible: save everyone one in Hilltown before it's too late.

    There is no cover charge, the drinks are free, and rules do not exist within the walls of The Skin Show. However, once you’ve entered, you’ll never leave, for what exists underneath each club is something of fairytales. Danny Raab was drawn into The Skin Show's inescapable clutch, and he never returned. Now, Andy Raab is in the midst of a desperate search for his brother. Accompanied by Karen, Danny’s probation officer, they will infiltrate The Skin Show’s living nightmares of debauchery, only to learn they have been on the guest list all along.

    Leaving everything behind. What more is there to lose? Katie Donovan soon learns she has much to lose, but even more to gain on the long journey to Oregon in 1850. Two men vie for Katie's affection. Clay Monroe is ready to marry and vows he will win Katie's heart before they reach Oregon. His proposal has her head and her heart spinning. Jason Barnett is attracted to Katie, but her rebellion against God keeps him from pursuing her. As he grows closer to her and her family, can he turn away once they reach the land of their dreams? Cross the wilderness with Katie as she travels The Oregon Trail. Christian inspirational Romance - About 55,000 words

    And because she has a child with her, seemingly out of marriage, they want nothing to do with her – except for pub landlord Mick Castle. When Emma opens an academy and sets herself up in competition with the local school, she provokes a savage response from the community. But she will not be deterred – even when her past catches up with her and Mick is forced to choose between family and love.

    Jerusha believes she has finally found the security she has always craved. But then disaster strikes.Kent, 1904.Two years after the sudden death of her husband, Jerusha is alone once again. But the arrival of the enigmatic Joe Finch, a traveller seeking work on the farm and a home for his daughter, sets Jerusha's life on a new path, giving her hope for her future.Has Jerusha found her happy ending at last, or will she be forever destined to lose the ones she loves?

    But this is 1930s Ireland where they must fight against repressive laws and social attitudes.Harry has married his childhood sweetheart but finds his wife’s life and his marriage jeopardised by the strict laws of Church and State.As he struggles to become a writer, Joseph rejects the love of the girl next door. He goes to fight in the Spanish Civil War where he finds a different kind of love.Kathleen, an actress, has romantic ideas about going to Hollywood but a love affair threatens to ruin her life and shatter the happiness of her family.Mary becomes a teacher and forms some strong emotional bonds, but gossip and injustice may rob her of everything she holds dear.Can they overcome prejudice or must they bow to convention?

    England rules the waves and Wellington is taking on the French in the Spanish Peninsula, but the French Navy yet remains a potent threat, especially their fast, well-armed frigates. Also, another threat is creeping Northward; slaver/pirates in fast galleys from the North African coast, are raiding North, taking advantage of the warring Navies preoccupation with each other, to capture for slavery the highly valuable women and children of Northern Europe. Into this, Captain Reuben Argent sails his first command, HMS Ariadne, a fast, 32 gun, Spanish built frigate. He has moulded both his ship and crew into a tight fighting unit, which he immediately uses to capture La Mouette, a French 42 gun frigate. A brilliant start, but all is not well at home. The Enclosures movement could force his family from their farm, and his Admiral is their immediate neighbour, who hates the Argent family and will use any means available to force them from their home and gain their land. On top is Argent’s rivalry with “Flogger Cheveley” the Captain of the Herodotus, who has a very different concept of how to run a ship of the Royal Navy. Also, as Captain, Argent has to contend with the machinations within the community that is his own crew. The day comes when Argent has to make a career threatening choice, either, as ordered, to take a vital despatch to Wellington at the fastest possible speed or to search for the slaver that has just captured Cornish women and children, including members of his own family. In the background is the smuggling of linen from Ireland to France and his relations with the feisty Sinead Malley and the society beauty Charlotte Willoughby

    The eldest Standish boy, Tommy, was something of a changeling: he desired a different life and ruthlessly went in pursuit of his dream of the grandeur and riches of the landowners' class.His ambitions realised, Tommy, is intent on higher profits even though it risks the lives of the quarrymen. Joe, his father, fights for a union to secure fairer conditions for the men. The quarrymen are close to becoming victims as the war between father and son escalates.