Dream a Little Dream


Joan Jonker - 2000
    She is similarly skilful at conjuring up the world of two-up two-down houses, struggling removal businesses and lively, working-class characters, so the emotional entanglements always have the salty tang of authenticity. Dream a Little Dream is no exception, with all the human understanding that the author's fans look for. Edie and Bob grow up in the same Liverpool street. After their marriage, Bob succeeds in his removal business, and the family moves up the social ladder. But Edie and her eldest daughter have lost touch with their roots, and their social climbing begins to alienate Bob. With his two youngest children and their down-to-earth housekeeper, they create a little world of escape in the kitchen--and it's here that they begin to make plans to regain their happiness. The observation of social niceties is absolutely spot-on, with all the humour and warmth coming from a clash between class pretension and the realities of life. Bob and Edie are brilliantly drawn, and this one will acquire new readers for the talented Jonker. --Barry Forshaw

Mitford Years 6-9 / Home to Holly Springs (Mitford Years, #6-9)


Jan Karon - 2011
    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon, this is the new ecollection of novels six through nine in the beloved Mitford Years series, plus Home to Holly Springs, the first novel in the Father Tim series. Readers have come to feel at home in Mitford, the little town with the big heart. As this charming mountain village works its magic, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll quickly make friends who feel like family—for the residents of Mitford are the most ordinary people who live the most extraordinary lives. And in Home to Holly Springs, you will travel back with Father Tim to his childhood Mississippi home, where he discovers the awesome power of love and forgiveness.

A Place in Time


Carole Lehr Johnson - 2021
    Her hectic life as a gourmet chef and a string of failed relationships has left her disheartened. She longs for a simpler time of manor houses, nobility, and the romance of courtship, for history to come alive. But she never expected to be thrust into the past with her friends while in the rural village of Stanton Wake.In 1666, Lord Marcus DeGrey desires to live a quiet life at the newly renovated country manor that he inherited in ruin. He longs to raise his young daughter away from the London society that threatens to devour him and the secrets he must protect.But life in the seventeenth century is perilous in an era rife with plague, political unrest after civil war, and a looming disaster. The women struggle as servants, their modern-day independence colliding with propriety and romance. When their attempts to return home fail, they must seek to discover God’s purpose for sending them through time.

The Butlins Girls


Elaine Everest - 2017
    So this was Butlin's. Whitewashed buildings, bordered by rhododendrons, gave a cheerful feeling to a world still recovering from six years of war. The Skegness holiday camp covered a vast area, much larger than Molly expected to see.'Molly Missons hasn't had the best of times recently. Having lost her parents, now some dubious long-lost family have darkened her door - attempting to steal her home and livelihood... After a horrendous ordeal, Molly applies for a job as a Butlin's Aunty. When she receives news that she has got the job, she immediately leaves her small home town - in search of a new life in Skegness.Molly finds true friendship in Freda, Bunty and Plum. But the biggest shock is discovering that star of the silver screen, Johnny Johnson, is working at Butlin's as head of the entertainment team. Johnny takes an instant liking to Molly and she begins to shed the shackles of her recent traumas. Will Johnny be just the distraction Molly needs - or is he too good be to be true?

Ayodhya: The Dark Night


Krishna Jha - 2012
    Before the adversaries could discover his presence, he dashed straight towards Abhiram Das, the vairagi who was holding the idol in his hands and leading the group of intruders. […] The sadhu quickly freed himself and, together with his friends, retaliated fiercely. Heavy blows began raining from all directions. Soon, the muezzin realized that he was no match for the men and that he alone would not be able to stop them.22 December 1949: A conspiracy that began with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi culminated in the execution of the Ayodhya strategy. Late that night, a little-known sadhu, Abhiram Das, and his followers entered the Babri Masjid and planted an idol of Rama inside it. While it is known that the Hindu Mahasabha had a role in placing the idol in the mosque, the larger plot and the chain of events that led to that act have never been subject to rigorous scrutiny. Through intrepid research and investigation, Krishna Jha and Dhirendra K. Jha bring together the disparate threads of the buried narrative for the first time.Through a series of first-hand interviews with eyewitnesses and the unearthing of archival material, the authors take us behind the scenes to examine the motivations and workings of the Mahasabha members who pulled the strings. They also examine the liaison between Mahasabhaites and Hindu traditionalists in the Congress – an association that Jawaharlal Nehru sought to break in his cautious battle with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the right-wing forces. Ayodhya: The Dark Night uncovers, in vivid detail, what really transpired on the fateful night that was to leave a permanent scar on the Indian polity.

Facing the Tank


Patrick Gale - 1989
    Even as supernatural elements seem to conspire to wreck Evan’s latest undertaking, he finds himself surprised by love. The earthly paradise is revealed to be full of poisoned apples but one after another its inhabitants are offered a taste of sweet redemption.

Doctor, Doctor: Incredible True Tales From A GP's Surgery


Rosemary Leonard - 2012
    Do you require fire, police or ambulance?' asked the female switchboard operator with brisk professionalism. I thought fast. 'I actually need all three,' I answered .It's not every day that a home visit turns out to be an eco-protestor with appendicitis stuck up a tree. But as Dr Rosemary shares in this book, it's all part of a day's work for a south London GP. From an octogenarian nymphomaniac to a teenager in labour with a baby she didn't know about, when Dr Rosemary opens her surgery door she doesn't know who's going to walk in...

Dragon Apocalypse: The Complete Collection


James Maxey - 2016
    Manipulating the world's most powerful warriors like pawns on a chessboard, can she stave off the coming doom, or will her actions serve as the trigger for the Dragon Apocalypse? DRAGON APOCALYPSE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, gathers all four novels of the critically acclaimed series by James Maxey, author of the bestselling BITTERWOOD series. It also includes the novella GREATSHADOW: ORIGINS, the story that provided the inspiration for the novels. GREATSHADOW Infidel is a legendary sword-for-hire, enchanted with impervious skin and the strength of ten men. When her closest companion dies, she decides to retire in style by stealing the treasure horde of the dragon Greatshadow. To do so, she joins an expedition organized by the Church of the Book, who’ve assembled a team of the world’s most dangerous mercenaries to kill the dragon. With half the rogues on the team dreaming of taking the treasure for themselves, can she survive her own companions long enough to fight the dragon? HUSH Infidel must travel to the frozen wastes to fulfill a promise made to a dying friend. When she stumbles across a plot by the Hush, the primal dragon of cold, to murder Glorious, the dragon of the sun, will she be able to save the world from the darkness of an eternal winter? WITCHBREAKER Long ago, Stark Tower, the Witchbreaker, used his hell-forged sword to destroy the kingdom of the witch-queen Avaris. Now, a young woman named Sorrow is on a quest to recover all the lost secrets of witchcraft, and has tapped into the power of Rott, the primal dragon of death, for the might needed to fight her numerous enemies. In the ruins of the land once ruled by Avaris, she discovers a sleeping knight who awakens with no memory of his past, who proves to be a warrior of unmatched skills. They must work together to reach Avaris in her abode in the realms of the dead. But is Sorrow’s new ally secretly her greatest enemy, the long-vanished Witchbreaker? CINDER It’s the end of the world! Twenty years after the attack on Greatshadow, the primal dragon Tempest has torn down the gates of Hell, unleashing an army of the damned onto a world already in ruins from blizzards, floods, and earthquakes. Infidel’s daughter Cinder was born with the power to walk between the realms of the living and the dead. Can she rescue Sorrow and her allies from Hell in time to defend the last stronghold of mankind from the assembled dragons? ‘This one is worth reading right now.' Orson Scott Card on Greatshadow 'Greatshadow's level 30+ adventure is charming, not po-faced, with a group of flawed, quick-witted and oddball adventurers that are equally comfortable with set-piece battle and rapid fire sarcasm.' Pornokitsch on Greatshadow 'A magnificently entertaining romp bursting with charm.' SFX on Greatshadow

Gang of One


Gary Mulgrew - 2012
    Initially known as the 'Enron guy', Mulgrew attempts to survive the prison gang culture and preserve his own sanity. Driven by his desire to return to his son in England, he is increasingly haunted by the heart-breaking disappearance of his daughter. Meanwhile the dangers around him grow ever closer.Told with wit and humanity, GANG OF ONE, reveals a man constantly confronted by the moral and physical challenges of prison life in America, where evryone is encouraged to turn their back and 'see nuthin'

Homeland Insecurity: The Onion Complete News Archives, Volume 17


The Onion - 2006
    Homeland Insecurity is Volume 17 in the always bestselling and always entertaining Onion series.The Onion is the world’s most popular humor publication, with more than 3.8 million weekly visitors to its website (theonion.com) and a print circulation of more than 500,000. More than a million copies of its various books have been sold to date, beginning with Our Dumb Century, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Rose Of Tralee


Katie Flynn - 1998
    She nurses a secret dream of driving trams too, even though it's not considered a job for women. Meanwhile, in Dublin, Colm O'Neill is happily settled - until his father gets a job working on the Liverptool-Birkenhead tunnel, and takes Colm across the water with him. When tragedy strikes and her beloved father is killed, Rose and her mother scrape a living by turning their home into a boarding house. And it is their boarding house which Colm and his father come to when they arrive in Liverpool...

Matagorda/The First Fast Draw (Bantam Books Western)


Louis L'Amour - 2008
    Now he’s settled on the Texas coast, working a ranch as the partner of his old friend Tom Kittery—and finding himself in the middle of a feud between Kittery and a neighboring family. But the danger from outside is nothing compared to the threat within, as Duvarney suspects Kittery’s woman isn’t all she appears to be. Tap may have to go to war again. But this time will it be with his closest friend?The First Fast DrawEast Texas wasn’t much of a home for Cullen Baker. Few liked him, and some even tried to kill him. Yet after three years of wandering, he’s back to farm the land that is rightfully his. But Cullen’s neighbors have long memories, and his worst adversary has teamed up with a vicious outlaw. With enemies closing in on all sides and threatening the woman he loves, Cullen will have to be faster than lightning—and twice as deadly—just to survive.From the Paperback edition.

Siena Summer


Teresa Crane - 1999
    When Poppy arrives, she finds a disturbing undercurrent in Isobel and husband Kit’s relationship, then accidentally uncovers a terrible secret.Against the backdrop of a verdant 1920s Tuscany, Poppy’s own journey into love is overshadowed by the insanity of a war long-ended, and a desire for revenge that, with tragic consequences, inevitably damages the innocent… Perfect for readers of Rosanna Ley and Lucinda Riley, and brimming with atmosphere, this is an enthralling and dramatic story of romance, war and jealousy. ‘A writer of great skill and vitality’ Sarah Harrison‘A moving, passionate and treacherous tale’ Essex Chronicle‘A wonderful storyteller’ Daily Mail

From this Day Forth


Lyn Andrews - 1997
    Lizzie and Celia are the best of friends. But their families, the Miltons and the Slatterys, are the worst of enemies, divided by religion and by status. So their friendship is a carefully guarded secret, for if Celia's father Charlie ever heard of it he would beat her to within an inch of her life.Then one day the unthinkable happens. Joe Slattery, Lizzie's brother, does a good turn for the Milton family and rescues their youngest from a grievous accident. From that day forth, Celia Milton just can't get Joe out of her mind. And, despite himself, Joe Slattery is increasingly drawn to Celia and to a love that seems doomed to heartbreak - unless they can find a way around the prejudice of generations and the terrifying bigotry of Charlie Milton...

Lula Does the Hula


Samantha Mackintosh - 2011
    But mostly people call me Lula. So, my big news is...I've finally been kissed. Eeeee! I have an actual, factual boyfriend! At least, I thought I did. But things with the perfect boy aren't going to plan - thanks to his journo gal pal, Evil Jazz. And that's not all. Hoooo no. In a few days I've got to dance the hula in public, put a stop to some seriously serious criminal activity, win a race, and stop Dad from shaming me totally with his weirdiness. Frikkly frik! Where is my normal life? Huh? Where? Please, someone, tell me I'm not jinxed forever...Laugh-out-loud funny and gorgeously romantic, Lula Does the Hula is the perfect summer read.