Showing titles in Small Town & Rural

Fifteen years ago, one desperate act tore sisters Bex and Briony apart. Growing up side by side against the backdrop of a feckless father and a hardworking mum, they were inseparable—until Briony’s attempt to save Bex from a disastrous engagement shattered their bond. Now Bex has the life she dreamed of: a loving family, a new glamping site on the family farm, and roots she’s proud of. Briony, living under the online alias “Holly Day,” drifts from place to place in her van, watching her sister’s happiness from afar.

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the forgotten second novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’ and recognised as one of the ‘big four’ Golden Age crime authors. When the body of Sir William Ponson is found in the Cranshaw River near his home of...

'Love, passion, drama, violence, menace and peril, and characters you fall in love with!’ – Santa Montefiore, author of Shadows in the Moonlight The mystery of St Kilda's residents are all revealed in the epic conclusion to Karen Swan's historical series set in Scotland. Jayne Ferguson has...

Read by Hugh Fraser A new Christie mystery combining love, death and melodrama blended together as only Agatha Christie can. Gipsy’s Acre was a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea – and in Michael Rogers it stirred a child-like fantasy. There, amongst the dark fir trees, he...

1912. Leo is on a journey. Aged 13 and banished from the secluded farm of his childhood, he travels through Devon, grazing on berries and sleeping in copses. Behind him lies the past, and before him the West Country, spread out like a tapestry. But a wanderer is never alone for long, and soon Leo is taken in by gypsies. Yet he knows he cannot linger and must forge on to Penzance. Life on the estate continues as usual, yet nothing is as it was. Lottie’s father is distracted by the promise of new love, and Lottie is increasingly absorbed in the natural world. And of course, Leo is absent.

The new witty and warm novel from the best-selling author and TV presenter, Fern Britton. Perfect for fans of Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell, and Trisha Ashley. Even happy families have their secrets... Greer Clovelly seems to have it all; beautiful, chic and slender, she's used to getting her own way. Greer has been in love with Jesse Behenna since her first day at school and she's determined that one day, they'll be married. After all, a marriage between them would join together two dynasties of Cornish fishing families to make one prosperous one.

After the sudden death of her estranged husband, Clare is shocked to discover she has inherited a dog and a small fortune. Convinced by her adult children to finally do something for herself, Clare embarks on a coast-to-coast adventure - until she stumbles upon an unmarked location on the fringes of South Devon. When Clare finds herself driving down a narrow road to the tiny village of Little Sorrell, she is met with distant, cold and rude locals. But as she falls in love with a cottage she wishes to call home, can Little Sorrell truly be the place of second chances?

Children run through the streets in their Halloween costumes, giggling happily, not noticing the blood on the house is real. A baby girl is tucked up asleep in her room. Her mother’s body lies motionless in the front yard, pink petals on the ground beside her… Arriving in the quiet community of Mulberry Creek, Special Agent Nikki Hunt is shocked that amongst the chaos of costumes and fake, silver spider webs, a new mother called Kiania Watson has lost her life. A blooming rare flower placed carefully in her cold, bound hands.

Brought to you by Penguin. ***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR*** **OVER THREE MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE** Her 3 o’clock just became a murder case... When a body is found near Beachy Head, the police chalk it up to suicide — a tragic but not uncommon end in these parts. But local...

As war tightens its grip, the residents of Harbour House are doing their bit for King and country—keeping calm through air raids, blackouts and family issues. When Elizabeth Roby's glamorous young cousin Lucinda Somiton arrives from London, scandal at her heels and a broken heart in her past, she brings a spark of chaos to the quiet Essex town. Accustomed to champagne parties and bright lights, Lucinda struggles to adjust to ration books and village gossip. But when she volunteers to aid the war effort, Lucinda begins to find a sense of purpose—and perhaps a chance to redeem her name.

A devastating injury ended Theo Haven’s pro-football career, but he’s made a good life for himself in his hometown. The high school teacher and football coach might be single, but that’s by choice. And his work bestie, Penelope? She’s one of the best parts of his job, but they’re just friends. No, really. Not the sort of friends who are secretly pining for each other or destined to hook up. Just… friends.

The Christmas Party is a delicious audiobook full of twists and turns. At an elegant country house party, shocking secrets and unexpected romances hide just beneath the surface . . . A must-listen for the festive season by Karen Swan, the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Christmas Secret...

Widowed Lessie Hamilton lives with her young son and her brother Davie. To make ends meet, Lessie works in the local grocery shop supporting Davie as he works on the docks and attends night school, hoping to become an engineer, much to the scorn of their reformed alcoholic father. With her mother's drinking spiralling, putting their vulnerable younger sister Thomasina at risk, brother Joseph frequently in trouble with the police and sister Edith thinking herself above them all – Lessie has much to contend with.

*A SUNDAY INDEPENDENT HOT DEBUT AUTHOR OF 2025* Into the woods. Count to ten. Only one of us comes home again. 'Sinead Nolan is one to watch' KARIN SLAUGHTER 1995, Ireland. Panic grips the village of Drumsuin when a teenage girl goes missing in the nearby forest. Saoirse is not the first girl to...

Westleham Village, May 1948 The villagers of Westleham are excited for the first village cricket match since the end of the war. But Martha Miller has more pressing concerns - namely, the sudden reappearance of her husband, Stan, missing for two years and acting as though nothing has happened. Martha doesn’t know what to feel, especially now that his return threatens her growing fondness for the kind-hearted village vicar, Luke. Yet she’s not the only one unsettled by Stan’s return…

Charlie Wolfe jumps at the chance to help his uncle renovate a tumbledown cottage overlooking Nomansland Common. Number One Constable’s Cottages was once the home of the man charged with ridding the common of the highwaymen who terrorised travellers. But it’s the story of The Wicked Lady, the notorious female highway robber, that captures Charlie’s imagination, and some long winters’ nights he’s sure he can the hoofbeats of her horse echoing across time.

Selected for the QI Book of the Year Award, 2016 'Gripping and utterly believable' IAN RANKIN, Guardian Books of the Year ‘A story about the strength and fragility of human nature. Rob Ewing's writing is powerful, compassionate and brilliant. I absolutely loved it’ JOANNA CANNON, the author...

Brought to you by Penguin. It is autumn 2004 and in a farmhouse on the hills outside Llandudno, a family endures the agonizing wait for their son to return from Iraq. His decision to join up has left them reeling, yet there are other pressing concerns to be met at home: the working of the...

When it comes to hockey, unflappable Maple Creek sports reporter Joy Barlowe is privy to a lot of behind-the-scenes locker room activity. Like stumbling upon Dalton Days in all his unabashed glory. After the muscled goalie goes on to score better than he ever has, he proposes Joy take another peek before his next match. It works, and a provocative pregame tradition is born.

As the eldest of the Rivers sisters, she's too focused on keeping her family's campground running in the wake of a devastating tragedy to even think about romance. When Kim Jefferies shows up at the local small town bar looking like a lesbian snack on a stick, Emily writes her off as yet another tourist just passing through-no matter how much the butterflies in her stomach try to tell her otherwise.