I tried reading The Children's Hour for a Bookcrossing bookring because it came so highly recommended and because the blurb on the back of the book sounded interesting: "...But when their sister Georgie, now somewhat frail and forgetful, comes to stay at Ottercombe, memories of their past start t...
Nell Woodward and Gussie Merton make unlikely friends - one a young married woman and the other a lonely elderly lady. Nell's husband, John, is an estate agent fresh from the Navy, but he is ignorant of the outside world and, as others abandon the collapsing property market, he gets in deeper... ...
Marcia Willett's fans have fallen in love with the English countryside and the wonderful characters that inhabit its idyllic setting. Written with shining honesty and compassion, The Birdcage has every bit of the wonder that Marcia Willett's fans have come to expect… THE BIRDCAGE No one can for...
Marcia Willett’s previous novel, A Week in Winter, her first to be published in the United States, received a rousing welcome from readers and reviewers alike. Her new novel, A Summer in the Country, introduces an equally beguiling cast of characters whose lives become intricately entwined at Fox...
This is a rather turgid and peculiar blend of the worst kind of American cod-psychology and a Mills & Boon novel. It’s very overwritten and contains long scenes where characters think through their emotions and situations in great and laborious detail, either by themselves or with other people. I...
Clio is staying with her aunt, Hester, at Bridge House on the edge of Exmoor. A beautiful, remote house, where the sound of the rushing stream is never far distant, is the scene of many happy childhood memories, and Clio has no idea that it was the setting for a terrible incident after the second...
He’s run out of his cocaine capsules and he’s planning a few nights away to collect some from his contact, the Weedhound, in Bristol. He is quite happy to leave the patch for a few days; he’s confident now that nothing will happen in his absence to change his plan of campaign. The postcards have ...
Sometimes, when she wakens, her thoughts are sharp and clear. Now is such a time. Her room is full of light; watery reflections slide and slip over the cream-washed walls and she can hear the harsh cries of the gulls out on the river. She thinks of Jess, of her shocked expression when she saw the...
She rolled on to her back and lay for some moments, staring at the ceiling, thinking through the events of the previous day No revelation had been revealed to her at three o'clock, as Liv had foretold, but she felt too tired to pursue her anxiety: tired but not relaxed. Presently she got out of b...
Maria wrestled with the door handle of a first-class carriage and glanced around hopefully for some strong male to help lift her case on to the train. Philip and Penelope had driven away early to a lunch with friends in Hampshire and she’d been obliged to take a taxi to the station. A young woman...
He turned as she came in, put the mug on the table and with complete naturalness went to take Jake from her, holding him confidently, smiling down at him. Watching him, Tilda’s first reaction of pleasure was swamped by an uprush of misery. Just so had she imagined David holding his child, the str...
He was very tame, sometimes hopping after her through the original sliding doors that led into what had once been the waiting room. Thea raised her face, eyes closed against the hot June sun, and the sharp, peppery scent of hawthorn drifted into her nostrils. Beside her stood strips of bedding pl...
If she were to sit here, right at the back, just inside the door, nobody will see her. She likes to do this; slipping into the chapel just as Compline begins and watching the Sisters at Night Prayer. The sanctuary light glimmers in its stone niche, and candles have been lit in the terracotta bowl...
‘ …and so I told him that I thought it was quite disgraceful. A whole three pence overnight! Of course, he cheeked me. “Everything goes up,” he said. “I have to cover my costs.” Well, you can imagine. “Cover your costs!” I said …’ Bea fiddled restlessly with the letter in her lap and wondered at ...