Emily is happy with her life just as it is. She has a career as a midwife that she loves. She enjoys living on her own as a single woman. But she also feels it's time for a change and a spot of some sea air. So when her best friend Rebecca asks whether she'd like to spend the summer cooking on a 'puffer' boat just off the Scottish coast, she jumps at the chance. She tries desperately not to notice Alasdair, the handsome local doctor because if she...

Pru's husband has walked out, leaving her alone to contemplate her future. She's missing not so much him, but the life they once had - picnicking on the beach with small children, laughing together, nestling up like spoons in the cutlery drawer as they sleep. Now there's just a dip on one side of the bed and no one to fill it. In a daze, Pru goes off to a friend's funeral. Usual old hymns, words of praise and a eulogy but ... it doesn't sound like...

Beth has never stuck at anything. She's quit more jobs and relationships than she can remember. Its not that she hasn't TRIED to grow up; it's just that the only commitment she's held down so far is Friday drinks at the village pub. Then, in the space of a morning, her world changes. An unspeakable tragedy turns her life upside down, and she finds herself guardian to her teenage niece and toddler nephew; catapulted into an unfamiliar world of bedtime...

Life just got a whole lot more complicated for 38-year-old single mum Liv. Her son, Jake, is practically perfect in every way, but he's started asking some difficult questions and the answers lie in a holiday romance 20 years ago. Back when Liv was staying with her aunt on the French Riviera ... Returning to the Cote d'Azur, with its white sandy beaches, her supportive aunt and exquisite wine and cheese is harder than it sounds, though. Because -...

The Hurlingford family have ruled the small town of Byron, nestled in the Blue Mountains, for generations. Wealthy, powerful and cruel, they get what they want, every time. Missy Wright lives with her widowed mother and crippled aunt in genteel poverty. Hurlingfords by birth, all three are victim to the family's rule of inheritance: the men take it all. Plain, thin and unforgivably single, it seems Missy's life is destined to be dreary. But then a...

Annie McDee, alone after the disintegration of her long-term relationship and trapped in a dead-end job, is searching for a present for her unsuitable lover in a neglected second-hand shop. Within the jumble of junk and tack, a grimy painting catches her eye. Leaving the store with the picture after spending her meagre savings, she prepares an elaborate dinner for two, only to be stood up, the gift gathering dust on her mantelpiece. But every painting...

Julia Garnet is a teacher. Just retired, she is left a legacy which she uses by leaving her orderly life and going to live - in winter - in an apartment in Venice. Its beauty, its secret corners and treasures, and its people overwhelm a lifetime of reserve and caution. Above all, she?s touched by the all-prevalent spirit of the Angel, Raphael. The ancient tale of Tobias, who travels to Media unaware he is accompanied by the Archangel Raphael, unfolds...

From the safety of these new quarters, her war effort now consists of a thousand petty humiliations, of which the most burdensome is sharing her daily life with the unbearable Mr Thwaites. But a breath of fresh air arrives in the form of a handsome American lieutenant and things start to look distinctly brighter. Until a new boarder moves into the room next to Miss Roach?s - outwardly friendly, she soon starts upsetting the precarious balance in the...