A warm and compelling tale, part of Lilian Harry's terrific Dartmoor-based series. The village of Burracombe is looking forward to the Coronation, but 1953 is to prove to be a year of heartbreak as well as celebration. While Stella begins to plan her wedding, her sister Maddy is only just coming to terms with the loss of her own fiancé; Val and Luke are wondering if they will ever become parents, and Hilary's chances of marriage seem at first to come closer, then to recede. The Tozer family also face anxiety. As grandmother Minnie fights for her life, Tom and Joanna's premature twins battle with their own crisis and Jackie, working and living in Plymouth, is determined to live her own life. Meanwhile, the life of the village goes on, with all its ups and downs, its feuds and differences. Bossy Joyce Warren tries to organise everything and everyone, Miss Kemp and Stella plan yet another event for the school, Jacob Prout strives to keep Burracombe looking its best for the festivities - and romance comes from a quite unexpected direction...

A heart-warming visit to the village of Burracombe where, whatever life might throw at you - strangers, surprises, love, change - you can always rely upon your neighbours and friends. Devon, 1954. The villagers of Burracombe pull together to help each other through the tough times but now it's summer, and a time to celebrate love and new life. Even so, there are still a few surprises to come... At Burracombe Barton, Hilary Napier is doing her best to keep the estate ticking along, all the while longing for a man she cannot have. She welcomes help from young Patsy Shillabeer - but Patsy is more headstrong than she first appears, and there's trouble brewing. And all is not well in the village school, where a strict new teacher appears to be making the lives of the little ones a misery. And almost everyone is missing their beloved teacher Stella, still in hospital after the accident that nearly killed her. As the first crocuses bring colour and the promise of change back to Burracombe, the villagers help each other through the hardships. For, while the course of true love never did run smooth for anyone, in Burracombe there are weddings to plan and it won't be long before everyone in this very special village comes together in a joyful celebration of love, life and the things that matter most.

Return to Burracombe in this warm and charming prequel to Lilian Harry's Burracombe series and journey back to where it all began . . . Devon, 1943. In the village of Burracombe, 'Dig for Victory' is more than just a wartime slogan. While the young men are away, everyone at home knows the war effort needs them too. Whether it's Land Girls on the farms, wives and mothers having to make do and mend, or the villagers knowing how to stretch rations to keep spirits bright, there is always something to be done to help. When the Barton is requisitioned as a children's home for war orphans, all of Burracombe rallies round to welcome their newest arrivals, particularly little Maddy Simmons. Still reeling from losing her mother and brother in the Plymouth blitz, and her father being killed at sea, now in a cruel twist, Maddy has been sent to a different children's home to her beloved sister. As Maddy explores the village and makes new friends, she begins to feel at home and realises that Burracombe is the kind of place where you will always have someone to turn to, even when times are hard. Could this be somewhere she could finally call home? This heart-warming story gives a different perspective to the village as it adapts to the struggles of wartime and explores the story of a much-loved character in the wonderful Burracombe series.

Hilary Napier has had enough of secrets. Her engagement party is a chance for her and David to finally celebrate their good news. But with obstacles springing up on all sides, there may be more than the dress and venue to arrange before she can consider walking down the aisle. Frances and James are doing their best to ignore their feelings for each other as they organise the school play. Can Frances find a way to let herself love again? Amid all the drama, old friends are always on hand, and when Dottie falls ill, a familiar face comes back to Burracombe to lift her spirits and perhaps change her life. With surprises around every corner, life is never dull in this beautiful Devonshire village . . .

Come home to Burracombe - the village where life is full of surprises... A seemingly sleepy Devonshire village, Burracombe is in fact full of intrigue and drama. Family secrets, budding romance, cruel twists of fate and amazing friendships all play out against the backdrop of the beautiful countryside. It's autumn 1953. The village is delighted when Joe Tozer - who left Burracombe as a young man in 1919 - returns to visit his family. His life since emigrating to the States has been a world away from rural Devon, but coming home, he falls in love with the place (and one particular person) all over again. With him is his eldest son, Russell. He sets hearts fluttering in the village - but will there be anyone on his arm when he catches the boat back to America?

A short story to whisk you away on a festive trip to the Devonshire village where life is full of surprises Steal a glimpse at the past lives and loves of your favourite villagers in this captivating Burracombe short story. Autumn 1918 has brought young Alice Whiddon to the Tozer's farm to work as a maid. Alice soon falls in love with the little village and with life on the farm. But that's not all she's falling for. Youngest son, Ted Tozer is half promised to young Ivy Prowse, daughter of a neighbouring farmer, yet Alice and Ted feel a powerful bond forming. But while the first peacetime Christmas in years beckons, romance must wait as influenza comes to the farm and threatens to bring tragedy with it, just as the Tozer's eldest son Joe returns from the front to Burracombe and his sweetheart, Dottie. As Alice and the family wait and hope for the new year to bring long-awaited joy and peace, no one knows whether the bells will peal in sorrow or in celebration as the year turns.

Everyone has a secret in their past: discover the hidden lives of some of the best-loved residents of Burracombe. Escape to the little Devonshire village that feels like home with this compelling Burracombe short story. On Easter day in 1918, as the Great War entered its closing stages, Frances Kemp looked out at the little thatched village in the valley below and promised that, one day, she'd come back... For long before Miss Kemp became headmistress of the village school, when she was just a teenager, she had reason to know and love Burracombe. Sent to stay with family in the village, young Frances treasured her summers there and the friends she made. But as she grows up, she admits that there is someone there who is more than just a friend. Yet just as they realise their childhood bond is deepening into something else, war is declared and life will never be the same again. As Frances watches so many of her friends and family get called away to war, she must struggle to find a way to play her part, a way to get by while her sweetheart is away and a way to think about what lies ahead in a world where every day brings ever more uncertainty.

It may be winter, but in the Devonshire village of Burracombe there is always warmth and friendship, no matter what troubles arise... In the village of Burracombe, nothing stays secret for long and behind the peaceful, rural charm there's always a scandal to uncover, a newcomer to the village to set tongues wagging, a happy occasion to celebrate or friends to help their neighbours through the tough times. It's December 1953 and for Stella Simmons, recovering from a car crash, the winter wedding that she and her sweetheart had planned seems impossible. Elsewhere in the village, Jackie Tozer is dreaming of America and Hilary Napier, who thought the war had robbed her of her chance of happiness, has to ask herself if she could ever imagine leaving her life at the big house for the sake of love and adventure. The darkest time of the year finds everyone asking questions with no easy answer. As snow falls softly on the village, Burracombe proves once again that there's always a surprise just around the corner.

There's nowhere quite like Burracombe - a village full of warmth and intrigue... It's a summer's day in 1953 that turns Hilary Napier's life upside down. When Marianne, a beautiful French woman, knocks on her door, Hilary can't help but be struck by Robert, the young boy with her. He has the same eyes as the brother she lost in the war. As she listens to Marianne's sad tale, she realises that her soldier brother lives on in the son he never met. But this is only the first revelation... As the village of Burracombe tries to make sense of the strangers in their midst, there is also much to celebrate. A wedding is being planned, a birth is imminent and a courtship just beginning. Yet, as always, life is complicated, and some people must learn cruel truths about the world...

The beginning of the beloved village series from Sunday Times bestselling author Lilian Harry. When Stella Simmons comes to the Devonshire village of Burracombe to start her teaching career, she is alone in the world. Orphaned as child and brought up in a children's home, she was separated from her sister Muriel and has never been able to trace her. Stella is soon caught up in the life of the village, and especially in the plans for celebrating the Festival of Britain. As headmistress Miss Kemp and vicar Basil Harvey try to keep the peace between villagers, who all have their own ideas for the proposed pageant and fair, Stella tries, with the help of artist Luke Ferris, to find her sister. But Luke has his own troubles... THE BELLS OF BURRACOMBE begins the story of life in a Devonshire village in the 1950s and shows us a picture of Britain coming to terms with the aftermath of the Second World War and entering a new decade.