The other day I ventured into the neglected and eerie vaults of my haunted chateau and came across this collection of anecdotes that I had scribbled down in an unaccustomed fit of feverish activity. They are all true, except maybe one, with which I have tinkered just a little.

‘Wow!!!... Devastatingly heartbreaking and beautiful… Absolutely rammed with emotions… An absolute eye-opener!!... A beautiful, heartbreaking and educational read!!… My heart absolutely broke with tears streaming down my face… Unputdownable, heart-wrenching.’ @bookwormwhitlock86 My heart races as gunfire startles me from my sleep, and my lungs fill with smoke as I realise my village is being burned to the ground. I tremble as I discover my family is missing, but before I can find them, I am taken. With tears streaming down my face, I wonder if I’ll ever see my parents and little brother again… In a small, peaceful village in Western Africa, fourteen-year-old Ṣìkẹ́mi dreams of being like the boys, learning how to hunt and defend herself. But as her father reminds her often, in order to make her family proud she must live by the rules and marry well. Soon, everything Ṣìkẹ́mi loves shatters in an instant. Her beloved village is raided and Ṣìkẹ́mi is taken from her family to work for Madam Tinúbú, a rich and powerful slave trader. As she begins her new life alone, Ṣìkẹ́mi’s only comfort is the memory of her little brother’s laughter as they played together before she drifts off to restless sleep. Ṣìkẹ́mi longs to see her family again and she knows deep down that the only way to survive her brutal new life is to be her enemy’s greatest ally. When she uncovers a plot against Madam, Ṣìkẹ́mi faces an impossible decision. Can she stay faithful to a ruthless slave trader who has taken everything she ever loved if it means she might see her family again? Or will her own life and that of her family be in even greater danger? Inspired by true events, The Stolen Daughter is a gripping and unforgettable story about overcoming unimaginable hardship against all the odds, and the unending courage and strength of women in a world ruled by men. Perfect for readers of Sadeqa Johnson, Laila Ibrahim’s Yellow Crocus, and 12 Years a Slave. Readers love The Stolen Daughter: ‘WOW! If this isn't a book to brag about I don't know what is. I started it late last night. Never did I anticipate I would be closing the book at 1am left in complete shock. A book I’ll be recommending to all!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Amazing… Incredible… I absolutely devoured this book… Masterfully written. I felt completely submerged in the setting and felt as though I was watching a movie I could not take my eyes from!’ LibraryThing, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wow… powerful and… I had a hard time putting it down… a phenomenal page-turner… my heart was broken.’ Harper’s Court, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I absolutely loved this book…I enjoyed it so much and recommend it to everyone. Great read!’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Captivating and compelling… Readers are simply going to fall in love with this… Beautiful… Six out of five stars… Fast-paced, unputdownable.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Inspiring… Captivating… An unforgettable emotional journey… Prepare to be swept away by a powerful historical coming-of-age story… This book won't let you down.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A gripping, unputdownable tale… heart-wrenching and uplifting.’ Michelle Cornish, author, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wonderful… incredible.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Gripping… flawless.’ @the.aesthete.nerd, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘An absolutely bingeworthy read… such a page-turner!’ @coffeeandpages2021

'A fun and uplifting memoir' Cosmopolitan Eleanor finds herself in her late 30s on a beach in India with three old ladies, trying to 'find herself' and 'discover her family history' like some sad middle-class crisis cliché. How did she get here? Truthfully, it could be for any one of the below reasons, if not all combined: * Stepmum dying/Stepdad leaving - family falling apart, subsequent psychotic break; both parents now on third marriage * Breaking up with K after 12 years - breaking up a whole life, a whole fucking universe - for reasons that may have been... misguided? * New boyfriend moving in immediately, me insisting 'it's not a rebound!' even after everyone has stopped listening, then breaking up with me * Going into therapy after dating a threatening narcissist (the most pertinent point of which should be noted: I did not break up with him - he ghosted me) How to address this situation? Take a trip to India with your octogenarian nan and two great aunts of course. The perfect, if somewhat unusual, distraction from Eleanor's ongoing crisis. But the trip offers so much more than Eleanor could ever have hoped for. Through the vivid and worldly older women in her life, she learns what it means to be staunch in the face of true adversity.

It's 1953, the year Elizabeth is to be crowned Queen of England. Elsie Kettle can't wait to go to London to see the celebrations on Coronation Day. Elsie lives with her Nan - her mum works as a showgirl, so she's not around very often. Spirited and imaginative, but often lonely, Elsie longs for a best friend. Luckily, she and Nan are very close; Elsie just wishes she was allowed a cat to keep her company sometimes. Then tragedy strikes. Nan and Elsie both fall ill with tuberculosis, and Elsie finds herself whisked away to the children's ward of the hospital. Confined to bed for months on end, Elsie finds it very hard to adapt to the hospital's strict regime. But she invents astonishing ways of entertaining the other children on the ward, and for the first time finds herself surrounded by true friends - including Queenie, the hospital's majestic white cat. Finally, Elsie is well enough to leave hospital. But before she does, she has one very special, very unexpected visitor... A master storyteller - The Good Book Guide

A beautifully told and intriguing mystery about two generations of Scottish women united by blood, an obsession with the past, and a long-hidden body, from the author of The House Between Tides. Libby Snow has always felt the pull of Ullaness, a headland on Scotland’s sea-lashed western coast where a legend has taken root. At its center is Ulla, an eighth-century Norsewoman whose uncertain fate was entangled with two warring brothers and a man who sought to save her. Libby first heard the stories from her grandmother, who had learned it from her own forebear, Ellen, a maid at Sturrock House. The Sturrocks have owned the land where Ulla dwelled for generations, and now Libby, an archaeologist, has their permission to excavate a mysterious mound, which she hopes will cast light on the legend’s truth. But before she can begin, storms reveal the unexpected: the century-old bones of an unidentified man. The discovery triggers Libby’s memories of family stories about Ellen, of her strange obsession with Ulla, and of her violent past at Sturrock House. As Libby digs deeper, she unravels a recurring story of love, tragedy, and threads that bind the past to the present. And as she learns more of Rodri Sturrock, the landowner’s brother, she realizes these forces are still at work, and that she has her own role to play in Ulla’s dark legend.

"First published in the United Kingdom by The Borough Press"--Copyright page.

'A lovely, gentle rural romance with snippets of all that is wonderful about rural life in Australia' - Naomi, aplace_inthesun reviewer. Desperation drove Tori back to her home town, but that’s not why she stayed. Vowing never to be hurt again, Tori Christensen flees home to Cedar Creek Plains and the loving grandmother who raised her, after the devastating end of her marriage. Zac Coleman has lived in Cedar Creek Plains his whole life. His family operates the Coleman Cattle Station and Zac has a Vet practice in town. After a health scare, he’s given up on love. His sisters are keen to see him married with a family and sign him up for the reality country television show, Local Lads Looking for Love. He begrudgingly agrees to be the star of the show to keep his sisters off his back. And it’s good for the region, including Tori’s grandmother’s B&B. Tori returns on the first day of filming, blundering into the show’s cameraman. Zac and Tori have history, but that was years ago. Now she’s a single mother and Zac is dating four women as the eligible bachelor. Set on the sweeping outback plains of Queensland, will Tori and Zac get a second chance at love?

“Fluent, mordant, authentic, propulsive…wonderfully lit from within” (Lee Child, The New York Times Book Review), this critically acclaimed, stunningly mature literary debut is the darkly comic story of a car thief on the run in the gritty and arid landscape of the 1970s Texas panhandle. In this “stellar debut,” (Publishers Weekly) car thief Troy Falconer returns home after years of wandering to reunite with his younger brother, Harlan. The two set out in search of Harlan’s wife, Bettie, who’s left him cold and run away with the little money he had. When stealing a station wagon for their journey, Troy and Harlan find they’ve accidentally kidnapped a Mennonite girl, Martha Zacharias, sleeping in the back of the car. But Martha turns out to be a stubborn survivor who refuses to be sent home, so together, these unlikely road companions haphazardly attempt to escape across the Mexican border, pursued by the police and Martha’s vengeful father. But this is only one layer of Troy’s story. Through interjecting entries from his journal that span decades of an unraveling life, we learn that Troy has become so estranged from society that he’s shunned the very idea of personal property. Instead of claiming possessions, he works motels, stealing the suitcases and cars of men roughly his size, living with their things until those things feel too much like his own, at which point he finds another motel and vanishes again into another man’s identity. Richly nuanced and complex, “like a nesting doll, [Presidio] continually uncovers stories within stories” (Ian Stansel, author of The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo). With a page-turning plot, prose as gritty and austere as the novel’s Texas panhandle setting, and a determined yet doomed cast of characters ranging from con artists to religious outcasts, this “rich and rare book” (Annie Proulx, author of Barkskins) packs a kick like a shot of whiskey. Perfect for fans of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, and Larry McMurtry, who said that Kennedy “captures the funny yet tragic relentlessness of survival in an unforgiving place. Let’s hope he keeps his novelistic cool and brings us much, much more.”

Where will Antonia's search for truth lead and who will suffer? When film and TV graduate, Antonia Carlyle sets out to make a documentary about eighties band, 'The Tough Romantics', she uncovers new facts surrounding the death of singer song-writer, Genevieve. This leads her to suspect that the man arrested for her murder was not the killer. One of the three surviving band members believes it is time to settle old ghosts but the other two have gone on to forge solo careers and don't want Antonia to rake up the past. One of them knows who the killer is, the other needs to hide their guilt. A growing psychic link with the dead girl and the conviction that justice must be done, drives Antonia to face her own demons, uncover the past and confront the present.