"At 3am I was startled awake by the opening of the stairgate. Leaping out of bed I found Mum, clothes on over her pyjamas, grumbling she was fed up of being moved from pillar to post and was going home." When her mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Marianne Talbot decided she couldn’t put her into a care home. Instead, for five years, she looked after her mum in her own home. For nearly three of those years she chronicled for the readers of Saga Magazine Online the fears and frustrations, the love and the laughter, and the tears and the traumas of caring. Now, in this heart warming book, you too can meet Marianne, Mum, and the appalling Fatcat. You will also find plenty of practical tips for caring for someone with dementia and on staying sane whilst doing so, a resources and useful contacts section and Marianne’s reflections on caring from a distance, and on when caring comes to an end. Written for anyone, anywhere, who has anything to do with dementia or with caring; in reading it you will know you are not alone.

Now living in Canada, outrageous and gregarious Cockney Eugenia Sztuka, survivor of WW2 and a widow, seems determined to make her childrenas lives miserable. Full of vim and vinegar at nearly seventy, she causes chaos in the lives of her three adult daughters and their families. Wearing clothing far too young for her age, and given to speaking her mind regardless of the consequences, she buzzes through life with complete abandon. Uninvited, she turns up at their homes, usually in some outrageous costume, and after a drink or two regales all and sundry with old Cockney pub songs with hilarious results. However, the large old family home where she lives alone hides a dark secret such that none of the family will visit. A novel that is both humorous and poignant, readers who have experienced or met such a woman will relate to this story.

Revised 2nd edition of a collection of comedic anecdotes about what really goes on in modern motherhood, first published 1997. Topics covered include toilet training, theme birthdays, the dangers of staples to costume creation, school projects and parent-teacher interviews. A PDF version of the book (ISBN 1863350373) is available at www.commonground.com.au. Author's previous titles include 'Anna's Story' and 'Leaving Early'.

When modern-day Scrooge Hetty Loveridge saw the opportunity to exploit an inheritance tax loophole for her children, she took it. She need only live seven more years. One week shy, she keels over, dead. With their inheritance at stake, Peter and Kate get more than they bargained for as they attempt to fool the tax-man into believing their mother is still alive. For seven days Peter dresses as his mother, speaks as his mother, acts as his mother, and soon discovers she wasn't just the difficult woman he remembers her as. And when an old flame enters the scene, it's a recipe for disaster. At the heart of this fast-paced and funny tale is a story about family, redemption, and hidden secrets. Would you do anything to protect your inheritance? From the writer who brought you the Skip series and The Swiss Family RobinZOM comes this hilarious first part in a new romantic comedy quadriology.

One of a series of hard-hitting family drama titles tackling topics such as homelessness, divorce and adoption.

Roanoke, Virginia, is home to some of the country’s most exquisite gardens, and it’s Camellia Harris’s job to promote them. But when a political fundraiser turns deadly, everyone’s a candidate for murder... Cam and her best friend, Annie, are planning a gala for a local Senate candidate—a murder mystery themed silent auction where the guests bid on who will be the night’s “victim.” Coordinating a beautiful display of fall flowers and planning the perfect fake crime is hard enough, but with a guest list that is a “who’s who” of the Roanoke elite, Cam has her hands full navigating the egos and grudges of her high society guests. When local financial tycoon Derrick Windermere is found dead next to a shattered pot of chrysanthemums, the night’s fun and games quickly turn serious. Half the guests had good reason to want Windermere dead, but only one is suspiciously missing in action—Annie’s father. Now Cam will not only have to figure out which partygoer is a killer, but find her friend’s father before all their reputations end up dragged through the mud...

In the aftermath of her mother's stroke, a bond is forged betwixt strange signs and unexpected events. Exhausted by circumstances, Laura gives her mother up to the first of three nursing homes and keeps her mouth shut about it all. Until now.

They say you should walk towards the light. Well I didn't. I fled. I ran away from it. I pushed the light back and it splintered in my hands like glass. I thought I might be dead because there was no blood. I raged, I wept. I shouted. There was no pain. I screamed. There was no noise. It wasn't time. It wasn't right. But still, I did not know that I was dead. Still, I hoped that I was not. I wasn't ready... Has it been done before? We don't think so. Dual authorship is one thing, but fifteen authors? That's more like a writing team for a soap opera or a big TV series than a single novel. And who are the Dark Angels? Well, they're not bikers or Goths or heavy metal rockers, but an eclectic bunch of writers who have come together through the Dark Angels creative writing programme. Challenging themselves to come up with ideas for a collective novel, they chose the model of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, a novel told from the viewpoint of many characters with each chapter in a different voice. Gathered together in a Scottish country house in the coldest March on record, the Dark Angels started to create the characters to tell a story about a woman who dies in a Scottish country house – and whose family decides to transport her body back to London via a few special, possibly secret-laden locations. What they came up with is a stonking good story. By turns poetic, comic, psychological, philosophical, and moving. Full of secrets and lies, it's an adventure in writing.

When Annie finds out she's pregnant, aged 44, it comes as a bit of a shock - after all, she's been celibate for five years. As a divorced single-mother caring for both a teenage son and an elderly parent, Annie has enough on her plate without having to look after a new baby as well - especially as she still hasn't figured out who the father is. There are two candidates in the running: her ex-boyfriend Tariq and Andrew, the widowed leader of the Scottish Parliament. With Annie's job as Health Minister placing her firmly in the public eye, she needs to solve the problems of her tangled personal life before the press cotton on - and she needs to solve them fast.

This Companion brings together sixteen essays that explore the full diversity of British poetry since the Second World War. Focusing on famous and neglected names alike, from Dylan Thomas to John Agard, leading scholars provide readers with insight into the ongoing importance and profundity of post-war poetry.