Showing titles in Small Town & Rural

George Eliot's first full-length novel is the moving, realistic portrait of three people troubled by unwise love. Adam Bede is a hardy young carpenter who cares for his aging mother. His one weakness is the woman he loves blindly: the trifling town beauty, Hetty Sorrel, who delights only in her...

Nora, Daisy, and Soraya think their marriages are just fine. Until their husbands prove them wrong. Nora’s says he needs distance and flits off to a wellness retreat in Chile. Daisy’s confesses to an affair with someone younger. And Soraya’s sends her a pic of that special part of himself—meant for another woman. At a loss for what to do, they follow their intuition right into Lady’s Mantle Apothecary.

Kent, 1953. The Woolworths Erith store, a beloved cornerstone of the community, faces closure if the December turnover fails to increase. And, as if store manager Betty Billington doesn't have enough on her plate, personnel shortages and a troublesome new employee add to the strife. With...

A leisurely weekend among the British gentry reveals the cracks in their upper-class society in this "beautifully crafted" historical fiction novel set in pre-WWI England (Washington Post). It is the autumn of 1913. Sir Randolph Nettleby has assembled a brilliant array of guests at his...

Angel Sands is a traditional seaside resort of bed and breakfasts, cottages to let and teashops. And with the best views of the tiny beach and surrounding coastline is Paradise House, home to the Baxter girls - or the Sisters of Whimsy as they're known locally. With their mother taking time out...

Flann O'Brien's most popular and surrealistic novel concerns an imaginary, hellish village police force and a local murder. Weird, satirical, and very funny, its popularity has suddenly increased with the mention of the novel in the TV series Lost.

After a tragic accident claims the life of one of her children, Marie Egide is desperate to carve out a fresh start for her family. With her husband and their three surviving children, Marie travels to New Hampshire, where she plans to sell a family estate and then, just maybe, they’ll be able to heal from their grief. Marie’s plans are thwarted when she realizes a war veteran known by locals as “the river witch” is living in a cabin on the property, which she claims was a gift from Marie’s grandfather. If Davina refuses to move on, Marie won’t be able to either.

October 1940. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Bancroft is working as a typist for a city newspaper, but she longs to be breaking the news herself. When she successfully applies for a junior reporter role at The Tyke, a magazine serving the Yorkshire Dales, she's thrilled – even if she only gets the position because so many men are away fighting. Bobby moves to the sleepy village of Silverdale, but she quickly discovers life in the countryside is a different world.

When paramedic Bruce Pike is called out to deal with another teenage adventure gone wrong, he knows better than anyone what happened and how. Thirty years before, that dead boy could have been him. Bruce remembers what it was like to be a risk-taking kid, to feel that thrill and that fear.... Breath by Tim Winton is the story of Bruce and his best friend, Loonie, and the obsession that changed both of their lives. It is about the exhilaration of the sea and the waves, the treacherous addiction to risk, and the intoxicating power of forbidden love.

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again The Baby-Snatcher is the sixth and final mystery novel in the Inspector Ramsay series by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series. Marilyn Howe’s and her mother Kathleen are an...

Moving to the little village of Budbury, Zoe hopes the crisp Dorset sea breeze and gentle pace of life will be a fresh start for her and her goddaughter, Martha. Luckily for them both, the friendly community at the café provide listening ears, sage advice, shoulders to cry on and some truly excellent carrot cake. And when Martha's enigmatic, absent father suddenly turns up, confusing not only Martha but Zoe too, the love and support of their newfound friends is the best present they could ask for. Have Zoe and Martha truly found their home at the Comfort Food Café?

There once was a man who loved me, until he forgot every memory we’ve ever shared… Gabriel Sinclair would forever be my first. My first best friend, my first kiss, my first love…and my first heartbreak. The accident that nearly took his life ripped the memory of me from his grasp—and for...

Der große Bestseller aus Japan über das Leben einer Frau in den Vierzigern, die noch einmal ganz von vorn anfängt. Und so ihr großes Glück im Kleinen findet. Als Akikos Mutter unerwartet stirbt, ist sie gezwungen, ihr Leben zu überdenken. Als leitende Lektorin in einem glamourösen Verlag kündigt sie ihren Job und zieht zurück in ihre Heimatstadt. Dort hat sie sich vorgenommen, die beliebte Kneipe ihrer verstorbenen Mutter in ein schönes Café umzugestalten, das einfache und köstliche Speisen anbietet: eine tägliche Karte mit Sandwiches, Suppen, Salaten und kleinen Obstschalen.

Autumn arrives in the Cotswolds, and amateur writer and bookseller Sophie Sayers is looking forward to a cozy Halloween at the village bookshop. But the season takes a sour turn when the new vicar bans the festivities altogether. Instead, he demands a sinister Guy Fawkes bonfire, sparking local outrage. When a body is found at the bonfire site just before the fire is lit, the celebration turns dangerously hot.

A down-to-earth, free spirited architectural landscape photographer that has lost her muse who upon returning home, meets a man who is is going to stand in opposition to her in this enemies-to-lovers romance. Ava Hamilton is a down-to-earth, free spirit that broke down barriers between the haves...

Lessons in Chemistry meets The Scarlet Letter in this homage that reimagines Hester raising her daughter in 1950s small-town Iowa, defying the gossips who shun her and evading her estranged husband as her bespoke designs become the darlings of wealthy fashionistas in not-far-off Des Moines...

The Cherry Blossom Café, a new HQ Digital book, full description to follow when available...

Eine Prise Glück, ein Löffel Freude und jede Menge Liebe – so schmeckt das echte Leben. Und mit diesem Rezept gehen die Frauen des kleinen schwäbischen Dörfchens Maierhofen durch ein ereignisreiches Jahr. Wir begleiten Bürgermeisterin Therese, die schüchterne Cristine, die Marketingexpertin Greta sowie ihre Freundinnen Roswitha, Edy und Magdalena bei der Verwirklichung ihres Traums, aus Maierhofen ein Genießerdorf für die Sinne zu machen.

Kommissar Franz Joseph Bernrieder ist kein Kind von Traurigkeit. In Bad Tölz zu Hause, lässt er keine Gelegenheit aus, einheimischen Schönheiten und weiblichen Wellness-Urlauberinnen die Langeweile zu vertreiben. Doch die oberbayerische Idylle trügt. Eine tote Gräfin und eine verschwundene Marienstatue sorgen für Aufruhr und rufen den Kommissar auf den Plan. Bevor er aber so richtig in die Ermittlungen einsteigen kann, wird in einer Brandruine eine weitere Frauenleiche entdeckt.

A taut, propulsive family drama steeped in mystery, menace and a long-buried secret from award-winning author Kevin Hardcastle. It has been years since Mara O’Hare has come home to North Simcoe County. But she is forced to return after her father’s death. Arthur O’Hare—the meanest, most...