When God was a Rabbit

Beth Lowe has been sent a parcel. Inside is a letter informing her that her long-estranged mother has died, and a scrapbook Beth has never seen before. Entitled The Book of Summers, it's stuffed with photographs and mementos complied by her mother to record the seven glorious childhood summers Beth spent in rural Hungary. It was a time when she trod the tightrope between separated parents and two very different countries; her bewitching but imperfect Hungarian mother and her gentle, reticent English father; the dazzling house of a Hungarian artist and an empty-feeling cottage in deepest Devon. And it was a time that came to the most brutal of ends the year Beth turned sixteen.Since then, Beth hasn't allowed herself to think about those years of her childhood. But the arrival of The Book of Summers brings the past tumbling back into the present; as vivid, painful and vital as ever.

Auberon, the brilliant but troubled Director of the Museum of British History (known as BRIT) is preparing one Midsummer's Day for the opening of the most spectacular exhibition the Museum has ever staged.  The centrepiece of the exhibition is Gainsborough's portrait of the beautiful but intriguing Lady St John; not shown in London for a hundred years, the painting shows its subject strikingly attired as Puck.  As the day passes the portrait arouses in the minds of the museum staff disquieting questions, rivalries, and strangely deep affections.  Tension mounts: will the gala dinner be a success? Can the Museum's Chairman be kept under control?  And just what is it that's so peculiar about the portrait?

In Duluth, Minnesota, a young woman, Rachel Stoner, has gone missing. Cop Jonathan Stride, a sharply focused detective despite the stresses of his troubled personal life, is quick to suspect her stepfather of murder. And yet, he has his doubts. Even for a man accustomed to power, the accused seems remarkably convinced he'll go free. Could he be telling the truth? While Stride endeavours to make sense of the conflicting pieces of evidence, a young woman's body lies half-buried deep in the woods. But if it's not the body of Rachel, where is the missing girl? Is she dead, or is the terrible, unexpected fate that awaits Graeme Stoner one he does not deserve? In this dark, involving mystery, nothing is as it seems, and readers will be gripped to the very last page as the shocking truth gradually emerges.

My story begins where most women hope theirs will end - with a big, white wedding. After all, isn't that how every good fairy tale finishes?I thought so. And at 23, in love and engaged, it seemed my 'happy ever after' was secure...That is until the man of my dreams died three weeks into our marriage. Look at me now: a 23 year old widow. You'd never guess. I've learnt to hide it well.Because the way I saw it, there were only two options...A) Dress in black, become a recluse and watch my wedding video on a loop?ORB) Decide falling in love again is out of the question and choose an easy, uncomplicated alternative - sex...Funny, powerful, and painfully honest, WIFE, INTERRUPTED examines the complicated process of grieving - and proves that sometimes the most unthinkable things can be the most comforting. 

The Wayland family - Lara and Marcus and their three children - leave England to spend a long, hot summer in Trout Island, Upstate New York. Lara, still reeling from an abortion that Marcus insisted on, hopes the summer away from home will give her time to learn to love her husband again. A chance meeting at a party reacquaints the family with Marcus's old actor friend, Stephen, with whom Lara once had an affair. Lara feels herself drawn towards Stephen and they pick up their secret relationship where they left off. Lara knows she's playing a dangerous game; what she doesn't know is that it's also a deadly one.

Life slows down alarmingly from the moment Ruby Grant and Oliver move into Troy Cottage. Free at last from her two grown-up yet persistently dependent children, Ruby plans to start writing her novel - until her daughter, Poppy, turns up with boyfriend and dog in tow, announces she's pregnant and moves into Ruby's office. Then Josh needs somewhere to do his washing, and her father wants to stay... Despite this, Ruby finds village life surprisingly seductive, especially when she meets Hamish, the handsome journalist who is eager to help with her investigations for the parish magazine. There's surely no harm in a little crush - but can Ruby avoid the hazards of country loving?