Search Results for: the river home

‘Heart-rending’ CLARE MACKINTOSH

‘Utterly gripping’ VERONICA HENRY

‘Beautiful and gripping’ LIBBY PAGE

‘There’s something I need to tell you.’

Eight years ago, Margot Sorrell left the crumbling family home in the Somerset countryside under a dark cloud, hoping never to return. And until she tells her two sisters why she ran away, they refuse to forgive her…

But with her sisters’ perfect lives starting to unravel, Margot knows she must go back. The river by her home has kept her secret all this time – as well as the memories of the terrible night that tore her family apart.

As the past threatens to surface, will the truth destroy the Sorrell family – or bring them back together?

Don’t miss this heartrending and utterly gripping book club read from Richard & Judy recommended author Hannah Richell!

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More praise for THE RIVER HOME:

‘An unforgettable read’ Bella
‘Beautifully written and a real tearjerker’ Woman’s Way

Confluence – a long, narrow man-made world, half fertile river valley, half crater-strewn desert. It is a world at the end of its time, a place of savagery, bureaucracy and war, inhabited by countless flying micro-machines and ten thousand bloodlines ruled by devotion to absent gods.

It is the home of a singular young man named Yama. An infant who was discovered in a bier on the river, he was raised by the prelate of Aeolis until it was learned that his ancestry was unique. Yama appeared to be the last remaining scion of the Builders, closest of all races to the worshipped architects of Confluence.

Now, awed and fearful of his increasing ability to awaken the machines the Builders left behind, Yama searches for his identity and a history that is both his and his world’s.

When the rains came they found the girl’s face. Just her face. At least that was how it appeared…
From the Richard & Judy Book Club-selected author of A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS.

On a summer evening in 1954, 16-year-old Nancy Denton walked into the woods of her hometown of Whytesburg, Mississippi. She was never seen again.

Two decades on, Sheriff John Gaines witnesses a harrowing discovery. A body has been unearthed from the riverbank, perfectly preserved, yet bearing evidence of a brutal ritualistic killing. Nancy has come home at last.

Already haunted by his experiences in Vietnam, Gaines must now find out what really happened to the beautiful and vivacious Nancy. As he closes in on the truth, Gaines is forced to not only confront his own demons, but to unearth secrets that have long remained hidden. And that truth, so much darker than he could ever have imagined, may be the one thing that finally destroys him.

Book 4 in the Rivers of London series, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch.

A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one Robert Weil – an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man? Or just a common garden serial killer?

Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the case, a town planner going under a tube train and a stolen grimoire are adding to his case-load. So far so London.

But then Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, on an housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans and inhabited by the truly desperate. Is there a connection? And if there is, why oh why did it have to be south of the River?

Praise for the Rivers of London novels:

‘Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there more than the real London’
NICK FROST

‘As brilliant and funny as ever’
THE SUN

‘Charming, witty, exciting’
THE INDEPENDENT

‘An incredibly fast-moving magical joyride for grown-ups’
THE TIMES

Discover why this incredible series has sold over two million copies around the world. If you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams – don’t panic – you will love Ben Aaronovitch’s imaginative, irreverent and all-round irresistible novels.

‘As uplifting as summer sunshine’ Sarah Morgan

Sunshine, cider and family secrets…

Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors – arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live on the other side of the river. Life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making, and everyone falls under its spell.

For cousins Tabitha and Georgia, it has always been a home from home. When a tragedy befalls their beloved Great-Uncle Matthew, it seems the place where they’ve always belonged might now belong to them…

But the will reveals that a third of the farm has also been left to a Culbone. Gabriel has no idea why he’s been included, or what his connection to the farm – or the Melchiors – can be.

As the first apples start to fall for the cider harvest, will Dragonfly Farm begin to give up its secrets?

A Home from Home is the very best of Veronica Henry’s storytelling – gorgeous scenes you wish you could step into, a cast of characters who feel like friends, and an irresistibly feel-good family drama crossing three generations.

Discover Veronica Henry – your favourite authors’ favourite author:

‘Wise, insightful, beautifully written. A delicious treat of a book’ Milly Johnson

‘An utter delight’ Jill Mansell

‘Truly blissful escapism’ Lucy Diamond

‘A heart-warming, triumphant story combined with Veronica’s sublime writing – the perfect mix!’ Cathy Bramley

‘Veronica Henry has such a deft hand with families and their complications’ Katie Fforde

A nail-biting, tough-talking classic western from the author of GET SHORTY and JACKIE BROWN.

In LAST STAND AT SABER RIVER, a Civil War veteran returns home to find a Yankee’s private army living on his land, while another enemy waits to strike…

Paul Cable has fought – and lost – for the Confederacy but when he returns home he finds that his own war is far from over. The Union Army and two brothers – and a beautiful woman – have taken over Cable’s spread and are refusing to give it back. But Cable is determined that no one is going to take his future away – not with words, not with treachery, and not with guns.

Stunning collection of short stories from the prize-winning author of DANCER

An ageing nun is tracked to ground by her sister; a garrulous beautician must lay out the corpse of a loved one. These are eloquent tales of exile and displacement, of characters always in search of a way back home or of a way to leave it. Mischievous, assured and versatile, Colum McCann’s collection of short stories marks him out as one of our best contemporary writers.

Escape with three irresistibly feel-good Veronica Henry titles in one ebook boxset!

‘An utter delight’ Jill Mansell

The Forever House

‘A delight from start to finish’ Jill Mansell

Hunter’s Moon is the ultimate ‘forever’ house. Nestled by a river in the Peasebrook valley, it has been the Willoughbys’ home for over fifty years, and now estate agent Belinda Baxter is determined to find the perfect family to live there. But the sale of the house unlocks decades of family secrets – and brings Belinda face to face with her own troubled past. . .

A Family Recipe

What’s the secret ingredient to your happiness?

Laura Griffin is preparing for an empty nest. The thought of Number 11 Lark Hill falling silent – a home usually bustling with noise, people and the fragrant smells of something cooking on the Aga – seems impossible.

Feeling lost, Laura turns to her greatest comfort: her grandmother’s recipe box, a treasured collection dating back to the Second World War. Inspired by a bit of the old Blitz spirit, Laura finds a new sense of purpose and her own exciting path to follow.

But even the bravest woman needs the people who love her. And now, they need her in return…

A Home from Home

Sunshine, cider and family secrets…

Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors – arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live on the other side of the river. Life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making, and everyone falls under its spell.

For cousins Tabitha and Georgia, it has always been a home from home. When a tragedy befalls their beloved Great-Uncle Matthew, it seems the place where they’ve always belonged might now belong to them…

But the will reveals that a third of the farm has also been left to a Culbone. Gabriel has no idea why he’s been included, or what his connection to the farm – or the Melchiors – can be.

As the first apples start to fall for the cider harvest, will Dragonfly Farm begin to give up its secrets?

Return to the world of Rivers of London in this first short story collection from #1 Sunday Times bestselling author, Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly is a carefully curated collection that gathers together previously published stories and brand new tales in the same place for the first time.

Each tale features a new introduction from the author, filled with insight and anecdote offering the reader a deeper exploration into this absorbing fictional world. This is a must read for any Rivers of London fan.

Join Peter, Nightingale, Abigail, Agent Reynolds and Tobias Winter for a series of perfectly portioned tales. Discover what’s haunting a lonely motorway service station, who still wanders the shelves of a popular London bookshop, and what exactly happened to the River Lugg…

With an introduction from internationally bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Charlaine Harris.

This collection includes:
The Home Crowd Advantage
The Domestic
The Cockpit
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny
King of The Rats
A Rare Book of Cunning Device
A Dedicated Follower of Fashion
Favourite Uncle
Vanessa Sommer’s Other Christmas List
Three Rivers, Two Husbands and a Baby
Moments One, Two and Three

A captivating story about friendship, making changes, and learning to live life to the fullest from SUNDAY TIMES bestseller Erica James

A cherished home, a circle of friends and a summer that will change everything…

Linston End has been the summer holiday home for three families for many years. A rambling thatched house nestled on the water’s edge on the Norfolk Broads, it’s a haven of long, lazy picnics on the river, gin and tonics in the garden; a place to spend time together.

But this year, the friends are rocked by unexpected news, and it seems that Linston End will never be the same again. For some, this summer feels like the end. For others, it might just be the beginning. . .

‘Joyously readable’ Woman & Home

‘I wanted it to go on forever’ Cathy Bramley

Confluence – a long, narrow, artificial world, half fertile river valley, half crater-strewn desert. A world beyond the end of human history, served by countless machines, inhabited by 10,000 bloodlines who worship their absent creators, riven by a vast war against heretics.

This is the home of Yama, found as an infant in a white boat on the world’s Great River, raised by an obscure bureaucrat in an obscure town in the middle of a ruined necropolis, destined to become a clerk – until the discovery of his singular ancestry. For Yama appears to be the last remaining scion of the Builders, closest of all races to the revered architects of Confluence, able to awaken and control the secret machineries of the world.

Pursued by enemies who want to make use of his powers, Yama voyages down the length of the world to search for answers to the mysteries of his origin, and to discover if he is to be the saviour of his world, or its nemesis.

In the royal palace of conquered Luscany, Princess Nette chafes at the bonds that confine her to a life of empty ceremony. Meanwhile, in a less salubrious quarter, Serin Guille’s father scents success in his search for the secret of immortality. Then a gypsy blade flashes at the ice fair. An imperial emissary lies bleeding by the frozen river, and the uneasy peace is shattered.

The Eschalan overlords will not rest until they have revenge. Serin saw it happen, saw the blow fall. Now she can never go home . . .

THE HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED BRAND NEW NOVEL IN THE #1 BESTSELLING RIVERS OF LONDON SERIES

There is a world hidden underneath this great city…

The London Silver Vaults – for well over a century, the largest collection of silver for sale in the world. It has more locks than the Bank of England and more cameras than a celebrity punch-up. Not somewhere you can murder someone and vanish without a trace – only that’s what happened.

The disappearing act, the reports of a blinding flash of light and memory loss amongst the witnesses all make this a case for Detective Constable Peter Grant and the Special Assessment Unit.

Alongside their boss DCI Thomas Nightingale, the SAU find themselves embroiled in a mystery that encompasses London’s tangled history, foreign lands and, most terrifying of all, the North!

And Peter must solve this case soon because back home his partner Beverley is expecting twins any day now. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to encounter something – and somebody – that nobody ever expects…

Effortlessly original, endlessly inventive and hugely entertaining – step into the world of the much-loved, Number One bestselling Rivers of London series.

PRAISE FOR BEN AARONOVITCH & THE RIVERS OF LONDON SERIES:

‘Highly entertaining’
SUNDAY EXPRESS

‘Charming, witty, exciting’
THE INDEPENDENT

‘Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there more than the real London’
NICK FROST

‘As brilliant and funny as ever … Masterfully crafted – gives the late, great Terry Pratchett a run for his money’
THE SUN

‘An incredibly fast-moving magical joyride for grown-ups’
THE TIMES

‘Funny and wildly inventive’
MAIL ON SUNDAY

Discover why this incredible series has sold over two million copies worldwide. If you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett, you will love the imaginative, irreverent and all-round irresistible RIVERS OF LONDON books.

Resurrected on the lush, mysterious banks of Riverworld, along with the rest of humanity, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) has a dream: to build a riverboat that will rival the most magnificent paddle-wheelers ever navigated on the mighty Mississippi. Then, to steer it up the endless waterway that dominates his new home planet – and at last discover its hidden source.

But before he can carry out his plan, he first must undertake a dangerous voyage to unearth a fallen meteor. This mission would require striking an uneasy alliance with the bloodthirsty Viking Erik Bloodaxe, treacherous King John of England, legendary French swordsman Cyrano de Bergerac, Greek adventurer Odysseus, and the infamous Nazi Hermann Göring. All for the purpose of storming the ominous stone tower at the mouth of the river, where the all-powerful overseers of Riverworld – and their secrets – lie in wait . . .

The new Rivers of London novella, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch.

Ghost hunter, fox whisperer, troublemaker.

It is the summer of 2013 and Abigail Kamara has been left to her own devices. This might, by those who know her, be considered a mistake. While her cousin, police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, is off in the sticks, chasing unicorns, Abigail is chasing her own mystery. Teenagers around Hampstead Heath have been going missing but before the police can get fully engaged, the teens return home – unharmed but vague about where they’ve been.

Aided only by her new friend Simon, her knowledge that magic is real, and a posse of talking foxes that think they’re spies, Abigail must venture into the wilds of Hampstead to discover who is luring the teenagers and more importantly – why?

Praise for the Rivers of London novels:

‘Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there more than the real London’
NICK FROST

‘As brilliant and funny as ever’
THE SUN

‘Charming, witty, exciting’
THE INDEPENDENT

‘An incredibly fast-moving magical joyride for grown-ups’
THE TIMES

Discover why this incredible series has sold over two million copies around the world. If you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams – don’t panic – you will love Ben Aaronovitch’s imaginative, irreverent and all-round irresistible novels and novellas.

‘Mason Cross is a fast-paced, high octane thriller writer.’ Simon Kernick

THEN

Fifteen years ago, an unidentified killer terrorised northern Georgia, killing hikers with two shots from a pistol, before disposing of the bodies along the remote trails and in the rivers in the vicinity of Blood Mountain.

The killer was never brought to justice.

NOW

Carter Blake has returned home for the first time in many years. The visit stirs old memories, including a girl from school who vanished without a trace.

Blake runs into the mother of the girl, who mentions a case she’s come across in Georgia, where someone is convinced their relative is still alive, fifteen years on.

Adeline Connor was the Blood Mountain Killer’s last suspected victim. She vanished without a trace.

So why is her brother so convinced she’s still alive?

‘One of the best new series characters since Jack Reacher’ Lisa Gardner

Escape to beautiful Provence with One Night at the Chateau, the new dazzlingly romantic new novel, from Sunday Times bestselling author Veronica Henry – available to pre-order now!

The house of your dreams.
But can this dream last forever?

Hunter’s Moon is the ultimate ‘forever’ house. Nestled by a river in the Peasebrook valley, it has been the Willoughbys’ home for over fifty years, and now estate agent Belinda Baxter is determined to find the perfect family to live there. But the sale of the house unlocks decades of family secrets – and brings Belinda face to face with her own troubled past. . .

Your favourite authors love Veronica Henry:

‘Magical, romantic, fantastique’ MILLY JOHNSON

‘Summer, secrets, an impossible love story. I absolutely adored it!’ CATHY BRAMLEY

‘Captivating and romantic’ HEIDI SWAIN

‘A wonderful treat of a read!’ SUE MOORCROFT

‘A story filled with so much heart. Simply gorgeous!’ LIZ FENWICK

‘Warm, wise, and completely wonderful’ ALEX BROWN

A thousand miles east of Mirgorod, the great capital city of the Vlast, deep in the ancient forest, lies the most recent fallen angel, its vast stone form half-buried and fused into the rock by the violence of impact. As its dark energy leeches into the crash site, so a circle of death expands around it, slowly – inexorably – killing everything it touches. Alone in the wilderness, it reaches out with its mind.

The endless forest and its antique folk lore are no concern to Inspector Vissarion Lom, summoned to the capital in order to catch a terrorist – and ordered to report directly to the head of the secret police. A totalitarian state, worn down by an endless war, must be seen to crush home-grown terrorism with an iron fist. But Lom discovers Mirgorod to be more corrupted than he imagined: a murky world of secret police and revolutionaries, cabaret clubs and doomed artists. Lom has been chosen because he is an outsider, not involved in the struggle for power within the party. And because of the sliver of angel stone implanted in his head at the children’s home.

Lom’s investigation reveals a conspiracy that extends to the top echelons of the party. When he exposes who – or rather what – is the controlling intelligence behind this, it is time for the detective to change sides. Pursued by rogue police agents and their man-crushing mudjhik, Lom must protect Kantor’s step-daughter Maroussia, who has discovered what is hidden beneath police headquarters: a secret so ancient that only the forest remembers. As they try to escape the capital and flee down river, elemental forces are gathering. The earth itself is on the move.

Shon knew that the Taken must die. Death had touched them, and the evil spirits which issued from Death’s Place to the east beyond the valley Took away the souls of the living. It was the law of Shon’s people, who seldom ventured far from their simple huthouses in Pine Walk, except to hunt boar in the forest. And even the forest was not completely safe, for across the river at its eastern edge lay Crow Mork, Death’s Place, and in the stories Crow himself, who was Death, rode there with Crow’s People, Death’s children, on strange four-legged beasts shod with white metal and swift as the wind.

Lost in the dark forest, Shon encountered Death’s Children. ‘Don’t go home,’ the dead girl told him – he was almost sure it was a girl, though her face was a black void in the night. But there was nowhere else to go. They would kill him, of course; being Taken, they would have to.

Yet Shon escaped that death – though he was to meet Death in Death’s Place, and learn the extraordinary truth about it.

‘Her worlds have a magic sheen … She is unique. She is legend’ THE TIMES

‘Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power’ OBSERVER

Among the less-travelled mountains and plains of Central Europe, a little east of Austria perhaps and north of Slovenia, lies the old kingdom of Orsinia. A land of forests and quiet farmlands and towns, with its capital city Krasnoy on the broad Molsen River, Orsinia has always found itself, like all the countries of Europe, subject to forces beyond its borders.

Val Malafrena is an estate in the rural western provinces of Orsinia, far removed from the engines of European politics and content for it to remain so. When Itale Sorde, the idealistic young heir to Val Malafrena, leaves his family home to venture to the bustling capital city of Krasnoy, it is therefore very much against his father’s wishes. Sorde’s intention is to work as a journalist, but he will soon find himself moving from reporter on the great events of the day to active participant in the rising tide of revolution that seems destined to sweep the continent.

‘A modern take on the Odyssey in which it is Penelope who wanders far from home before returning to her Odysseus’ Sunday Telegraph

Kate has always been a wanderer. A well-published author, married several times, she has lived a life full of exploration. Now, as she begins to feel the first ravages of age, she wants to find a new sense of meaning. She leaves her lover Yolo on a journey down the Colorado river – a journey that will force her to re-explore her past and her future, and her connection to the real world. On her travels she meets shamans and the mysterious spiritual world of the native Indian.

Yolo too begins his own journey as he travels to Hawaii and meets a former lover whose life is being destroyed by the excesses of American society. As Kate and Yolo gain shifting insights into the world around them, will their paths diverge or lead back to each other? This is a novel very much in tune with the zeitgeist – Alice Walker argues that we need to look inwards and develop a more open attitude in order to combat the pervasive climate of fear and distrust.

Budapest has always been an important place. Almost at the centre of Europe, it is at the crossroads of geographical regions and of civilizations, at the intersection of ancient trade routes. Mountains that gradually slope into gentle hills converge on a great river, the Danube, and the regions of Buda and Pest sprang up on either side.

Throughout history the centre of gravity in Budapest and among Hungarians has shifted between this division of East and West – culturally, politically, emotionally. Invaders have come and gone, empires have conquered, occupied for centuries or decades, and left a few footprints behind: the remains of a Roman bath house complete with wonderfully preserved mosaics stand next to a Soviet-style ‘five-year-plan’ apartment block. The city bears the scars of the rise and fall of multiple empires, two world wars, fascism, Nazi German occupation, Soviet Communism. It has been home to some of the world’s greatest writers, artists and musicians. Hungary is a place of extremes, a small country that has often in history punched well above its weight. At many moments, events that began in Budapest have proved to be of world significance. This is the story of that tumultuous, often divided, but always fascinating city.

“If you run round the church seven times in an anti-clockwise direction, you’ll wake the Seven Sleepers. Then, if you look through the keyhole of the church door, you’ll see the Devil walking up the aisle towards you…”

When David Wisher’s mother inherits a house in the peaceful Yorkshire village of Longbarrow, David feels he is coming home. For he’s seen the house in his dreams. And when he eventually arrives in Longbarrow, he finds a place touched by the stories and beliefs of the past. There’s old Jonas Dyer, whose mystical visions have driven him to the verge of madness; Mr Toot, who uses magic to cure all ills; the little men, too small to be human, who are said to come out of the river; and Black Shuck, a ghostly dog with glowing eyes, whose appearance heralds approaching death. Most extraordinary of all, there’s the legend of the Seven Sleepers, defeated in an ancient battle and trapped throughout the centuries, their evil powers dormant.

Redcap, Uther, Vinegar Tom, Gerennius, Shuck, Pyewackett and Cullen. Together they spread terror, pestilence and destruction. And now, because of David’s unwitting actions, they are stirring once more…

DON’T MISS THE STUNNING AND ROMANTIC NEW NOVEL FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR VERONICA HENRY – ORDER THE SECRET BEACH NOW!

*Shortlisted for the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year 2016*

Pennfleet might be a small town, but there’s never a dull moment in its narrow winding streets …

Kate has only planned a flying visit to clear out the family home after the death of her mother. When she finds an anonymous letter, she is drawn back into her own past.

Single dad Sam is juggling his deli and two lively teenagers, so romance is the last thing on his mind. Then Cupid fires an unexpected arrow – but what will his children think?

Nathan Fisher is happy with his lot, running picnic cruises up and down the river, but kissing the widow of the richest man in Pennfleet has disastrous consequences.

Vanessa knows what she has done is unseemly for a widow, but it’s the most fun she’s had for years. Must she always be on her best behaviour?

As autumn draws in and the nights grow longer, there are sure to be fireworks in this gloriously engaging novel from Veronica Henry, author of A Night on the Orient Express.