Zannah and Adrian are planning a May wedding. But before that they must endure the one thing that happens before all weddings - the meeting of the families. Will the gathering go smoothly? Will they like each other - the slightly bohemian Gratrixes from Cheshire and the wealthy Ashtons from the Home Counties? The meeting will take place on neutral territory, at a lunch party in the home of Zannah's great-aunt Charlotte in London. A mood of festivity and celebration prevails. Then Adrian's stepfather arrives and Zannah's mother turns frighteningly pale and hurries away from the party...
Rob Stone comes back from the horrors of the First World War with a ruined face and a broken heart. Lonely, unable to forget the things he has seen, and haunted by the ghost of his dead Captain, all that Rob has left is a picture of the Captain's family. Rob sets out to find them, hoping that by bringing them the picture, he can bring peace to the Captain's ghost - and to his own troubled heart.
Eva Conway has spent a lifetime hiding from a ghost in the mirror...
Eva was once a legendary fashion designer. Now widowed, she lives with her family in Salix House. Megan is a journalist working in London who interviewed Eva for a magazine. Torn apart by the brutal end of a love affair, Megan is drawn back to Salix House and Eva. Both are hiding something, but perhaps together they can confront their fears and discover the truth of Salix House's secrets.
Hester Fielding was once the leading ballerina of her day. Her life is the stuff of drama: a bleak Yorkshire childhood transformed by the discovery of her amazing gifts as a dancer; a dangerous love affair that can only lead to heartbreak; and a secret that would topple her from her pinnacle of fame if it ever came out. Now Hester has returned to Yorkshire, to Wychwood where, each year at Christmas, a ballet is performed on Twelfth Night in the little theatre there.This year, the brilliant young choreographer Hugo Carradine has been invited to direct the ballet Sarabande. Claudia Drake is Hugo's lover and the ballet's star - every inch a prima ballerina in style, but is she just a little past her best?
When Constance Barrington dies, she leaves behind a wealthy estate and a complex family network. But when the whole family gathers to hear her last will and testament, they are in for a terrible shock. Constance - possessed of a long memory and a spiteful disposition - altered her will shortly before her death. The new provisions are far from fair; some benefit hugely and others hardly at all. Constance's granddaughter, Louise, is bequeathed the copyright for her late grandfather's novels (barely remembered, long-since out of print and valuable only as a reminder of the man she loved). It is a paltry inheritance and one that comes to symbolise the inequity at the heart of the Barrington family. Soon, old family feuds and long-hidden resentments come to the surface - and with them, secrets start to emerge. But it is through Louise's inheritance - those dusty, long-forgotten books - that the most explosive secret of all will come to light, bringing with it a very different future for her and the rest of the family.
The siege of Troy has lasted almost ten years. Inside the walled city, food is becoming scarce and the death toll is rising. From the heights of Mount Olympus, the gods keep watch.
But Aphrodite, goddess of love, is bored with the endless, dreary war, and so she turns her attention to two sisters: Marpessa, who is gifted with god-sight and serves as handmaiden to Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world; and Xanthe, who is kind and loving and tends the wounded soldiers in the Blood Room. When Eros fits an arrow to his silver-lit bow and lets it fly, neither sister will escape its power.
With vitality and grace, Adèle Geras breathes personality, heartbreak and humor into this classic story, told through the eyes of the women of Troy.
