Alan Titchmarsh's sparkling new novel is a delicious blend of humour and romance, and a resounding affirmation that there is no such thing as the generation gap. The voice on the other end of the phone was severe. "It's your grandmother." "Yes?" "She's been arrested." Nick Robertson has become used to his grandmother Rosie's dotty behaviour. At 86, a widow now, she is determined that before life passes her by, she will live a little. Or preferably a lot. It wouldn't be so bad if Nick had nothing else to do, but with a job to find, two warring parents to cope with and a love life in terminal decline, he would prefer his grandmother to get on with things quietly. But, Rosie insists, there is no time like the present...
Rupert Lavery is a well-known conservationist. When he dies, his son kit returns from ten years in Australia to inherit a nature reserve in the heart of the British countryside. Kit finds the nature reserve and the two determined women who staff it are more trouble than they are worth. Elizabeth Punch is single, middle-aged, and on a mission to save wildlife from inconsiderate mankind. Jess Wetherby has died orange hair, a nose stud, and aspirations to be a hunt saboteur. But when he meets Jinty O'hare- the beautiful niece of the local Master of Foxhounds, he soon discovers, that there is more charm to the Devonshire coast than he first realised.
Tom and Pippa Drummond have the perfect life. Tom is a partner in the successful restaurant 'The Pelican', Pippa grows and sells herbs whilst bringing up their lively daughter Tally. As they arrive in Tuscany on a much needed family holiday, it seems life couldn't be better. But overnight their whole world is turned upside down and life will never be the same again. From being the perfect family and the envy of all their friends, they are thrust into a world that nobody would wish upon them. Only Dad bears all the Titchmarsh trademarks. A deliriously entertaining blend of humour and romance with a piquancy of sexiness!
Tragedy struck early in Will's life. Willingly haunted by ghosts of the past and content with his own company, he's an ideal lighthouse keeper. Yet as automated beacons replace men, Will's job on the rugged Cornish coast finally goes.
Although sad at the change, Will can now fulfill his dream - to sail solo around the British coast. It's a simple idea, but complications arise. Firstly there's Amy, who escaped her past to be an artist. When it catches up with her, her lonely plight arouses Will's sympathy, despite his desire to set sail. Then he stumbles upon a ruthless smuggling operation. Someone he knows is heavily involved, but has gone to great difficulty to mask his identity...
Noch nie hat Mr. Gandy jemandem etwas von seinem größten Wunsch erzählt. Nun, unerwartet verwitwet und die Kinder aus dem Haus, macht er seinen Traum endlich wahr: Mr. Gandy geht auf Reisen. Von Südengland nach Paris, weiter über Monaco nach Italien. Das ist der Plan. Doch dann kommt ihm das Leben in Gestalt der schönen Französin Francine in die Quere. Von Herzklopfen stand aber nichts im Reiseführer.
An anthology and miscellany of everything an Englishman should know:
- From Austen to Wordsworth
- Jerusalem to the Scout's Honour
- Kings and Queens of England to Land of Hope and Glory
- Savile Row tailors to Jermyn St Shirt Makers
- Tying a Windsor knot to making a pot of tea
- Victoria sponge to fish pie
- The rules of cricket to Gilbert and Sullivan operas
Will Elliott is out of a job. The lighthouse he's been manning on Prince Albert Rock, off the wild Cornish coast, is about to become automated. So Will decides to fulfil his lifelong ambition - to sail round the coastline of Britain. Determined to continue his solitary existence, Will begins his preparations for his epic voyage. But before he has time to so much as paint his hull, he meets Amy Finn - a beautiful artist and fellow loner. And as if that isn't distraction enough, suddenly his sleepy Cornish village is rocked by the biggest scandal to hit Cornwall since Guenevere ran off with Launcelot. It seems as if Will will never get away, and even if he does will his journey be solo or is there hope that he and Amy could be embarking on a two-man voyage of discovery?
According to their friends, Tom and Pippa Drummond have the perfect existence - a great lifestyle, a lively marriage, and a great kid in Tally. In their late thirties, living in a converted barn on the edge of the Sussex Downs, Tom is a partner in 'The Pelican', a restaurant in Axbury Minster, and Pippa, after a short career as a cook, grows herbs for sale locally and brings up sixteen-year-old Tally - a lively blonde with her head screwed firmly on to her shoulders. A rare summer holiday is planned - an idyllic retreat in the Italian hills. Tom takes time off from the restaurant, Pippa leaves her herbs in the charge of a dotty neighbour, and Tally takes a break from the two men in her life - fast-living Alex and the plodding, persevering 'Blip'. Tuscany is everything they hoped it would be - cicadas in the trees, the scent of sage and citrus and suppers under the stars. But their joy is short lived. Overnight their lives, their circumstances, their very identities are suddenly altered, and life will never be the same again. From being the envy of their friends, the Drummonds are plunged into a world that nobody would wish upon them.
It's not easy being a doctor. Ask any GP. The profession may have a glamorous image, but there is little real glamour in haemorrhoids and hernias, athlete's foot and dermatitis. So when retirement looms for Christopher Devon, he is only too happy to shake off the aroma of antiseptic and look forward to a new life. More time to travel, more time for his orchids, and time, perhaps, to meet a new woman. But how to find one? There is no shortage of female patients fluttering their eyelashes (and even the odd male), but what Dr Devon wants is a soulmate as much as a bedmate. Perhaps the internet can help? He seeks and he finds - sometimes with disastrous consequences. But, eventually, love comes to Dr Devon. And then his troubles begin. His former wife has problems of her own, soon to be visited on her ex, and his two grown-up children do not take kindly to the changes in their own circumstances that will be the likely outcome of Dr Devon's dalliances. One gold digger is all that a daughter with a large family and a gay son with a high standard of living need to sever them from their inheritance at 'Bedside Manor'. And passion in retirement? Oh please! Will Dr Devon find true love and live happily ever after? Or will the bitter pill of reality prove a fly in the ointment of his dreams?
It's not easy being a doctor, especially when your wife has run off in search of excitement and you're given the push from your practice for sticking up for your principles. Christopher Devon tries to make a new life and, after a bit of persuasion from his daughter, to meet a new woman. But how to find one? And how to placate a son who thinks you should never have split up in the first place? Dr Devon is not the only man with woman trouble. Tiger Wilson has been married just a little too comfortably for thirty years, and Gary Flynn is a serial womaniser who refuses to settle down. But during one month in spring they are all about to have their lives turned upside down, and not just by women...
