Mum always knows best... The stunning debut for fans of Celia Imrie and Dawn French.
Meet the daughters of Iris Parker. Dee; sensitive and big-hearted; Rose uptight and controlled and Fleur the reckless free spirit.
At the reading of their mother's will, the three estranged women are aghast to discover that their inheritance comes with very tricky strings attached. If they are to inherit her wealth, they must spend a series of weekends together over the course of a year and carry out their mother's 'bucket list'.
But one year doesn't seem like nearly enough time for them to move past the decades-old layers of squabbles and misunderstandings. Can they grow up for once and see that Iris's bucket list was about so much more than money...
The first novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk about Kevin is a compelling and provocative story of love and how we suffer for it.
Still unattached and childless at fifty-nine, world-renowned anthropologist Gray Kaiser is seemingly invincible-and untouchable. Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, she is accompanied by her faithful middle-aged assistant, Errol McEchern, who has loved her for years in silence.
When young graduate assistant Raphael Sarasola arrives on the scene, Gray is captivated and falls hopelessly in love-before an amazed Errol's eyes. As he follows their affair with jealous fascination, Errol watches helplessly from the sidelines as a proud and fierce woman is reduced to miserable dependence through miserable dependence.
Hester and Harriet lead comfortable lives in a pretty cottage in an English village. Having opened their minds, home and hearts to Daria, a mysterious migrant, and her baby son Milo, the widowed sisters decide to further expand their own horizons by venturing forth to Italy for their annual holiday. With a huge secret hanging between the sisters, an unlikely new love on the landscape for Hester and new beginnings also beckoning for Harriet, Italy provides more opportunities for adventure than either of them could ever have imagined.
When an act of murder throws the western provinces into turmoil, Aurelius Castus is ordered to take command of the military forces on the Rhine. But he soon discovers that the frontier is a place where the boundaries between civilisation and barbarism have little meaning. At the very heart of the conflict are two boys. One is Emperor Constantine's young heir, Crispus. The other is Castus' own beloved son, Sabinus. Only Castus stands between them and men who would kill them.
Six more episodes of BBC Radio 4's multi-award-winning sketch show, written by and starring John Finnemore.
'The best sketch show in years, on television or radio' Radio Times.
John Finnemore, writer and star of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore's Double Acts, returns for a sixth series of his hugely acclaimed Souvenir Programme, which won him Radio Broadcaster of the Year at the 2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.
Expect sketches! Expect songs! They're what made up the previous five series, so it seems a pretty safe bet that that's what will be in this series as well. And, well, since you ask him for some tall tales... Kicking off with a seasonal special, this series takes in TV adverts, woodland talent contests, a song about the best day of the Christmas season and what is almost certainly the greatest story a Finnemore has ever told.
Described by The Daily Telegraph as 'funny enough to make even the surliest cat laugh', John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme also features Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin, Carrie Quinlan and, at the piano, Susannah Pearse. Duration: 2 hours 50 mins approx.
Robert FitzStephen is a warrior down on his luck. Arrogant, cold, but a brilliant soldier, FitzStephen commands a castle despite his checkered lineage. When a Welsh rebellion brings defeat and a crippling siege, FitzStephen's highborn comrades scorn him, betraying him to the enemy. A hostage of his cousin, Prince Rhys, FitzStephen is disgraced and seemingly doomed to a life of obscurity and shame. Then King Diarmait arrives, the ambitious overlord of an Irish kingdom. Forced to flee by the High King of Ireland, he seeks to reclaim his lands by any means possible, including inviting the Normans. With nothing left to lose, FitzStephen agrees to lead the Irishman's armies and drive Diarmait's enemies from his kingdom. His price? Acceptance...or perhaps a kingdom of his own?
Tom fell in love with Alice the moment he saw her. He realises that being with her will not be easy, but she is a force of nature, a burst of sunlight in his otherwise ordinary world.
Some people might look at Alice and think she has everything, but Alice knows she is not like other women. Her life is complicated, unpredictable, difficult. Alice does not like pity. All she wants to do, has ever wanted to do, is sing.
Alice has been told not to follow her dreams. So has Tom. But when fate has already dealt a tough hand, it's time to stop listening to everyone else and only follow their hearts.
When the honeymoon is over, real life begins...
Newly married Debbie is at her wits' end about her and Bryan's mounting debts, but there's no way he's going to stop living the high life and become a stay-at-home husband. Meanwhile, Debbie's dad has just found out his workaholic second wife, Aimee, is pregnant. He couldn't be happier, but she's horrified. Is their marriage going to last?
Debbie's mum, Connie, has met a gorgeous new man and is all set to make a life of her own. But her family need her more than ever to sort out all their problems. Will she put her family first, as always, or can she walk away and finally make a fresh start?
Will anyone be happy ever after?
When love flies out the window married life can be hell...
With an unplanned baby on the way, a newly-wed daughter whose marriage is already in trouble, a teenager who won't eat and doesn't think there's anything wrong with her, andhiding secrets from each other, Barry and Aimee are on a rocky road.
When love flies in the window ex-wives can cause a lotof trouble.
And Marianna is going to cause as much trouble as she possibly can to make sure that her former husband is not going to waltz down the aisle with his new love.
Families in crisis, passion, tragedy, and the healing powers of love - Patricia Scanlan's brilliant and heartwarming new novel re-introduces us to the characters in Forgive and Forget and Happy Ever After,and brings their story to a triumphant conclusion.
In a beautiful southern Spanish town, where the sea sparkles and orange blossoms scent the air, the gates of a brand new apartment complex, La Joya deAndalucía, glide open to welcome the new owners. Anna and Austen MacDonald, an Irish couple, are preparing to enjoy their retirement to the full. But the demands of family cause problems they have never foreseen and shake their marriage to the core. Sally-Ann Connolly Cooper, a feisty Texan mother of two young teenagers, is reeling from her husband's infidelity. La Joya becomes a place of solace for Sally-Ann, in more ways than one. Eduardo Sanchez, a haughty Madrileño, has set out with single-minded determination to become El Presidente of the complex's management committee. But pride comes before a fall. Jutta Sauer Perez, a sophisticated German who aspires to own her very own apartment in La Joya, works hard to reach her goal. Then the unthinkable happens.As their lives entwine and friendships and enmities develop, it becomes apparent that La Joya is not quite the haven they all expect it to be...
The Liberation is set in Italy in 1945 as British and American troops attempt to bring order to the devastated country and Italy's population fights to survive. Caterina Lombardi is desperate - her father is dead, her mother has disappeared and her brother is being drawn towards danger. One morning, among the ruins of the bombed Naples streets, Caterina is forced to go to extreme lengths to protect her own life and in doing so forges a future in which she must clear her father's name. An Allied Army officer accuses him of treason and Caterina discovers a plot against her family. Who can she trust and who is the real enemy now? And will the secrets of the past be her downfall?
This epic novel is an unforgettably powerful story of love, loss and the long shadow of war.
Based on a true story...
It is 1894 in the remote settlement of Bulawayo, in what later became Southern Rhodesia. Recent immigrants from Ireland, Morris and David Langbourne, throw body and soul into rebuilding their previously devastated business. Between Morris' brilliant business acumen and David's almost limitless energy, their future looks very promising, as they take massive financial and logistical risks, and look forward to a booming business in the backwoods of beyond.
Then the unimaginable happens: disease, a devastating plague, unforgivable stupidity in political designs, war, and starvation. And if this wasn't enough, Morris makes a very simple mistake with exponential consequences.
Yet these are the Langbourne brothers, and they refuse to be beaten.
