Audrey Howard
Angel Meadow

The Brody girls have always been a bit different from the rest of the folk in Angel Meadow, the appalling slum where their drunken mother Kitty is the lowest sort of prostitute. Then one day Kitty disappears from their lives forever - and this new crisis turns out to be a new beginning. For Nancy Brody, only nine years old, makes up her mind that she will not see her sisters in the workhouse and is determined to find a better way to live. Nancy Brody is an unforgettable woman, and her story is one of Audrey Howard's most memorable tales.

Rosamunde Pilcher
Winter Solstice

When she leaves London for the pretty Hampshire village, Elfrida Phipps quickly feels at home. She has a tiny cottage, her faithful dog Horace and the friendship of the neighbouring Blundells - particularly Oscar - to ensure that her days include companionship as well as independence. But an unforseen tragedy upsets Elfrida's tranquility. She takes refuge in a rambling house in Scotland, which becomes a magnet for various waifs and strays. It sounds a recipe for disaster. But somehow the group becomes greater than the sum of its ill-sorted parts and Elfrida finds herself at the centre of a very magical Christmas.

Anita Brookner
The Bay Of Angels

Zoe Cunningham is delighted when her widowed mother remarries, particularly as her new stepfather is amiable, generous, and the owner of a villa in Nice. Enchanted visits come to an abrupt end when an entirely unexpected tragedy ensures. This is in turn followed by a bewildering decline in which both Zoe and Anne, her mother, are trapped. Surrounded by strangers, however well-meaning, both yearn for home and they are forced to learn how not to trust appearances.