Elizabeth Buchan
The Second Wife

Minty Lloyd is struggling to make her life work as Nathan's second wife. Mother to six-year-old twins, sidelined at family gatherings by Nathan's hostile family, ostracized by his friends, she is haunted by the shadow of the glowing, successful Rose - Nathan's first wife. 'The trouble is,' she concludes, 'everything I do is second-hand.' Yet - such is the curious nature of fate - Minty finds herself united in loss with an unexpected ally - the woman she once betrayed. Buchan's signature gift for capturing women's daily joys and struggles is beautifully deployed in this irresistible story of love, grief and renewal that explores the nature of friendship and the bonds that grow strongest when stretched to breaking.

Sarah Goodall & Nicholas Monson
The Palace Diaries

Sarah Goodall worked for Prince Charles as a Lady Clerk from 1988 to 2000. Her experiences of life behind the scenes of the Royal Establishment inspired this hilarious story of a naive and rather accident-prone young woman whose dreams all came true when she was given the opportunity to work for the heir to the throne. Sarah gets herself into numerous compromising situations, both at work and in her personal life, but she manages to establish a good rapport with her Royal employer. When the fairy tale comes crashing to an end, however, not even a final dramatic encounter with Prince Charles can save her from the axe.

After losing both her parents, sixteen-year-old Merrion Roberts is left to bring up her baby sister. Unable to cope alone, she teams up with Rhonda Rees, a trained milliner, who also has a young baby. They share rooms in notorious Tiger Bay in Cardiff, struggling to make ends meet. In time, though, they are able to open up a little shop and it seems as if life is looking up for both women. But fate soon intervenes and they are reduced to living in even greater squalor, barely able to eke out enough money to support themselves let alone their two children. Meanwhile, Merrion's brother and her childhood sweetheart have both gone to sea and she has almost given up hope of ever seeing them alive again.