Last year’s Christmas at Wrea Head Hall didn’t quite go to plan, which is why Jess Croft is determined this festive season will be the one to remember, for the right reasons. And she has plenty of reasons to be hopeful. She’s going to marry the man of her dreams, Jack Stone, seven days after New Year’s Eve. However, as family secrets are revealed in hidden letters and two unexpected guests turn up on the doorstep, Jess is left wondering whether her life will ever be the same again.

Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by society and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters to God. The letters, spanning 20 years, record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment guided by the light of a few strong women.

Sixteen-year-old Kate McGuire has a secret; her father, Joe has disappeared, and Kate, her mother Stella, and sister Emma are left to fend for themselves with little income and no one to turn to. For two years, they are heartbroken, wondering why he left, or whether he is still alive. Kate decides she must take on a role she never wanted; as caretaker for her abusive alcoholic mother and guardian of her sister who seems intent on finding the solace she needs her own way - a decision that leaves Kate almost unable to continue because of the hurt she causes.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Nine hours and 11 minutes... That’s how long it’s been since Ella Hope was beaten to within an inch of life and left for dead. She lies, unable to move and praying for somebody to find her, as she wonders who could have hated her so much to have hurt her. Was it the man she went on a date with the previous evening, the man linked to the deaths of two other women? Or somebody else, somebody who wants her out of the picture so much they’re willing to kill? Whoever it is, they will pay. All Ella has to do first is survive....

Heavy snow falls on San Piedro and impedes the progress of Kabuo Miyomoto's trial. Hatsue, Kabuo's wife and Ishmael, a journalist on the case, find themselves reckoning with the past and their lost love.

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.

Sisters Molly and Beth Winters thought the remote clifftop house would be the perfect place to hide away after their mother’s brutal murder. They were wrong. Because someone from the girls’ past has already found their safe house and he is watching and waiting in the shadows ready to make them pay. Their new home should have been the place the sisters were safe. But no place is safe forever.

On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week.

In 1960, John Steinbeck set out in his pick-up truck with his dog, Charley, to rediscover and chronicle his native USA, from Maine to California. He felt that he might have lost touch with its sights, sounds and the essence of the American people. Moving through the woods and deserts, dirt tracks and highways to large cities and glorious wildernesses, Steinbeck observed - with remarkable honesty, insight and a humorous eye - the gamut of America and the people who inhabited it. 

Amelia loves her life in Paris. But with the surprise inheritance of her childhood home, she has no choice but to return to the small village of Meadowbank to restore her great-aunt’s old farmhouse. However returning to Meadowbank means she has to confront her past, including old flame Adam—the one person she regrets leaving behind. When Amelia discovers a locket hidden in the farmhouse, containing the picture of a mysterious World War Two soldier, she starts to uncover the secrets of her great-aunt’s past. 

You tell him everything. The husband you adore, the father of your child, your best friend. He knows, just by looking at your sage green eyes, when something is wrong. The two of you can communicate with a glance or a touch of the hand. Except what if you can’t? What if your happy marriage has plastered over one huge lie? A lie you have even started to believe yourself in order to survive? 

Wannabe author Jane Solomon is expecting an uneventful Christmas in her Cornish village of Little Penhaven. But then super fit American gym owner Hal Muir comes to town, and suddenly the holiday season looks set to be far more interesting. Hal is keen on embracing every British tradition on offer, from mince pies to Christmas pub quizzes - and perhaps some festive romance, too.... 

Alex loves her job as manager of a historic Elizabethan house. When she discovers a jewelled locket shaped like a bird, her world is thrown into turmoil. An old diary, a handsome barrister, a mysterious clockmaker and the darkest hours of the London Blitz.... She follows the trail of the jewelled bird. Only by unearthing the secrets of the past can Alex find the keys to her future.

It starts with the hanging woman in the Maple Valley woods; the woman with no shoes, no car and no name. On paper it’s an obvious case of suicide - but to Officer Dean Matheson, something doesn’t add up. Then there are the other deaths, deaths that also look like suicides - but are they? The victims are all women living on the fringes of society, addicts and criminals. Who will miss them? Does anyone really care if they die? Dean Matheson is making it his business to care, even if it means he becomes a target....