1704 Books
A nostalgic look at Leicestershire's nine market towns in the company of the county's foremost local historian.
Barrow Millennium
'A gorgeously romantic love story full of heart and poignancy' Alex Brown ‘A wonderful, totally absorbing coming of age love story...I couldn’t have put it down if I tried’ Jules Wake A moving and heartwarming love story perfect for fans of This Time Next Year, In Five Years and One Day in December.
Don’t miss the brand-new book from the Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Lewis!
'What Colin Dexter did for Oxford, Julie Wassmer is intent on doing for Whitstable' Daily Mail Pearl Nolan always wanted to be a detective but life, and a teenage pregnancy, got in the way of a police career and instead she built up a successful seafood restaurant in her coastal home town of Whitstable - famous for its native oysters. Now, at 39, and with son Charlie away at university, Pearl finds herself suffering from empty nest syndrome . . . until she discovers the drowned body of local oyster fisherman Vinnie Rowe, weighted down with an anchor chain, on the eve of Whitstable's annual oyster festival. Is it a tragic accident, suicide - or murder? Pearl seizes the opportunity to prove her detection skills and discover the truth but she soon finds herself in conflict with Canterbury city police detective, Chief Inspector Mike McGuire. Then another body is discovered - and Pearl finds herself trawling the past for clues, triggering memories of another emotional summer more than twenty years ago . . .
What is lost when knowledge is withheld? In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of going to Oxford University, but for most of her life she has been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has. She is extraordinary but vulnerable. Peggy needs to watch over her. When refugees arrive from the devastated cities of Belgium, it sends ripples through the community and through the sisters' lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can use her intellect and not just her hands, but as war and illness reshape her world, it is love, and the responsibility that comes with it, that threaten to hold her back. The Bookbinder of Jericho is a story about knowledge - who makes it, who can access it, and what is lost when it is withheld. In this beautiful companion to the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams explores another little-known slice of history seen through women's eyes. Intelligent, thoughtful and rich with unforgettable characters.
Escape with Jenny Colgan in 2021. The paperback of Jenny's latest bestseller, FIVE HUNDRED MILES FROM YOU and her new feel-good novel, SUNRISE BY THE SEA, are both out now. 'Nobody does get-away-from-it-all romance like Jenny Colgan' Sunday Express Sun, sea and laughter abound . . . 'A total joy' Sophie Kinsella 'Gorgeous, glorious, uplifting' Marian Keyes 'Irresistible' Jill Mansell 'Just lovely' Katie Fforde 'Naturally funny, warm-hearted' Lisa Jewell 'A gobble-it-all-up-in-one-sitting kind of book' Mike Gayle ___________________________________ Evie is desperate for a holiday - a good one. Not only because she's been working all hours as a receptionist for two high-powered plastic surgeons, but also because every holiday she's ever been on has involved sunburn, arguments and projectile vomiting - sometimes all three at once. Why can't she have a normal holiday like everyone else: peaceful beaches, glorious sunshine and (fingers crossed) some much-needed sex? So when Evie's employers invite her to attend a conference with them in the beautiful South of France, she can't believe her luck. At last, the chance to hob nob with the rich and glamorous, to party under the stars, to live life as she'd always dreamt of it. It's the holiday of a lifetime - but things don't happen in quite the way Evie imagines . . . ___________________________________ Why readers ADORE Jenny Colgan 'Her books are so compelling that you can feel the cool breeze on your face, smell the salty air' 'Her descriptions of scenery (and food!) are beautiful' 'I wish her places were real' 'Her books are so good I want to start over as soon as I have finished' 'There's something so engaging about her characters and plots' 'Her stories are just so fabulous' 'She brings her settings and characters so vividly to life' 'The woman is just magic'