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It’s the Little Things

Dan and Sally Oliver and their friend Chloe Hennessey are lucky to be alive. Three years on, after surviving one of the world's biggest natural disasters – the Boxing Day tsunami – their lives have changed dramatically.

Dan and Sally are now parents. Dan is enjoying being a stay-at-home father taking care of their young son, and Sally is the breadwinner and loves her job as a partner in a Manchester law firm. The arrangement has so far worked well, but when Dan starts to question whether Sally has got her priorities right, the cracks in their marriage begin to appear.

Dan and Sally have everything Chloe wishes for in life – a happy marriage and a beautiful child. Dumped by her long term boyfriend just weeks after the tsunami, she's been on a mission ever since to find the perfect father for the child she craves.  When she meets Seth Hawthorne, she thinks she may have hit the jackpot.  But is Seth the man she thinks he is?

It's the Little Things is a moving, compelling story of how a life can change in a heartbeat.

Published by Orion Books in 2011. View online retailer buying links.

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ISBN: 9780752884332

Tell it to the Skies

The beautiful city of Venice has been Lydia's home for many years, a place where she has found peace and fulfilment. Then one day she glimpses a young man's face in the crowd that threatens to change everything. He's a heart-stopping reminder of a dreadful secret she believed she had banished to the past...

As a young child, Lydia and her sister were sent to live with grandparents they'd never even met before. It was a cruel and loveless new world for them and it forced Lydia to grow up fast. She learned to keep secrets and to trust sparingly, and through it all she was shadowed by grief and guilt.

Now, twenty-eight years later, Lydia is persuaded to leave behind the safe new life she has created for herself and return to England to face the past. And maybe her future.

Published by Orion Books in 2017. View online retailer buying links.

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ISBN: 9780752893365

Gardens of Delight

Romantic Novel of the Year, 2006.

The Gardens of Delight brochure promises the opportunity to visit some of the most beautiful and enchanting gardens in the Lake Como area of Italy. For Lucy, the chance to go to Italy offers more than just gardens. Lake Como is where her father lives and the last time she saw him was when she was just a teenager.

Recently married Helen and her wealthy husband have just moved into the Old Rectory. With her husband spending so much time away from home, Helen throws herself into caring for the garden that was the pride and joy of its previous owner. But Helen needs help – and friends – and so decides to take the plunge and join the local Garden Club.

Conrad isn't the least bit interested in gardening. Widowed for five years, his life revolves around work and humouring Mac, his curmudgeonly elderly uncle who lives with him, and who has expressed a desire to go on the Gardens of Delight tour. But only if Conrad will accompany him. Reluctantly, Conrad agrees. 'Anything for a peaceful life,' he concedes.

But a peaceful life is the last thing any of them are in for...

Published by Orion Books in 2014. View online retailer buying links.

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ISBN: 9780752883519

Love and Devotion

Harriet Swift thinks she has the perfect life – a satisfying career, her own flat and a new boyfriend who respects her need for her own space. But then her only sister is killed in a car crash and Harriet is forced to give up her well-ordered life and to help look after her orphaned niece and nephew. Moving back to her childhood home in Maple Drive, and sacrificing so much, doesn't come easy and before long Harriet discovers things about her family she never believed possible.

Meanwhile, the shabbiest house in Maple Drive has a new occupant. Will Hart also thinks he has the perfect life. Having swapped his successful career as a lawyer for that of an antiques dealer, he believes in living for the moment and is entirely happy with his lot. Then from nowhere tragedy strikes and he faces the biggest challenge of his life.

Harriet and Will have no choice but to piece together a new future for themselves, but can they see it through?

Published by Orion Books in 2011. View online retailer buying links.

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ISBN: 9780752883410

Paradise House

Re-issued in Paperback July 2022.

Angel Sands is a traditional seaside resort of bed and breakfasts, cottages to let and teashops.  And with the best views of the tiny beach and surrounding coastline is Paradise House, home to the Baxter girls – or the Sisters of Whimsy as they're known locally.

With their mother taking time out to find herself, it's down to Genevieve to maintain the smooth running of the family-owned B&B.  Not an easy task given that their father – now that his wife isn't around – has suddenly become a magnet for the opposite sex.  And there's little help from her sisters: Nattie is too busy offending her long time admirer, and Polly spends most of her days with her head in the clouds or in a book. But when news spreads in the tightly knit community that a nearby dilapidated barn has been sold, Genevieve finds that a bittersweet trip down memory lane is unavoidable . . .

Re-issued by Orion Books in 2022. View online retailer buying links.

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ISBN: 9781398710726

Act of Faith

It's almost Christmas. But for Ali the season of good cheer is the anniversary of her baby's death. As she stands at her son's grave, she is poignantly aware of how dramatically her life has changed. Determined to stand on her own two feet, and get through Christmas alone, Ali turns down her ex-husband's unexpected invitation to spend the holiday with him and his father, only to give in to her best friend's cajoling to share the festive season with her. The only trouble is, it means having to be nice to Sarah's awful husband, Trevor.

Sarah may be a saint for putting up with Trevor, but Ali is no such thing, and as his cranky behaviour escalates, she takes it upon herself, in an extraordinary act of daring impetuosity, to play God with her friend's incomprehensible marriage. But Ali's meddling has consequences even she could not have foreseen.

Published by Orion Books in 2011. View online retailer buying links.

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ISBN: 9780752883472

Airs and Graces

Ellen has been living on her own in a picturesque, if damp cottage in Cheshire since her husband abandoned her to go and live with another woman in Provence. Having married once for love, she is now determined that the second time around it will be for money. Close at hand is Duncan, her not unattractive, and enticingly single, divorce lawyer...

But then two new people enter her life: Jo-Jo, a homeless girl several months pregnant; and Matthew, an artist who paints murals in country houses and who, on his first meeting with Ellen, openly criticises her for being mercenary and devious. But, as hostility gives way to friendship, Ellen realises that she has wavered off course from her original plan and she has to remind herself very strongly indeed that Duncan is the man for her ...

Published by Orion Books in 2011. View online retailer buying links.

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ISBN: 9780752883526