The current COVID-19 outbreak could affect our services at short notice. Find out everything you need to know about visiting the library and our available services. Find out more
Large Print
1913 Lydia Miller, daughter of a German doctor, is training to become a nurse when she first meets debonair Robert Ravening, the nephew of a Lord and a keen aviator and promptly falls in love. When the Great War begins in 1914, Robert enlists with the...
A brand new series full of friendship, singing and laughter as war looms... Cleethorpes 1939. With the country teetering on the brink of war everyone faces an uncertain future. Destitute after the tragic death of her father, aspiring singer Jessie Delaney...
One night in December, twenty-two year old Ted Green makes his way to Waterloo Bridge determined to end his life. Lonely, despairing and utterly hopeless, it seems the only choice to make. That same night in December, Marianne Cooper is running away from...
It's 1953. Coronation Year. While Bristol is still recovering from the aftermath of the war, three very different women are counting the cost. Polly longs for an easier, more glamorous life, but with her irrepressible young daughter and her charming -...
Trapped in a marriage to the wrong man... Struggling to make ends meet, Mary Anne Randall is offered no help by her drunk and abusive husband. A pawnbroking business run from the wash house at the back of her home is the only way she can hope to keep...
Samantha has a secret. Returning home from her dream honeymoon to the normality of running her beloved Hedgehog Hollow rescue centre, she's ready for the next chapter of her life with Josh. Or is she? Samantha is hiding something which could forever change...
"When four strangers rent bargain-basement rooms in an old hotel near the beach, they embark on the summer of their lives. First there's Ariel Spencer, who has big dreams of becoming a writer and is looking for inspiration in Nantucket's high society....
"As the older sibling to identical twins Violet and Lily, Cami Porter was always the odd sister out. The divide grew even wider when their parents split up--while the twins stayed in Cape Sanctuary with their free-spirited mother, Rosemary, fourteen-...
"An irresistible comedy of manners about three generations of a Chicago restaurant family and the private jokes, ancient grudges, broken hearts, and deep, abiding love that feeds them all. Here are the three things the Sullivan family knows to be true:...
"A terrible storm builds in the morning sky over Bloomington, Indiana, as Elizabeth Baxter prepares to celebrate her daughter Kari's wedding to Tim Jacobs. Elizabeth can't shake a growing sense that something bad is about to happen. In the midst of the...
"The bonds between three picture-perfect, viciously protective mothers are tested when their sons uncover a horrible crime. In Austin's Zilker Park, vigilance and money are enough to keep one insulated from the world's problems and inconveniences. Here,...
"Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench. Montgomery,...
"1965 Growing up in the well-to-do town of Round Hill, North Carolina, Ellie Hockley was raised to be a certain type of proper Southern lady. Enrolled in college and all but engaged to a bank manager, Ellie isn't as committed to her expected future as...
Coming together for a writing workshop with bestselling author Jan Goldstein, four strangers converge upon a luxury forest retreat. But along with their notepads and laptops, each of the participants has brought some emotional baggage. Beth is a solo...
Greta Jellings blushes and bumbles her way through her carefully ordered existence, forever constrained by what her mother would have said and done. NO EXPECTATION, NO DISAPPOINTMENT was one of her mother's mantras, and it has served Greta well too. But...
Maureen Bancroft has never learned the art of putting herself first. As a widow with a gentle temperament and humble ways, she's been easy to take advantage of. All that changes when an unexpected windfall comes her way. Determined to make up for lost...
Beth has never stuck at anything. She's quit more jobs and relationships than she can remember. Its not that she hasn't TRIED to grow up; it's just that the only commitment she's held down so far is Friday drinks at the village pub. Then, in the space...
"Fresh off a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. When she's named the new general manager of the Hotel Nantucket, a once Gilded Age gem turned abandoned eyesore, she hopes that...
"Eleanor Bennett won't let her own death get in the way of the truth. So when her estranged children - Byron and Benny - reunite for her funeral in California, they discover a puzzling inheritance. First, a voice recording in which everything Byron and...
"In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all...
"If she's being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye peeled on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain...
"It's Livia's 40th birthday and she's having the party of a lifetime to make up for the wedding she never had. Everyone she loves will be there except her daughter Marnie, who's studying abroad. But although Livia loves Marnie, she's secretly glad she...
"By all appearances, Frank and Maggie share a happy, loving marriage. But for the past six months, they have not spoken. Not a sentence, not a single word. Maggie isn't sure what, exactly, provoked Frank's silence, though she has a few ideas ... Then...
"In 1996, the unnamed narrator of Teddy Wayne's "Apartment" is attending the MFA writing program at Columbia on his father's dime and living in an illegal sublet of a rent-stabilized apartment. Feeling guilty about his good fortune, he offers his spare...
"Ellie Graber couldn't be happier working at Amish Charm - and making good on a precious chance to reunite with her Amish community. Grief over her mother's death made her rebel and try the Englischer world, but now she's home to start again. And qui...
"On the night of June Fourth, a woman gives birth in a Beijing hospital alone. Thus begins the unraveling of Su Lan, a brilliant physicist who until this moment has successfully erased her past, fighting what she calls the mind's arrow of time. When Su...
"Jenna Burkhart is tired of being "special" and hearing about what she can't do. Even though she suffered a head injury in a childhood swimming accident, she wants a life of her own just like any Amish woman. But now that she, her mamm, and her mammi...
"1925. Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Cafe is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper's daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path...
"In 1913, in a quiet corner of London, the three Fry sisters are coming of age, dreaming of all the possibilities the bright future offers. But when war erupts their innocence is shattered and a new era of uncertainty begins. Cecelia loves Max but hi...
"2006. The UK's pub smoking ban is about to happen, and 38 1/2 year old John Torrington, a mopper and trolley collector at his local DIY store, is secretly in love with the stylish, beautiful, and middle class barmaid Lois. John and his hapless, strange,...
"Some people would kill for a second chance. Kat is rebuilding her life. After losing her husband in a tragic accident, moving to the countryside is her chance to start again. Encouraged by her new and only friend Ginny, Kat joins New Horizons, dubbed...
"In the 1970s, The Girls were best friends sharing a flat and good times: Zara the famous diva actor, Val the uptight solicitor, Jackie the wild child and Pauline the quirky introvert. Now they're in their twilight years, and Zara suggests that they live...
"When Rilla Clark's long lost father dies, she leaves New England and heads to his cottage in the Scottish Highlands to sort out his affairs. Rilla's determined that her visit will be a fleeting one. The little village of Applemore holds a lot of memories...
"Hollywood actress Shauna Jackson should have the world at her feet. Instead, scandal and betrayal have tarnished her happiness and she is left reeling in the aftermath. When Shauna is offered the role of a lifetime, it's the catalyst for her return to...
"Life is short - no one knows that better than seventeen year-old Lenni Petterssen. On the Terminal Ward, the nurses are offering their condolences already, but Lenni still has plenty of living to do. When she meets 83-year-old Margot Macrae, a fellow...
"At the age of 90-something, Beryl Dusinbery is forgetting everything - including her own children. She spends her days stitching morbid samplers and tormenting her two long-suffering carers, Nastya and Euphoria, with tangled stories of her husbands and...
"Belle Hatton has embarked upon an exciting new life far from home: a glamorous job as a nightclub singer in 1930s Burma, with a host of sophisticated new friends and admirers. But Belle is haunted by a mystery from the past - a 25-year-old newspaper...
"When she was 16, Diana left her unhappy family and set out to make a new life. 25 years later, she has arrived. Recently married to Edmund, there are just the two of them living at Wynhope, his family's historic country home, both happy for the past...
"Little Woodford is a quintessential English market town, with charming high street shops, allotments and thriving pubs. A young widow and her children arrive from London after buying the huge, rambling Victorian mansion called the Beeches. Bex Millar...
"A rich, atmospheric tale set in Ullaness on the sea-lashed coast of west Scotland, in which the lives of three women weave together after a body is discovered in the dunes. Libby Snow has always felt the pull of Ullaness, a lush Scottish island enshrouded...
"When a Mennonite farmhand, Gordon Martin, shows interest in Amish Marie Bachmann, she can't help but be flattered. But her mother sends her off to Florida, where she begins spending time with bad-boy Eli Jacob, the bishop's son from back home. When ...
"When a British Indian woman's life hits rock bottom, she decides to change her stars by falling in love ... with herself. Nina didn't plan to spend her thirtieth birthday in jail, yet here she is in her pajamas, locked in a holding cell. There's no Wi-Fi,...
"When Lauren and Ryan's marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other....
"Diana O'Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She's a junior appraiser a...
"Set in the 1920's Jazz Age on Long Island, The Great Gatsby chronicles narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. First published...
"On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice's life isn't terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn't exactly the one she expected. She's happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But something...
"Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life after the loss of his wife Naina. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his disinterested granddaughter, Priya, who tucks herself away reading whilst he watches David Attenborough. Aleisha is working...
"Julia Baxter's wedding veil, bequeathed to her great-grandmother by a mysterious woman on a train in the 1930s, has passed through generations of her family as a symbol of a happy marriage. But something tells her that even the veil's good luck isn't...
"Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James--a well-known author of dark, maca...
"Nine strangers, each in different ways, become summoned by trees, brought together in a last stand to save the continent's few remaining acres of virgin forest. The Overstory unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fable, ranging from antebellum...
"After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daug...
"Jane easily falls in love with Duncan: he's charming, good-natured, and handsome. He has also slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City, Michigan. Jane sees Duncan's old girlfriends everywhere – at restaurants, at the grocery store, even three towns...
"When Jessica, a young British woman, discovers a shocking secret about her birth she travels to Switzerland in search of answers. She knows her mother spent time in the country writing an article on the Swiss women's rights movement, but what she doesn't...
"Neil Narayan's parents moved to America for a better life, and his perfect older sister is now headed to an elite university. Neil is funny and smart, but he is not living up to his parents' dream. While he tries to want their version of success, mostly,...
"The sparkling seaside village of Merle Bay, with its beautiful beach scattered with seaglass, is a place where anyone can have a fresh start. For Katie, it is the perfect hideout after a childhood trauma left her feeling exposed. For Robyn, the fresh...
"Veronique Vincent is a star. At age twenty-two, she is one of the most sought-after models in fashion, gracing the covers of magazines and walking the runways of haute couture shows across the globe. Yet, despite being the consummate professional, V...
"This selection from a long career ranges across New Zealand and ventures overseas; the pieces explore both cruelty and love; they look back to childhood and also capture the world we live in today. Full of unexpected turns, lyrical writing, wry obse...
"Freya Abalone has a big, messy, wonderful family, a fantastic career, and a new house. But that's on the outside. On the inside, she's got Mildred - the name she's given to that nagging inner critic who tells us all we're not good enough. And now Fr...
"Buying a run-down motel to start a new life - what could possibly go wrong? In this funny and moving novel, prize-winning author Stephanie Johnson turns her wry eye on us. Their first guests are a classic cast of the sorrowful and dysfunctional that...
"Queenie Hanlon has a perfect life. She's the mother of two adoring children, the wealthy owner of a thriving outback station and the wife of handsome bushman TR Hamilton. Then one day, Queenie's perfect life comes crashing down ... Her bitter and ve...
"Fascinating, funny, tragic, immensely readable and witty, these stories provide an invaluable insight into life in India during the British Raj. Originally written for the "Lahore Civil and Military Gazette", the stories were intended for a provinci...
"Meet Yinka: a thirty-something, Oxford-educated, British Nigerian woman with a well-paid job, good friends, and a mother whose constant refrain is "Yinka, where is your huzband?" Yinka's Nigerian aunties frequently pray for her delivery from singledom,...
"Anna McNichol is at the peak of her career and ready to focus on her future. But when her husband dies suddenly, Anna's carefully constructed world falls apart. The mysterious young woman at the memorial service confirms her husband had been keeping...
"Bix Bouton is 40, with four kids, restless, desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or "externalizing" memory. It's 2010. Within a decade, Bix's ...
"Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in a hyper-masculine world. They are caught between two of Glasgow's housing estates where young working-class men divide themselves along sectarian lines, and fight territorial battles...
"Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena--a Hindu woman attacked by members of her ...
"The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endanger...
"Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream...
"Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's war on heavy industry has put husbands and sons out of work, and the city'...
"The ten-day retreat at boutique health-and-wellness resort Tranquillum House promises healing and transformation. Nine stressed city dwellers are keen to drop their literal and mental baggage and absorb the blissful meditative ambience while enjoying...
"When Sir James Harrison, one of the greatest actors of his generation, passes away at the age of ninety-five, he leaves behind not just a heartbroken family but also a secret so shocking, it could rock the English establishment to its core. Joanna Haslam,...
Cherry, Maggie and Rose are mother, daughter and granddaughter. They have always been close; so when, in a moment of impulse, Cherry buys a gorgeous but rundown pub in Rushbrook, the village she grew up in, it soon becomes a family affair. All three women...
Leonard and Hungry Paul are two quiet friends who see the world differently. Content with their circumstances, they use humour, board games, and silence to steer their way through the maelstrom that is the twenty-first century. But things are beginning...
It's almost Christmas in Heritage Cove - the village tree is all lit-up, the bakery is full of festive treats, the tea rooms and waffle shack are welcoming locals inside out of the cold, and for some of the residents of the Cove, snow might not be the...
Christmas is coming and New York is in full swing for the snowy season. But at The Little Knitting Box in the West Village, things are about to change...The Little Knitting Box has been in Cleo's family for nearly four decades, and since she arrived fresh...
As the flames on the log fire flicker and the snowflakes swirl above the New York streets, maybe this Christmas could be the one that changes everything... When Darcy returns to Manhattan, she's put in charge of the Inglenook Inn, a cosy boutique hotel...
In 1929, Katya is 16 years old, surrounded by family and in love with the boy next door. When Stalin's activists arrive in her village, it's just a few, a little pressure to join the collective. But soon neighbours disappear, those who speak out are never...
A tale as old as time. A spirit that has never rested. Present day. As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises...
It's summer in Heritage Cove, the picturesque village by the sea. Join some of your favourite characters and welcome new faces in this uplifting, romantic read brimming with character, community and friendship...The Heritage Bakery is finally getting...
Melissa rushes back to Heritage Cove when Barney, the man who's been like a father figure to her since she was a little girl, ends up in hospital. After an absence of five years, her return isn't going to be easy, especially when she bumps into Harvey,...
It's December in Heritage Cove and along with the village Christmas tree, frosty mornings and the promise of the most wonderful time of the year, the new waffle shack is about to open. And its owner isn't a stranger to the Cove, because after all this...
Liverpool 1953. January sees the dawn of the Queen Elizabeth's Coronation year as the mothers of Reckoners Row unite in preparation for the celebration of the new Queen. Meanwhile Evie Kilgaren is dreaming of her summer wedding to Danny Harris, but t...
A new season... As winter turns to spring, Hollie - owner of The Starfish Café - is feeling content as she settles into her new life with her loving boyfriend, Jake, and their adorable dog Pickle. But when an unwelcome visitor threatens the future of...
May 1940. There are new residents at Goodwill House - WAAF drivers Camilla 'Millie' Cunningham and Diane Forsyth, both eager to do their bit for the war effort and excited to be helping the brave boys who fly. And when Millie meets dashing and heroic...
Can two strangers dreams lead to their destiny? American Star Mendoza is living in her dream location, Edinburgh, a place she discovered in British novels while growing up. Employed at a trendy city centre coffee shop, quirky, pink-haired Star spends...
Val Murray and her best friend, Josie had been planning a 'Thelma and Louise' bucket list style holiday. Now Josie is gone, and Val needs to make the trip before it's too late. But Val doesn't want to do it alone, so she enlists the help of her nieces,...
"Five successful women play for high stakes in their careers at a boutique literary and talent agency where newcomer Jane Addison quickly discovers there are damaging secrets hidden behind its doors. Jane Addison is an ambitious young woman with big dreams...
"Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art h...
"The Louis XVI Hotel on the rue Boissy d'Anglas just off the Faubourg St. Honore in Paris had been closed for renovations for four years. The street it was on was particularly appropriate, open only to foot traffic. It was guarded by a policeman, who...
"August 1983. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their baby sister, Kit. The siblings are a source of fascination...
"Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting, supportive mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her...
"Meredith White was one of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces. But a personal tragedy cut her acting career short and alienated her from her family. For the last 15 years, Meredith has been living alone in San Francisco with two trusted caretakers. Then,...
"A 16-year old American boy relates in his own words the experiences he goes through at school and after, and reveals with unusual candour the workings of his own mind. What does a boy in his teens think and feel about his teachers, parents, friends ...
"Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six. They sold out arenas from coast to coast. Their music defined an era and every girl in America idolised Daisy. But on July 12 1979, on the night of the final concert of the Aurora tour, they split. Nobody ever knew...
"1942. Three years into the war, Pam turns down her hard-won place at Oxford University to become a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. There, she meets two young men, both keen to impress her, and Pam finds herself falling hard for one of them. But as th...
"London, 1967: while the capital comes alive with the new youth revolution, the suburban Fischer family seems to belong to an older world of conventional stability. Homemaker Phyllis is married to Roger, a devoted father with a career in the Foreign ...
"Thea Thomas needs to get away from her old life, and the interfering ex who won't leave her alone. When she lands a job heading up the restoration of Mill Grange, a stunning Victorian manor in Somerset, it feels like the perfect opportunity to start...
"When Kerra left the quiet Cornish town of Penvennan Cove for the bright lights of London she didn't look back. But after the death of her mother, she's decided it's time to face her past and return to the place she called home. Her father needs her,...
"Cate Morris and her son, Leo, are homeless, adrift. They've packed up the boxes from their London home, said goodbye to friends and colleagues, and now they are on their way to Hatters Museum of the Wide Wide World - to stay just for the summer. Cate...
Was this page useful?
To ask for help or information, contact us.