The Country Village Summer Fete

Cathy Lake

AS her fiftieth birthday draws near, high-flying freelance editor Emma Patrick’s life seems to be on a downward spiral. For too long, the ambitious, workaholic businesswoman has been focused almost solely on her career and now she has lost her connection not just with any kind of family life but with the world in general… has she left it too late to find lasting love and happiness?

Sit back, relax and tuck into a feelgood feast of rural delights, family dramas, warm friendships, enchanting romance, and the community spirit that helps to mend broken hearts, in an enchanting tale about the healing power of village life.

Cathy Lake (pictured below), who is on a mission to write uplifting stories about strong women overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, provides a much-needed injection of hope, humour and cheer in this beautiful tale of a middle-aged woman facing a crossroads in her life.

 Just when Emma starts to realise that she is sleepwalking through her days, and feeling confined within the walls of her small London flat, she receives a phone call from her beloved father Greg’s doctor warning her that he is becoming increasingly confused and may be showing the early signs of dementia.

He has always been her rock, the man she could rely on but now he needs her help and Emma decides to go back home to the countryside to spend some time with him. But returning to the village of Little Bramble in Surrey, after years away, is filled with complications and there are people she would rather avoid.

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To her surprise, Emma quickly settles in again and finds herself loving village life. When the opportunity to get involved in the running of the summer fête comes her way, she is soon embracing jam-making, cake baking and bunting.

And with an unexpected romance brewing, Emma begins to have doubts about the glamorous city life that she worked so hard to build…

Village life in all its rich colour, cosy togetherness and shared endeavour forms the captivating backdrop to a story that shines a light on community, friendship and family without losing sight of some of reality’s dark corners and the emotional complexities of everyday life and relationships.

Everyone has their own particular problems but through love, understanding, compassion and caring, Lake demonstrates that it’s never too late to turn a corner, leave the past behind and forge a new and better future. With a gentle romance, a cast of charming characters – not least a gregarious greyhound called Harmony – The Country Village Summer Fete is perfectly created for long, summer days.
(Zaffre, paperback, £7.99)

An Endless Cornish Summer

Phillipa Ashley 

ROSE VERNON is on a mission to find the anonymous bone marrow donor who saved her life… could the mystery man be in the small Cornish coastal village where she is planning to spend the summer?

Author Phillipa Ashley’s literary love affair with beautiful Cornwall has included A Perfect Cornish Summer, A Perfect Cornish Christmas and  A Perfect Cornish Escape, and now a gorgeous new series delivers the same azure blue skies, hidden coves, golden beaches and cream teas that have won thousands of hearts.

Loved by an army of fans for her warm, clever and compassionate writing, and her spellbinding evocation of the Cornish landscape and its people, Ashley (pictured below) always brings a rich and compelling authenticity to her tales of love and life. At the heart of this summer sparkler – filled with warm sunshine and an irresistibly salty tang – is a young woman whose life was cruelly threatened when she fell desperately ill during her archaeology studies at Cambridge University.

Four years ago, Rose Vernon’s life hung by a thread. After being diagnosed with the very serious condition, aplastic anaemia, she was told that unless a suitable bone marrow donor was found, she might not survive.

Fortunately for Rose, who now regards every day as a gift and works as an archaeology lecturer at Cambridge University, a perfect donor match was found and using the few clues she has, she is determined to find and thank the man to whom she owes everything.

And so Rose leaves the city behind and heads for Falford, a quiet fishing village on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, planning to spend the summer there while she works on an archaeological dig in the area.

Rose soon finds a billet over a quaint crystals and Cornish pixie lore shop run by the irrepressible Oriel but things become complicated when Rose is drawn into local life and gets involved in the legendary Falford Regatta.

Then there are the handsome Morvah brothers, who own one of Falford’s boatyards which form the bustling hub of the village community. Blond-haired Joey attracts women ‘like a magnet attracted iron filings’ and Finn, dark-haired and more brooding than his brother, has secrets he wouldn’t want anyone to discover. Rose is sure one of them might just be the man she’s looking for but which one? Can she find the answer she’s looking for before the summer is over?

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In her trademark style, Ashley brings us an exhilarating sunshine-filled summertime odyssey full of drama and romance, and featuring an entertaining cast of characters, not least the lovable Oriel and the hunky, handsome Morvah brothers.

But alongside all the West Country delights, An Endless Cornish Summer is threaded through with some gritty, real-life issues and a fascinating exploration of topics ranging from sailing and archaeology to Cornish folklore and mythology and the crucial importance of medical donors. Add on some intriguing twists and turns – all overlaid with an air of suspense and a brand of love and laughter that conjure up a special magic – and you have a Cornish holiday you wouldn’t want to miss!
(Avon, paperback, £7.99)

Rogue

James Swallow 

MODERN espionage has become a delicate balancing act in which one wrong move could end in turmoil or war… and no one knows that better than ex-MI6 agent Marc Dane.

Dane has fought off threats from ruthless enemies in all corners of the world, but has he finally met his match on his most perilous mission yet? The stakes are high as the price of failure could be the deaths of millions of innocent people.

Five books in and James Swallow’s fabulously fast and furious Marc Dane spy thriller series shows no sign of losing its breathtaking momentum. 

A BAFTA-nominated scriptwriter as well as a bestselling author, Swallow (pictured below) is an expert at pumping up the action and this gripping new chapter sees our lean, mean operative on a globetrotting journey into some of the darkest, most dangerous corners of the planet, stirring up some toxic secrets along the way. From the blood-soaked opener in the dark underbelly of Oslo to the sunny olive groves of Portugal and onwards through Cyprus, France and Mozambique, Rogue is a thrill-a-minute race against time to find a rogue agent, and comes full of bone-crunching drama, brilliant plotting, and superbly drawn characters.

After his career working for Queen and country with MI6 was cut short, Marc Dane has been employed as an operative in the Special Conditions Division of the pan-global Rubicon group, a privately owned outfit fighting terror threats and organised cruelty, and doing what they can to hold back ‘some of the darkness’ that lies forever on the horizon.

Dane has had a catalogue of ‘near-hits and lucky breaks,’ but he has dedicated his life to protecting others and remains loyal to his inscrutable millionaire boss, Ekko Solomon, who founded the company from humble beginnings in strife-torn East Africa.

But his line of work also means he has collected enemies, and a lot of them, but so far he has got the better of them, and that is thanks in no small part to his highly-trained sniper sidekick Lucy Keyes, ex-US Army and, as a ‘sardonic New Yorker,’ the perfect partner for the ‘impulsive Londoner.’ Lucy is only recently ‘back from the dead’ after being poisoned by a biological virus, and now they are under orders to track down a figure from Dane’s past… a renegade agent who is part of a deadly conspiracy to destroy Rubicon and with it, the world order.

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With the clock ticking, Dane and Lucy Keyes must unpick the monstrous plot which stretches from the marinas of Monaco to the mountains of Mozambique, and time is fast running out.

Swallow is a grand master of spy fiction and his smart, classy, high-octane Marc Dane series, which has included Nomad, Exile, Ghost and Shadow, is now top of the must-read list for

Angel of Liverpool

Elizabeth Morton

IF a gripping blend of romance, nostalgia and heartfelt emotions is your perfect reading recipe, then head off to Liverpool with actress Elizabeth Morton for a delicious saga for summer nights.

Morton, who is married to actor Peter Davison of Doctor Who fame, has a sharp eye for drama and her childhood years in Liverpool have armed her with a love and knowledge of both the city and its people.

And after success with A Liverpool Girl and A Last Dance in Liverpool, Morton (pictured below) returns once again to Merseyside for a gritty and evocative tale set in the aftermath of the Second World War as communities struggled to rebuild their lives amidst the rubble.

It’s 1946 and there are differing opinions in Liverpool’s rundown Sailortown area as to what happened to Evangeline O’Leary’s mother. Her younger sisters believe the story that she’s in heaven. But Evie, who was always called Angel by her mother, has heard the gossips… that her ma has upped and left with the man she had an affair with while Evie’s dad was fighting in the war.

As the eldest child, Evie has become ‘mum’ to her three siblings, all while holding down a job at the Tate and Lyle sugar factory. But when her childhood sweetheart, Frankie, leaves for Canada he leaves Evie with more than just a broken heart.

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Her father agrees to keep the pregnancy a secret but is determined to marry her off to the first hapless fellow who will have her. Evie doesn’t want a loveless marriage like her parents but how long can she keep her baby a secret from her neighbours… and the nuns who run the local home for unmarried mothers? Evie’s tale of hardship as she battles through a tough childhood at the Catholic school run by strict nuns, and her determination to keep her precious child against all the odds, takes readers on a rollercoaster journey full of emotional turmoil.

The indissoluble bond between a mother and her child is explored with both compassion and insight, and Morton delights with her rich post-war period detail, a charismatic cast of eclectic characters, and an entertaining slice of Scouse humour. Prepare to have your heartstrings well and truly tugged!  
(Pan, paperback, £7.99)

The Gypsy’s Daughter

Katie Hutton

GROWING up with a Gypsy father and a mother who gave up everything she had known to marry him, Harmony ‘Harry’ Loveridge’s life has been unconventional but happy.

And when she gets the chance to go to university, it seems Harry will achieve her long-held ambition… but fate has a way of getting in the way of dreams and one night her world comes crashing down.

In the follow-up to her debut novel, The Gypsy Bride, Katie Hutton continues her compelling exploration of love and culture clash as we move into the post-war period of the 1950s with the daughter of Sam and Ellen Loveridge, the two star-crossed lovers who had to overcome the prejudice and hostility of their entrenched communities to marry.

It was while browsing in a charity shop that Hutton (pictured below) stumbled across a book detailing the intrinsic part played by seasonal Romany Gypsies during the hop-picking season in Kent in the early decades of the 20^th century, and its depiction of them as the ‘warp and weft of the agricultural year’ set in motion these richly detailed cross-cultural sagas.

Harry is growing up on a farm in Kent in the 1940s and 50s. Her Gypsy father Sam has settled down as manager of a hop farm and retains his family’s Gypsy ways and customs while her mother Ellen is a teacher and encourages her bright and lively daughter to aim high.

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Eager to go to university, and with a scholarship in sight, it looks as though Harry is about to get what she wants until one night, during the yearly hopping, the girl is subjected to a terrible trauma which threatens to end her dreams.

If she is to pursue the future she always wanted, Harry must draw on all her strength and courage to win a scholarship and embark on her new beginnings at Nottingham University. Will she be able to escape the tragedies of her past, or is history doomed to repeat itself? With its soaring passions, human dramas and emotional poignancy, and a gritty evocation of the social constraints on women wanting to break the bounds of domestic expectation in this period, The Gypsy’s Daughter is an enthralling and well-researched saga with the charismatic figure of Harry Loveridge at its beating heart.

The beautiful Kent countryside and the contrasting busy streets of Nottingham, heart-soaring romance and gritty reality, also play roles in this emotionally powerful story which explores mid-20^th century social history and comes complete with an old-fashioned recipe for sweet scones. Delicious summertime reading!
(Zaffre, paperback, £7.99)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Outdoor adventure, green cookery and mind reading

Children are firmly in focus with three entertaining new books which aim to help youngsters navigate their way to a healthier and happier future

Age 8 plus
The Ordnance Survey Kids’
Adventure Book
Ordnance Survey Leisure Ltd and
Dr Gareth Moore

MAP out your summer adventures with a brilliant new book that is bursting with ideas, knowledge… and fun! The brains behind The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book and The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Tour of Britain have created the ultimate guide to adventure with this entertaining introduction to map-reading, navigation and the great outdoors.

If you have a yearning to explore the great outdoors and want to become an expert map-reader, the Ordnance Survey Kids’ Adventure Book is guaranteed to send you on your way armed with hints and tips from the boffins who actually make maps. Created by Ordnance Survey, who make maps for the whole of the British Isles, this bold and busy activity book teaches youngsters how to read a map like an expert, and explore the countryside.

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And when they have worked through all the fun facts and top tips, they can test their skills with map-reading puzzles and challenges guaranteed to provide hours of entertainment.

Along the way, you can discover some of the UK’s amazing National Park areas, like the Lake District, Snowdonia and the New Forest, meet inspirational explorers such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Lizzie Le Blond and Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and learn how use a compass, tackle outdoor fires and call for help if needed. From planning your adventures to packing your walking essentials and mapping your route, there could be no better time to strap on your boots and head for the hills and byways!
(Puffin, hardback, £12.99)

Age 8 plus
Green Kids Cook 
Simple, delicious recipes & top tips
Jenny Chandler 

IN a world increasingly aware of the importance of saving our planet, here is the perfect way to cook up a better, brighter, healthier future. Jenny Chandler, a cookery teacher and food writer, is passionate about the vital role of honest home-cooking in both the health of people and the planet. She believes that children who love to cook possess an invaluable life skill and usually thrive, eating more adventurously too.

Author of Cool Kids Cook, Chandler teaches the cooks of the future how to eat well, how to look after themselves and think about the planet at the same time and works to promote plant-focused diets, with their environmental and nutritional benefits.

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There is a massive rise in interest in veganism, vegetarian cooking and reducing meat consumption and, whilst this book is not purely plant-based, the world of vegetables, grains, pulses, nuts and seeds is at its core, with the odd tip about using sustainable meat and fish. Her new book, Green Kids Cook, includes over 50 easy and adaptable recipes and special feature spreads on the environment, simple ways to be more eco-friendly and even a few fun crafting projects.

There are many ‘green’ cookbooks on the market for adults, but there tends to be a lack of anything inspiring for children. With rising levels of obesity and all the related health issues, Chandler believes it is important to get youngsters eating more veg. And there can be no better way to do that than letting them take the reins in the kitchen.

Green Kids Cook is about learning to cook and eat in the most environmentally sound and sustainable way we can, and having fun with it too with recipes for breakfasts, snacks, soups and salads, mains and sweets. An inspirational and empowering cook book… and the perfect way to engage the next generation of foodies!
(Pavilion, paperback, £14.99)

Age 9 plus
The Book of Me: A Children’s Journal of Self-Knowledge
The School of Life and illustrator Ben Javens

SIT back, make yourself comfortable, and get ready for a fascinating journey… into your own mind! Children are born with a boundless desire to understand the world around them so help them to explore a place they might yet know well through the fun activities and exercises in The Book of Me, a clever and entertaining guided journal of self-discovery

The book is designed to develop children’s understanding of themselves and their feelings and comes from The School of Life, a global organisation helping people lead more fulfilled lives by providing resources for exploring self-knowledge, relationships, work, socialising, finding calm and enjoying culture through content, community and conversation. Children learn that while most of the outside world has already been mapped, there is a whole other world that has yet to be discovered, one that’s accessible only to them… their own minds.

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By travelling ‘inside’ themselves, youngsters can explore their mind, their moods, their imagination, their conscience, and how they determine the course of their lives. Alongside wise and engaging explanations of ideas, each chapter contains a wealth of interactive exercises that together help to create a rich and unique self-portrait. Through writing, drawing, cutting out and colouring in, children can begin to untangle the mysteries of existence and work out who they really are and who they might become.

Illustrated by Ben Javens, and combining psychology, philosophy and sheer fun, The Book of Me is an introduction to the vital art of self-knowledge, showing how it can help us grow into calmer, wiser and more rounded human beings. And with over fifty activities and exercises to enjoy along the way, this is a gentle, reassuring and informative way to help children develop their self-awareness and emotional literacy.
(The School of Life Press, paperback, £18)

Buster is having a 20th birthday ball

THERE are some special celebrations taking place at Buster Books today as the children’s publisher marks its milestone 20^th birthday. The children’s imprint of independent publisher Michael O’Mara Books, Buster loves to create books for curious and creative children and its exciting list includes dozens of great titles, under Buster Reference, from history to astrology to animal facts

The aim is to spark young imaginations and encourage exploration, and they have dozens of brilliant activity books to satisfy the keenest of puzzle masters, budding artists and the deepest of thinkers. But, above all, they want their books to be enjoyed.

With superb art and craft, activity and puzzle sections, including the famous search-and-find series Where’s The…?, as well as early years fiction, picture books and sticker books, why not join in the birthday fun and take a look for a book that is just perfect for your youngsters? And as a double celebration, Buster Books today publish Does a Bear Poo in the Woods? a hilarious rhyming picture book romp from the top team of author Jonny Leighton and illustrator Mike Byrne. In a brilliant story aimed at little ones from the age of three, Leighton and Byrne work their magic on the agonising dilemma of a shy bear who needs a poo but can’t avoid the peering eyes of his fellow forest dwellers.

When he feels the urge to go, there’s only one thing on Barry the bear’s mind… finding a private place where he can poo in peace. But a whole host of woodland animals – who don’t care where they poo – just won’t leave Barry alone!

Does a Bear Poo in the Woods? provides an answer to the age-old question in this funny, laugh-along picture book which is guaranteed to have little ones grinning and giggling from first page to last.

Brought to life by Leighton’s perfectly poo-filled rhyming text and Byrne’s rich, textured and firmly tongue-in-cheek illustrations, Barry’s woodland quest is destined to be a favourite with all the family!

(Buster Books, paperback, £6.99)

Arrowood and the Meeting House Murders

Mick Finlay

WHEN four African visitors fall prey to a ruthless London showman, detective William Arrowood is determined to help them evade capture. But in the mean streets of the capital city in 1896, there are few places of real sanctuary to be found for these hounded travellers, and danger and death are only ever the turn of a corner – or a single heartbeat – away.

Hold your noses and stiffen the sinews as Glasgow-born Mick Finlay (pictured below), the master of gritty, gruesome and gripping historical crime fiction, returns with the fourth hard-hitting book in his atmospheric Arrowood series which brings Victorian London to life in all its glorious, gothic, grimy tumult.

William Arrowood might be a canny and compassionate city sleuth but for well-heeled London society, Sherlock Holmes is the only detective worth hiring. Move south of the murky River Thames and into the realm of the poor and downtrodden, and Arrowood could be the only man you can afford. Led by his senses rather than his clues, the clever but shambling Arrowood is a self-taught psychologist who operates from his shabby rooms over a pudding shop in sleazy Southwark, and despises the ‘deductive’ Holmes, his wealthy clientele and his showy forensic approach to crime.

In Arrowood and the Meeting House Murders, winter is gripping the city and Arrowood’s domestic life is beset by chaos and tension – not least the return to their home of his wife Isabel with a baby boy, Leo, born to her now dead lover.

On a visit to a women’s refuge supported by Arrowood’s sister Ettie, he and his trusty assistant Norman Barnett – a man who knows what it is to have lived amidst despair and human degradation – meet a group of Africans from the Natal who fear for their lives.

The two men and two women are being hunted by Bruno Capaldi, a brutal family gang leader and showman, who is forcing them to perform in his ethnic exhibition in the London Aquarium and then plans to take them on a tour of the country as ‘Zulu exhibits.’

Arrowood and Barnett see them settled inside the walls of a Quaker Meeting House and agree to help the travellers avoid capture by the Capaldis. But when they arrive at the Meeting House the following day, they find a scene of devastation. One of the Africans and an elderly Quaker man have been murdered, and the others have fled into the night. Soon the hunt for the killer leads Arrowood into the dark heart of the city… a shadowy world of freak shows, violence and betrayal, where the hunted and the persecuted have only the slimmest chance of survival.

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These brilliant murder thrillers imagine a teeming, stinking corner of Holmes’ capital city in the last decade of the 19^th century, a place where the poor are hungry and crime is rife, and the streets

The Orange Grove

Rosanna Ley

IF heart-soaring romance, a thirty-year-old mystery, and some of the most mouthwatering locations in stunning Seville stir your soul and set fire to your senses, escape to beautiful Spain alongside master storyteller Rosanna Ley and bask in her new summer sizzler.

Ley, author of a string of dazzling novels, has the gift of blending enthralling family dramas with lush landscapes to deliver heaven-sent, holiday beach reads.

So if a break in foreign climes still seems a world away, immerse yourself in this enchanting and unforgettable story of past love and family secrets which is so evocative that you can almost smell the orange groves and feel the sun on your back.

Holly loves making marmalade. Now she has a chance to leave her stressful city job and pursue her dream of returning to the Dorset landscape of her childhood to open Bitter Orange, a shop celebrating the fruit that first inspired her.

Holly’s mother, Ella, has always loved Seville so why is she reluctant to go back there with her daughter to source products for the shop? What is she frightened of, and does it have anything to do with the old Spanish recipe for Seville orange and almond cake that Ella keeps hidden from her family?

In Seville, where she was once forced to make the hardest decision of her life, Ella must finally face up to the past, while Holly meets someone who poses a threat to all her plans. Seville is a city full of sunshine and oranges but it can also be bittersweet. Will love survive the secrets that await there?

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The Orange Grove is the sort of long, leisurely, lovely read that should be imbibed with slow relish, and preferably with a glass of wine in your hand and the ease of a comfy deckchair.

In her trademark style, Ley explores the fascinating dynamics of family relationships as the painful truth of past events are finally revealed, and mother and daughter seek resolutions amidst the vibrancy of Seville. With a cast of beautifully portrayed characters, simmering romance and an air of unravelling mystery, the action is all played out against the alluring backdrop of the sights, smells and taste of Seville with its alluring cuisine. Perfect summer escapism!
(Quercus, paperback, £7.99)

A Very French Wedding

Maeve Haran

IF your idea of living the dream is buying a château and escaping to la belle France, then step into the world of three old friends and discover that even the best laid plans can bring their own complications!

Continental getaways are teetering precariously this summer so head off to a magical destination courtesy of Maeve Haran, author of a string of warm and witty novels including Having It All, the 1992 bestseller which famously captured the dilemma of the working mother.

Haran, a former television producer and mother of three grown-up children, brings to her fabulous fiction all the drama of her career, the wisdom of her years and the human insight from raising a brood of youngsters, and she truly does have fun in the sun in this glorious celebration of women, friendship and the endless delights of France.

Steph, Jo and Meredith have been friends since school. Their lives have all taken very different paths across the years, but when high-flying businesswoman Meredith buys a romantic château in an idyllic village in the Dordogne she finds she can’t run it alone… so who better to enlist for help than her two old friends?

Together they hope to bring the château back to life and create the most romantic wedding venue in France. And it seems that the nearby village of Bratenac has much more to offer than sun, wine and delicious French food when a handsome chef and his equally charming son, a vigneron from New Zealand, not to mention the local ladies’ luncheon club and a British bulldog named Nelly, all join the party.

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Friends and lovers, old and new, come together and fall apart in deepest France, culminating in a very special château wedding. If you’re feeling starved of sunshine, French cuisine, and maybe even a little romance this summer, A Very French Wedding is guaranteed to sweep you away to lush countryside, meandering rivers, and a magnificent château which only needs Sleeping Beauty waving from the battlements to make it a dream come true. And Haran is certainly on her best form in this sunshine-filled odyssey, a perfect fit for discerning women who like their entertainment to come with a charismatic cast, a seductive backdrop and a storyline full of gentle humour, romance, friendship and new beginnings. It would be summer madness to miss it!
(Pan, paperback, £8.99)