Contemporary Family Life

French-born American chef Sophie Valroux had one dream: To be part of the 1% of female chefs running a Michelin-starred restaurant. From spending summers with her grandmother, who taught her the power of cooking and food, to attending the Culinary Institute of America, Sophie finds herself on the cusp of getting everything she's dreamed of.

Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her idyllic Nantucket-esque island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past - or the island - Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice.

When the unthinkable happens, and Claire Thompson's husband dies suddenly, she's left wondering how to go on. Being a wife and mother is all she's ever known. Grieving and lost, she decides to take her family for one last trip to their beach house before she's forced to put it up for sale. The house is filled with happy memories, and it seems like a great way to remember Bryan.

Voilà deux ans que Maëva s'est confrontée aux démons de son passé. Elle a enfin obtenu les réponses qu'elle croyait indispensables à son équilibre, mais à quel prix ? En pensant trouver la paix, elle a déclenché la guerre et de nouveaux problèmes se profilent à l'horizon.

Teresa “Toots” Loudenberry has a knack for finding adventure, even when she’s not looking for it. But ever since Sophie convinced her friends to start holding regular séances, life in Los Angeles is getting a little too dramatic even for Toots’s tastes. When Ida receives a message from the beyond suggesting that her late husband was murdered, a spooked Toots decides it’s time the Godmothers left LA for her hometown of Charleston. Meanwhile, Mavis has been acting suspiciously....

The final book in the landmark Cazalet Chronicles, recently broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It is the 1950s and as the Cazalets' beloved matriarch, the Duchy, passes away, she takes with her the last remnants of a world - of great houses and servants, of class and tradition - in which the Cazalets have thrived. Louise, now divorced, becomes entangled in a painful affair; while Polly and Clary must balance marriage and motherhood with their own ideas and ambitions.

Pilgrim Cove native Rachel Goodman has come home to prove to the town and her family that she's not a loser. She's the new assistant principal for academic studies at Pilgrim Cove High. Marine biologist Jack Levine has a woman in every port and his boat, The Wanderer, is his most prized possession. When he winds up teaching science in Pilgrim Cove, he finds he likes the small town very much. So what if his boss finds him difficult to work with? But sparks fly whenever they're together. And then Jack and his boat go missing....

Thelma is the busy single mum of 12-year-old Louis. When he is hit by a lorry one morning, their lives are changed for ever. Louis falls into a coma, and if he doesn't regain consciousness in the next four weeks, he may never wake up again. At home in Louis' bedroom, a devastated Thelma finds a list of all the things he wants to accomplish in his life and suddenly sees a way to survive: she will fulfil her son's dreams, in the hope that it will bring him back.

When Brid Harcus is sent to the Orkney Islands, in the far reaches of Scotland, she has high hopes for her trip being short, straightforward and lucrative. Her mother has inherited a cottage from her Great Aunt Jennet which has been unlived in and unloved for decades, and the time has come to make it habitable and saleable. Easy, right? But Midness Cottage has other ideas. For one thing it’s rather more ‘fixer upper’ than Country Living. And Brid definitely hadn’t planned for the strongly held local belief that the cottage is meant to be the home of the Orkney Witch.

When Empress starts at Aniya's school, they're not exactly best friends. But, when the two teenage girls accidentally cast a spell on their 16th birthday and end up switching bodies, they quickly learn that friendship is the most important magic of all.

The scent of flowers and change is in the air for the Wingate sisters. With her husband gone for weeks at a stretch, Rose's unwavering enthusiasm is tested, forcing her to remove her famous rose-colored glasses and face a family crisis. While Susannah plans an anniversary surprise for Rex, Chloe finds the courage to try one more career path, with help coming from the one constant in her life, her precious furbaby, Lady Bug.

The Fergusons make their home in a small California town where life is supposed to resemble paradise, but for 13-year-old Rosie, reality is a bit harsher. Her mother, a recovering alcoholic, is still beset by grief over the early death of her first husband. Rosie's stepfather is a struggling writer plagued by doubts and hilarious paranoia. And Rosie, aching in the bloom of young womanhood and obsessed with tournament tennis, finds that her athletic gifts now place her in peril, as a shadowy man who stalks her from the bleachers seems to be developing an obsession of his own.

It's 1984 - and it's an important time for the children of Ragley-on-the Forest school.... Their school choir is to sing a carol in a church in York, and it's actually going to be on television! Helping to keep his excited children - not to mention their parents - under control during these momentous events taxes Jack and his staff to the limit. And at the same time, Jack has his own problems to deal with....

Sarah Talbot never thought she'd live to see another birthday. But through indomitable will and expert medical care, she has beaten the cancer and reopened her bedding boutique, Cloud Nine. In celebration, Sarah's friends give her a special present: a ride over her upstate New York town in a chartered plane. It is on this flight that Sarah meets Will Burke, a former Navy pilot, whose outward confidence hides the wounds he has yet to heal.

Seventeen-year-old Maddie is left reeling after the unexpected passing of her beloved father. No one has any idea why he betrayed them all so spectacularly, but that’s exactly what his death feels like: a betrayal. With their world shattered, Maddie’s grieving mother sends her to spend a few months with her grandparents, thinking a change of scenery will do her good. Susan and Frank, Maddie’s grandparents, are heartbroken over the loss of their son, but they welcome Maddie as an addition to their long-empty nest.

Join Ann Brashares' beloved sisterhood once again in a dazzling, fearless novel. It's a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby, here and now, past and future, together and apart.

Evie's book club friends are the people in the world she relies on most. When one of the newer members finds herself confronted with her past, the rest of the club will do what they can to help, endangering the existence of the bookshop without realizing it. When Charmaine's past comes calling, she reverts to her old way of living—running and hiding. She's not used to having friends. But on Coral Island, everyone is a friend. And this time, Charmaine will find that being part of a close-knit community is the one thing that will save her.

Talking to other people isn't Kate Bailey's favorite activity. She'd much rather be out on the lake, soaking up the solitude and sunshine. So when her best friend, Alana, convinces Kate to join their high school's podcast, Kate is not expecting to be chosen as the host. Now she'll have to answer calls and give advice on the air? Impossible. Then the podcast gets a call from an anonymous guy, asking for advice about his unnamed crush. Kate is pretty sure that the caller is gorgeous Diego Martinez, and even surer that the girl in question is Alana.

Eva has only been married for eight months when her husband, Jackson, is swept to his death while fishing. Weighed down by confusion and sorrow, Eva decides to take leave of her midwifery practice in London and visit Jackson's estranged family in Tasmania with the hope of grieving together. Instead, she discovers that the man she loved so deeply is not the man she thought she knew. Jackson's father and brother reveal a dark past, exposing the lies her marriage was built upon.

Amani is keeping secrets. On the surface, she's envied as a successful influencer with millions of followers, but no one, not even her found family, knows the truth. She's burnt out, fed up, and devastated over the news that her chances of ever having a baby are slim to none, and she's running out of time.