Heartwarming Womens Fiction

It is 1937, and Alice, Edith and Marg continue to face hardships every day, growing up on one of the poorest streets in Blackpool. Penniless, their friendship has helped them survive this far, but it'll take more than that to see them through the dark days ahead. Alice is coping with a violent father. Marg is left reeling after a dark secret about her birth comes to light and threatens to destroy the life she knows, and Edith is fighting to protect her alcoholic mother from the shame of their neighbours and keep her brother on the straight and narrow.

The friendship starts with a letter...from aspiring writer Sarah to blunt but witty journalist Helen, complaining about Helen's most recent book review. And there begins a correspondence that blossoms into a friendship which spans over two decades. As the years pass, the women exchange details of loves lost and found, of family joys and upheavals. Sarah's letters filled with thoughts on her outwardly perfect marriage and her aching desire for children, and Helen's on the struggle of raising her young daughter alone.

Twenty-five years ago, Joanna Johnson fled her hometown of Rivers End, leaving behind her best friend, her first love, and a dark secret. When a mysterious letter arrives, she’s forced to confront the past she’s tried so hard to forget… Returning to the picturesque coastal town, Joanna is drawn back into the world she left behind. Walking along the sandy stretch of beach below her aunt’s cottage in Willow Bay, the memories come flooding back of all the dreams she cherished until betrayal and a stormy night at sea tore them apart.

Thirty-five-year-old Victoria Sharpe has a decent job as an illustrator, a perfectly good if predictable relationship, and great friends. So why can’t she shake the feeling that something is missing? Keen to let off steam, she sets off on a night out with her best friends. Next morning–one reckless decision later–she resolves to make some seriously overdue changes to achieve the fulfilment she craves. Then she gets devastating news that shatters everything she ever wanted for her future.

Esther's life isn’t perfect (whose is?) - but she’s happy enough living in her little flat with her boyfriend, Josh. But that’s about to change. Bored at work, she wishes that something, anything, would happen to liven her life up. Unfortunately, her wish comes true: when Josh calls her from the airport to tell her he’s going to work in a bar in Spain and that she’s not invited, Esther is devastated, and her unhappiness is compounded when she discovers she can actually view the bar via a webcam link and watch him chatting up other girls.

A year ago, Lydia became a widow at 38 when she lost her beloved husband to cancer, and despite the support of her friends and her teenage daughter Holly, she’s had a hard time moving on from the loss. She feels stuck, uncertain of how to carry out her husband’s final wish that she do something that scares her. Angela Collins has what seems like the perfect life - a beautiful little boy, a loving husband, and a good career. But that all comes crumbling down.

A wedding dress passed down through generations unravels the tangled threads of three women's lives in a novel of friendship, family, and forgiveness from the USA Today best-selling author of Ten Beach Road.

Armed with a super-sized backpack full of optimism, Jess sets off in search of sun, sea and a much-needed new beginning. Things don’t get off to a good start. Instead of sunshine, she’s met with torrential rain. Her job prospects are as dismal as the weather and that friend-of-a-friend she was meant to stay with has fallen through. Just as Jess is homeless, jobless and wishing she’d gone for the waterproof mascara, she runs into the last person she expected to see. Sam.

Daisy Harrop has always felt like she exists in the background, and since her mother stopped getting out of bed, her life has come to a complete standstill. Daisy would give anything to leave the shabbiest house on the street and be more like the golden Kelleways next door, with their perfectly raked driveway and flourishing rose garden… Winnie Kelleway is proud of the beautiful family she’s built. They’ve had their ups and downs—hasn’t everyone? But this weekend, celebrating her golden wedding anniversary is truly proof of their happiness, a joyful gathering for all the neighbours to see.

Seattle, 2015. Emily Reed refuses to dwell on her emotions. When the first-year attorney is assigned a church archival project, she dives into the records to hide from her own heartache. But when she discovers her parents were married in this very chapel, she is forced to confront the grief she buried a decade ago.

Early into the tempestuous decade of her thirties, Rae Langdon struggles to work through a grief she never anticipated. With her father, Connor, she tends to their Ohio farm, a forty-acre spread that itself has enjoyed better days. As memories sweep through her, some too precious to bear, Rae gives shelter from a brutal winter to a teenager named Quinn Galecki.

Abby Hendrix would do anything to help with her beloved sister’s wedding, even play tour guide to the off-puttingly brilliant — and unexpectedly gorgeous — brother of the groom. She’s a small-town schoolteacher; he’s a gifted surgeon. Nothing intimidating about that! She’ll just ask him to help her plan a top secret surprise for the wedding. No pressure.

As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie is hired by London brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to help plan the perfect wedding and ensure their big day goes off without a hitch. When she’s hired by Lady Victoria Swann - a former model and “It Girl" of 1970’s London; now the Marchioness of Meade - for the society wedding of the year, it should be a chance for Sophie to prove just how talented she is.

Death is coming to Bruncliffe; its target is Samson O’Brien. Oblivious to his impending date with fate, Samson is busy juggling a number of cases at the Dales Detective Agency. Too busy, in fact, to notice his partner behaving oddly. Because Delilah Metcalfe knows what is coming. A hitman. Sent from London with one objective: to finally silence the troublesome O’Brien before his corruption case can make it to court.

Forty-one years old, the last of her friends to marry, and down to a size 12, Lauren Leo is in her gown and about to tie the knot. There’s just one thing missing: the groom. With one blindsiding text, Lauren is unceremoniously dumped at the altar. In the aftermath, her mother is an endless well of unsolicited advice (Stay on your diet and freeze your eggs). Her sisters only add to the Great Humiliation: one is planted on Lauren’s couch while the other is too perfect.

The days are turning colder, preparations are under way for the Winter Fest, and everyone is hoping for a little holiday magic on the Finfarran peninsula. And as Cassie Fitzgerald, fresh from Toronto, is about to discover, there’s more to the holidays on the west coast of Ireland than mistletoe and mince pies. Enchanted by the small town where her dad was born, Cassie makes friends and joins local librarian Hanna Casey’s writing group in Lissbeg Library. But the more she’s drawn into the festivities leading up to her first Irish Christmas, the more questions she wants to ask.

As the only female cabinet maker in the valley in 1935, Frankie Redfern is unusual. She faces prejudice even from her own mother. But she's content working for her father and is unwilling to give up her independence or the work she loves for marriage. When her husband falls gravely ill, Frankie's mother takes over, causing serious trouble for her daughter. And her cousin, an unscrupulous local builder, starts to help her for his own reasons.

Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors - arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live the other side of the valley. Nestled amidst soft, rolling apple orchards in the depths of the Somerset countryside, life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making. The farm is idyllic and everyone falls under its spell. But its thick stone walls hold many secrets, and this summer everything will change for the family living there....

White Oaks Inn has always been at the heart of Christmas celebrations for Scarlett Bailey and her family. Her adored gran has owned the rambling, old-fashioned hotel, filled with the scent of cinnamon and chocolate, since Scarlett was a little girl. But now her gran’s home is under threat. And it looks like it could be the Baileys’ last Christmas together there....

Enya’s life has become small. Her husband’s death has left her bereft, and though she’s only in her early fifties, she’s happiest looking after her son, Aiden, his childhood sweetheart, Holly, and her beloved cat, Pickle. So the spark she feels for the stranger who bumps into her car in the airport car park is a complete shock. But Enya can’t stop thinking about him. Then, when Aiden makes a life-changing decision, Enya suddenly finds her close-knit community thrown into chaos.