検索キーワード： ナレーター "Maggie Ollerenshaw" すべてのカテゴリー

When Laura Thyme goes to Baffington to visit her cousin's recently-ordained son, she witnesses a sudden death. A year later, Rosemary and Laura return to help with an ambitious Medieval Fayre, organised by the local celebrity, Franklin Danvers. Their task is to refurbish the neglected churchyard, but on their first morning they discover a body, pierced through the heart with an arrow. Unfortunately, most of the villagers have just received tuition in archery, and several have proved excellent shots!

After just a year of close, loving marriage, Ruth has been widowed. Her beloved husband, Ben, has been killed in a tragic accident, and Ruth is left suddenly and totally bereft. Unable to share her sorrow and grief with Ben's family, who are dealing with their pain in their own way, Ruth becomes increasingly isolated, burying herself in her cottage in the countryside as the seasons change around her. Only Ben's young brother, Jo, is able to reach out beyond his own grief to offer Ruth the compassion which might reclaim her from her own devastating unhappiness.

In the Prince of Wales Hotel and the shabby terraces and tearooms of Westbourne, retired lives run their course - all, in their different ways, anticipating crisis.

Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know her own collection again. A book which is left on a shelf for a decade is a dead thing, but it is also a chrysalis, packed with the potential to burst into new life.

Five immaculate short stories dealing with the tentative-to-frantic strategies of isolated beings distanced from unresponsive societies.

Sixty is the new 40, we're constantly told. Or is it that 70 is the new 50? Either way, there's nothing middle of the road about middle age. From coping with bodies that are 'heading south' to rampant ageism in the workplace, this time in our lives, in the words of Bette Davis, is 'no place for sissies'.

Part social satire, part police procedural, Bill James returns with the stunning prequel to Tip Top - In the drug-ridden Whitsun and Temperate housing estates a connection, once made, is only ever one thing: trouble. Trouble for the journalist whose investigation into the estates leads to his murder; trouble for policewoman Esther Davidson, whose job it is to arrest the killer; and trouble for TV producer Larry Edgehill, who becomes more involved with a Romeo and Juliet-esque cross-estate romance than he ever would have wanted.

A fascinating biography of Freda Bedi, an English woman who broke all the rules of gender, race, and religious background to become both a revolutionary in the fight for Indian independence and then a Buddhist icon. She was the first Western woman to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun - but that pioneering ordination was really just one in a life full of revolutionary acts. Freda Bedi broke the rules of gender, race, and religion - in many cases before it was thought that the rules were ready to be challenged.

Susan Frobisher and Julie Wickham are turning 60. They live in a small Dorset town and have been friends since school. On the surface Susan has it all - a lovely house and a long marriage to accountant Barry. Life has not been so kind to Julie, but now, with several failed businesses and bad relationships behind her, she has found stability: living in a council flat and working in an old people's home.

While searching for a stolen artifact, the notorious Mr R has his attention caught by the unlikeliest of treasures. Stumbling upon his dowdy cousin Elinor on the Continent, Theo Ravenhurst hardly believes his luck. His dangerous lifestyle appears to have finally caught up with him, and her family connections could be put to excellent use. Theo is convinced Elinor’s drab exterior disguises a fiery, passionate nature.

During one glorious summer between the wars, the realities of life and the sexual ritual dance of the adult world creep into the life of young Margaret Marsh. Her father, preaching the doctrine of the unsavoury Primal Saints; her mother, bitterly nostalgic for what might have been; Charles and Binkie, anchored in the past and a game of words; dying Mrs Frayling and Lydia the maid, given to the vulgar enjoyment of life - all contribute to Margaret's shattering moment of truth.

This collection of narratives from autistic adults is structured around their decades of experience of life, covering 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60 and 70s+. These are varied and diverse, spanning different continents, genders, sexualities and ethnicities, yet the author highlights the common themes that unite them and skilfully draws out these threads. Each chapter is based on accounts from one age group and includes accounts from people of that age, giving an insight into the history of autism and signifying how gaining a diagnosis (or not) has changed people's lives over time.

This tells the often hilarious story of two middle-aged women, Pat and Sam, intent on fleeing hearth and home for a blissful, family-free fortnight of drawing and cooking classes – only to end up at leaky old Hartley House. There, the ever-resourceful Aunt Biddy is struggling to get her nephew Tom’s life back on track by opening his only asset as an idyllic country retreat.

Liverpool, 1915. Martha Rossi lives in a tenement with her husband and their five children. Despite working all the hours she can, the family doesn't have much money. So when Martha’s 14-year-old son, Joe, proudly enlists to fight for his country just to earn his mother an extra shilling, Martha is horrified. Despite her pleas and protests, Joe is dispatched to France within weeks. Unbeknown to them all, Joe’s act of selfless heroism will have huge implications for Martha and all the family.

A newly-widowed woman has done a runner. She just jumped in her car, abandoned her house in London and kept on driving until she reached the Norfolk coast. Now she’s rented a tiny cottage and holed herself away there. She’s not quite sure, but thinks she may be having a bit of a breakdown. All she knows is that she can’t sleep and may be drinking a little more than she ought to. But as her story unfolds we discover that her marriage was far from perfect.

I thought moving to this quiet cul-de-sac was the fresh start my husband and I needed, escaping the noise of our cramped flat in Hounslow. I left India and all that was familiar for a new life with him in England. But my husband works all hours, leaving me alone in a house that doesn’t feel like a home. Our neighbours notice the bruises on my arms. They draw the obvious conclusions. They seem kind, but they’re hiding something. I just can’t shake the feeling that someone is always watching me . . . waiting. My husband’s working late. Again. That’s when I see it.