D. E. Stevenson

Since being widowed, Caroline Dering has been content to live her life solely for her children. Then the mysterious Robert Shepperton arrives in the village....

Mrs Abbott is flustered at the thought of putting up a lady from the Red Cross, but is happily surprised when she turns out to be an old friend from her previous life as Miss Buncle, infamous writer....

Antonia and her sister Louise grow up as thick as thieves, in a world apart from their detached parents....

One by one the characters of a large attractive family make their appearance but it is through Frederica that the nexus of family problems is finally resolved....

Bel Lamington finds London a very lonely place - until a young artist literally drops in on her rooftop garden....

Married at 19, Katherine had four years of happiness with her beloved Gerald. When he dies, she is left on her own to bring up a stepson, Simon, and her own little twins....

Barbie France has known Edward Steyne all her life - indeed they were childhood sweethearts. Charming, spirited, debonair, he is the ideal companion. Everyone, especially Edward, assumes they will marry one day. But Barbie is uneasy. Edward sometimes behaves very oddly.

Despite his passionate love for Ardfalloch, Iain has been driven to let his home and estate to Mr Hetherington Smith, a wealthy London businessman, and his kindly wife (who was, truth be told, happier when they were poor)....

Marriage to her publisher, Arthur Abbott, has done nothing to stop Barbara Buncle from involving herself in the lives of her neighbours....

When Dinah was 19, Gilbert was a sort of fairy prince. She had loved him madly but gradually she had begun to realise that he was not quite so wonderful....

Gerald Brown is a handsome and brilliant young engineer - wrongfully accused of stealing diamonds from his South African firm....

Beth Kerr is the daughter of the boatman in the small village of Kintoul. Her mother died at an early age, after an unhappy marriage that caused her family to cast her aside....

Summerhills continues the story of the lives and loves of the Ayrton family, in particular that of Major Roger Ayrton M.C., his brother and three young half-sisters....

On a beautiful spring day, Julia Harburn sat on a seat in Kensington Gardens enjoying the sunshine....

Tenth May, 1934. At this moment I look up and see the Man Who Lives Next Door standing on his doorstep watching my antics, and disapproving (I feel sure) of my flowered silk dressing gown....

Elfrida Jane, accustomed to the energetic life of a small-part actress, finds life at Mountain Cross very different. At first her mother's old cliff-top house seems lonely and bleak, compared to the glitter and bustle of the theatre....

Emily Dennistoun lives alone with her elderly tyrannical father at Borriston Hall on the Scottish coast....

The plot centres round Miss Barbara Buncle, a maiden lady who was obliged to write a book because – as she naively explained – her dividends were so poor....

When young doctor Kit Stone returns to Britain, a female associate of his brother Henry secures him a post in a country practice. He meets a selection of charming - and not-so-charming - characters and quickly settles in.

In the romantic atmosphere of the Highlands, anything can happen - and even the cool, efficient Charlotte surprises herself....