D. E. Stevenson

When Will Hastie finally decides to retire from the military and return home to Scotland, he intends to settle down on his family estate and learn to become a farmer....

1940 finds Adam Southey in a mood of bitter resentment: he cannot join up because he is lame. But at the school where he is teaching, the headmaster, Sam Cooke, is a brilliant scientist. And Adam suddenly finds that the battleground is not the only place to fight a war — for Dr.

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....

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....

Hester Christie has spent a blissful 18 months living in Kenya, where husband Tim is posted. But now it’s back to England to be with her two nearly grown children....

Franz von Heiden, son of a Nazi official and an English mother, comes to England early in 1938 to visit his English cousins - and study them. He is both accepted and entertained by Wynne Braithwaite's family and friends....

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....

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

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....

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....

Young Frances Field arrives in a scenic coastal village in Scotland, having escaped her dreary life as an orphan. Once there, she encounters an array of eccentric locals, the occasional roar of enemy planes overhead and three army wives....

With husband Tim stationed in Egypt and her children at boarding school, Hester Christie finds herself at a loose end, until her friend Grace takes her at her word and finds her a job with the formidable Erica Clutterbuck, who has opened a new hotel in the Scottish Borders....

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....

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....

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.

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

Best-selling author D. E. Stevenson’s charming fictional alter ego, Hester Christie - or 'Mrs Tim', as she is affectionately known to friends of her military husband - was first introduced in Mrs Tim of the Regiment, published in 1932....

Jane Fortune causes a stir when she arrives in the small community of Dingleford....

Five young Ayrtons all grew up at Amberwell, playing in the gardens and preparing themselves to venture out into the world....