Rural Life

Ten-year-old Grace is in search of a subject for her fifth-grade history project when she learns that her four times-great grandfather once stabbed his lover to death. His grisly act was memorialized in a murder ballad, her aunt tells her, so it must be true. But the lessons of that revelation—to be careful of men and desire—are not just Grace’s to learn. Her family’s tangled past is part of a dark legacy in which the lives of generations of women are affected by the violence immortalized in folk songs like “Knoxville Girl” and “Pretty Polly” reminding them always to know their place.

It's an invitation Steph can't refuse when she's handpicked to compete at the prestigious National Trust property Coleton Fishacre. With the country's top garden designers as rivals and a stunning historic estate for inspiration, it feels like a dream come true. But things quickly turn thorny when the youngest competitor falls mysteriously ill and Steph suspects foul play. Her fears are confirmed when a scream echoes through the gardens, leading her to the horrific sight of a dead body at the foot of the cliff.

An exquisite new collection from a Pulitzer Prize-winning master of the short story, the culmination of a five-decade career: work that takes us beneath the placid surface of suburban life into the elusive strangeness of the everyday.

Eight years ago, Tyler Donnelly left Wishing River, Montana, after a terrible fight with his father and swore he’d never return. But when his father has a stroke, guilt and duty drive him home, and nothing is as he remembers - from the run-down ranch to Lainey Sullivan, who is all grown up now. And darn if he can’t seem to stay away.

A bet turns them from friends to lovers, but a secret stands in the way… What would you do if your friends said they’d donate two-hundred dollars to a kids’ charity if you went on a date with your best mate? Billie is determined not to fall for Jonah Sharpe. The lusty firefighter might rescue kittens from trees and children from burning buildings, but Billie would rather date anyone in New Zealand than this outrageous flirt, especially after her last relationship ended so badly. Her friends have other ideas, though, so she agrees to go on one date. But one turns into two and then into...

A second chance to win back the love of his life… Ever since Beck’s wife, Josie, moved out of their family home with their son, he’s been trying to win her back, but Josie refuses to reconcile. As much as he loves her, he knows if he doesn’t do something drastic, he’s still going to be working in his bar, waiting for her, in twenty years’ time. So he’s applied for a new job in another town, and when their divorce comes through after Christmas, it’ll be time for him to move on. Caught up in a cycle of pain and grief, Josie’s retreated into her shell, cutting herself off ...

Maria Delgado is fully prepared to turn her new inn into the holiday wonderland she’s always dreamed of. Good thing she has a month before Christmas to fix it up, toss up every single decoration imaginable, and restore it to its former glory as Love Springs prime meeting place, right? Except one very grumpy bartender who owns the bar down the block is seriously trying to ruin her festive vibe. Jameson McAllister hates everything about Christmas. The absolute last thing he wants to deal with is the walking winter wonderland who just moved in down the street. So when Maria insists she’s ...

It is All Souls Day, and the spirit of Marcus Conway sits at his kitchen table and remembers. In flowing, relentless prose, Conway recalls his life in rural Ireland: as a boy and man, father, husband, citizen. His ruminations move from childhood memories of his father's deftness with machines to his own work as a civil engineer, from transformations in the local economy to the tidal wave of global financial collapse. Conway's thoughts go still further, outward to the vast systems of time and history that hold us all.

Beginning eight years ago on the outskirts of Birmingham, where car factories have been replaced by Poundland, and London, where frenzied riots give way to Olympic fever, Middle England follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change.

Clare Rivers longs to understand the world, but first she must learn to understand herself ... Born in the 1960s on a UK apple farm, Clare Rivers is a girl out of time, living in a family and a world that makes little sense to her. Determined to carve out her place somehow, and with her deep love of her father to see her through, Clare begins a unique journey to discover the reasons for her own existence. If she can. However, accompanied by the oddities of family, school and the strange lyrical life of the apples, can Clare really find a place within herself to call home? This novel will ...

Clara Whittaker loves Christmas more than anything! So when her aunt and uncle decide to retire, she jumps at the chance to run the family business in Love Springs - the beloved Whittaker Christmas Tree Farm. Clara firmly believes that a little Christmas spirit can solve almost any problem. Unfortunately Christmas is right around the corner and all of Clara's belief in Christmas magic isn't enough to miraculously get the town council to approve the permits for all the new events she wants to hold on the farm... Thankfully she now lives right next door to an experienced farmer who knows a ...

Lisa and Elliot have been best friends ever since the day they met as children. Popular, bright and sporty, Lisa was Elliot's biggest supporter when the school bullies made his life a misery, and for that, he will always be grateful. Twenty years later, life has pulled the pair apart, and Lisa is struggling. Her marriage is floundering, her teenage kids are being secretive and she's so tired she can't think straight. So when Elliot knocks on the door, looking much better than she remembers, she can't help but be delighted to see her old friend again.

After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boys—"the wolves"—alone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: money is tight; her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day; her eldest, Charlie, is preoccupied with a new girlfriend; and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn't as stable as she once believed.

When a Texas rancher meets a stubborn island veterinarian, sparks fly—and not only the romantic kind. Dr. Elaine Hopewell came to Chincoteague Island to rebuild her shattered career, finding solace in the wild ponies she’s devoted herself to protecting. The last thing she needs is Cole Walker—an arrogant Texas cowboy with a poorly behaved cattle dog—disrupting her research and her carefully isolated life. Cole has one mission: investigate a suspicious breeding operation and return to his family’s ranch. Simple and temporary. But when he discovers Ellie’s fight to save ponies ...

Reeling from a bad break-up, Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a fresh start. When she's named the new general manager of the Hotel Nantucket, a Gilded Age gem whose glamour has been left to tarnish, she hopes that her local expertise and charismatic staff can transform the hotel's fortunes—and her own. All she needs to do is win over their new billionaire owner from London, Xavier Darling—and the wildly popular Instagram influencer Shelly Carpenter, who can help put them back on the map.

You may leave home. But home will never leave you. Uri Dolev is a shy young man brought up in a strict, spartan educational system. Born in Germany, his parents, who managed to save themselves from the horrors of the Holocaust, are cold individuals who display few emotions. A moment before being drafted into the military, Uri’s heart is in for a huge disappointment, when Nurit, his great love since adolescence, leaves unexpectedly and moves to Sweden. Uri tries to leave everything behind when he joins the army, rising to become a valued combat officer. However, a major case of espionage ...

In school, Tom, Holly, Saffron, Paul, and Olivia were the best of friends. Twenty years later, they’re barely more than strangers. But when Tom dies in a heartbreaking instance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the four that remain are thrust back into each other’s lives. Quickly falling back into the intimacy of their youth, Holly, Saffron, Paul, and Olivia are forced to reexamine the choices they’ve made. As their secrets rise to the surface, Tom’s death becomes the catalyst that changes them all.

One mysterious letter. Two childhood friends. A love story decades in the making. When a mysterious letter addressed to town socialite Lillian Beaumont appears in Olivia Harper's bookshop, it sets off an unexpected chain of events that will change lives forever. Joining forces with her childhood friend Daniel Whitfield, Olivia begins a journey to uncover the letter's author and the secrets of Lillian's past. As they navigate a web of hidden histories, missed opportunities, and whispers of lost love, will Olivia and Daniel confront their own unresolved feelings and dreams for the future? In ...

Wendell Newman, a young ranch hand in Montana, has recently lost his mother, leaving him an orphan. His bank account holds less than $100, and he owes back taxes on what remains of the land his parents owned, as well as money for the surgeries that failed to save his mother's life. An unexpected deliverance arrives in the form of seven-year-old Rowdy Burns, the mute and traumatized son of Wendell's incarcerated cousin. When Rowdy is put under his care, what begins as an ordeal for Wendell turns into a powerful bond as he comes to love the boy more than he ever thought possible.

When you're blind, you see with your heart... Teddi Life’s tough. I can’t argue with that. I’m not referring to being blind. That brings its own challenges, but I’ve never let it hold me back from doing anything I wanted to do. I’m talking about losing my partner before the age of thirty. I thought I had it all figured out—marriage, kids, the whole parcel, neatly tied up with a bow, but it wasn’t meant to be. While Will lay dying, he made me promise never to love anyone else. I did, of course, because that’s what you do, and I meant it, at the time. And then I met Ethan. ...