Rural Life

This Christmas Eve, I had one simple plan: close up the family café and face another quiet night alone. But fate had other ideas when Trystan—the boy who was once my best friend and first love—walked back into my life, dusted with snow and wearing a Marine uniform that made my heart skip a beat. I never expected to see him again, let alone offer him a place to stay when a canceled flight leaves him stranded. Under the glow of twinkling Christmas lights and over cups of hot cocoa, old memories resurface and the sparks between us reignite. But letting him in means risking the walls I've ...

Journalist Sadie is home for the first time in fifteen years, staying in her small childhood bedroom as she deals with her estranged father’s death and her surprising inheritance. When Sadie meets Rebecca, the reclusive new owner of the solitary cottage at the edge of nearby Whisper Lake, she’s taken aback by the older woman’s request for help: ‘I need to find my family. Will you help me?’. She’s even more surprised when afterwards, Rebecca acts as if she never made the plea.

As a toddler, Elodie Jacques was abandoned by her mother and left in the care of her French grandmother, Gabriella in Dartmouth, Devon. Now 24 years old, Elodie struggles to reconcile the deep anger for the mother she has never since seen. When Gabriella unexpectedly announces she wants the two of them to spend Christmas and her 70th birthday in her home town of Juan-les-Pins in the South of France, Elodie is thrilled. Gabriella meanwhile has her own ulterior motives for wanting to return after 40 years, a homecoming potentially filled with memories, secrets and recriminations.

In this atmospheric and profoundly moving debut, Cathy and Daniel live with their father, John, in the remote woods of Yorkshire, in a house the three of them built themselves. John is a gentle brute of a man, a former enforcer who fights for money when he has to, but who otherwise just wants to be left alone to raise his children. When a local landowner shows up on their doorstep, their precarious existence is threatened, and a series of actions is set in motion that can only end in violence.

Meridy Dresden was once a free-spirited, fun-loving girl. All that changed when the boy she loved was killed in a tragic fire. Since then, she alone has carried the burden of a terrible secret. Years later, married to a wonderful man and mother of a teenage son, she is shocked to learn that a childhood friend is being blamed for that long-ago fire. Fearful but determined, Meridy returns to the South Carolina Lowcountry and summons the courage to make a decision that may destroy her well-ordered life, her family’s reputation, her contented marriage, and everything she’s worked so hard to protect....

When she was still a child, Lucy Nelson had her alcoholic failure of a father thrown in jail. Ever since then she has been trying to reform the men around her, even if that ultimately means destroying herself in the process. With his unerring portraits of Lucy and her hapless, childlike husband, Roy, Roth has created an uncompromising work of fictional realism, a vision of provincial American piety, yearning, and discontent that is at once pitiless and compassionate.

When Pixie Sampson's husband tragically dies, she inherits the beautiful Château Quiltu in Brittany, Northern France. But unbeknown to her, she also inherits a mysterious lodger, Justine Martin and her four-year-old son, Ferdie. Heartbroken and with her adventurous mum, Gwen, in tow, they travel to France to put the château on the market but are soon drawn into a quest to seek the château's secrets. Who is Justine? Why is she living at the château? How did she know her husband?

When a young man is found lying on a station platform with a hole in his head, DI Kate Young is called in to investigate the grisly murder. But the killing is no one-off. As bodies start to pile up, she is faced with what might be an impossible task - to hunt down a ruthless killer on a seemingly random rampage.

Take a look at farm life in the 1950s After getting out of the Army in 1945, Bud Mertens embarks on his new life as a civilian. He finds love, attempts various career paths, and finally settles on farming—a life he was born into. Follow Bud and his wife Ida as they struggle to raise their family and try to make a success of farming. Despite many setbacks, they achieve more than they ever hoped they could. Humorous and heartwarming, you’ll laugh and cry along with Bud as he faces new challenges almost daily. Armed with only an 8th grade education, Bud not only survives, he thrives, ...

Laurel Hill and her precocious daughter, Skye, have always been each other's everything. The pair lives on Lake Superior, where the local school has classes of just four children and the nearest hospital is a helicopter ride away. Though they live frugally, eking out a living with Laurel's patchwork of jobs, their deep love for each other feels like it can warm them even on the coldest of nights. What more do they need? One otherwise normal afternoon, their landlord decides to evict them in favor of a more profitable summer rental, and they are pushed farther to the margins.

Dubious diamond devotees and a dead loan shark. With the dad she thought dead suspected of murder, can she keep him from doing hard time? Elizabeth Trout thinks she must have rocks in her head. After receiving a crazy call that the father she never knew is cooling his heels in the local jail, the newlywed graphic designer posts bail and invites him home. But the family reunion loses its luster when she learns her old man is under suspicion for murder after he was found near a corpse. With the sheriff zeroing in on her dad and no other suspects on ice, Elizabeth starts her own investigation ...

Mrs McGinty died from a brutal blow to the back of her head. Suspicion fell immediately on her shifty lodger, James Bentley, whose clothes revealed traces of the victim's blood and hair. Yet something was amiss: Bentley just didn't look like a murderer.

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life—boating, swimming, and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies—he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door.

When 21-year-old Christopher’s life in the city becomes unbearable, he decides to spend the summer with his distant step-grandfather, Percival, on his farm. In the quiet of the countryside, Christopher finds himself drawn to Percival in ways he never expected. Percival, a rugged man with a commanding presence, has spent years keeping others at a distance. But Christopher’s arrival stirs unfamiliar interest in him, and as the two navigate the rhythms of farm life together, their connection grows. Christopher and Percival must grapple with the lines they’re tempted to cross—and the ...

Late September 1957. Henry and Effie, very young newlyweds from Georgia, arrive in Cape May, New Jersey, for their honeymoon only to find the town is deserted. Feeling shy of each other and isolated, they decide to cut the trip short. But before they leave, they meet a glamorous set of people who sweep them up into their drama. The empty beach town becomes their playground, and as they sneak into abandoned summer homes, go sailing, walk naked under the stars, make love, and drink a great deal of gin, Henry and Effie slip from innocence into betrayal, with irrevocable consequences.

He’s everything I prayed for, but Brody’s too good to be true. Majesty Millions-Jones I came back to Logansport Rivers, to rebuild my Nana’s house and my life. Running with bands, singing in clubs, and bad relationships has finally taken a toll on me. All I want is a good country living, filled with memories and what my grandmother loved; Jesus, singing, cows, and corn. Yet, I’m getting more than I bargained for… Brody Lane. Brody Lane She’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And I remember the summer I vowed to make her mine. She was fifteen; I was nineteen, and ...

Growing up in the small town was a nightmare. When the end nears, can five grieving siblings forgive the abuse of the past? Tessa Whitley dreads going home. Faced with moving an abusive father into memory care, the pragmatic forty-something reunites with her siblings to begin the arduous task of helping an angry man who barely remembers them. But even as his dementia causes his mind and behavior to deteriorate, the shy woman finds strength when her estranged elder sister makes a surprise visit. Reliving the days when the family prodigal was her sole protector, Tessa struggles to balance the...

Abandoned by his father after his mother drowns in a frozen Minnesota lake, fifteen-year-old Wes Ballot is stranded with coldhearted grandparents and holed up in his mother’s old bedroom, surrounded by her remnants and memories. As the wait for his father stretches unforgivably into months, a local girl, whose own mother died a brutal death, captures his heart and imagination, giving Wes fresh air to breathe in the suffocating small town.

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 ...

Elsa's middle child, Mallory, is often described as the quietest and sweetest of all the Remington women—just as happy-go-lucky as Elsa, agreeable as Janine, and punctual as Nancy. Needless to say, it never pleased Mallory to be overlooked. But after her accidental pregnancy with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Lucas, plus the death of her father and grandfather in the span of a year, she's had very little time to ask herself that pivotal question: Who am I?