Category: female friendship
Bella’s Countryside Christmas by Claire Huston
An uplifting festive romance perfect for fans of Hallmark Christmas movies and authors such as Phillipa Ashley, Trisha Ashley, Sue Moorcroft, Rebecca Raisin and Donna Ashcroft. Fleeing her heartache and horrendous job, Bella stumbles upon a December wedding in the beautiful village of Haileybrook and the spirit of the season moves her to act as a fake date to handsome stranger Jack. Jack and … Read More Bella’s Countryside Christmas by Claire Huston
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
From the author of The Stationery Shop of Tehran, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless … Read More The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
+ Catholic Church, female friendship, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, history, loss, love, review, secrets
Broken Madonna by Anna Lucia
Elena Ferrante meets Bernadette of Lourdes in a story of love, loss and belonging, spanning post WW2 Italy through to 90’s England Italy 1949At an orphanage in the poverty-stricken Apennine Mountains, 15-year-old Adelina has only one friend – enigmatic, fragile Elisabetta, 11. When Elisabetta claims to see the Madonna by the river, Adelina has doubts. But after Elisabetta appears to heal a traumatised young … Read More Broken Madonna by Anna Lucia
+ depression, female friendship, fiction, fifties, gay, gothic, grief, journal, loss, love, marriage, mental health, mental illness, murder, obsession, psychiatrist, psychologist, review, secrets
The Night Counsellor by L K Pang
When silence dawns, only dusk will break it. In the shadowy corridors of The Beaumont, a mental hospital haunted by its dark history as an asylum, a disturbing mystery unfolds when in 1953, a woman is found mute, naked, and drenched in blood on the outskirts of West Yorkshire. With no memory of her past and no one to claim her, she is dubbed … Read More The Night Counsellor by L K Pang
The House Of Fever by Polly Crosby
A gripping and Gothic new historical mystery. Can she unlock the secrets of The House of Fever? 1935, Hedoné House, a luxurious sanatorium for the creative elite dedicated to the groundbreaking treatment of tuberculosis. As the doctor’s new wife, Agnes Templeton has pledged her life to a house of fever. But Hedoné is no ordinary hospital. High society rubs shoulders with artists, poets and … Read More The House Of Fever by Polly Crosby
+ art, female friendship, fiction, friendship, jealousy, journal, love, murder, obsession, relationships, review, rivalry, Scottish Highlands, secrets, thriller
The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
When a small bone at the centre of a famous sculpture is revealed to be human, three people become intimately connected by the secrets and lies that put it there. Set on a Scottish tidal island connected to the mainland for just a few hours each day, and home to only one inhabitant, The Blue Hour asks questions of ambition, power, art and perception. … Read More The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
The Portrait Girl by Nicole Swengley
The Portrait Girl thrusts its bereaved and beleaguered heroine, jewellery designer Freya Wetherby, into an astonishing world of re-enacted Victorian art salons and the devious machinations of modern art theft.Seeking the identity of a miniature portrait found in her late mother’s belongings, Freya becomes enraptured not only by this mysterious young woman but also by the hypnotic personality of art collector Ralph Merrick and … Read More The Portrait Girl by Nicole Swengley
+ crime fiction, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, loss, love, murder, review, superstition, thriller, witchcraft
Death Rites by Sarah Ward
Professor Carla James is an archaeologist with an interest in more than just bones and stones. She wants to understand the emotions behind the sites she investigates. Desperate for a change of scene following the death of her husband, Carla takes a job at Jericho, an elite New England college. On her first day, Carla is asked to represent the department at an unusual … Read More Death Rites by Sarah Ward
+ crime fiction, female friendship, friendship, lies, murder, police drama, police procedural, review, secrets
The Reunion by MJ Arlidge and Steph Broadribb
A skull looks up at Jennie from the trench, but it’s not the chalk-white bone and grimacing teeth that send her reeling. It’s the heart-shaped gold pendant, its delicate chain snapped in two. The necklace Hannah never took off. It can’t be Hannah. But it is. When Jennie Whitmore arrives at her school reunion, she immediately regrets her decision. Why would she choose to surround herself … Read More The Reunion by MJ Arlidge and Steph Broadribb
+ adoption, charity, female friendship, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, loss, love, memory, motherhood, rape, review, secrets, Victorian Britain
The House of Hope by Joanne Clague
In the dead of night, a young woman is found on the doorstep of the House of Help for Friendless Girls… Winter 1885. Matron Hetty Barlow suspects Hope is lying when she claims to be suffering from amnesia. The girl is taken in, but it isn’t long before her pregnancy is discovered, which could put the future of the house – a new experiment in dealing … Read More The House of Hope by Joanne Clague
+ abuse, alcoholism, child abuse, childhood, dark humour, female friendship, fiction, murder, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, secrets, thriller, twins
Don’t Tell A Soul by Jessica Huntley
She thinks she’s safe. She couldn’t be more wrong. Elle, desperate to escape her abusive home, runs away to a seemingly cute small town where she gets a job as a waitress. And meets Vera, who offers her an attic room in her large house. For the first time in years, Elle feels something like contentment as she bonds with Vera who becomes almost … Read More Don’t Tell A Soul by Jessica Huntley
+ 1970s, adoption, Catholic Church, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, Historical fiction, Ireland, loss, motherhood, rape, religion, review, secrets, seventies
The Walk by Emma Marns
‘The two girls sat in the back of the car, their destination unknown and their crimes worse than murder.’ In November 1979, Ailbe and Maire disappear from their rural village in Ireland, never to return. Pregnant out of wedlock, they are now outcasts from society. Genre: Historical fiction / Literary fiction / ContemporaryPublisher: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers Believing they will at least have each other, the girls … Read More The Walk by Emma Marns
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