The Hidden Palace – Dinah Jefferies

**** 1925. Among the ancient honey-coloured walls of the tiny island of Malta, strangers slip into the shadows and anyone can buy a new name. Rosalie Delacroix flees Paris for a dancer’s job in the bohemian clubs deep in its winding streets. 1944. Running from the brutality of war in France, Florence Baudin faces a new life. But her estranged mother makes a desperate request: to find … Continue reading The Hidden Palace – Dinah Jefferies

Daisy Darker – Alice Feeney

**** Daisy Darker is arriving at her grandmother’s house for her eightieth birthday. It is Halloween, and Seaglass – the crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island – is at one with the granite rocks it sits on. The Darker family haven’t all been in the same place for over a decade, and when the tide comes in they’ll be cut off … Continue reading Daisy Darker – Alice Feeney

The Last Party – Clare Mackintosh

***** On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His lakeside holiday homes are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbours. This will be the party to end all parties. But not everyone is there to celebrate. By midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake. On … Continue reading The Last Party – Clare Mackintosh

Meredith, Alone – Claire Alexander

**** Meredith Maggs hasn’t left her house in 1,214 days. But she insists she isn’t alone. She has her cat Fred. Her friend Sadie visits when she can. There’s her online support group, StrengthInNumbers. She has her jigsaws, favourite recipes, her beloved Emily Dickinson, the internet, the Tesco delivery man and her treacherous memories for company. But something’s about to change. Whether Meredith likes it … Continue reading Meredith, Alone – Claire Alexander

The Love Of My Life – Rosie Walsh

**** Emma loves her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby: she’d do anything for them. But almost everything she’s told them about herself is a lie. And she might just have got away with it, if it weren’t for her husband’s job. Leo is an obituary writer and Emma is a well-known marine biologist, so, when she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by … Continue reading The Love Of My Life – Rosie Walsh

It Was Always You – Emma Cooper

***** A teenage Ella sat around a bonfire drinking with her future husband and her oldest friend Cole. As Ella wandered away from the group, she found herself leaning against a derelict archway before passing out. The next day, Ella remembered fractured images of a conversation with a woman in a green coat and red scarf but dismissed it as a drunken dream. Twenty-three years … Continue reading It Was Always You – Emma Cooper

The Secrets of Summer House – Rachel Burton

***** 1976. Rushing out of the University Library, undergraduate Alice Kenzie bumps straight into PhD student Tristan Somers. There begins a whirlwind romance, and Alice falls pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. Then Tristan is killed in a car accident. Unable to cope, Alice takes her baby to Summer House, Tristan’s family home in Suffolk, leaves her there and disappears. 2018. Olivia Somers has always … Continue reading The Secrets of Summer House – Rachel Burton