Hodder & Stoughton One Small Act of Kindness Dillon Lucy

Letters from the only man she's ever loved • A keepsake of the father she never knew • Or just a beautiful glass vase that catches the light, even on a grey day • If you had the chance to make a fresh start, what would you keep from your old life What would you give away • Gina Bellamy is starting again, after a difficult few years she'd rather forget. But the belongings she's treasured for so long just don't seem to fit who she is now • So Gina makes a resolution. She'll keep just a hundred special items - the rest can go • But that means coming to terms with her past and learning to embrace the future, whatever it might bring

When the abandoned strays from a local dogs home are matched with brand new owners, it turns out it might not just be the dogs who need rescuing • Rachel s aunt has left her a house, a Border Collie and, despite knowing nothing about dogs, a crowded kennels. But since her life has collapsed she s not sure she can deal with any more lost souls • Zoe s ex-husband has given their children a puppy. The kids are in love, but she s the one stuck training Toffee the impossible Labrador. She s nearly at the end of her tether until Toffee leads her to a handsome doctor • Meanwhile Natalie and Johnny s marriage hasn t been easy since they started trying for a baby. But is a fridge-raiding, sofa-stealing Basset hound like Bertie really the child substitute they re looking for? • As the new owners paths cross on the town s dog-walking circuits, their lives become interwoven

You don't need talent to join this group of actors. The ability to remember lines or stay awake throughout a performance is appreciated, but not essential. The only mandatory is a terminal diagnosis • But Adam Campbell is less than enthusiastic about this eccentric form of group therapy. He has under one year to live, and a heck of lot to get done. Like explaining mortality to his six-year-old daughter. And making amends with the woman who should have been his wife • The last thing Adam needs is a part in an amateur production of 'Shakespeare's Greatest Deaths'. But help and hope can be found where we least expect them. And perhaps camaraderie, and a shared purpose, will turn out to be the best medicine after all • As Shakespeare, didn't quite put it: Shuffling off this mortal coil is a drag; but it's no reason to stop living

One Perfect Family . . . can bring a whole village together • Lancashire, 1934. When Tam Crawford is unexpectedly bequeathed some money, he can finally realise his dream of settling down in the beautiful village of Ellindale • Tam knows he can be impulsive - his nickname isn't Crazy Tam for nothing! - but this time he is determined not to be ruled by his big heart and hot head. Yet somehow, within just one day, he has taken on a fiancee and two children to keep them out of the poorhouse - or worse. Despite their unconventional start, as Tam and his new family get to know and love each other, they come to realise that his act of charity is the best thing that could have happened to all of them. But there are still problems and they struggle to find somewhere to live

One Special Village . . . can make the world a better place • Lancashire, 1932 • Widower Harry Makepeace lives in Manchester with his sickly daughter Cathie, scrimping and saving to get by. But after she suffers a violent asthma attack, the doctors say she must move to the clean, fresh air of the countryside to have any hope of survival. When Harry chances upon a patch of land for sale in Ellindale, and an advert for a disused railway carriage that can be made into a home, he snaps both up quickly • Harry swiftly becomes part of the community in Ellindale, making friends with the locals, and soon finds himself attracted to Nina, another newcomer to the village. Finally, he's found somewhere he and Cathie can build a new home • But their problems are far from over

Returning to the near-Renaissance world of A Brightness Long Ago and Children of Earth and Sky, international bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay tells a story of vengeance, power, and love • On a dark night along a lonely stretch of coast, a small ship, the Silver Wake, sends two people ashore to a stony strand. Their purpose is assassination. They have been hired to do this by two of the most dangerous men alive. The consequences will affect so many lives both great and small, and possibly alter the balance of power in the world • One of those arriving on that night strand is a woman abducted by corsairs from her home as a child, escaping that fate, that destiny, years after, now trying to chart her own course - and bent upon revenge. Another figure, on the boat, bringing it to meet the secretive landing party at the city where they are going, is a merchant who still remembers being exiled as a child with his family from their home, for their faith

On a dark night along a lonely stretch of coast, a small ship, the Silver Wake, sends two people ashore to a stony strand. Their purpose is assassination. They have been hired to do this by two of the most dangerous men alive. The consequences will affect so many lives both great and small, and possibly alter the balance of power in the world • One of those arriving on that night strand is a woman abducted by corsairs from her home as a child, escaping that fate, that destiny, years after, now trying to chart her own course - and bent upon revenge. Another figure, on the boat, bringing it to meet the secretive landing party at the city where they are going, is a merchant who still remembers being exiled as a child with his family from their home, for their faith

Change is afoot in the usually sleepy village of Risingdale. Gerald Gaunt, headmaster of the primary school for over thirty years, is retiring. It is the end of an era and Gerald hopes that his replacement will work with him to secure a bright, happy future for the school. But Mr Smart has his own ideas about how things should be run, and things start to become fraught very quickly • On top of this, the teachers have plenty of other dramas to contend with. Still dealing with a class of children who seem to understand agriculture better than arithmetic, Tom Dwyer is pining over Janette, his one-that-got-away. Meanwhile, his colleague Joyce Tranter's new marital bliss is shattered by the arrival of her husband's avaricious, scheming nephew. And elsewhere in the village, Sir Hedley's long-cherished plans for his future are jeopardised by the arrival back in his life of his bitter, desperate ex-wife

‘Why me? How could a boy from a Copenhagen tower block say I want to be a champion with Manchester United and Denmark and make it happen?’ • Peter Schmeichel is a giant of football, who won more Premier League titles (five) than any player in his position and captained Manchester United in the incomparable, last-gasp Treble-clinching win over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final. ‘I don’t believe a better goalkeeper played the game,’ Sir Alex Ferguson said. One: My Autobiography is Schmeichel’s story • In it, he takes us inside the remarkable, winning environment of a club that transformed football during the 1990s, and on to the pitch on that crazy, breathless night in Barcelona in 1999. From Ferguson’s unique gifts to Eric Cantona’s unique personality, he delivers a close-up and insightful portrait of United’s golden era

A moving, funny, heartwarming tale of love and friendship, for anyone who loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Keeper of Lost Things and Three Things about Elsie • It’s never too late to grow old disgracefully… • The life of 79-year-old pensioner Peggy Smart is as beige as the decor in her retirement village. Her week revolves around aqua aerobics and appointments with her doctor. The highlight of Peggy’s day is watching her neighbour Brian head out for his morning swim • Peggy dreams of inviting the handsome widower – treasurer of the Residents’ Committee and one of the few eligible men in the village – to an intimate dinner. But why would an educated man like Brian, a chartered accountant no less, look twice at Peggy? As a woman of a certain age, she fears she has become invisible, even to men in their eighties

Stockholm 1856 • Geologist Magnus has been sent by the Minister to survey the distant Lapland region around Blackasen Mountain. It is the perfect cover for another mission: Magnus must investigate why one of the nomadic Sami people, native to the region, has apparently slaughtered in cold blood a priest, a law officer and a settler in their rectory • But the Minister has more than a professional tie to Magnus, and at the last moment, he adds another responsibility. Disgusted by the wayward behaviour of his daughter Lovisa - Magnus's sister-in law - the Minister demands that Magnus take her with him on his arduous journey • Together the two must venture out of the sophisticated city, up the coast and across country, to the rough-hewn religion and politics of the settler communities, the mystical, pre-Christian ways of the people who have always lived on this land, and the strange, compelling light of the midnight sun

1930, Lancashire • Leah Turner's father has been killed in an accident at the laundry, and since her mother died years ago it falls to her to become sole provider for her little sister. But women's wages are half those of men and pawning the few belongings she has left will only keep their vicious rent collector at bay for a few weeks, so even if she finds a job, they'll lose their home • Out of the blue Charlie Willcox, the local pawnbroker, offers her a deal. His brother Jonah, an invalid since being gassed in the Great War, needs a wife. Charlie thinks Leah would be perfect for the job • The idea of a marriage of convenience doesn't please Leah, but she finds Jonah agreeable enough and moving with him to the pretty hamlet of Ellindale may be the only chance of a better life for her sister