Orion A Breath of Fresh Air James Erica

Lizzie has an unfortunate knack for attracting bad luck, but this time she's hit the jackpot. Losing her heart to her boss at the radio station where she works leads directly to losing her job, and with no money in the bank she's forced to swallow her pride and return home to her parents. As if that wasn't bad enough, her mother finds her work at the local care home for the elderly, and it's there that Lizzie meets Mrs Dallimore. In her nineties, Mrs Dallimore also finds herself in a situation which she's reluctantly coming to terms with. Old age has finally caught up with her, and with her life drawing to a close she gives in to the temptation to relive the past by sharing it with Lizzie. She tells Lizzie of the day when, as a young girl, and shortly before the outbreak of World War II, she left her home in America to cross the Atlantic to England where she hoped to meet her English grandparents for the first time

For Floriana, it is the place where the love of her life is getting married to another woman. And she's been invited to the wedding • Esme fell in love there for the first time - over sixty years ago. But what happened to the man who stole her heart, and changed the course of her life? • Adam has buried himself in work to distract from his broken heart. A trip to Lake Como might just be the fresh start he needs • Even in the dazzling summer sun, the past casts a poignant shadow... But can the magic of the Italian lake finally set them all free?

Suffolk, 1962. The Devereux family are gathering for a party, and a series of anonymous letters are about to turn the sleepy village of Melstead St Mary upside down • Evelyn is preparing to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary, but there are secrets she's never told her beloved husband, Kit. Secrets that stretch back to her wartime days at Bletchley Park • For Hope, her sister-in-law, happiness has never come easily, and the letter she receives could destroy her fragile world. While, up at Melstead Hall, Julia has discovered that life she married into comes at a heavy price • And halfway across the world, the indomitable Romily is longing for home. But with the Devereux family under threat, she finds herself confronting her own closely guarded secret

A secret that changed everything • Katie Lavender has always thought she was pretty unshockable, until a year after her mother's death she receives a letter from a solicitor telling her that the man she thought was her father, in fact wasn't. Her real father, a man named Stirling Nightingale, has for years been building a trust fund for her. And now she's of an age to collect it • But Katie's not interested in the money. She wants to know about the man instead. So decides to do some snooping. She tracks him down to a beautiful riverside home on the night he's hosting a birthday party for his 90-year-old mother • And as she's hovering outside, Katie is mistaken for a replacement waitress - an opportunity just too good to miss. And so Katie discovers that the Nightingales are far from your normal family

Hilary had always thought she'd lived a charmed life. With a caring husband, David and two lively children, she took an active part in both family and village life. Then, one Monday morning, Hilary's world is turned upside down. She discovers that David is having an affair • How could he? How could he put at risk their children and everything they have built together over the years? But the question is, what should Hilary do? Turn a blind eye, much as neighbour Cindy has done over her own husband's various dalliances? Confront him, as her outspoken new friend Georgia suggests? Or perhaps she should throw herself at attractive newcomer to the village Nick Bradshaw • Whatever happens, it seems certain that for Hilary, life is never going to be quite the same again

Alice Shoemaker habitually goes to great lengths to avoid telling the truth about herself and her past. After agreeing to help out a friend, by shopping and cleaning for the unknown man staying at Cuckoo House, she soon becomes suspicious that her strange and obnoxiously rude client has something to hide • Clayton Miller's life is a mess. His career as one of the country's best comedy script writers has stalled and his long-term girlfriend has left him for his ex best friend and ex writing partner. Just when he thinks his life couldn't get any worse, he commits a spectacularly public fall from grace and with the press hounding him, his agent banishes him to the middle of nowhere until the dust has settled. And there he meets Alice • When Alice and Clayton discover the truth about each other they form an unlikely friendship - until Alice discovers Clayton's betrayal

'I should like to go to France,' said Ma • 'God Almighty,' Pop said. 'What for?' • 'For a holiday of course,' Ma said. 'I think it would do us all good to get some sun.' • And so at the end of a rainy English August the Larkins - all ten of them, including little Oscar, the family's new addition - bundle into the old Rolls and cross the Channel to escape the hostile elements • But far from being the balmy, sunny and perfick spot Ma Larkin hoped for, France proves less than welcoming to an eccentric English family. The tea's weak, the furniture breakable and the hotel manager is almost as hostile as the wind and the rain they've brought with them! • And when the manager learns that Ma and Pop are unmarried yet sharing a room under his roof, the trouble really begins

In the heart of the Cheshire countryside, Cholmford Hall Mews, a converted eighteenth-century barn, is far more than an exclusive home to its new inhabitants • For Jessica Lloyd, it is a haven where she can recover from a love affair long past its sell-by date; Amanda Fergusson, whose marriage is one of straightforward convenience, is determined to get the most out of the situation; for Kate Morris it offers a fresh start where her love for newly divorced Alec can flourish; and for Josh Crawford, his new home offers a sanctuary where he can come to terms with the most devastating news of his life • In their different ways, all the newcomers to Cholmford Hall Mews are searching for something - love, peace, a sense of belonging. But will they find rather more than they bargained for...?

Torn between struggling to live up to the expectations of being a Modern Woman and ridding herself of the effect of a repressed upbringing, Izzy Jordan would be the first to admit that it's time to take stock of her life. She's thirty-one, with a teaching career on the skids - not surprising, really, given that she harbours a strong desire to lock her pupils in the art room cupboard and throw away the key. She also has a manipulative mother and an ex-boyfriend whose parting shot was to tell her she was boring in bed! • So when she's invited to spend the summer on Corfu and is offered the chance of a no-strings holiday romance with the irresistible Theo, what should she do? Go for it, or listen to the voice of Modern Woman and tell him to sling his hook? Just as she thinks she's made up her mind, along comes Mark, whose turbulent past sets in motion a series of dramatic events

The Gardens of Delight brochure promises the opportunity to visit some of the most beautiful gardens in the Lake Como area of Italy. For Lucy, the chance to go to Italy offers more than just gardens. Lake Como is where her father lives and the last time she saw him was when she was just a teenager • Recently married Helen and her wealthy husband have just moved into the Old Rectory. With her husband spending so much time away from home, Helen throws herself into caring for the garden. But Helen needs help - and friends - and so decides to take the plunge and join the local Garden Club • Conrad isn't the least bit interested in gardening. Widowed for five years, his life revolves around work and humouring Mac, his elderly uncle who lives with him, and who has expressed a desire to go on the Gardens of Delight tour

'Someone had made a perfect job of creating a place in which to hide a notebook . . . there was no address, only a date: September 1943 . . .' • Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl. A rambling cottage on the edge of a Suffolk village, it provided a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood • Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and as a book restorer devotes her days tending to broken and battered books, daydreaming about the people who had once turned their pages. When she discovers a hidden notebook - and realises someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to hide a story of their own - Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love

It's almost Christmas. But for Ali, the season of good cheer is the anniversary of her baby's death. As she stands at her son's grave, she is poignantly aware of how dramatically her life has changed. Determined to stand on her own two feet and get through Christmas alone, Ali turns down her ex-husband's unexpected invitation to spend the holiday with him and his father, only to give in to her best friend's cajoling to share the festive season with her. The only trouble is, it means having to be nice to Sarah's awful husband, Trevor • Sarah may be a saint for putting up with Trevor, but Ali is no such thing, and as his cranky behaviour escalates, she takes it upon herself, in an extraordinary act of daring impetuosity, to play God with her friend's incomprehensible marriage