Showing results by author "Maeve Haran" in All Categories

Each month best friends Claudia, Sal, Ella and Laura meet for drinks, celebrating 45 years of friendship. Sal had spent a lifetime building her career, but she hadn't banked on the one thing over which she had no control. Claudia loved her urban existence. But, as many women will know, other people's needs always seem to come first. Ella is ready to try something different. But she hadn't bargained on quite such a radical change. And Laura succumbed to the oldest cliché in the book.

Catherine Hope can control her class of 30 noisy school children, but trying to keep her 17 year old daughter on track for A Levels, that's a different matter. Rachel, usually studious and submissive, is suddenly ripe for rebellion. The reason? Marko: sexy, sultry, countryside campaigner, who's out to save a threatened woodland from destruction. The woodland is on the doorstep of Lavinia, Rachel's conventional, disapproving grandmother.

Ann More, fiery and spirited daughter of the Mores of Loseley House, comes to London destined for a life at the court of Queen Elizabeth. And there she encounters John Donne, the darkly attractive young poet. He is unlike any man she has ever met. Yet as they are thrown together Donne opens Ann's eyes to a new world of passion, wit and sensuality. But Donne is the kind of man her status-conscious father distrusts and despises.

Lifelong friends Claudia, Ella, Laura and Sal celebrated 60 as the new 40, determined not to let age change things. But now they are looking at the future and wondering how to make growing old more fun. Why not live together and have sunny afternoons on the lawn, helping and supporting each other when any of them need it - and still keep enjoying life? Joined by Claudia’s reluctant husband and Sal’s energetic new fiancé, they ignore the protests of their children and pool their resources in a lovely manor house in the country.

Sixteen-year-old Frances Stuart arrives at the Restoration court to find her innocence and beauty are highly prized commodities, envied by the women and desired by the men. Before long, King Charles II falls passionately in love with her and will stop at nothing to make her his mistress. But Frances is no conventional court beauty. She is determined to make her own choices in life and to be with the man she loves. Can she overcome the dangerous pitfalls of the King's obsession, the Queen's jealousy, and the traps set for her by the King's notorious mistresses?

Steph, Jo and Meredith have been friends since school. Their lives have all taken very different paths across the years, but when Meredith buys a romantic château in an idyllic village in the Dordogne she finds she can’t do it alone - so who better to enlist for help than her two old friends? Together they hope to bring the château back to life and create the most romantic wedding venue in France.

Four old university friends, Dora, Penny, Nell and Moira, reunite to relive that first hippy-dippy trip together to a beautiful, unspoilt, romantic Greek island looking for sun, sand and sea. But it’s not just about going back to when they were young. Maybe they do have dreams like Shirley Valentine because ultimately they’re all looking for something to help them through some difficult times in their lives - whether it’s with their career, family or relationships.

Stella Ainsworth has settled for suburban peace with a pedantic husband, a dissatisfied daughter and a clutch of beloved grandchildren - who all take her presence in their lives for granted. Then Cameron Keene, her boyfriend from her teenage years who'd left for America to become a rock icon of the '60s, returns to England. Much to Stella's astonishment, Cameron announces in an interview that his most famous song, which became a legendary love anthem across the world, was written about Stella and that he has come back to find her.

Liz Ward believed that it was possible to have it all. A glittering career, a successful marriage and a happy family. But it doesn't take too long for Liz to realise that taking the job of programme controller at Metro TV could be the biggest mistake of her life. When she confesses to her friends, they are scandalised - Liz is their role model, and she is shattering the myth they must all live by. But she is tired of pretending that there is no price to pay for her success.

With her marriage falling apart and her longed-for holiday cancelled, Georgina Greenhills gets an unexpected offer: a holiday in the small seaside town nestling in the beautiful South Downs where she grew up. There is only one catch: she must try and solve the mystery of the valuable antiques disappearing from the remote manor house belonging to an old lady called Maudie.