English Womens Fiction

‘Women can be heroes, too’. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California’s idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.

Elsie and her two best friends made a childhood vow to never marry. But when Elsie begins her first season in London, her mother presents her with an irresistible bargain: If she says yes to each and every man's invitations and still remains unattached by the end of the season, she will receive her inheritance and become a free woman. She's thrown into the spotlight by increasing attention in the newspaper gossip articles. Keeping her end of the bargain seems impossible - especially when her best friend's tyrant of a brother begins to make advances that Elsie literally cannot refuse.

The people of planet Earth have suffered the tides of war for six long years, but it's not their war. Earth is the battleground for the thousand-year conflict between the invading Hahnshin and the Godan warriors of the Galactic Confederation. Mira Donazetto's only concern is for her family's survival, so when she's offered work as a translator for the Godan, she jumps at the chance and right into the arms of the new First Commander, Roark.

The Woman is the powerful story of the last survivor of a feral tribe of cannibals who have been terrorizing the East Coast - from Maine into Canada - for years now. Badly wounded in a battle with police, a woman takes refuge in a cave overlooking the sea. Christopher Cleek is a slick, amoral - and unstable - country lawyer who, out hunting one day, sees her bathing in a stream. Fascinated, he follows her to her cave. Cleek has many dark secrets and to these he'll add another....

Twelve years ago, forensic anthropologist Jamie Cash survived a brutal kidnapping. After years of therapy, she has made a life for herself, though it is one that is haunted by memories of her terrifying past. She finally lets herself believe that she can have a close relationship with a man, when signs start appearing that point to one frightening fact: her attacker is back and ready to finish the job he started all those years ago. Can Jamie escape her attacker's grasp a second time?

Wynne Donazetto's dreams of college and building a life of her own were lost when Earth was invaded by two warring alien forces. Earth changed, but Wynne didn't. Together with Tor and his eclectic alien crew, Wynne sets off on the adventure of a lifetime to retrieve a stolen spaceship and its cargo of kidnapped Women of Earth. Along the way, she'll discover a strength she never knew she had and a love that will change her life forever.

His first, last and only true love has always been rugby. Until now. She's damaged. He's determined. Fate brought them together. Love binds them. Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him. On the rugby pitch, he's a force to be reckoned with. Primed for stardom, he's heading straight for the top. Nothing can possibly get in his way, right? Not even the shy new girl at Tommen College. The one with the sad eyes and hidden bruises. The one that distracts him like no one ever has.

Just when she least expects it, Lizzie's harmonious life starts to unravel. With the twins turning one and the start of a new semester, Lizzie should be in the mood to celebrate, but the last person she wants to see makes a sudden reappearance in her life. To complicate matters more, Lizzie's wife, who is usually the rock in the Petrie household, is navigating her own crisis.

Jenny sits in the same seat on the same train every week, seeing familiar faces come and go. Until a chance encounter shatters her world. Sixteen years ago, Jenny survived a traumatic ordeal that left her best friend, Susie, missing and presumed dead. The world has its theories about what happened to Susie Patterson, and one of those theories points the finger at Jenny. Now she lives a quiet life, volunteering at a crisis helpline while trying to deal with her own anxiety and the true crime fans obsessed with finding her missing friend.

Eel Marsh house stands alone, surveying the windswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Mrs Alice Drablow lived here as a recluse. Now Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor with a London firm, is summoned to attend her funeral, unaware of the tragic and terrible secrets which lie behind the house's shuttered windows.

Dr. Margaret Richter has it all. She’s rich, thanks to her best-selling self-help books. She has a beautiful home in Cape Cod overlooking the beach. And she has a monthly book club that everyone is dying to get invited to. Literally. Because behind the crystal wine glasses, the fine linens and the catered hors d'oeuvres lies a tangled web of secrets, of deceit, of murder. No member of the book club is innocent—and many are guilty. And the person with the most to hide is Margaret Richter herself.

Often compared to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale and Naomi Alderman's The Power - Woman on the Edge of Time has been hailed as a classic of speculative science fiction. Disturbing and forward thinking, Marge Piercy’s remarkable novel will speak to a new generation. Connie Ramos has been unjustly incarcerated in a mental institution with no hope of release. The authorities view her as a danger to herself and to others. Her family has given up on her. But Connie has a secret - a way to escape the confines of her cell. She can see the future.

Four strangers arrive. Only one survives. Who will escape? Five years ago, Jane Patterson survived a horrifying encounter with a serial killer. Now, all she cares about is supporting her young son and getting her life back on track. When she receives an invitation to win a life-changing sum of money, she can’t afford to say no, but the invitation comes with a threat. Whoever sent it knows what happened five years ago … Jane arrives at the mysterious island off the coast of Wales, but three other people are there waiting for her. Their goals are the same. But there’s a catch.

Late one moonlit night, Walter Hartright encounters a solitary and terrified woman dressed all in white. He saves her from capture by her pursuers and determines to solve the mystery of her distress and terror. Inspired by an actual criminal case, this gripping tale of murder, intrigue, madness and mistaken identity has never been out of print since its publication and brought Collins great fame and success.

Gracie Thompson has a job, a loving family, a twin brother who drives her insane and a great friend. A chance meeting introduces her to the love of her life. But the storm clouds are gathering, Europe is teetering on the verge of war and threatening to destroy everything Gracie holds dear. When war arrives her family are split up, her younger siblings evacuated, her brothers join up to serve, her boyfriend, Charlie, is in daily danger and her life is threatened.

Handsome, grumpy local policeman Ben Taylor doesn't believe in coincidences, and he doesn’t think mysterious newcomer Milla Graham is as innocent as she seems. Why is she really here in Raven’s Edge, and how come she keeps turning up at his crime scenes, causing trouble? Can he solve this murder case without losing himself–or his heart–to the rather distracting Miss Graham?

The day her children leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. She's had enough - of her kids' carelessness, her husband's thoughtlessness and of the world's general indifference. Brian can't believe his wife is doing this. Who is going to make dinner? But Eva won't budge; and soon she realises to her horror that everyone has been taking her for granted - including herself.

Immersed in her herbal laboratory, Lady Felicity secretly yearns for a dashing, romantic love straight from a gothic novel. When her brother's house guest, Lord Andover, presses her hands to his chest, and proposes, she is too stunned to take in his words of undying love. Desperate to save his mother, give her a will to live, Lord Andover sets three goals: marry a sweet young lady, produce an heir, and free them of apothecaries and quacks. In return he offers all he that he is, all that he owns, except his beleaguered heart.

Meet Keiko. Keiko is 36 years old. She's never had a boyfriend, and she's been working in the same supermarket for eighteen years. Keiko's family wishes she'd get a proper job. Her friends wonder why she won't get married. But Keiko knows what makes her happy, and she's not going to let anyone come between her and her convenience store.

From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the 20th century to the teens of the 21st, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of 12 characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They're each looking for something - a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope....