RNIB National Library Service Giant Print 24
Family fiction
Andrews, Lyn.
A daughter's journey. 2009. 4v.
Angela O'Rourke is six when her parents hand her over to an aunt and uncle in a distant village. It's a common practice for large, hard-up families in 1950s Ireland, but for Angela it means that her mother and father don't love her any more. Still, she's well cared for till she's sixteen, when her uncle starts to take too much of an interest in her. Moving to Liverpool in the early 1960s, she becomes a success in the world of fashion design. The pain of a disastrous love affair sends her home to Ireland just after the death of her aunt: and there, among old papers, Angela makes an astonishing discovery. As she learns the truth about the past, a brighter new future beckons.
Andrews, Lynda M.
A mother's love. 2005. 3v.
Eve and Eddie Dobson have been running the George pub in Liverpool for over twenty years. It's not been a bad life, with three nearly grown daughters fed and clothed out of the takings. The Depression is now taking hold and money is in short supply. It's galling for Eve that the barmaid they can barely afford spends the day making eyes at Eddie rather than pulling her weight behind the bar. At least her girls have never been a worry to Eve. Then Eddie's flirtation with the hired help takes an unexpected turn. Suddenly all the decisions are Eve's to make. And there are other surprises in store, which will leave none of Eve's family untouched...and call on all the strength of a mother's love.
Bates, H.E.
The darling buds of May. 2006. 2v.
The Larkins; book 1. The sultriness of a summer's afternoon; the sharp tang of autumn; the frosted reeds at winter time; the sweetness of the wildflowers in spring - all the glories of the English year are captured in this selection from the work of H. E. Bates. A lighthearted tale about Pop and Ma Larkins and their six children; they eat well, drink well, and, as Pop says, 'everything's perfick'.
Bingham, Charlotte
Daughters of Eden. 2004. 5v.
Focuses on the lives and fortunes of four young women at the outbreak of the Second World War. Marjorie, left at a boarding school by her emigrating mother; plain Poppy, pushed into marriage with a mean-spirited aristocrat; Kate, despised by her father, but determined to prove herself; and man-mad Lily, who turns out to be the bravest of them all.
Boyne, John
The dare. 2009. 1v.
When Danny Delaney's mother returns home one afternoon, flanked by two policemen, he knows that something terrible has happened. Mrs Delaney has accidentally hit a small boy with her car. Consumed by guilt, Danny's mother closes herself off, while Danny and his father are left to pick up the pieces of their fractured family.
Bradshaw, Rita
Ragamuffin angel. 2000. 4v.
Connie Bell is orphaned at 12 years old. She gets work in the laundry of a workhouse, where she advances over the years. When her path crosses that of Dan Stewart's events are set in motion that threaten everything Connie's ever dreamed of. There's a dark and terrible history between the Bells and the Stewarts.
Buchan, Elizabeth
The good wife. 2003. 3v.
Fanny Savage has always been the dutiful wife. Married to Will, a politician with big ambitions, her life is a whirlwind of public engagements. Bound by loyalty to the party, she is required to look good and remain silent. But Fanny is no fool. She's well aware that the world outside her privileged home is one that seethes with despair, danger, division and lack of faith. She knows how fragile happiness can be. After twenty years of marriage and self-sacrifice, she begins to question her own concepts of fulfilment. Was being the Good Wife worth it after all?
Cox, Josephine
Bad boy Jack. 2002. 5v.
Eighteen years ago when Harry was a boy, he had made a decision that drove him from the place he knew and loved. But he had never forgotten that warm, carefree girl with the laughing eyes. Now for the first time in all those years, Harry is heading back. Excited, afraid, and full of doubts, he needs to know how events of the past have shaped Judy's life.
Cox, Josephine.
Let it shine. 2001. 3v.
Many years ago, Ada Williams did something that has tormented her ever since. Her greedy son, Peter, overhears a conversation and plans a terrible deed. In nearby Blackburn, happily married Sylvia Bolton lives with her family. No one, least of all Sylvia, can foresee the events about to unfold.
Gale, Patrick.
Notes from an exhibition. 2008. 4v.
Gifted artist Rachel Kelly is a whirlwind of creative highs and anguished, crippling lows. She's also something of an enigma to her husband and four children. So when she is found dead in her Penzance studio, leaving behind some extraordinary new paintings, there's a painful need for answers. Her Quaker husband appeals for information on the internet. The fragments of a shattered life slowly come to light, and it becomes clear that bohemian Rachel has left her children not only a gift for art - but also her haunting demons.
Hill, Susan
The Beacon. 2008. 1v.
The farmhouse was called The Beacon and May, Colin, Frank and Berenice had been born and reared there. But now there was only May left. Now she was the spinster daughter, who nursed her father after his accident and looked after her mother in her old age. Frank was the one who got away. But why does no one ever mention Frank's name?
Hislop, Victoria.
The island. 2007. 4v.
On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga - Greece's former leper colony.
Howard, Audrey
The long way home. 2008. 4v.
Amy Pearson's family is desperately poor - even by the standards of Edwardian Liverpool - but they have each other. Until Amy is torn from her home by her rich aunt. It is the beginning of a long journey for Amy, as she desperately searches for the family she lost, and a home where she can be free at last from her aunt's possessive tyranny. But she will have to endure a forced marriage and a tragic war before she can at last find what she seeks.
Hutchinson, Meg
All is not enough. 2007. 4v.
With mounting disbelief, Regan Trent realises that the death of her beloved mother has left her totally at her stepfather's mercy. To this ruthless man, Regan is simply an obstacle between him and the Trent fortune. Promised in marriage to a sadistic pervert, Regan prefers to take her chance in the wide world. But Huntley will stop at nothing to achieve his cruel ambitions.
Hyland, M. J.
Carry me down. 2006. 2v.
John Egan is a misfit - a twelve-year-old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant - who diligently keeps track of the lies large and small that are told to him. With a keenly inquisitive mind and a kind of faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavourable cards life deals him.
Jewell, Lisa
31 Dream Street. 2007. 4v.
In a rambling house, failed poet Toby Dobbs has created a refuge for people who need one. But when a quiet tragedy and an unwelcome letter interrupt Toby's sedate existence, he needs his housemates to find some direction in their lives. Can Toby and Leah help these misfits to grow up, move on and move out? And in doing so, can they make their own dreams come true?
Kuipers, Alice.
Life on the refrigerator door. 2007. 1v.
Told through notes left on their kitchen fridge, this is an intimate portrait of the relationship between a hard-working mother and her teenage daughter. Stunningly sad but ultimately uplifting, it is about being a 'good mother' or a 'good daughter', and is a reminder of how much can be said in so few words, if only we made the time to say them.
Lee, Maureen.
Mother of Pearl. 2008. 4v.
Pretty Amy Curran was just eighteen years old when she met Barney Patterson, the love of her life, on Southport pier in 1939. Their romantic, passionate marriage was made in heaven, or so they both believed. But when Britain declared war on Germany, Barney hastily volunteered to fight, and the couple were eventually separated for five long years. When he returned to Liverpool after VE Day he wasn't the same person - and neither was Amy.
Lewis, Susan.
Lost innocence. 2009. 6v
When Alicia Carlyle returns to the home of her childhood after the
tragic death of her husband, she is hoping to put the past behind her. But first she must come face to face with the woman who nearly destroyed her marriage and tore her family in two her sister-in-law, Sabrina.
Scanlan, Patricia.
Foreign affairs. 1999. 8v.
Four women are at a crossroads in their lives. These women all have difficult choices to make and are in desperate need of a holiday. When the four of them stay in a luxurious villa on a Greek island, they soon realize that they have embarked on more than just a foreign holiday. Amidst rows, arguments, laughter and fun they come to see each other in a different light. Can their friendships be sustained? Indeed, will their lives ever be the same again?
Montgomery, L.M.
Anne of Green Gables. 1964. 3v.
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.
Morton, Kate.
The forgotten garden. 2008. 6v.
A lost child: On the eve of the First World War, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but has disappeared without a trace. A terrible secret: On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell Andrews learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family. On Nell's death, her granddaughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.
Mosco, Maisie.
Almonds and raisins. 1979. 4v.
Set in Manchester in 1905, this book begins the story of the Sandberg family who, having escaped from Eastern Europe, now struggle through the Great War and the Depression in England.
Naughton, Bill.
Spring and port wine. 1994. 2v.
This play tells of a well-meaning father with firm principles, who learns some truths in painful clashes with his family.
Neill, Fiona.
The secret life of a slummy mummy. 2007. 4v.
It has been years since the dirty washing pile was less than a metre high, months since Lucy remembered to have sex with her husband, and a week since she last did the school run wearing pyjamas. It's hard to remember exactly why anyone would give up a career and their sanity for three raucous sons and less than blissful domesticity.
Parsons, Tony.
Man and boy. 2000. 2v.
Harry Silver has it all: a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, a great job in the media - but in one night he throws it all away. Then Harry must start to learn what life and love are really all about.
Contains language that some readers may find offensive.
Parsons, Tony.
Man and wife. 2003. 2v.
Harry Silver is learning how to be a good father to his son Pat, who lives with his first wife, Gina, and to Cyd's daughter, Peggy, who lives with him and Cyd. But did he commit to a new relationship too soon and can he keep his more complicated life on the rails?
Parsons, Tony.
My favourite wife. 2008. 4v.
Hot shot young lawyer Bill Holden and his wife Becca move with their four-year-old daughter to the booming, gold-rush city of Shanghai. It is a place of opportunity and temptation, where fortunes are made and foreign marriages come apart in spectacular fashion. Bill's law firm houses the Holden family in Paradise Mansions - a luxury apartment block full of 'second wives'. When Becca goes home, a friendship between a lonely family man and a neglected mistress grows into something more - something that threatens to destroy all their lives.
Robinson, Marilynne.
Home. 2009. 4v.
Jack - prodigal son of the Boughton family, godson and namesake of John Ames, gone twenty years - has come home looking for refuge and to try to make peace with a past littered with trouble and pain. A bad boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold down a job, Jack is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father, though he remains Boughton's most beloved child. His sister Glory has also returned to Gilead, fleeing her own mistakes, to care for their dying father. Brilliant, loveable, wayward, Jack forges an intense new bond with Glory and engages painfully with his father and his father's old friend John
Ames.
Smith, Dodie.
I capture the castle. 1949. 3v.
This novel is written from the point of view of seventeen year old Cassandra. It chronicles her life in an old castle with her father who is suffering from writer's block, her stepmother Topaz, a model, her fiery sister Rose and younger brother Thomas. She writes about her life and the arrival of her landlords, the American Cotton family, and she also writes about love.