Rural Life

In the first line of Ocean State, we learn that a high school student was murdered, and we find out who did it. The story that unfolds from there with incredible momentum is thus one of the buildup to and fallout from the murder, told through the alternating perspectives of the four women at its heart. The murderer Angel, her mother Carol, and the victim Birdy, all come alive on the page as they converge in a climax both tragic and inevitable. Watching over it all is the retrospective testimony of Angel’s younger sister, Marie.

"MALVINA", der er en selvstændig fortsættelse af "TAVS" og "VANDGÅRDEN", handler om pigen, der voldtaget af sin husbond og udstødt af det hjemlige landsbysamfund tager ophold på Vandgården hos Asfærg og Tavs. Der er nu gået fire år siden Malvina fødte sit skammens barn og hele fem år siden hun sidst besøgte sin landsby. Den grumme fortid synes glemt, men da Malvinas stedfader dukker op for at hente hende med hjem til moderens sygeleje, overvinder hun sin modvilje. Støttet af Tavs stiller hun sig ansigt til ansigt med landsbyens foragt og placerer skammen dér, hvor den hører hjemme.

Anthony grew up without any knowledge of his father. Only when his mother dies does he unlock the secrets she kept for 20 years. Each discovery leads him closer to the people who knew his father best. Including the man who killed him.

Eleanor Sharpley has been living a lie. Needing to escape her London life quickly, Eleanor throws her things into the back of her car, and heads to her erstwhile best friend Charlie’s family farm. But Charlie isn’t there. Instead she finds Charlie’s grieving brother, Daniel, her eight-month-old daughter, Hope (a daughter Eleanor had known nothing about) and a crumbling and unloved Damson Farm.

Für die alte Großbäuerin Lisbeth gibt es nichts Wichtigeres als den Hof, nie hat sie ihre Pflichten hinterfragt. Doch dann kommt Schwiegertochter Marlies, die keineswegs klaglos das Leben einer Bäuerin führen will. Das Kaufhaus in der Stadt wird für Marlies zum Sehnsuchtsort im Wirtschaftswunderdeutschland, arbeiten möchte sie dort und einen Jagdschein machen. Die beiden Frauen tragen fortan stille Kämpfe aus, um Haushaltsführung und um Kindererziehung. Dabei werden viel größere Dinge verhandelt: Lebensmodelle, Vorstellungen vom Frau- und Muttersein.

On the same day Bells Walker learns that her IUD has failed, her husband Harry is denied tenure at his Manhattan university. So Bells, Harry, their two adolescent children, and her baby bump move to New York’s Hudson Valley, where Harry has landed a job at Dutchess College in the town of Pigkill. When the farm-to-table utopia Bells envisioned is anything but, she turns to the blogosphere. Under the pen name the County Dutchess, she anonymously dishes about life in Pigkill, detailing the activities of hypercompetitive parents and kombucha-drinking hipsters.

Niedersachsen, Ende der 70er Jahre: In der Kleinstadt Metting liegt das Pflegeheim Horizont, in dem Tomás aufwächst, weshalb er lange glaubt, dass die meisten Menschen auf der Welt alt oder krank oder beides sind. Toms Papa ist heimlich homosexuell, Toms Mama hält sich an Orangenlikör. Als die für ihre 82 Jahre noch ziemlich attraktive Marieluise ins Heim zieht, erlebt Tom seine erste große Liebe. Die lebenslustige Frau weckt in ihm den Spaß am Lesen und die Begeisterung für Geschichten. Auch 30 Jahre später hat er sie nicht vergessen.

After a life-saving operation leaves Sam unable to have children, could a rural cottage be the fresh start she needs? Or is she running away from her problems? For her husband Danny, this was never part of the plan. He likes predictability. The countryside is just a bit, well – wild. But he wants Sam to be happy, even if he isn’t. If only Danny could tell Sam what is going on in his head. If only he knew what was really going on in hers. If only they knew that they’re equally afraid of what happens next....

In a house on the east coast, Jane faces motherhood alone. With her husband away at war, there is no one to protect her from small town suspicions and she must learn to keep her secrets to herself. Three decades later her daughter Felicity leaves their life behind for Montreal, glad to flee the unknowns that have plagued her so far. But her personal battles are nothing compared to the unrest here, where a commune in rural Quebec and a child of her own might be her saviours.

A single mum, Noni lives with her young son Harley, and her Aunt Win, a free spirit and the beating heart of Burra Guest House. Noni's world is disrupted when Iain McCloud and his pregnant teenage daughter Jacinta move into the guesthouse to await the birth of her baby. There's instant chemistry between Iain and Noni, although he has no plans to stay on in town. But when Jacinta shares explosive family secrets with Noni and an unexpected crisis occurs, everyone's lives come crashing down around them.

Inviting your ex-spouse for the holidays might not be a good idea. Especially when folks don’t know you were married before. Carolina quit her job, and for the first time ever, she’s doing the holidays as a stay-at-home mom. And doesn’t all that extra time mean everything will be perfect? Then, the RV showed up. The RV with her parents, their dogs, and their obsession with Gone with the Wind. Then, the college kids showed up.

When Orla Macrae receives a letter asking her to return to the family cattle property where she grew up, she does so grudgingly. Her estranged uncle, Palmer, may be dying, but he is the last person she wants to see, especially since she's made a new life far away from where she lost so much. But on his deathbed he utters a few enigmatic words about a secret locked away and a clue as to its whereabouts.

In the vein of The Lovely Bones and The Little Friend, Ghosts of the Missing follows the mysterious disappearance of a 12-year-old girl during a town parade and the reverberations of this tragedy throughout the town.

1918. The Great War is over, and Clara Carter has boarded a train bound for Cornwall - to meet a family that would once have been hers. But they must never discover her secret... 2020. Caroline has spent years trying to uncover the lies buried in her family history. And once she arrives in Cornwall, the truth finally seems to be in reach. Except with storm clouds gathering on the horizon, Caroline soon learns that some secrets are best left hidden....

Deep down she knew she was only dreaming, knew that whatever feelings she cherished for him could never be fully returned. After all, he was the heir to the biggest clay works in all of Cornwall, and she was but the daughter of one of their workmen. For just as an unexpected passion began to blossom between Morwen Tremayne and Ben Killigrew, the fates seemed determined to stifle its growth. A long, bitter struggle between owner and workforce brought about Charles Killigrew’s sudden illness, and with it Ben’s summons to the head of the family firm.

Vera Violet O'Neel's home is in the Pacific Northwest - not the glamorous scene of coffee bars and craft beers, but the hardscrabble region of busted pickups and broken dreams. Vera's mother has left, her father is unstable, and her brother is deeply troubled. Against this gritty background, Vera struggles to establish a life of her own, a life fortified by her friends and her hard-won love. But the relentless poverty coupled with the twin lures of crystal meth and easy money soon shatter fragile alliances. Her world violently torn apart, Vera flees to St. Louis, Missouri.

Thirty years ago, Martin Owenby came to New York City with dreams of becoming a writer. Now his existence revolves around cheap Scotch and weekend flings with equally damaged men. When he learns that his older brother, Leon, has gone missing, he must return to the Owenby farm in Solace Fork, North Carolina, to assist in the search. But that means facing a past filled with regrets, the family that never understood him, the girl whose heart he broke, and the best friend who has faithfully kept the home fires burning.

Eight years ago, Tyler Donnelly left Wishing River, Montana, after a terrible fight with his father and swore he’d never return. But when his father has a stroke, guilt and duty drive him home, and nothing is as he remembers - from the run-down ranch to Lainey Sullivan, who is all grown up now. And darn if he can’t seem to stay away.

Since moving to Haven to help out her closest friends, Melanie Ramsey has begun to reclaim her strength after a difficult divorce. Through Mel’s Motivational Blog, she’s inspiring other women, too. Then a wild one-night fling with Haven’s gorgeous deputy leaves her shaken, stirred…and pregnant. But Melanie’s not giving up her newfound independence for another powerful man - not even one as upstanding and intriguing as Tanner Roark.

A rainy-day ritual - a tea party between three little girls - becomes the framework of not only their friendship, but their lives. Blonde, curly-haired Zoe Alexander is openhearted, kind, and free-spirited, but struggles with body image. Emily Waters is shy, diminutive, and would prefer to live vicariously through books. And Shannon Morell - tall, athletic, strong - has a deep sense of loyalty, but will always fear abandonment. As years pass, they forge careers, have their hearts broken, marry, and have children, but the one constant that remains is each other and their tea parties.