Rural Small Town Fiction

When nineteen-year-old Avery awakens to flames consuming her family's remote compound, she knows it's her only chance to escape her father's grueling survival training, bizarre rules, and gruesome punishments. She and her brother Cole flee the grounds for the first time in their lives, suddenly homeless in a world they know nothing about. After months of hiding out, they are arrested for shoplifting and a shocking discovery is made—Avery and Cole were kidnapped fifteen years earlier, stolen by cult leaders they knew as Mom and Dad.

It should be the most wonderful time of the year for Samantha and Josh as they prepare for the arrival of their first baby. But life at Hedgehog Hollow rarely goes to plan and the pair are faced with adversaries, old and new, and unexpected challenges to overcome. Fizz's job at the heart of the rescue centre is a dream come true but her personal life is more like a nightmare. With her love life a disaster and her past about to dramatically catch up with her, she needs the love and support of her Hedgehog Hollow family more than ever.

Hurtling past the downtrodden communities of Depression-era America, painter Val Welch travels westward to the rural town of Dawes, Wyoming. Through a stroke of luck, he’s landed a New Deal assignment to create a mural representing the region for their new Post Office.

New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Chiaverini has charmed countless readers with her heartwarming Elm Creek Quilts novels. Like the other delightful entries in the series, Circle of Quilters offers an engaging story, endearing characters, and fascinating bits of quilting lore.

Karissa Newcomb is ready for a new start in a new neighborhood, as far away as she can get from Seattle, where her husband cheated on her with the neighbor who was supposed to be her best friend. She and her nine-year-old daughter are moving on to the city of Gig Harbor on the bay in Puget Sound. She even has a new job as an assistant at a small publishing company right in Gig Harbor. Her new boss seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, but a job is a job, she loves to read, and the idea of possibly meeting writers sounds fabulous.

Shaken by her parents’ divorce and discouraged by the growing chasm between herself and her serious boyfriend, Nikki Werner seeks solace at her uncle’s farm in a small Missouri hamlet. She’ll spend the summer there, picking up the pieces of her shattered present so she can plan a better future. But what awaits her at the ancestral farm is the past—one she barely knows.

Lennox Hayes has always been a spitfire. She's got a stubborn streak a mile wide and big dreams of getting back on the pro rodeo circuit. Until then, she's stuck working the family ranch under the watchful eye of Bishop Bryant—the grumpy, no-nonsense foreman who's made it clear he doesn't have time for her wild ways. Bishop has spent his life proving himself at Black Springs Ranch. The Hayes family took him in when he had nothing, and he owes them everything, including occasionally keeping an eye on their reckless youngest daughter.

Tess McBride manages to snag a mid-year teaching job on Mackinac Island, Michigan. However, her timing is a little off, it's the dead of winter and she's never been in temperatures below fifty degrees. Just her luck, her landlord, Lukas, is as hot as the sun. A Michigan blizzard leaves them trapped in the same house together and things heat up, fast. Tess finds herself falling for Lukas, in spite of the secrets that could ruin everything before it even begins.

In a small, isolated town on the North Norfolk coast, Fran's life is unravelling. As she fills her days cleaning the caravan park she owns, she is preoccupied by worry — about the behavior of her son, the growing absence of her husband and the strained relationship with her sister. Her one source of solace is slipping out to the beach early in the morning, to watch the birds.

Adele and Justine have never been close. Born 20 years apart, Justine was already an adult when Addie was born. The sisters love each other, but they don’t really know each other. When Addie dropped out of university to care for their ailing parents, Justine, a successful lawyer, covered the expenses. It was the best arrangement at the time, but now that their parents are gone, the future has changed dramatically for both women.

Welcome to Big Bend—my nightmare and my home, all in one. I don't fit in here. I don't fit in anywhere. I've made so many mistakes. Over and over. Two of those mistakes haunt me. One, being responsible for a friend losing his job and reputation in this town. And two, well, that one is even worse. I ruined so many lives with one stupid decision I barely even remember. And now, I'm going to pay for it.

Adisa Johnson is living her dream of practicing law with a prestigious firm in downtown Atlanta. Then a split-second mistake changes the course of her career. Left with no other options, Adisa returns to her hometown, where, a few days earlier, a white police officer shot an unarmed black teen who is now lying comatose in the hospital. Adisa is itching to jump into the fight as a special prosecutor but feels pulled to do what she considers unthinkable as a young black woman — defend the officer.

Locky Sorenson isn't a risk taker. He's stuck in an awful office job. He's terrified of turning his one true passion, baking, into something real. And worst of all, he hasn't gotten laid in almost a decade. Sure, he could confront the traumatic reason he's in this mess, but stress eating donuts under a cozy blanket sounds like a much better option. Benedict Owens doesn't screw his clients, no matter how beefy and adorkable they are. As a small business advisor, he knows that's a recipe for disaster. Better to keep his distance. That way, he won't get burned again.

Fiona Ivers has been in love with her brother's best friend since she was a kid. He's older and oblivious to her existence, which only makes her want him more. She's always believed he was disinterested—until a charity gala pushes them together. There, she realizes maybe he pays more attention than he's ever let on. Broody, tattooed loner Boyd Kelly has a low tolerance for distractions and has no issues letting those around him know. His best friend's younger sister doesn't seem to care, though.

Adam Bede (1859), George Eliot's first full-length novel, marked the emergence of an artist to rank with Scott and Dickens. Set in the English Midlands of farmers and village craftsmen at the turn of the 18th century, the book relates a story of seduction issuing in "the inward suffering which is the worst form of Nemesis". But it is also a rich and pioneering record - drawing on intimate knowledge and affectionate memory - of a rural world that we have lost.

Do I have feelings for my sister's best friend? Of course not. That would be stupid, considering my sister once threatened to castrate me if I ever hurt Val. Hurting her is the last thing I want to do, which is all the more reason I can't have feelings for her. Val deserves the world, and I'm not the man who can give it to her. When Val announces she's leaving town (and the country), I'm suddenly confronted with some very capital-F Feelings—ones that refuse to stay stuffed down deep where I've hidden them for more years than I care to admit.

Glass artist Lucy Marinn has just had her heart shattered. She had envisioned a beautiful future in Friday Harbor with her fiancé Kevin. But not only has Kevin dumped her—he’s left her for her sister. Despite his betrayal, Lucy largely blames herself—apparently this was just another wrong move in a series of bad romantic choices. Kevin may not want to marry Lucy, but he still cares for her. He convinces his friend Sam Nolan, who owns a vineyard on San Juan Island, to date Lucy and help her recover from her bitterness.

Three separate women, living in different locations and eras, are linked by their passion for Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway. As they each live through a Tuesday in June, their thoughts and experiences mirror each other and become interwoven. In Richmond in 1923, Virginia Woolf struggles to write a novel whose protagonist is Mrs Dalloway. In Los Angeles in 1949, Laura ignores her chores and small son to sit in bed reading Mrs Dalloway. In 1990s New York, Clarissa goes to buy flowers for a party, mirroring the start of the fictional Mrs Dalloway’s day.

When a body turned up at her last catering gig it certainly put people off the hors d’oeuvres. With a reputation to salvage, Jodie’s determined that her next job for the village’s festival will go off without a hitch. But when chaos breaks out, Jodie Parker somehow always finds herself caught up in the picture. The body of a writer from the festival is discovered at the bottom of a cliff, and the prime suspect turns out to be the guest of honour, the esteemed painter Duncan Stovall.

When Marina Moore’s life blows up on national television, she seeks refuge at her grandmother’s beach house called the Coral Cottage. Now in her mid-forties with children in college, Marina is in dire need of her grandmother's gutsy advice to a well-lived life. Marina meets an old friend, Ivy Bay, proprietor of the Seabreeze Inn, who encourages her to share her love of food at the local farmer’s market. Soon Marina’s sister Kai arrives on a summer break from her musical theater troupe.