In Miss Buncles Book Barbara Buncle, who is unmarried and perhaps in her late thirties, lives in a small village and writes a novel about the village in order to try and supplement her meagre income. She thereby succeeds in taking charge of her own life. This is an entirely light-hearted, easy read, one of those books like Mariana, Miss Pettigrew, The Making of a Marchioness and Greenery Street which can be recommended unreservedly to someone looki...

Miss Buncle's Book, the first story in the series, is about a woman who writes a novel about Silverstream, the village where she lives, under the pseudonym John Smith, and is then involved in the comedy as her neighbours try to discover the identity of the viper in their midst. Eventually she is forced to leave, and having married her publisher Arthur Abbott, moves to his house in Hampstead. The Abbotts then move out of London, which is when Miss Buncle Married, begins.

From the powerhouse creator of Nimona comes a breathtaking novel, the start of a duology, following two orphans who leave the only home they’ve ever known to sail with an eccentric crew of pirates.Viola and Wilmur have been waiting for their parents for fifteen boring years in the colorless town of Caveat. Their lives are a drudge of salt, trash, pirate stories, and what-ifs . . . until one very stormy night, when Captain Cadence Chase breaks down their do...

"Do you know anything about her, Richard?""Nothing except that she lives in London, is obviously well off and very impulsive. . . . She bought the house as if it were-a bun. She bought it straight off without seeing it.""She must be mad!"The arrival of novelist Kate Hardy at the lovely Dower House in Old Quinings, with her staunch ally and housekeeper Martha, has the whole village talking. But Kate is not in fact mad, merely in need of esc...

"Now, listen to me," said Mr. Green earnestly. "I've brought up my little girl as a girl should be brought up. I've sheltered her from the world. She's uncontaminated by the modern ideas-uncontaminated. What d'you think of that?"Young George Ferrier's frivolous jaunt in London ends with an unexpected encounter with wealthy Mr. Green, old friend of his father, who spontaneously drafts George to be a trustee for his daughter Elma. George accepts (primarily due to the payment...

“I’m not really worrying, but it’s very isolated. Boscath is like an island in some ways.”“I see what you mean,” nodded Jock.“And Rhoda isn’t used to islands.”James Dering and his new wife Rhoda are returning from their honeymoon, and Jock and Mamie Johnstone are delighted to welcome them to their new home on a neighbouring farm. But Mamie’s concern proves justified, and Rhoda, a talented painter who has chosen marriage over art, finds rur...

Frances was free. She had enough money for her holiday, and when it was over she would find useful work. Her plans were vague, but she would have plenty of time to think things out when she got to Cairn. One thing only was certain—she was never going back to prison again.Young Frances Field arrives in a scenic coastal village in Scotland, having escaped her dreary life as an orphan treated as little more than a servant by an uncle and aunt. Once there, she encounters an ar...

"There's something . . . I mean we simply must see Miss Fortune now. She isn't in bed, is she?""No, she ain't," said Nannie grimly. "She ought to be, but she ain't, an' you shall see 'er. Ho, yes you shall! Both of you shall see 'er before you're any older."The village of Dingleford is all aquiver with the arrival of lovely young Miss Fortune with plans to open a tea house. Captain Charles Weatherby, just back from India, has "no use for bright little crea...

The classic comic novel based on the author's real experiences as the wife of a British Army officer in the 1920s'The writer's unflagging humour, her shrewd, worldly wisdom, and her extremely realistic pictures of garrison life make it all good reading ... delightful' Times Literary Supplement'Stevenson has spiced this tale of British army life with an unobtrusive, effortless wit which often proves deceptively sharp'

Caroline opened the door and saw Mr. Shepperton standing on the step. “Oh, it’s you!” she exclaimed in surprise.“Did you—were you expecting someone else?” he asked.“Only the Queen,” replied Caroline, chuckling. “Don’t mind me,” she added. “I often go slightly mad.”Caroline Dering, a widow with three grown children, lives a cheerful, quiet life near the idyllic English village of Ashbridge. But things are about to liven up, as daughter Leda...

“I like Mureth,” declared Lady Shaw. “There’s something about Mureth.”“It does things to people,” Mamie agreed.Lady Shaw considered this. It sounded silly, but was it really silly. People said that Mamie Johnstone was a fool, and it was true that sometimes she said things that sounded foolish … but the things she did were wise.Mamie Johnstone, sister of Caroline Dering whom we met in Vittoria Cottage, and her husband Jock...

Iain stood for a few minutes on the little bridge that crossed the burn and looked at the house—he felt that he had betrayed it. No people save his own had ever lived in the house, and now he had sold it into slavery. For three months it would shelter strangers beneath its roof, for three months it would not belong to him.Despite his passionate love for Ardfalloch, Iain has been driven to let his home and estate to Mr Hetherington Smith, a wealthy London businessman, and h...