Five short stories by the novelist and short story writer Polly Samson.A Rose for Paul: A story giving hope to anyone who has to move on from a difficult relationship.The Morning After: A romantic tryst turns sour after an animal rights activist discovers the murderous taste of his lover in the form of her exotic Shatoosh shawl.The Itch: Playing on the idea of 'The Seven Year Itch', this is an unusual story about regeneration and recovery, set to the tale of a coupl...

Quite unlike her fair stepsisters, Lizzie is dark and secretive: 'Just like your father' says her mother. But what was her father like? Photos of him are hidden away; snatches of overheard conversation between her mother and her stepfather deepen the mystery. Only her best friend Savannah - also abandoned by her father when she was a baby - knows what it feels like to wonder, to try and piece together an earlier story. But when events propel Lizzie alone to London she stops wondering and s...

He followed her eyes skyward to a bird that was falling, turning and turning, like a heart that had leapt free. It fell, and as it did it became a falcon. He was transfixed.Julian's fall begins the moment he sets eyes on Julia.Julia is married and eight years his senior; he is a gifted English student, a life of academia ahead. Ignoring warnings from family and friends, they each give up all they have to be together. Their new life in London offers immense happines...

In an English seaside town, lovers and children, men and women weave in and out of each other's lives and stories.A mother is tormented by her daughter's tattoo; another only pretends to love her baby. A wife stalks her husband and his new lover; a broken egg through a mailbox tells a story that will not go away; the cat thinks he knows best.Threaded throughout are longings for love and poignant disappointments, surprising pleasures and temptations. Some will fall but some,...

Do you cover up or reveal it all; seek revenge or just reassurance; let the truth be naked as the day or cloaked in a night-time story? The men and women of Polly Samson's debut fiction all have stories to tell, pasts to forget, futures to forge. Manipulative or meek, used or using, all are aware of the power of truth, deception and little white lies to get what they want or sometimes what they deserve. Some are concerned with the economies of speech, those little 'kindnesses' which protec...

Julia is married and eight years Julian’s senior; he is a gifted English student, a life of academia ahead. Ignoring warnings, they each give up all they have to be together. When Julian hears that his boyhood home is for sale, he sets out to recreate a paradise for his new family. It is only when their daughter Mira becomes terrifyingly ill that it is impossible for Julia to conceal the explosive secret that she has been keeping from him.

“For fans of Kate Morton and Daphne du Maurier, Black Rabbit Hall is an obvious must-read.”—BookpageA secret history. A long-ago summer. A house with an untold story.Amber Alton knows that the hours pass differently at Black Rabbit Hall, her London family’s Cornish country house, where no two clocks read the same. Summers there are perfect, timeless. Not much ever happens. Until, one terrible day, it does.More than...

Annabel Kantaria's 2025 thriller YOU LIED FIRST is available now! In a family built on lies, who can you trust?‘Utterly compelling.’ – Judy FinniganAudrey Bailey will never forget the moment she met Ralph Templeton in the sweltering heat of a Bombay café. Her lonely life over, she was soon married with two small children. But things in the Templeton household were never quite what they seemed.Now approaching 70, and increasingly a burden on the chil...

Romilly had worked hard for her stunning house in one of Bristol's most fashionable suburbs. She adored her daughter and handsome husband and, sure, life was sometimes exhausting - but nothing that a large glass of wine couldn't fix. But then, as deep-buried insecurities surfaced, everything started to unravel. A glass of wine became a bottle; one bottle became two. Once, Romilly's family were everything to her. Now, after years of hiding the drinking, she must finally admit that she has f...

Katerina inherits a spice box after her grandmother Mariam dies. It contains letters and a diary, written in Armenian. Katerina learns that Mariam's childhood was shattered by the Armenian tragedy of 1915. Exiled from her home in Turkey and separated from her beloved brother, Mariam's life was marred by grief. Katerina tries to find resolution in her own life as she completes Mariam's story on a journey that takes her across Cyprus and then half a world away to New York.

Tom and Pippa Drummond have the perfect life. Tom is a partner in the successful restaurant 'The Pelican', Pippa grows and sells herbs whilst bringing up their lively daughter Tally.As they arrive in Tuscany on a much needed family holiday, it seems life couldn't be better. But overnight their whole world is turned upside down and life will never be the same again. From being the perfect family and the envy of all their friends, they are thrust into a world that nobody would wish up...

The past shapes us all. But what happens when it hides a secret that changes everything?In 1964, Maggie wakes to find herself in a mental asylum, with no idea who she is or how she got there. Remnants of memories swirl in her mind - a familiar song, a storm, a moment of violence. Slowly, she begins to piece together the past and the events which brought her to this point.In the present day, Jonathan is grieving after the loss of his father. A cold, distant man, he was not e...