WOULD you look at the man!” Maggie said. She wasn’t much to look at herself, being as black as sin from the coal dust. She’d just finished a shift at the colliery screens, picking lumps of coal out of

S ian had been home for an hour and growing more irate by the minute when her phone rang. “Have you met your neighbour yet?” asked her friend, Abby, cheerily. “No, I have not!” “No? Didn’t the estate

Zoe West shares her favourite picks for the week

WHAT do you think, Zara?” Mum says, pulling her hair above her ears. “Hair up or down?” “Remind me where you’re going.” “To the cinema. And possibly for a drink afterwards.” “The cinema seats have hig

by Harriet Lane (£20, HB, Orion) What lies beneath the image we construct of ourselves? Ruth, newly divorced and drifting as her daughter leaves home, feels invisible – until Sookie, her dazzling form

GH ’s books director Joanne Finney shares her pick of this month’s new hardback releases