To the aventine

CARMEN felt that the time had finally come to find out if her dear brother still lived. It had been a long and terrible second half decade in a 10-year war. Mexico had been traumatised, the factions o

ICY sleet hit the restaurant window, making me glad I was in the warmth of the restaurant, until Luca appeared from the kitchen, wearing a frown. “Sorry, bella Bella, we’ve another order for delivery,

Alice Loxton EleanorA 200-mile walk in search of England’slost queen352pp. Pan Macmillan. £22. Many are commemorated in stone, but few so grandly as Eleanor of Castile (d. 1290). Following her unexpec

NOTHING said “home” like the kitchen of Nant-y-Bri Farm at breakfast time. Delicious frying pan smells hung heavy in the air and the scrape of cutlery on willow pattern plates indicated the family had

L AURA phoned her mother, trying to keep her voice light. “Hello, Mum, I’ve got a bit of news,” she said. “Hannah’s moving in with her boyfriend. “I need to either get a new flatmate, or try to find s

I HOPE this is the last time I’ll sit at home watching the Winter Olympics on telly,” I said. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were kneeling on the ice. “In four years’ time, I want to be there, cov