Donna loved a gritty drama – but was she ready for the real thing?

I WOKE up after a vivid dream of Eleanor. I’d had quite a few recently. Eleanor was my half-sister. She was older than me – the daughter of Dad’s first wife, Dorrie. My mum only found out he had a fir

KERRY stood behind the counter gazing out across the store. She was plucking nervously at the name tag on the pocket of her blouse. The blocky lettering on the cream and gold badge suddenly seemed too

WASN’T it you who used to work behind the bar at the Frog and Lettuce?” Susan Tallboys looked up. She’d been fastening the buttons of her overcoat, suppressing her dislike of its worn fabric and its m

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

THE bell above the door jingled as Freya screwed the top on a big glass jar. “Be right with you!” she called, efficiently using the wooden steps to reach the top shelf and stow the aniseed twists wher