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MY mum and dad don’t live together. They split up two years ago, when I was eight. I mostly live with Mum, in our cosy semi-detached house where I have my own bedroom. But I also have my own room in D

OPEN wide!” my little sister Mia cried, as she clambered up beside Dad on the sofa. “OK, but you’re just having a look,” Dad answered, lowering his newspaper to his lap. “No poking about in there.” He

NEW YEAR’S EVE ”Have you made any resolutions?” Sophie asked. Emma put her phone on speaker as she poured a cup of tea. No Champagne for her tonight. “No. Every year I resolve to exercise more and tak

JANUARY 1. Hazel sat in the quiet cottage. It was one of two, semidetached, on the outskirts of the village, completely surrounded by fields. When she looked out of the window, all she saw was unrelen

Julie stared out of the window at her garden, mostly bare branches with only a few spots of colour in the deep red of the dogwood and silver cineraria. She sighed – it was that unsettling period after

STEP ONE BUY YOUR ORANGES! No one could say my mother-in-law was easy to get on with. “Mum can be rather rude even though she calls it ‘plain-speaking’,” warned Jeremy when we became serious. “Dad cou