The great thaw

I LIFT my head to the weak sun and give thanks for having survived another winter. It’s good to see the lane is passable, even if there are ruts and puddles. However, I can still see the bones of icy,

THE sea at Thornbyon-Sea answered before you’d finished asking. Will Hartley liked that about it. He would lift his eyes, shape a thought, and the tide would already be laying its long, even breaths a

EACH year, before the holiday brochures landed, John’s seed catalogue arrived in the post. Ellen waited, knowing its arrival would bring a flood of memories she wasn’t strong enough to deal with. She

AS I hang my clothes in the wardrobe of the hotel room we’re sharing, I feel my sister Clare’s eyes on me. Through a mirror, I catch the thoughtful look on her face. It’s a look that’s often there, bu

WHEN Lady Hargreaves told Valerie that she was the third governess to be engaged for Rosa in a little over a year, it had taken Valerie only a few days to realise that the problem was not Rosa herself

AMELIA arrives home from her half-day at work. She has the week’s shopping and quickly squirrels everything away, leaving just her children’s magazines on the kitchen table. Seeing she only has three-