A new coat

YOUR text message sounded quite urgent,” Jane said. “Nothing wrong at the shop, is there?” She and her daughter had met for coffee at Caravaggio’s. On the other side of the small market square stood t

When I was a child, we had a tortoise called Winnie who had belonged to my father when he was a boy in the 1950s. He called his pet Winston after Churchill, but this name had to be changed when he dis

Keith screamed as he leapt out of the way. The wild-looking animal glared at him, gave a loud grunt and bared its sharp teeth. That was more than enough for Keith. Any ideas of bravery or overcoming h

THE salt air tugged at her hair, carrying the scent of seaweed. Donna had spent years building towards this, chasing figures in spreadsheets, negotiating contracts, dreaming of the day she and Ben wou

Ben hunched over in the cab of the lorry, eyes cast down, earphones firmly in place. He tugged his hoodie further over his face and ramped up his music, trying to drown out his stepdad, along with the

THE boy was a scrawny little thing with some smudges on his face. He stood in our hall with a label tied to his small case and another pinned on his clothes, just staring around at everything as if he