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

GOOD morning, everybody!” Miss Parver beamed, scanning her class on the first day back at Uppington Grammar School after the autumn half term. “I hope you’re rested, because, with mock exams in Januar

WHAT do you think, Zara?” Mum says, pulling her hair above her ears. “Hair up or down?” “Remind me where you’re going.” “To the cinema. And possibly for a drink afterwards.” “The cinema seats have hig

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

SISSIE sighed with relief as a wintry Oban came into view. Her Morris Minor was behaving, but it always felt good to complete the long drive from Glasgow. The sea was sparkling and the air frosty as t

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