Returning to Penfleet after years in New York, Kate can't help but feel a pang of affection for the little town by the sea where she grew up. If only she were returning in happier circumstances. This last trip is full of farewells: to her childhood home, her once best friend and the life she left behind. Kissing the widow of the richest man in town wasn't one of Nathan's best ideas. Now he can't get Vanessa out his mind.

Nightingale Books, nestled on the high street in the idyllic Cotswold town of Peasebrook, is a dream come true for booklovers. But owner Emilia Nightingale is struggling to keep the shop open. The temptation to sell up is proving enormous - but what about the promise she made to her father? Not to mention the loyalty she owes to her customers.

Laura's life has just been turned on its head, and with an empty nest and a crumbling marriage she launches a new business from her own kitchen, making artisan jams, chutneys and relishes from her grandmother's cookbook to sell at the local farmer's market. So can her flair for cooking, her most special family recipes and a better understanding of her grandmother's past help her find a happy future?

Everyone adores Christmas. Especially Lizzy Kingham. But this year, she is feeling unloved, and under-appreciated by her family. The present-buying, decorating, and food shopping have all been left to her. So she wonders what would happen if she ran away and left them to it. Lizzy heads to her favourite place: a beach hut on the golden sands of Everdene. There, she meets an unlikely collection of new friends, all running away from something. But the spirit of Christmas gets under Lizzy's skin: soon the fairy lights are twinkling and the scent of mulled wine mingles with the sea air.

A new home, a new circle of friends, a new chance at happiness? Suzanna and Barney Blake are swapping city life for the countryside, determined to breathe new life into the Honeycote Arms and a marriage touched by tragedy. Recently separated Ginny Tait is also seeking solace in country living, desperate to rein in her rambunctious twin daughters. They all think that moving to a calm, quiet and beautiful village in the Cotswolds will solve their problems. But in Honeycote, things are never quite as they appear....

Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors - arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live the other side of the valley. Nestled amidst soft, rolling apple orchards in the depths of the Somerset countryside, life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making. The farm is idyllic and everyone falls under its spell. But its thick stone walls hold many secrets, and this summer everything will change for the family living there....

Secrets, rivalry, glamour - it's time for the party of the year... Delilah has lived out her tempestuous marriage to hell-raiser Raf in the glare of the media spotlight. Now planning a milestone birthday, she has more on her mind than invitations. Raf has been offered a part in a movie he can't refuse. But will he succumb to the temptations he's struggled to resist for the last ten years? Delilah's three daughters are building careers of their own, only too aware that the press are waiting for them to slip up.

Journalist Eleanor McCartney leads a glamorous life in London exposing the sordid secrets of famous celebrities for Hot Gossip! magazine. But her perfect life is a sham. So when her world collapses, she has to reluctantly head home to her mum and friends in the quiet country village of Cranley. Willow Tree Hall is still in the midst of extensive renovations under the careful eye of Eleanor's best friend, Annie, and her fiancé, record producer and future Earl of Cranley Sam Harris.

Behind the gorgeous Georgian sweep of Pelham Crescent, Bath, everyone's getting ready for Christmas. At Number 14, Josie Ballard is up to her ears in brandy, raisins and cherries as she battles to make forty Christmas puddings to sell at Bath Christmas Market. Ever since Giles walked out the day their baby was born, Josie has had to work twice as hard to make ends meet. Sacrificing a career as a chef, her famous steamed puddings keep her and her gorgeous baby boy Titus afloat.

Every girl should know what the finishing touches are. When 21st-century girl Betsy is called in to rescue an exclusive finishing school from financial ruin, she knows she must change the school drastically. So it's out with debutante decorum and in with modern manners. But with hunky bursar Mark and her gorgeous friend Jamie on the scene, she will have to remind herself that in the modern world, you don't have to rely on old school feminine wiles to get what you want....

Daydreamer Nora has inherited all of her grandmother's worldly belongings. Nora dreads seeing her beloved grandmother's possessions go, but she's determined that item by item, memory by memory, she will find the perfect new owners. When she opens The Memory Shop in the front of her grandmother's house, the community is gradually drawn inside, and Nora begins transforming the lives of those around her through the objects she pairs them with.

Can one act of love break a family apart? Alex believes that she can overcome anything. So when her partner, Sam, needs her help in the most unexpected of ways, she doesn't hesitate to offer it to him - even when it means making a huge sacrifice of her own. But what neither of them can foresee is that this one act of love will reverse their roles within the family...leaving Alex reeling and isolated from Sam and their two children. How far will you go to save someone you love?

Linston End on the Norfolk Broads has been the holiday home to three families for many years. The memories of their time there are ingrained in their hearts: picnics on the river, gin and tonics in the pavilion at dusk, hours spent seeking out the local swallowtail butterflies. Everyone together. But widower Alastair has been faced with a few of life's surprises recently. Now, he is about to shock his circle of friends with the decisions he has made - and the changes it will mean for them all. For some, it feels like the end. For others, it might just be the beginning.... 

Tara Richards was just a girl when she lost her mother. Years later, when Tara receives a letter from a London solicitor, its contents shake her to the core. Someone has left her a key to a safe deposit box. In the box lies an object that will change everything Tara thought she knew and lead her on a journey to deepest Spain in search of the answers that have haunted her for 40 years. Violet Skye regrets her decision to travel abroad leaving her young daughter behind. As the sun dips below the mountains, she reminds herself she is doing this for their future.

Suddenly unemployed and single, Anna escapes to her parents' beautiful house in France for a much needed recharge - and to work out what she wants to do next with her life now her carefully mapped out plan has gone out the window. Anna gives herself six months to recuperate, all the while helping renovate her parents' adjoining gites into picturesque B&Bs. But working alongside the ruggedly handsome Sam on the renovation project, she didn't expect for life to take an unexpected, if not unwelcome, twist....