Kathryn Hughes

Jenny Tanner opens the box she has cherished for decades. Contained within are her most precious mementoes, amongst them a pebble, a carving and a newspaper cutting she can hardly bear to read. But Jenny knows the time is finally here. After the war, in a mountainside village in Italy, she left behind a piece of her heart. However painful, she must return to Cinque Alberi. And lay the past to rest.

After a troubled upbringing, Candice Barnes dreams of a future with the love of her life - but is he the man she believes him to be? When Candice is given the opportunity to travel to Italy with Jenny, she is unaware the trip will open her eyes to the truth she's been too afraid to face. Could a place of goodbyes help her make a brave new beginning?

Mrs Beeton's name is possibly the best known of all early cookery writers, but she died at a young age and there was surprisingly little known of her life. The author has created an intriguing biography of the woman behind the famous name.

Historian Kathryn Hughes delves into the realms of social history, medical discourse and religious observance of the Victorian era. The result is an eye-opening, groundbreaking account that brings the Victorians back to life and helps us understand how they lived their lives.