Elizabeth Taylor

Mrs Lippincote's house, with its mahogany furniture and yellowing photographs, stands as a reminder of all the certainties that have vanished with the advent of war. Temporarily, this is home for Julia, who has joined her husband Roddy at the behest of the RAF. Although she can accept the pomposities of service life, Julia's honesty and sense of humour prevent her from taking her role as seriously as her husband, that leader of men, might wish; for Roddy, merely love cannot suffice - he needs homage as well as admiration. And Julia, while she may be a most unsatisfactory officer's wife, is certainly no hypocrite.

Mrs Palfrey spends her days at the Claremont Hotel where her fellow residents, flawed and eccentric, fight off boredom and the grim reaper. One day Mrs Palfrey encounters a handsome young writer and learns that even the old can fall in love.

Newly orphaned Cassandra Dashwood takes the position of governess to Sophy, precocious daughter of Marion Vanbrugh, an austere widower and owner of Cropthorne Manor.

In a small coastal village where everyone looks out for each other, nothing goes unnoticed for long. A novelist is so absorbed in the world she creates she fails to see that her husband is involved with a neighbour. Their daughter, though, is appalled by her father's treachery.

The lives of a handful of people in a small country town. Spending the holiday with friends, as she has for many years, Camilla finds their private absorptions - Frances with her painting and Liz with her baby - seem to exclude her from the gossipy intimacies of previous summers.