Wendy Denison

A lively retelling of Shakespeare's famous work about the foolish ways people behave when they're in love.

Lovely Bianca has a queue of admirers anxious to marry her. But her older sister, Katharina, must get married first. Katharina has such a fiery temper she is known as "the shrew", and no man is brave enough to propose. Can Petruchio tame her with his outrageous behaviour?

The true story of a young woman's flight as a refugee in World War II and how she re-united her war-scattered family.

Kate Ivory is drawn into a complex murder at an Oxford College and into conflict with her old sparring partner.

In this collection of short stories, written between 1939 and 1944, many aspects of English domestic life during the War are explored including separation, sewing parties, and evacuees.

Book 2 of the 'Raj Quartet' sequel to 'The Jewel in the Crown' (6241). India, August 9th 1942. The detainment of a former Chief Minister is the first of wholesale arrests of influential Indians suspected of anti-British sympathies. For families such as the Laytons, the social and political realities are disturbing.

Laurie is afraid - in only a few days her classmates change from normal teenagers into fanatics caught up in 'The Wave'.

How could her mother, a peace-campaigner, have sent Hilde to live with her father, a librarian on a USAF base? Hilde is furious, refuses to attend school and joins an archeological dig. Though she is against war, she thinks protest is futile - until she finds a gold brooch from the grave of a sixth-century peace weaver.

Verity adores her cat Mabel, and is desperately sad when she dies. Remembering her recent school lessons about the Ancient Egyptians, Verity decides to mummify Mabel and keep her hidden.

Verity's dad and grandparents can't bear to talk about death, having lost Verity's mum several years ago - but when they eventually discover what Verity has done, the whole family realises it's time to talk.

A century ago when a valuable watch was stolen from Silas Heron a passing beggar boy was blamed, but the truth was more complex as Sophie, Jack and Simon discover.

Danger and romance for Clare in Regency England;

Elizabeth von Arnim creates and immortalises that place so perennially dear to an Englishwoman's heart - her garden. Through her eyes we watch the seasons, each bringing new events as friends and neighbours come and go. There too is her upright Teutonic husband, inspiring in her a mixture of irritation, affection and irreverence.

Aldminster Cathedral faces financial problems and the fate of the choir hangs in the balance.

The author and her companion rediscover a valley on the Tibetan Frontier closed to the outside world for 70 years.

Quiet Helena and her flamboyant step-mother Irene, both adore Irene's son Ivo, but is there something sinister behind his charm?

Three women, who all made the mistake of loving Michael Knight, TV star and philanderer, meet to put an end to their unhappiness.

At the age of seventeen the author decided to devote her life to God as a nun. When she embarked on her spiritual training she found herself in an oppressive world which pushed her to the limit of her endurance.

A delightful collection of short stories from an author better known for her historical novels. A TV chef who specializes in outrageous cakes tempts a monk; a surprise visitor invites mayhem into the perfect minimalist flat; and a woman explains her unique view of straying husbands.

In 1966, while browsing in the Bibliotheque Nationale, the author is confronted by an old man who insists she is the daughter of French Resistance heroes, Jacques and Lotka de Prevaux. She had never heard of them but that night her mother confirmed the old man's tale. Gradually she unravelled the lives and ultimate tragedy of her real parents.

Edith Hahn, a bright law student in Vienna was also a Jew, but with help she hid her identity from the Gestapo. Under her assumed identity she married a German officer, Werner Vetter, but after the war the marriage broke up. Eventually she moved to England with her daughter, who only found out the extraordinary truth of their survival in 1977.

A novel which vividly recounts the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the most famous female artist in Italian history. Set in the 16th century, Artemisia painted for the Medicis and was a friend of Galileo but she suffered at the hands of the men in her life.

Seventeenth century France is a hotbed of religious frenzy and political instability. Juliette, an actress and dancer abandons her travelling ways and joins a remote convent, to create a stable life for herself and her daughter. Several years later, following the death of the Abbess, life in the convent unravels as Juliette's past catches up with her.

Three generations of women, Ina, Margo, and Rose, all live in a small Scottish fishing community. Despite leading very different lives, they are all caught up in the life of the sea.

Actress and cookery writer Madhur jaffrey gives an enchanting account of her childhood in India. She also includes several family recipes.

Josie has just finished her last term at school when the country hears of the heroic evacuation of the troops from Dunkirk. Her mother, worried about a possible invasion, decides to send Josie from London, to stay with an aunt and uncle in the country. There she meets the Peterson brothers, and is drawn into a tangled web of romance.

This is the story of Richard Whiteley the man - rather than the tv star. Kathryn shares her memories, both good and bad, and her love for him shines through.

Mexico possesses an immense ethnic diversity which is described by the author as she experiences the many different faces of the patchwork. In showing the stark realities and ancient mysticism, this is the perfect evocation of this country of extremes.

It is 1805 and in Bexleyheath Mabel Flinchurst is witness to a gruesome death which holds the key to a conspiracy whose effects are felt from Italy to Britain.

Following the death of her guardian, Helen Stanley is urged to share the home of her childhood friend Lady Cecilia. But this charming socialite is withholding secrets and soon Helen is drawn into a web of 'white lies' and evasions that threaten not only her hopes for marriage, but her very place in society.

Empress Josephine’s family has been called to Napoleon’s court for the terrible news that he is going to divorce her for failing to provide an heir and take a younger bride.

This refreshing biography reveals an adventurous and uncompromising personality - a woman with a passion for food, life and men. This is the whole story: of her strong friendships, her failed marriage, tempestuous affairs and the greatest love of her life, told with extensive reference to David's private papers and letters.

An extraordinary memoir that reads like a novel of the events before and after the 1964 Rivonia trial when Nelson Mandela was given a life sentence, and the author's husband was acquitted.

A wealthy family gathers at the family estate in Derbyshire, in the aftermath of the patriarch’s death, to mourn him, bury him and read his will. Relationships between the old man’s surviving wife and adult children start to shift as they begin to realise what his death will mean.

Caro and Grace are Australian sisters who come to post-war England to seek their fortunes. Here Caro finds that love brings passion, sorrow, betrayal and finally hope, while Grace seeks fulfilment in an apparently happy marriage. But as the decades pass, love, death and two slow-burning secrets wait in ambush for them.

This autobiographical novel by one of New Zealand's most celebrated poets, follows the development of Eliza Hannay as she negotiates growing up in early twentieth century Wellington. Eliza encounters love, family tension, a love of poetry, and, like the migrating godwits, an inherited pull towards the motherland, England.

With insight and great wit, Emmeline's autobiography chronicles the beginnings of her interest in feminism through to her militant and controversial fight for women's right to vote.