Barbara Davis - When Never Comes
Christine thinks she has put her early life behind her and is secure living in Maine as the wife of a successful crime writer. But when her husband, Stephen, dies in a car accident, her life begins to unravel. An unknown woman died in the car with him, which sparks a torrent of media interest. Christine flees, hiding out in a motel in a small town in Virginia. She reverts to her former name, Christy-Lynn, and tentatively makes friends with Missy, who runs the motel as a single mother. She starts a new life and a new career. But when she discovers the identity of the woman who died with her husband, she has to face the demons from her own past, as well as sorting out the problems of the present. Then there's Wade, her husband's former college room-mate, who fell out with him years earlier, but who now is reaching out to her. A thoroughly good read, with sympathetic characters and twists of mystery throughout.
Faith Hogan - The Place We Call Home
Miranda is head of the Corrigan Mills in the Irish village of Ballycove. Now in her seventies, her health is deteriorating, but she finds it hard to find someone to take over from her. Her quiet and methodical daughter Ada runs the mills' finances, but lacks the creative flair of her younger sister, Callie, who's a top textile designer in London.Their brother Simon lives a flamboyant lifestyle without the substance of the income he needs, and goes from one bad business deal to another. But as the centenary of the mills approaches, Callie and Simon return to Ballycove, each nursing their own secret problem, while Ada longs to be recognised and have the fulfilment in her life that always seems to have escaped her. The appearance of David Blair, the youngest member of the family who once owned the mills, stirs up long-buried emotions and secrets.All members of Miranda's family have to face their pasts and make decisions for the future. A warm family novel, its plot woven with many colours and strands like the fabric produced in the family's woollen mills.