Showing titles in Animals

As Samantha Wishaw watches the love of her life marry another woman, she’s ready to give up hope of finding her happy ever after. But when a chance encounter leads Sam to find friendship in Thomas - a lonely, grumpy elderly widower living at derelict Hedgehog Hollow - her life is about to change forever. Glad to have a distraction from family feuds and match-making, Sam vows to fulfill Thomas and his wife Gwendoline's dreams of restoring Hedgehog Hollow to its former glory, and to open a hedgehog rescue centre.

My name's Griz. I've never been to school, I've never had friends, in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, before all the people went away, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs. Then the thief came. He told stories of the deserted towns and cities beyond our horizons. I liked him - until I woke to find he had stolen my dog. So I chased him out into the ruins of the world. 

Christmas magic in Virgin River 'Tis the season for family, friendship and a perfect holiday romance… Under the Christmas Tree With snow falling over the town of Virgin River the close-knit community has gathered in the town square to light their Christmas tree. But amidst the festivities, a...

Juno is feeling ready – at last – to start dating again, after losing her husband some years ago. She is sure she can make time from being a Village Detective, indeed it might help distract her from her crush on hunky (but far-too-young!) pub landlord – Mil. So she’s signed up to an exclusive new dating app and cannot wait. But when one of the founding investors in that same dating app drops dead in front of fellow Village Detective Phoebe in a nearby hotel, Juno knows she’ll have to put her love life on hold.

Brought to you by Penguin. SET SAIL FOR A TROPICAL PARADISE THIS SUMMER How far do you need to travel to find home? Zoologist Charlotte Walker has taken up a year-long fellowship on the tiny, remote island of Tuga de Oro to study the endangered gold coin tortoises in the jungle interior. She is...

Theo Jennings is a young auctioneer at the Thoroughbred sales ring in Newmarket. The October yearling sales are where the big money exchanges hands in frenzied auctions. It's the greatest gamble in all of horseracing, and one that can end in ruin. Theo has just made the biggest sale of his life when he overhears a secret conversation between the two bidders – can they really have colluded to fix the price of his big sale? When that same horse is found dead the next morning, he has no choice but to investigate.

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Homer Todiwala. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Kaori Nagai. The story of the man-cub Mowgli who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, guided by his mentors Baloo the bear, Bagheera the black panther and...

Ea has always felt like an outsider. She suffers from a type of deafness that means she cannot master the spinning rituals that unite her pod of spinner dolphins. When tragedy strikes her family and Ea feels she is partly to blame, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave. As Ea ventures into the vast, she discovers dangers everywhere, from lurking predators to strange objects floating in the water. But just as she is coming to terms with her solitude, a chance encounter with a group of arrogant bottlenoses will irrevocably alter the course of her life.

Although dog trainer Sally is relatively new to Wagging Tails, the team she works with have quickly become her family and the dogs her friends. But when Andy, the one that got away, turns up for a brief respite from the city, she is at a crossroads. As tempting as a life with him is, she loves her home of West Par, and anyway, she has responsibilities here. Number one on that list is ensuring the dogs' home stays in business. A developer has been sniffing around wanting to buy the land, and the team is worried.

In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness. In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. This extraordinary debut, full of unexpected humour and emotional truth, marks the arrival of a thrilling and significant new talent.

Gil Patterson is a woman familiar with dark stories. As a student of medieval history, she knows the Crusades, the Black Death and the horrors of life in the Middle Ages. But it is another kind of darkness that has begun to stalk her dreams: when she falls asleep in her home she sees forces of evil assaulting a beleaguered kingdom, whose kind people are on the brink of annihilation and awakes each morning in a cold sweat. Gil dismisses the dreams until a wizard appears in her apartment. He has crossed into her dimension to ask for her help.

Love, Loyalty, and Leashes is not a training manual. It’s not a guide to raising the perfect dog. It’s a collection of quiet, deeply human stories about what happens when dogs enter our lives and rearrange them in ways we never planned. Inside, you’ll meet a contractor who inherits a nine-pound Chihuahua he didn’t ask for. A group of early-morning dog walkers who become something more than strangers. A woman who prepares for the perfect puppy and ends up with the wrong dog—the right one. A man who almost doesn’t stop on the side of the highway…

Maple Tree Lodge has been the home of the Jackson family for over a century. But the hotel has never been a success and, following the sudden loss of his father, architect Ben Jackson soon discovers the hotel is close to financial ruin. Ben has to make some tough decisions if the hotel is to survive and his family are to keep a roof over their heads.

Brought to you by Penguin. **Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022** Glory is an energy burst, an exhilarating ride. A bold, vivid chorus of animal voices calls out the dangerous absurdity of contemporary global politics, and helps us see our human world more clearly. A long time ago, in a...

The greatest foe is the enemy within . . . Heirs of the Blade is the seventh book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Tynisa is on the run, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amidst the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly...

Tolkien’s acclaimed modern classic ‘fairie’ tale, read by Derek Jacobi. While on holiday in 1925, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toy dog on the beach at Filey in Yorkshire. To console him, his father, J.R.R.Tolkien, improvised a story about Rover, a real dog who is...

The first novel in the heartwarming, countryside-set Hope Meadows series. Newly qualified vet Mandy Hope is leaving Leeds - and her boyfriend, Simon - to return to the Yorkshire village she grew up in, where she'll help out with animals of all shapes and sizes in her parents' surgery. But it's not all plain sailing: Mandy clashes with gruff local Jimmy Marsh, and some of the villagers won't accept a new vet. Meanwhile, Simon is determined that Mandy will rejoin him back in the city.

Christmas has arrived in the little village of Welford. The scent of hot roasted chestnuts is in the air, and a layer of frost sparkles on the ground. This year, vet Mandy Hope is looking forward to the holidays. Her animal rescue centre, Hope Meadows, is up and running - and she's finally going on a date with Jimmy Marsh, owner of the local outward bound centre. But when a mysterious local starts causing trouble, Mandy's plans for the centre come under threat.

Phoebe Dashwood is living the dream. She’s running her own successful vet practice, Puddleduck Vets, alongside her grandmother’s animal sanctuary. She’s also dating the gorgeous, yet slightly broken Rufus Holt, the most eligible bachelor in the New Forest. So why isn’t she blissfully happy? Both Phoebe and Rufus are consumed 24/7 by their own commitments. Their relationship is always last on the list. Phoebe juggles quirky, yet demanding clients and their pets whilst widowed Rufus is consumed by his anxieties, responsibilities of fatherhood and the unenviable tasks of being a Lord in waiting.

WINNER OF THE ROMANTIC NOVELISTS' ASSOCIATION KATIE FFORDE DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2023. 'A warm, romantic story about community, friendship and following your heart, Always By Your Side is a feel-good delight, I adored it!' HOLLY MARTIN 'Always By Your Side engages the reader from the very...