Jenny Sanders, bekend kunstenares in Sydney, verliest op tragische wijze haar man en kind bij een auto-ongeluk. Van de notaris hoort ze dat haar man haar postuum Churingafarm heeft geschonken. Nieuwsgierig naar wat ze daar zal aantreffen vertrekt Jenny naar wat eens Matilda's farm was en vindt daar tientallen jaren later Matilda's dagboeken. Op Churingafarm raakt Jenny in de ban van de ruwe schoonheid van de natuur en Matilda's noodlot.
Rich in detail and character, this book weaves a powerful narrative that captivates readers with its depth and complexity. The blend of legend and intricate storytelling creates an immersive experience, making it essential for those seeking a profound literary journey.
Schotland, 14e eeuw. Afton, Lord van Langley, is gestorven aan de pest. Zijn beeldschone echtgenote, de Engelse Igrainia, wordt nu gevangen gehouden in haar eigen kasteel... gegijzeld door een woeste Schotse ridder. Voor Eric Graham is de trotse kasteelvrouwe slechts een politieke pion, een mooie oorlogsbuit die hij voor de neus van de Engelse koning Edward I kan laten bungelen. Maar Eric krijgt zijn zin niet, waarop hij Igrainia dwingt met hem te trouwen. Zij zou nog liever in haar eigen kerkers wegkwijnen dan zijn arrogante aanwezigheid te accepteren. Wat beide jonge mensen echter nooit hadden verwacht is de intense hartstocht die hen onmiddellijk overvalt.
This No.1 Sunday Times bestseller tells the heart-warming tale of how a wiggly yellow fur ball of a puppy could grow into a barrelling, ninety-seven pound stramroller of a Labrador retriever who would prove that unconditional love comes in many forms. John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Along comes Marley, mischievous, hyperactive and so unruly he is expelled from obedience school. How could they possibly know that this incorrigible dog could teach them more about love for life than they could hope to teach him? Since becoming a major motion picture, starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, this heart-warming and unforgettable story of a family and their haphazard dog has become a timeless family favourite.
De wijngaarden van Jacaranda behoorden eens tot de machtigste van Australië. Maar nu Joseph Witney - het tirannieke hoofd van de familie - overleden is, komt het bedrijf in de problemen. Om haar kleindochter Sophie ervan te overtuigen dat de wijngaarden onder geen beding verkocht mogen worden, neemt Cordelia, Josephs weduwe, haar mee naar de Hunter-vallei, de plek waar het allemaal begon. Daar vertelt Cordelia het verhaal van Rose, een jong meisje dat halverwege de negentiende eeuw wegvluchtte uit Engeland om een nieuw bestaan op te bouwen in het wilde, onbekende Australië... Storm over Jacaranda is het adembenemende verhaal over meerdere generaties van een bijzondere familie. Een geschiedenis die begint in het Britse Sussex in 1830 en eindigt in het hedendaagse Australië.
Vlak voor de Eerste Wereldoorlog erft de zestienjarige, vroegwijze Mary Toliver haar vaders katoenplantage Somerset. Haar moeder en broer zijn woedend, ze voelen zich verraden en keren zich tegen haar. Maar Mary is verknocht aan de plantage en ze zet alles op alles om het succes van haar vader voort te zetten. Dan vraagt houtmagnaat Percy Warwick, de liefde van haar leven, Mary om de plantage op te geven om met hem te trouwen, maar daarmee vraagt hij haar het onmogelijke: Mary’s hart ligt boven alles bij Somerset en ze wijst Percy’s aanzoek af. Ze trouwen beiden iemand anders maar moeten de rest van hun leven de gevolgen dragen van deze fatale beslissing: de geheimen, het bedrog en het knagende gevoel van wat als…
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “[Kristin] Hannah is superb at delving into her main characters’ psyches and delineating nuances of feeling.”—The Washington Post Book World Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman. Angie hires Lauren Ribido because she sees something special in the seventeen-year-old. They quickly form a deep bond, and when Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie offers the girl a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. Together, these two women—one who longs for a child and the other who longs for a mother’s love—will be tested in ways that neither could have imagined. “Enormously entertaining . . . Hannah has a nice ear for dialogue and a knack for getting the reader inside the characters’ heads.”—The Seattle Times
After thirty years of marriage, Wilson Lewis, son-in-law of Allie and Noah Calhoun (of The Notebook), is forced to admit that the romance has gone out of his marriage. Desperate to win back his wife, Jane's, heart, he must figure out how to make her fall in love with him... again. Despite the shining example of Allie and Noah's marriage, Wilson is himself a man unable to easily express his emotions. A successful estate attorney, he has provided well for his family, but now, with his daughter's upcoming wedding, he is forced to face the fact that he and Jane have grown apart and he wonders if she even loves him anymore. Wilson is sure of one thing--his love for his wife has only deepened and intensified over the years. Now, with the memories of his in-laws' magnificent fifty-year love affair as his guide, Wilson struggles to find his way back into the heart of the woman he adores. Did You Know? The Wedding is a follow-up to The Notebook? The Wedding was inspired by a few unnamed couples that Nicholas knows well? The novel is set in the North Carolina town in which Nicholas now lives?
Mosca, 1620. La giovane contessa Synnovea Zenkovna, rimasta orfana, è stata affidata dallo zar alla cugina, la principessa Anna Taraslovna. Mentre si dirige verso la capitale, nel silenzio della steppa innevata, la sua carrozza viene assalita dai briganti, e solo il tempestivo intervento di Tyrone Rycroft, un ufficiale inglese in missione in Russia, la salva dal rapimento. Tra i due sconosciuti scocca un'attrazione intensa, immediata, ma a corte, quando si incontreranno di nuovo, dovranno fronteggiare mille intrighi, pericoli e tradimenti ...
De jonge violiste Isabel Delancey is weduwe en kan in Londen nauwelijks de eindjes aan elkaar knopen. Wanneer ze een groot, vervallen landhuis erft van een oudoom trekt ze erin met haar twee kinderen. Als Matt McCarthy, buurman en handige klusser, aanbiedt om haar te helpen met de broodnodige reparaties, maakt ze daar dankbaar gebruik van. Maar Matt heeft een verborgen agenda, want hij aast al meer dan tien jaar op het huis...
Ten years ago, Owen Cassidy-eight years old, thick fair hair, bright blue eyes-disappeared. Everyone had thought that he was out playing with his best friend Luke. But later it turned out that Owen had left him in the middle of the afternoon. And never made it home. He vanished leaving no trace, except for a trainer found in a rubbish bin two weeks later.... His disappearance left his father, Nick, distraught, but also full of guilt. For instead of looking after Owen that day, Nick had spent the afternoon in bed-with one of their neighbours. It was an affair that would tear his family apart. The aftermath of Owen's disappearance drove Nick away from his wife and home, to America. He has moved from city to city, trying to forget. But it is impossible to run away from a guilty heart. Now, ten years on, a sudden encounter forces Nick to return to Dublin to confront his demons. He arrives to find the world has moved on. But he is determined to face up to his past, and to find out at last exactly what happened to his son. Little does he realise that his investigations will soon unleash further violence, taking him into a terrifying world that he barely knew existed.
As a science journalist with a regular column in "Scientific American," Jeremy Marsh specializes in debunking the supernatural--until he falls in love with the granddaughter of the town psychic.
There are few things Jeremy Marsh was sure he'd never do: he'd never leave New York City; never give his heart away again after barely surviving one failed marriage; and most of all, never become a parent. Now, Jeremy is living in the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, married to Lexie Darnell, the love of his life, and anticipating the birth of their daughter. But just as his life seems to be settling into a blissful pattern, an unsettling and mysterious message re-opens old wounds and sets off a chain of events that will forever change the course of this young couple's marriage . . .
When they were children, Erica Calcott and her sister, Beth, spent their summer holidays at Storton Manor. Now, following the death of their grandmother, they have returned to the grand, imposing house in Wiltshire, England. Unable to stem the tide of childhood memories that arise as she sorts through her grandmother’s belongings, Erica thinks back to the summer her cousin Henry vanished mysteriously from the estate, an event that tore their family to pieces. It is time, she believes, to lay the past to rest, bring her sister some peace, and finally solve the mystery of her cousin’s disappearance. But sifting through remnants of a bygone time is bringing a secret family history to light—one that stretches back over a century, to a beautiful society heiress in Oklahoma, a haunting, savage land across the ocean. And as past and present converge, Erica and Beth must come to terms with two shocking acts of betrayal . . . and the heartbreaking legacy they left behind.
De mooiste kattenverhalen van Doris Lessing, Lewis Caroll, Charles Baudelaire en vele anderen
18 pages
1 hour of reading
Kattenkrabbels levert het bewijs van de kleurrijke variëteit aan katten en hun onuitputtelijke vermogen om het leven van de mens te verrijken. Uiteenlopende auteurs als Paul Gallico, Doris Lessing, Charles Perrault, Lewis Carrol en Charles Baudelaire laten zien welk speciale plaats de kat inneemt in de literatuur en het leven.
Embittered by betrayals that have rendered her unable to trust, Anna takes a job in the family restaurant, while her aunt tries to rekindle their relationship and help Anna realize that she is falling in love despite her determination to leave.
Firmly planted on the Wall Street fast track to success, Becca Reinhart has no desire to marry and raise a family. Ditto Edward Kirkland, a charming playboy who has never known what it means to work for a living, and hopes never to find out. Enter Emily, who becomes Becca and Edward’s common denominator when a quirk of fate gives them joint custody of the precocious little girl. Suddenly, two people who have never met find themselves sharing the trials and tribulations of domestic life as they navigate the rocky shoals of parenthood, from naptime to play dates to pre-school admissions. And amid the daily demands of raising a young child, Becca and Edward discover something else: They’re made for each other.
In the Sixties, Athene Forster is the most glamorous girl of her generation. Nicknamed the Last Deb, she is also beautiful, spoilt and out of control. When she agrees to marry dashing young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme her parents breathe a sigh of relief. But within two years rumours have begun to circulate about Athene's affair with a young salesman. Thirty five years on, Suzanna Peacock is struggling with her glamorous mother's legacy. At odds with her father and his second wife, struggling in a stalled marriage, she returns to the place of her birth to find that the ghost of her mother, in differing ways, still haunts them all. The only place she finds comfort is in her shop, The Peacock Emporium, a coffee shop-cum-curio store, decorated in her own image, which provides a haven for other misfits in the town. There she makes perhaps the first real friends of her life, including Alejandro, a male midwife, escaping his own ghosts in Argentina. But the spectre of Athene and the shop itself combine to set in place a chain of tragic events, forcing Suzanna to confront the feelings she has disguised for so long - and her family, in their varying ways, finally to deal with the events of the past. And Suzanna discovers the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.
What’s a Park Avenue working mom to do when her troubled son desperately needs a male role model and her husband is a power workaholic? The gutsy heroine of this astute comedy of manners hires a “manny.” Jamie Whitfield, a solid middle-class girl from Middle America, finds herself living in “the Grid,” Manhattan's wealthiest area, where big money and big media collide. She has a big apartment, full-time help with her three children, and a detached attorney husband. However, she lacks a full-time father figure for her struggling nine-year-old son, Dylan.
Enter the manny. Initially, the idea of hiring someone to be a role model seems absurd, but one look at Peter Bailey convinces Jamie otherwise. Calm, cool, and charmingly down-to-earth, Peter is irresistible. As a political sex scandal propels Jamie's career as a news producer into overdrive and her husband becomes increasingly erratic, she finds herself in need of grounding.
Peter reminds her of her past and what she still misses beneath the high-society glitz. Yet, the question remains: will this new presence stabilize her life, or will he sweep her off her feet?
Thanks to a mutual friends' invitation, two families meet in a luxury villa in Spain and discover their room is overbooked, igniting old passions and tensions.
Een oudere tuinarchitecte, die al sinds lang van haar dochter is vervreemd, vraagt een jongeman die ze nog maar kort kent, om te bemiddelen bij een verzoening.
Wanneer een jonge Amerikaanse muzieklerares tijdelijk alleen woont omdat haar grootmoeder is opgenomen in een verzorgingstehuis, leert ze veel over het leven en zichzelf.
In December 1997, Julia Butterfly Hill climbed a 200-foot redwood tree named Luna and remained there for 738 days to protest the logging practices of the Maxxam Corporation, which had acquired Pacific Lumber and was clear-cutting old-growth forests. Environmentalists accused the company of unsustainable timber harvesting, leading to protests including tree sit-ins organized by Earth First! Hill's journey began when she encountered logging protesters and decided to ascend Luna, just as loggers were preparing to cut down the hillside. Her account, blending diary entries and spiritual reflections, details her experiences living in the tallest treehouse, facing harsh weather, media scrutiny, and dangerous encounters with loggers who threatened her safety. Notable figures like Joan Baez and Woody Harrelson visited her during her protest, raising awareness about forestry practices. Hill gained significant media attention, being recognized as one of the "Most Admired Women" and featured in various publications. Although an agreement allowed her to descend and spared Luna, much of the surrounding forest was lost. Nevertheless, Hill remains hopeful, believing that collective action can lead to positive change for the environment.
Set partly in pre Celtic Tiger-Ireland, but mainly in Texas, and is narrated by Ray, a young wife and mother, on the eve of her family's return to their native Dublin as recession bites in America. In the opening pages her daughter, who does not want to leave the only home she knows, disappears and that is the prompt for Ray to tell her story, and the story of her family's life in suburban America over ten years, before returning to the fate of the disappeared child in its final section. Lean, gripping, emotionally sophisticated and very atmospheric.
It is the near-future and signs of an impending global disaster are multiplying. Earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions sweep the earth. As the storms and tempests rage, a series of ominous events signal the emergence of a new and terrifying force. While scuba-diving on the Great Barrier Reef, a diver watches, fascinated, as a tiny light floats past him towards the surface. Moments later he is torn to pieces as the reef erupts with colossal power. On the banks of the Ganges, a young boy pauses from his back-breaking labours, transfixed by the play of a mysterious light amidst the monsoon rains, before a towering geyser of boiling water bursts from beneath the streets, scalding him to death. In the Chinese city of Kashi travellers bring back reports of a strange light seen shining above the endless dunes of the Taklimakan Desert. And as the city's inhabitants watch for its return, the desert rises up to engulf them in a tidal wave of sand. All have seen a portent. A sign of unimaginable powers about to be unleashed. A sign that something incredible is about to begin...