Welcome to ninety-seven-hour weeks. Welcome to life-and-death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships… Welcome to the life of a junior doctor. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay’s diaries provide a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking by turns, this is everything you wanted to know – and more than a few things you didn’t – about life on and off the hospital ward. And yes, it may leave a scar.
Rosie Hopkins is about to face major upheaval. Her elderly aunt Lily is ill and so Rosie is putting her entire life on hold to move to the middle of nowhere to help. Lilian Hopkins has run the village sweetshop all her life. As she struggles with the idea of selling up, she also wrestles with the secrets hidden behind the jars of beautiful sweets. Will Rosie come round to the charms of the old sweetshop? And can Lilian come to terms with her past?
1960. Clare Hamilton is returning home to Armagh to marry Andrew Hamilton, her childhood sweetheart. They plan to open Andrew’s ancestral home, Drumsollen, as a guest house. Things start well, but when bookings decline, their business and plans are put in jeopardy. And with increasing political turmoil and religious tensions close to home they have to wonder if, despite everything, their future might lie elsewhere…
As World War II takes its toll on Liverpool, only friendship and community can keep the women of Weaver Street smiling. The neighbours on Liverpool’s Weaver Street have always looked after each other, but when the Second World War takes many of the husbands, brothers and sons away to fight, the women’s friendships are more important than ever. Matriarch Kitty Conlon is missing her son Patrick, proud but fearful of the fate of his Spitfire, while spinster Mavis welcomes a new lodger, WAAF Anna Carswell who is delighted by the Weaver Street welcome after a loveless childhood. At number nine, Maggie Stubbs worries nightly as her daughter Lily patrols the streets to protect the neighbours during air raids in her role as ARP Warden, and when an unexploded bomb is discovered at the allotment, danger comes terrifyingly close to Weaver Street. With war raging and Liverpool bearing the brunt of seemingly non-stop bombing, the friends must share the burden of rationing, blackout and news from the front, while helping one another capture all the moments of joy they can. All the time wishing and hoping that soon news of peace will come and finally their lives can start again.
As World War II takes its toll on Liverpool, only friendship and community can keep the women of Weaver Street smiling. The neighbours on Liverpool’s Weaver Street have always looked after each other, but when the Second World War takes many of the husbands, brothers and sons away to fight, the women’s friendships are more important than ever. Matriarch Kitty Conlon is missing her son Patrick, proud but fearful of the fate of his Spitfire, while spinster Mavis welcomes a new lodger, WAAF Anna Carswell who is delighted by the Weaver Street welcome after a loveless childhood. At number nine, Maggie Stubbs worries nightly as her daughter Lily patrols the streets to protect the neighbours during air raids in her role as ARP Warden, and when an unexploded bomb is discovered at the allotment, danger comes terrifyingly close to Weaver Street. With war raging and Liverpool bearing the brunt of seemingly non-stop bombing, the friends must share the burden of rationing, blackout and news from the front, while helping one another capture all the moments of joy they can. All the time wishing and hoping that soon news of peace will come and finally their lives can start again.
As World War II takes its toll on Liverpool, only friendship and community can keep the women of Weaver Street smiling. The neighbours on Liverpool’s Weaver Street have always looked after each other, but when the Second World War takes many of the husbands, brothers and sons away to fight, the women’s friendships are more important than ever. Matriarch Kitty Conlon is missing her son Patrick, proud but fearful of the fate of his Spitfire, while spinster Mavis welcomes a new lodger, WAAF Anna Carswell who is delighted by the Weaver Street welcome after a loveless childhood. At number nine, Maggie Stubbs worries nightly as her daughter Lily patrols the streets to protect the neighbours during air raids in her role as ARP Warden, and when an unexploded bomb is discovered at the allotment, danger comes terrifyingly close to Weaver Street. With war raging and Liverpool bearing the brunt of seemingly non-stop bombing, the friends must share the burden of rationing, blackout and news from the front, while helping one another capture all the moments of joy they can. All the time wishing and hoping that soon news of peace will come and finally their lives can start again.
On a stifling summer’s day, eleven-year-old Jack and his two sisters sit in their broken-down car, waiting for their mother to come back and rescue them. JACK’S IN CHARGE, she’d said. I WON’T BE LONG. But she doesn’t come back. She never comes back. And life as the children know it is changed forever. Three years later, Jack is still in charge: of his sisters, of supporting them all, of making sure nobody knows they’re alone in the house, and – quite suddenly – of finding out the truth about what happened to his mother…
No one really knows what goes on behind closed doors. On the quiet street of St Brigid’s Terrace in Dublin, Eileen Murphy lives alone at number 26 with her dog Dora. Virtually a recluse, she keeps herself to herself as she tries to come to terms with her tragic past. Next door in number 28 lives beautiful Lucy Walsh, her husband Neil and their 5-year-old daughter Anabel. To Eileen, who watches from her window, the Walshes are the perfect family. But one fateful night, Eileen is pulled into their world and she realises that Lucy Walsh’s life isn’t as perfect as she thought. With the unexpected help from little Anabel, the women become a lifeline for each other to overcome the demons in their lives. Through Eileen’s help, Lucy finds the courage to overcome her fears and in aiding Lucy, Eileen is forced to emerge from her solitary world and take baby steps to confront her own past. As the bonds of friendship change these women forevermore will Lucy find the courage to forge a new life for herself and her daughter and will Eileen find it within herself to forgive for her old mistakes?
