On a bleak winter evening, Eleanor slipped out of her modest cottage in the rolling hills of Yorkshire as the first flakes drifted down, large and...
The Swallows Nest When William Harper married Eleanor, his mother got on with her daughterinlaw straight away. Shed had her eye on Eleanor long before, back...
James came home late that night and, without a word, set a thick envelope on the kitchen table. The moment I saw it, I felt how...
I still recall how the feeling of being trapped by desire finally loosened its grip. Back in the ninth year of secondary school, Eliza first noticed...
What are you doing, Mum? Have you gone mad? my son shouted, his face as red as a beet. You with the neighbour? That odd old...
After a row with Emma, I still felt a little guilty. My marriage had collapsed a few years earlier, and I had started seeing Emma, a...
7:15a.m. I heard the soft thud of a suitcase being shut. Halfasleep, I padded out of the bedroom, assuming Sarah was getting ready for a work...
After years of sharing a roof, he finally said hed fallen in love. Not with me, and he wasnt about to hide it. I brewed a...
The day I finally retired, David just dropped the bomb that he was leaving. I didnt faint, I didnt scream, I didnt smash a plate. I...
April 12 We settled onto the sofa after a long day, Ethel nudging, Shall we at least go to the cinema this weekend? The thought of...
Rain tapped against the sill of the little rented twobedroom flat. James watched the droplets trace strange patterns on the...
Granddad, yes! Sam, a lanky boy wrapped in a coat far too big for him, clutched his grandfathers hand, shuffling...
The Keller manor in Surrey sat poised in its immaculate, chilly silence most days, its marble corridors echoing only with...
The brides mother, Margaret Whitfield, slotted me into the worst table with a smug grin. Know your place, she said....
28October2025 Today I sat at the kitchen table, the old brass kettle humming, and tried to untangle the knot of...
The High Street was noisy today, just like any spring day here in London when the city finally wakes up...
Emily was racing to work, terribly latean absolute nightmare! If she didnt duck through the turnstile before the editorinchief, shed...
Rain taps against the windowsill of the rented onebed flat in Camden. Andrew watches the droplets trace whimsical patterns on...
Granddad, eek! Sam, lanky and wrapped in an oversized coat, tugged at his grandfathers arm, his little fingers still probing...
Dear Diary, This morning I was watering the geraniums on the windowsill when Elsie burst into the kitchen, her face...