The Barrington Book Club

Twelve books, nine friends, four babies and one unimaginable tragedy that will change their small town forever. The Barrington girl-posse is back. With friendship ties stronger than ever and often hilarious girl-banter, the women we know and love spontaneously begin a book club. Yes, it's about reading books, but it's also a way to ensure they catch up, altogether, one night per month. Leaving little ones with their menfolk, book club becomes the place to share fun and laughter along with hopes, dreams, secrets and fears. And lots of coffee, wine and food. Over the course of a year, twelve books are read, four babies are born, relationships grow, businesses change and newcomers arrive. But when tragedy strikes one of their own, their small-town world is spun off its axis. Now book club is more than girl-chat and paperbacks. It's where they share their grief and help their small town recover.

Twelve books, nine friends, four babies and one unimaginable tragedy that will change their small town forever. The Barrington girl-posse is back. With friendship ties stronger than ever and often hilarious girl-banter, the women we know and love spontaneously begin a book club. Yes, it’s about reading books, but it’s also a way to ensure they catch up, altogether, one night per month. Leaving little ones with their menfolk, book club becomes the place to share fun and laughter along with hopes, dreams, secrets and fears. And lots of coffee, wine and food. Over the course of a year, twelve books are read, four babies are born, relationships grow, businesses change and newcomers arrive. But when tragedy strikes one of their own, their small-town world is spun off its axis. Now book club is more than girl-chat and paperbacks. It’s where they share their grief and help their small town recover.

From the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir comes an unforgettable novel of a BBC-sponsored wartime cooking competition and the four women who enter for a chance to better their lives. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY GOOD HOUSEKEEPING • “This story had me so hooked, I literally couldn’t put it down.”—NPR Two years into World War II, Britain is feeling her losses: The Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is holding a cooking contest—and the grand prize is a job as the program’s first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the competition would present a crucial chance to change their lives. For a young widow, it’s a chance to pay off her husband’s debts and keep a roof over her children’s heads. For a kitchen maid, it’s a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For a lady of the manor, it’s a chance to escape her wealthy husband’s increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it’s a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession. These four women are giving the competition their all—even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together only serve to break it apart?

Can one bad decision change your life? While recuperating from her biggest mistake, Harriet’s had time to plan a fresh start, away from the city. With a business plan on her laptop and determination in her heart, she leaves Sydney, heading north. It’s a long drive and she’s only just beginning to heal, so she’s booked a stopover at Barrington Homestead on the way. Harriet meets Drummond Murray on the road to Barrington. He’s a cattle farmer and fifth generation local. Impeccable manners but not much warmth. She has no choice but to accept his assistance, but she’s not keen to see him again. In contrast, Ben Evans is a local stock and station agent, good humoured, warm and welcoming. Except Harriet isn’t looking for romance and she’s keen to continue her journey north. Circumstances conspire to keep her in Barrington and after months of feeling helpless, feeling needed strikes a chord. A cast of local characters and new friendships make her wonder if this might just be her place to start over.

When a young Irish nun, a surgical nurse is assigned to work in Africa with a Swiss/Italian doctor, a widower, emotional sparks fly. Born in a Gaelic village in the West of Ireland, Anya, a precocious and bright child, escapes from an alcoholic and abusive father, by joining an order of nuns. "I saw you like a beautiful bird wanting to fly but having its wings clipped" admitted her mother. Falling in love and feeling the world had left her behind, she makes a soul wrenching decision. Overcoming tragedy and crises during five years of World War II, but supported by loving relationships, her spirit is finally set free. Against all odds she achieves the highest nursing position in England. Anya finally becomes the woman she was meant to be.

Stone Barrington uncovers a societal minefield in this exhilarating adventure from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Stuart Woods. When an old acquaintance reaches out to Stone Barrington requesting assistance, the job seems easy enough. She needs an expert in an esoteric field, someone with both the knowledge and careful dexterity to solve a puzzle. But the solution to one small problem blows the lid open on a bigger scandal going back decades, and involving numerous prominent New Yorkers who would prefer the past stay buried. With this explosive information in-hand, Stone Barrington is caught between a rock and a hard place, his only options either to play it safe to the detriment of others, or to see justice done and risk fatal exposure. But when it comes to Stone Barrington, danger is usually just around the corner . . . so he may as well throw caution to the wind.

This carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Table of Contents: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson) A Doll's House (Henrik Ibsen) A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) Dubliners (James Joyce) A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce) War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy) Howards End (E. M. Forster) Le Père Goriot (Honoré de Balzac) Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen) Anne of Green Gables Series (L. M. Montgomery) The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) Gitanjali (Rabindranath Tagore) Diary of a Nobody (Grossmith) The Beautiful and Damned (F. Scott Fitzgerald) Moll Flanders (Daniel Defoe) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne) Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift) The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper) Peter and Wendy (J. M. Barrie) The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas) Iliad & Odyssey (Homer) Kama Sutra Dona Perfecta (Benito Pérez Galdós) The Divine Comedy (Dante) The Rise of Silas Lapham (William Dean Howells) The Book of Tea (Kakuzo Okakura) Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo) Red and the Black (Stendhal) Rob Roy (Walter Scott) Barchester Towers (Anthony Trollope) Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe) Three Men in a Boat (Jerome K. Jerome) Tristram Shandy (Laurence Sterne) Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy) My Antonia (Willa Cather) The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton) The Awakening (Kate Chopin) Babbitt (Sinclair Lewis) The Four Just Men (Edgar Wallace) Of Human Bondage (W. Somerset Maugham) The Portrait of a Lady (Henry Jame...