Suzanne Ebel

The story of the life and career of a young professional black woman of dual heritage. Her mother was American and her father Caribbean.

In the decade of sexual opportunity, Avril Brett decided not to break the rules. After seven years of loyalty to her unfaithful husband Hugh, she is rewarded for her virtue with a picturesque country cottage, a meaningless secretarial job and a desperate longing to become a mother. Faced by the unsettling revelation that her own father is about to marry a much younger woman, Avril realises it is time she lived for herself. Clarity and movement are restored to Avril's still life when she starts a passionate affair with a long-time friend and work colleague. To her shock and delight, she discovers there will be something more lasting to their passing intimacy than expensive dinners and late-night guilt. 'Having a baby was another kind of love affair', somebody once told her. With every day her child grows, so Avril's new-found confidence leads her into another kind of world - exciting, challenging and thrillingly unconventional.

Candy Waring had two men in her life... First there was her father, Robert Waring, the famous and handsome actor of the British theatre. A demanding man who was determined to see Candy follow in his footsteps. And then there was Ben. A young, aspiring, journalist who gave her the tender, loving care she so needed, and at the same time, encouraged her to pursue her second love - art. But then one day Ben left. And Candy, crushed and lost, ran back to her father's side to start a new life on the stage. But Candy also was determined to find Ben -- even if it meant losing her new life...and her father.

Early in 1837 Thomas Winter was invited to take his theatrical company to the Earl of Bagot's country house to entertain the Earl's guests. The evening heralded the beginning of a new life for Winter's two enchanting daughters; for Isabella a dizzy rise to a great social position that was to be shadowed by scandal and the threat of public disgrace; and for Lettice the start of a career which involved the excitement of working with the greatest actor/manager of his day, the fascinating and terrifying Henry Davenant.

The Second World War was a time of turmoil for the men who fought and for their women. Death or separation were always present and life —while it lasted — exaggerated or destroyed moral values. Suzanne Goodwin's latest novel, To Love a Hero, opens in 1942 when Sorrel, in the WRNS, learns that her widowed mother has been killed in a London bombing. Her death leads Sorrel into a web of mystery. Why did a Sir George Martyn, unknown to Sorrel, pay her mother money? Determined to learn more, Sorrel visits the Martyns' mansion in Hampshire, a decision which will transform her life. There she meets Toby, Sir George's son, a regular soldier, a true hero, brave and physically exciting. They fall deeply in love and, before his regiment is sent to the Italian front, they marry. When he is reported missing, overwhelmed by grief and the violent aphrodisiac of war, Sorrel has a passionate affair. This moving novel shows the violence that war does to the heart and the passions and contradictions that trap a girl who believes she can love a hero.

An unnamed narrator lives with her new husband, his two teenage daughters, and the unbanishable presence of his first wife, known only as 'she.' Obsessed with her, the narrator moves through her days presided over by the all-too-real ghost of the first marriage, fantasizing about how the first wife lives her life. Will the narrator ever equal 'she' intellectually, or ever forget about the betrayal that lies between them? And what of the secrets between her husband and 'she', from which the narrator is excluded?

London just before the Great Exhibition of 1851. In this sequel to The Winter Spring, the Winter sisters, Lettice and Isabella are at the height of success. Lettice is married to Henry Davenant, England's most renowned actor, and their theatrical partnership is famous. Isabella, a young widowed viscountess is a glittering and courted hostess. Lettice and Henry tour America with great success, but their marriage is threatened when a rising young actress joins their company in New York. Then Isabella's cousin, Robert, makes what seems to be a hopelessly unsuitable marriage.

London just before the Great Exhibition of 1851. In this sequel to The Winter Spring, the Winter sisters, Lettice and Isabella are at the height of success. Lettice is married to Henry DAvenant, England's most renowned actor, and their theatrical partnership is famous. Isabella, a young widowed viscountess is a glittering and courted hostess. Lettice and Henry tour America with great success, but their marriage is threatened when a rising young actress joins their company in New York. Then Isabella's cousin, Robert, makes what seems to be a hopelessly unsuitable marriage.

Contains two sequence novels, "The thaw" and "The spring", which deal with life in a Soviet factory town in post-Stalin days.

Emerald St. John is in trouble. She has been condemned to marry a man she hates, her enemies are conspiring to have her pet bear Molly torn apart in the baiting pits, and the man she loves is far away on the high seas. And she has stumbled into a web of spies with a plot to poison Queen Elizabeth I. To save herself and the kingdom, Emerald must beat the spies at their own game - which means transforming herself from a country girl into a lady of the court. Can she do it in time? -- publisher's website.

Faith Conway is motivated by an intense desire to become an actress but she is shy and lacking in confidence. She is astonished when the eminent director, Emrys Lloyd, asks her to join his Two Rivers Theatre Company after she finishes University. Under his direction Faith becomes a talented actress and achieves fame. Then Emrys disappears and the actors who relied on him for strength and encourage-ment are shocked and horrified that their director has deserted them. There are rumours and counter-rumours, but Faith seeks him out and finds a double rainbow of truth and love.

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How could she resist a man who ate his peas? Any man who attempted to turn an interview into a seduction, then had the nerve to invite himself to dinner, deserved exactly what he got. Liv James couldn't help feeling that actor Joe Harrington, America's heartthrob, deserved a good dose of reality -- Liv's kind of reality. That included a hyperactive rabbit cavorting in the back of her van, a slightly charred casserole and, of course, the children. Five of them. If the casserole didn't poison him, the commotion would deafen him.... It must have been the novelty he loved, Liv decided. But as time passed and Joe began to talk of settling in Madison, Liv prayed the novelty would wear off before she got in too deep! Hero: Joe Harrington Heroine: Olivia "Liv" James

Julie’s world was the theatre. Julie was caught up in the exciting whirl of her first success and meeting handsome designer Daniel Monteith. But when would she get another role? Then one evening, she was discovered by the great actor - Sir Robert Waring. He was enchanted by Julie and he wanted her for his next production. Sir Robert expected total dedication to acting, and Julie was eager to learn everything he wanted to teach her. Everything. Daniel was not happy about Julie's involvement with Sir Robert. For now it appeared that Julie was about to trade love for fame.

For nearly two hundred years the Kingsleighs had farmed Enstone Farm set deep in the fertile countryside of Somerset. But with the death of her father, Hannah Kingsleigh knew she would have to give up her university life to take over the running of the farm - for her grandfather was too old and her brother too young to do so. As if things weren't difficult enough there was also the problem of Wayland Court. Enstone Farm had, over the course of time, become an island right in the middle of Wayland Court's fifteen hundred acres, and traditionally the owners of Wayland were determined to include Enstone in their lands. The bitter rivalry between the two farming families had not softened over time - indeed Hannah's grandfather harboured an unrelenting grudge that nothing would dispel. But now that Wayland had passed to a distant Australian relative of the Faulkners, Hannah hoped that now the feud could be buried. Then Brett Faulkner stormed into Hannah's life and nothing would ever be the same again...

Love and danger are words that don't apparently go together. But the two emotions can be strongly linked or one can spring from the other, particularly when danger is shared by a pretty and brave woman and a tough, adventurous man. Virginia is a girl who at first sight has the things women want. Looks. A glossy job. Success with men. But she is unsettled and restless. And when she meets Rod he's just another man friend of her brother's, and nothing more. The danger in the story starts, but neither Virginia nor Rod recognises it. But the plot they've discovered by mistake threatens murder, kidnapping and international anarchy. No one will believe them, and they go into the danger alone. The story races from wintery London to Scotland, with gun-fights and love scenes in the heather, and onto a deserted island off the Hebrides. As Rod and Virginia move forward, the danger . . . and the love . . . grow together.