Friday nights, the best night of the week, the night they all looked forward to more than they cared to admit - talking, drinking, laughing and crying together. They were six female friends, different in age and circumstances, but with one common need: the warmth and support of their Friday nights.

Julia Hunter and Kate Bain have found true happiness with men old enough to be their fathers. Julia organises her husband Hugh and their cherubic twins with ruthless efficiency and Kate has lived with James, for eight years, and although she refuses to marry him, she's apparently devoted to him. But the age differences cannot be ignored forever.

Ben is, at last, leaving home. At twenty-two, he's the youngest of the family. His mother, is distraught. His father, is rather hoping to get his wife back. His brother, is struggling in a relationship. And his sister, is wrestling with debt and the end of a turbulent love affair. This book talks about the Boyd family and the empty nest.

For twenty years, Anna Bouverie, as a priest's wife, has served God and the parish in a variety of ways. When her husband fails to gain promotion to archdeacon and retreats into isolated bitterness, and the bullying of her daughter at the local comprehensive reaches an intolerable level, Anna rebels.

How does it feel when someone you love develops dementia? How do you cope with the shock, the stress and the grief? Can you be sure that you and your family will receive the support you need? This title tells the stories that reflect the tragedy of dementia, the gravity of loss, and instances of unsatisfactory diagnosis, treatment and care.

Ben is, at last, leaving home. At twenty-two, he's the youngest of the family. His mother Edie, an actress, is distraught. His father Russell, a theatrical agent, is rather hoping to get his wife back. His sister Rosa is wrestling with debt, and the end of a turbulent love affair. This novel introduces you to the Boyd family.

Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. But now the time has come for things to change. Guy has become conscious of wasted years and he wants to share his relationship with Merrion with the world. He wants, dammit, to marry her.

The land running down to the River Dean has been farmed by the Meredith family for generations. Robin Meredith bought the farm from his father, just before he married his wife Caro and now he and his brother Joe work on the land. But now Caro has died, as much as a mystery to the family as she was when she arrived twenty years ago.

Nathalie and David have been good and dutiful children to their parents. They were both adopted and now Nathalie discovers a need to trace her birth parents and insists that David makes the same journey. And through this, both learn one of the hardest lessons of all.

Friday Nights .

Gina and Laurence have been best friends. Now, Gina is married to Fergus and Laurence to Hilary. Then, with elegant disdain, Fergus announces that he is leaving Gina and their daughter. Gina turns for emotional support to Laurence. And as Laurence gives comfort, so his own marriage and the stability of his children edges towards destruction.

Crisis loomed in the gentle precinct of Aldminster Cathedral. The urbane and worldly Dean wanted nothing so much as to restore and beautify his beloved Cathedral - even if it meant sacrificing the Choir School to pay for it. Each human dilemma took its part in the turmoil of Chapter and Close and the final battle for the survival of the Choir.

They were six female friends, different in age and circumstances, but with one common need: the warmth and support of their Friday nights, which they all looked forward, to share secrets, fears and, above all, to feel safe in the company of women friends. But things never stay the same forever, especially when a man is introduced into the mix.

The Grey House is the final piece in the jigsaw of Alice Jordan's perfect life. It seems to be the ultimate achievement of her outwardly happy marriage - a loyal, if dull husband, three children, two cars and now the house. So why does she feel as if something is missing?

Examines the contribution of women in building and sustaining the British Empire. This title draws on a range of sources, including diaries and letters home. It provides a panoramic picture of the countless women who departed Britain for India, Australia, the Far East, Canada and Africa - often in search of opportunities unavailable at home.

Set partly in London and partly in America, this novel follows the fortunes of a small group of the young and the single. They have, it seems, infinite opportunity, but are bedevilled by indecision, by the breadth of choice, by the inflexibility of tradition, by the consequences of their parents' careless marital history.

The Logans were an enchanting and admirable couple. Archie had snatched Liza from her own engagement party to someone else, wooed her, swept her off to his father in Scotland, and finally married her. Now bedded firmly into country life, they awaited the arrival of Archie's father, the brilliant Sir Andrew Logan, a widower for over thirty years.

For eight-year-old Rufus, life has become complicated. His parents, Josie and Tom, have divorced and are setting off on separate paths. But now, other people have had to become involved, like his mother's new husband Matthew and his father's new friend Elizabeth. What's even worse is that there are other children too, Matthew's three teenagers.

We all need to know where we come from, where we belong. But for David and Nathalie, this need to know is more urgent, because they are adopted. Their decision, in their late thirties, to find their birth mothers, is no straightforward matter. This work exposes the extraordinary challenges that arise at the heart of ordinary lives.

This story follows a group of the young and single - children of 60's swingers. They are bedevilled by indecision, choice, tradition, and their parents' marital history. The men can't commit, the girls can't reconcile independence and maternity, the rules seem to be vanishing. And time is passing.