Showing results by author "Josephine Cox" in All Categories

Nell Reece has never known her mother, and her father's burden of guilt about his wife has kept him cowed for years, working as a common labourer on his sister's farm. For all her aunt's spiteful attempts to break Nell's independent spirit, she has never succeeded. But now Nell, pregnant and alone, is forced to leave behind the men in her life, believing she might never be able to return. With little but the clothes she wears, she travels across the Bedfordshire countryside of 1890. When she encounters a scruffy urchin called Kit, she takes him under her wing.

It’s 1954 and Adam Carter is 12 years old, an only child with no friends nor any self-confidence. His father Edward is a bully of a man. A successful and ruthless businessman, he breeds fear into the heart of his family. Adam’s mother Peggy is too cowed to protect her son, so Adam’s only support comes in the shape of Jake Wallis, the school bus driver. One particular afternoon, when Adam is his last drop of the day, Jake decides to accompany him along the darkening wood land to his house.

With her shy smile and kind nature, she fits into the family easily. When Nancy Arnold’s eldest son Frank begins to show an interest in the new arrival, she believes that at long last he has found a woman to share his life with.But tensions begin to rise between Frank and his brother, and while Nancy puts it down to sibling rivalry, her husband senses a more dangerous undercurrent. Something has deeply unsettled their peaceful world and Ellie is also affected.

Beth Ward and Tyler Blacklock share a love they know will last forever. But Beth’s mother, Esther, is jealous of the girl’s happiness and seizes an opportunity to be rid of her daughter. Banished in disgrace from the family home, Beth takes the northbound train and alights at Blackburn, friendless and alone. On this day, Fortune smiles, for Beth is taken in by warm-hearted Maisie Armstrong, a widow with two children. Money is scarce, but love abounds in the cosy house on Larkhill, and Beth is content there to await the birth of her child.

Lucy Nolan is the golden girl. The only daughter of local grocers, Sally and Mike Nolan, she's grown up in a home of total love and security. The one thing her heart desires is that Jack Hanson might ask her to marry him, and when he does eventually propose, Lucy is prepared to give up everything to be with him—even though it means leaving her beloved parents to live abroad where Jack has been offered an exciting business opportunity. But then, almost on the eve of the marriage itself, tragedy strikes.

The new novel from Sunday Times best-selling author Josephine Cox, who gets straight to the hope and heartbreak of family drama. One fateful night changes the course of a child's life forever.... Rosie's mother is a cruel woman and has Rosie's kind and loving father wrapped around her finger. Though John Tanner does his best to protect her, Rosie often bears the brunt of her mother's rage. And his protection can't last forever. In one tragic moment, Rosie's fragile world is shattered.

Eight-year-old Casey’s mother, Ruth, is a cruel woman with a weakness for other women’s husbands. Casey’s father is gentle and hard-working and, though Tom Denton has long suspected his wife of having sordid affairs, he has chosen to turn a blind eye to keep the peace. But then Tom’s world is completely shattered when he receives two bits of devastating news. Because of this, Tom realises that from now on their lives must change, forever. A broken man, Tom is made to fight for his son, determined to keep him safe.

In the summer of 1952 when two lonely people arrive in the seaside hamlet of West Bay. Strangers from very different backgrounds, they are there for the same reason: to find peace and the chance to start a new life. Tom Arnold has left a highly paid job after his family died in a car accident. Kathy Wilson is recovering from a painful divorce. For both Tom and Kathy, it seems there is hope of rebuilding their lives. Yet even now, someone means to wreck both Tom's and Kathy's search for happiness.

Beautiful Eva Bereton has two close friends: Patsy, whom she looks upon as a sister, and Bill, her childhood sweetheart, now married and living far away. So when a tragic accident turns Eva’s world upside down, Patsy is the only one she can turn to. A hated figure from the past comes to reclaim the farm and business that Eva had always believed belonged to her parents. And not even Bill, still in love with Eva, can stop her being thrown out onto the streets. With no choice but to leave, Eva and Patsy decide to build a new life elsewhere.

Blackburn, 1947. In the tiny front parlour 14-year-old Laura Blake watches her beloved father die. But not before he tells her she will make something of her life. Laura never forgets his words. Yet her path to success proves to be a rocky one. Forced to trundle a cart around the back streets, selling other folk's cast-offs to support her family, Laura learns enough to start work in her uncle's furniture shop. But then fate deals another cruel blow when Laura is brutally raped. Bearing the child of her attacker in secret, she vows to make the world pay for its injustice towards her.

Bridget Mulligan loves her husband. He is caring, loyal and dependable – everything a woman could ask for. But she can't quite forget Harry – the one that got away – and when a snowstorm drives her into his arms, the inevitable happens. Nine months later a child is born. Overcome with remorse, Bridget is determined that her husband should know the truth, but her confession can lead only to heartbreak. Although he allows his wife and her child to continue living in his home, Tom Mulligan makes it clear that their marriage is over.

Louise and Ben Hunter's loving marriage is marred only by their unfulfilled longing for a child. Living and working with Ben's father, Ronnie, they are quietly contented. But when Ronnie dies, their whole world changes. Ben's lazy brother, Jacob, returns, convinced he stands to inherit Ronnie's small fortune. And he means to have his brother's wife; though just as she did years before, Louise warns him off. Jacob, however, is not so easily dismissed. When he realises Ben will inherit everything, Jacob is beside himself with rage, and commits a terrible deed.

Number-one best-selling author Josephine Cox returns with a powerful, dark love story shrouded in shocking secrets and malignant forces.All Jack's life, the nightmares had haunted him, dragging him back to a place where it was always midnight…. Molly and Jack are deeply in love but their relationship is being torn apart by Jack's nightmares. Trapped in a place where he is taunted by eyes in the gloom, it is becoming harder for Molly to pull him free, and when daylight comes the haunting visions remain.

After a tragic accident resulting in the death of his mother, and the disappearance of his father, young Davie flees his hometown of Blackburn, unsure of what the future holds. Devastated, he must escape the vicious rumours about his mother as well as his memories of her. With nothing more than the shirt on his back, he sets off to find his father, a livelihood, and maybe a glimpse of happiness.

Sonny Fareham's lover – and also her boss – is the charismatic Tony Bridgeman, a successful and ruthless man who usually gets what he wants. But for Sonny, the affair that has promised a future of hope and happiness must end in desperate fear. Late one evening, Sonny overhears a private conversation between Tony Bridgeman and his wife. Only then does she realise she is in great danger.

>No-one thought she had the courage.… Those looking in from the outside think Lucy Lovejoy's life is like any other, but at the centre of her family there is a big empty hole where all the love and warmth should be. Over the years, her children have watched while their father chipped away at Lucy's self-confidence. Now the children are following their own paths, and Lucy has never felt more alone. When tragedy strikes at the heart of the family, it's a wake-up call for Lucy. Everyone has taken a little piece of her, and she isn't sure who she is anymore.

In the riverside town of Bedford, four students can hear the haunting voice of a woman singing. The beautiful melody is coming from their neighbour, a recluse who never opens her door to anyone or leaves her home in daylight. They have no way of knowing that the woman next door, Madeleine Delaney, is driven by a dangerous memory that for over 20 years has controlled her meagre existence.

Harry always knew he would go back one day ... Eighteen years ago when he was a boy, he had made a decision that drove him from the place he knew and loved. In those early years, between boy and man, he had carved out a life for himself, and somehow, he had found a semblance of peace.Yet through every waking moment during those long aching years, he was haunted by what happened when he was a boy. He had never forgotten that warm, carefree girl with the laughing eyes.

When heart-broken Sarah Quinn is left to care for her father and siblings when her mother dies, it’s hard to watch their loving dad, Fred, drift into drink and despair. With money tight, Sarah is determined to keep the family together. But they receive a shock when Fred Quinn announces he is to marry Mavis Swindel, the landlady of a boarding house on the edge of the moors. Mavis seems to offer the answer to the family’s problems, and soon they are all moving into her shabby lodgings. It quickly becomes clear that their stepmother has plans for her new family.

Bella can’t wait to be married to her fiancée Sidney, and dreams of the day she will walk up the aisle to be given away by her widowed father, with her bookish sister Alice as her bridesmaid. Their lives are disturbed when they receive a letter from their fourteen-year-old cousin Millie. Taken in by her austere aunt and uncle when her parents were killed in an accident, Millie says she is being badly treated and pleads to be rescued. When the two sisters take a trip to find out the truth, things take a troubling turn.