In 1926 the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon burnt down, barely five weeks before the start of the annual Festival. Rosa Greenwood and her sister Celia were devastated. They had small roles in the Festival, hoping it would lead to acting careers.



While helping to remove priceless treasures from the theatre Library Rosa met Max Higham, an American architect in Europe studying theatre design.



Rosa was wary of her growing attraction to Max, yet reluctant to marry Adam Thorn, a lifelong friend and distant cousin.



Celia was encouraged to run away to London and audition,...

Can one find love again?



Julies husband was killed in a car smash three years ago.She is bullied into taking a cruise by her sister Susan, who works in the gift shop on the ship.



Robert, who lost his fiance just before their wedding, has other things on his mind as he tries to solve the mystery of thefts from passengers.



Then Steven, a figure from the past, takes a hand.

An apparently harmless loss of a contraceptive chemical turns out to be a disaster affecting not only the coalition government and the civil service, who have to cope, but most of the population.



It also gives the press unprecedented opportunities for scoops, and for some people who will always find ways to profit. People view the future with varying degrees of horror, delight or panic.



Jennifer Joy, the civil servant controlling Randy Jolliphant, the Minister for Leisure and Pleasure, who becomes responsible, relishes the task until she discovers her own plans are going to be...

Lucy, widow of a young pop star, moves to an idyllic country cottage to start a new life.



Drowning her sorrows when she is let down by the staid Edward, the latest man in her life, she is unprepared for having Rosa, a llama, invade her kitchen. Is this a mirage?



Soon, though, she is drawn into helping Rosas owner, the charismatic Cas Finlay, who needs to find Rosa a mate.

London 1906.Livvy faces several battles. Patients will not accept her as a 'proper' doctor. Politicians will not grant votes to women. And she can never marry Sir James while their beliefs are so different: he thinks letting women vote is wrong, and would never consider allowing a wife to work. Can there be any meeting between their minds?

When Mr Greenslade, owner of Green Valley Garden Centre, falls from his wheelchair one night and is rushed into hospital, his daughter Tansy, talented interior designer, gives up the chance of a prestigious commission to go home to the Cotswolds and take charge. Things have been going wrong at the Garden Centre, small irritating mistakes, petty vandalism, and what increasingly seems like major sabotage. Is the incompetent manager responsible, or the charismatic Karl, whose company is trying to buy the centre?

Evicted from their Highland croft, Jamie and Flora Lennox, with their baby daughter and other families of the township, go to Nova Scotia to start a new life. The leaving of the glen is heart-rending, and soon more disasters strike, on the voyage and as they move westwards to find suitable land. Can they survive in this new, raw country? Will they find happiness in their new lives?

Catriona's father is lost at sea, and her mother loses the will to live, leaving her with her Uncle, who wants to marry her to a much older, stern newcomer. Cat is determined to escape, and does so with the help of her cousin. But she needs to hide from them all, until she can go to her father's Dutch family in Amsterdam. Expert in fabric printing and making her own dyes, she persuades Rory Napier, struggling to manage his uncle's linen manufacturing in Glasgow, to employ her to supervise the new processes. Though she is successful, their relationship is stormy. Can they succeed despite the...

Judy goes to dog-sit for sister Fay while she and Paul are away. She unexpectedly finds Justin, Paul's cousin, also there. Then her ex-fiance Mark arrives, angry she has rejected him. And the luscious Sadie moves in next door. Busy trying to establish her business selling greetings cards, preparing for a local craft fair, descended on by her parents, Judy frets at these distractions.

Their carriage is attacked while on the way to Vienna, and Belle, the only survivor, is taken to the Count's castle. He employs her as companion to his niece, then, by a mixture of threats and promises, asks her to go with him to Vienna where the Congress is meeting, and help him persuade the politicians to return the Tyrol to Austria.