"Maeve Binchy, "the grand story teller,"* returns with a cast of characters you will never forget when they all spend a winter week together on holiday at Stone House, a restful inn by the sea... Stoneyville is a small town on the coast of Ireland where all the families know each other. When Chicky decides to take an old decaying mansion, Stone House, and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, the town thinks she is crazy. She is helped...

"The Louis XVI Hotel on the rue Boissy d'Anglas just off the Faubourg St. Honore in Paris had been closed for renovations for four years. The street it was on was particularly appropriate, open only to foot traffic. It was guarded by a policeman, who would open the barrier for a car to pass carrying an important person, or guests of the exclusive hotel. Smaller than the grand 'palaces', the five-star hotels of Paris, it was a favorite among those...

Jim Henderson is one of six guests summoned by the mysterious Edwin Carson, a collector of precious stones, to a weekend party at his country house, Thrackley. The house is gloomy and forbidding but the party is warm and hospitable except for the presence of Jacobson, the sinister butler. The other guests are wealthy people draped in jewels; Jim cannot imagine why he belongs in such company. After a weekend of adventure, with attempted robbery and...

When Grizzly Bear shows up at his campfire unexpectedly, Roscoe the raccoon graciously offers him a s'more, and when additional hungry guests arrive, he happily makes s'more after s'more.

A houseful of relatives turns "Mrs. C." and Santa's Christmas into a string of surprises, from the arrival of a pet polar bear to Cousin James B.'s flaming plum pudding.

Rosy transforms a tree trunk into her own house for the day, where she entertains imaginary friends.

While preparing for a visit from some relatives--and even after they arrive--Bubba and Beau want nothing more than to sink their paws into the squishy, squashy mud hole.

Lena's grandmother tells about the time when her mother in Hungary shared some freshly made strudel with a beggar who repaid her hospitality with a beautiful song. Includes a recipe for apple strudel.

"In this novel, the seemingly unrelated tales of an anoretic 14 year old girl in 1971 and a reclusive, crestfallen man in 2016 entwine to show how the wages of the past are always with us, as are the dangerous and redemptive consequences of secrets confided and withheld"--

Ellie Quicke is shocked when her daughter, Diana, turns up at her door with a suitcase in tow. Bunny Brewster has died of an overdose, and Diana's husband, Evan, is convinced that she is responsible for his friend's death. It seems that Diana and four other neglected, bored wives of Evan's friends recently joked about ways to kill their husbands. Diana's suggested method of murder involved muddling up pills--could this be how Bunny died, or was it...