In the summer of 1988, Libby Purves set sail with her family on a voyage round the entire coastline of Britain, from the soft, sandy South-East, to the wilder shores of Orkney. They travelled in the wake...

A powerful novel from Radio 4 presenter and Times columnist Libby Purves, inspired by the loss of her own son.'Family love is one of the most powerful elemental forces on earth, and at that moment, our...

Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to see yourselves clearly . . . Henry is a young, hip, radio DJ; Philip is an ex-MP ruined by scandal and disowned by his party; Diana, his long-suffering wife;...

The Andersons are a military family with honours and traditions stretching back two hundred years. When the second Iraq war breaks out, it is only natural that their newest generations should be represented...

A story about coming of age in 1970s Oxford. Politics and the Pill. Pot and poetry. Glamrock and groupies. The way we were. Love isn't always the answer.Have you ever fallen for the wrong man?Sally does....

A funny, startling but ultimately hopeful novel of twenty-first century city lives. On the high ground above the great city, Roy and Helen live in brittle affluence inside a weary marriage. Of their four...

A perceptive novel from our favourite chronicler of the dilemmas of modern family life.Catherine and Caroline, Toby and Mark were globetrotting siblings: British 'diplo-brats', whose childhood homes lay...

Sarah Penn and Maggie Reave are sisters, as different as a tabby and a tiger. Sarah has married kind, reliable Leo and settled contentedly into small-town life. Maggie, light-hearted and footloose, has...

A perfect child:* Dresses neatly and practises the violin before breakfast* Comes top of the class and is captain of everything* Is unfailingly obedient and sweet-tempered* Is a perfect credit to its...

Alice McDonald has escaped all the obvious traps that lie in wait for women. She loves her job but enjoys her clever, spirited children too; her husband (Dan the New Man) does his share at home, and their...

The family is nature's masterpiece' - George Santayana A compendium of practical advice and reflections on modern family life in the age of computer gaming, ever younger drug and drink problems, educational...

Kit Milcourt - impatient, quirky, idealistic and brilliant - has been a climber, diver in exotic waters and affluent young city banker. Now, because of his beloved Anna, he is a teacher. Glumly mediocre...

Even her closest friend agreed that Shark Grayson wasn't fit to keep her baby. A heroin addict, living in a sordid London squat, she was already close to death when her American lover took charge of the...

A fresh new look brings this parenting classic up-to-date for a new generation of mothers and mothers-to-be. Taking an irreverent and humorous look at the trials and tribulations of motherhood, Radio...

Perfect Families: * Tick off museums in the guidebook* Tidy everything away neatly* Work hard and play fair* Show respect for one anotherReal Families: * Start fights in the Louvre * Keep all their...

What makes a wife and mother, pillar of the community and partner in a cosy tea-shop (The Bun in the Oven) suddenly run away to sea, alone?Joanna Gurney hardly knows herself. But as she moves along the...

Sheila Harrison always looks forward to the descent of the summer visitors onto 'Seafret', her tall brick house right on the front at Blythney, in East Anglia. She loves the way her spare bedrooms are...

 Faites-vous partie des mères parfaites ou des vraies mères ? Les mères parfaites sourient tout le temps, ont des maisons immaculées, n’élèvent jamais la voix. Les vraies mères, elles, portent des pulls...

What happens if I drop an ant? What books are bad for you? What percentage of the world's water is contained in a cow? The Oxbridge undergraduate interviews are infamous for their unique ways...

Henry James's 1898 novella In the Cage (written in the same year as the more well-known The Turn of the Screw) is a sly, slight, vaguely sentimental work but one that acts as a fine introduction to this...