A widow at sixty-four, the matriarch of a vanished England. When Arthur Scorer died of cancer in April 1951, his widow Clare was sixty-four — and just getting started. Over the next twenty-eight years she would bury a son, help to fight a prolonged court case claiming compensation for his widow and children, support her younger daughter in her difficult marriage and instigate her move into a half-derelict Elizabethan farmhouse in Devon with 200 acres needing to be farmed. ...

A wartime life, told in her own words. In November 1939, with the war just two months old, Wendy Scorer married Hugh Farthing — a handsome young RAF pilot more than six years her junior — in a hasty white wedding at her parents’ house in Bowdon. Two years later, Hugh would be shot down by the Japanese somewhere over Singapore, missing presumed dead, leaving Wendy a widow at twenty-eight.Drawing on Wendy’s gloriously frank diaries and a vast cache of family letters ...

Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful region of the Lake District to be nearer her charismatic parents. Things are going well, with her latest flower arrangements praised and Simmy content to lose herself in her work. But the peace she has found is shattered when, at the wedding of a millionaire's daughter, the bride's brother is found brutally murdered in the lake. As the florist of the wedding and one of the last people to talk to Mark B...

'Rebecca Tope does what she does best: she gathers a cast of lively characters and a few red herrings (or not, as the case may be), and weaves them all into a nicely tangled plot against the glorious background of the Lakes' Mystery PeopleFollowing a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown has moved to the beautiful Lake District to be nearer her parents. Things are going well and Simmy is content to lose herself in her work until she finds hers...

Florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown is juggling life with a demanding newborn when visitors arrive in the Lake District with questions about a long-forgotten disappearance. Thea Slocombe and her brother Damien are searching for the truth about their great-grandfather, John Armstrong, who vanished without a trace in 1931, leaving behind his family and a medal awarded for an act of bravery few now remember. As dormant rumours of murder begin to surface, Simmy soon finds her investigative instinc...

A huge funeral for Windermere's popular resident, Barbara Dodge, is taking place and florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown and her new assistant, Bonnie Lawson are busy compiling wreaths in preparation. There's word of a series of sinister dognappings occurring in nearby Troutbeck and whilst taking a walk up Wansfell Pike, Simmy and her father, Russell, stumble on a dog, strangled to death - it's not long before Simmy reluctantly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation .

Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown is adjusting to life in Windermere, running her florist shop and trying to put her tragic past behind her. But just when Simmy thinks her life is quietly coming together at last, it begins to unravel at the seams. All thanks to the delivery of a bouquet of flowers with mysterious message attached.

The story of a legendary saint from the Dark Ages, as told by his mother. The young Cuthman is instructed by God to take his crippled mother with him on a pilgrimage across southern England. He fashions a wooden cart for her, and together they spend some months on the rough and bumpy roads, meeting many adventures along the way. Cuthman is kept prisoner by a community of rapacious women, at one point. Further on, they are joined by a young boy, Hal, who later becomes of great importance to...

Valentine's Day is approaching, a busy time for Lake District florist Simmy Brown, and she has a number of anonymous orders to deliver. But the orders and their apparently innocuous messages cause great distress. When one of the recipients goes missing, Simmy must face the possibility that evil intent is at play.

Simmy Brown is four months pregnant, working partly from home, partly from her Windermere florist shop and very much feeling her age when her husband, Christopher, asks her to deliver flowers to Eleanor Padgett. As anexpert in antique textiles, Eleanor has been a considerable help to him at his auction house.The visit out to the charming Lake District village of Dacre is squeezed into Simmy's endless to-do list. It is a moment of calm to appreciate the approach of spring and...

For humankind, 2020 was an unexpected bully. It took advantage of human limits and weaknesses, boxing us up, driving us crazy, killing us softly, and pushing us beyond the expected limits. No year is without its troubles but 2020 opened a newer kind of pain, a newer sense of loss, an unprecedented disruption of plans. This year however is not without its collateral beauty.Epictetus, an ancient philosopher taught that, in the end, what happens to mankind does not matter, what matter...

Following a personal tragedy, florist Persimmon "Simmy" Brown has moved to the beautiful Lake District region to be closer to her charismatic parents. Things are going well, and Simmy is happy to lose herself in her work. But the peace she has found is shattered when, at the wedding of a millionaire's daughter, the bride's brother is found brutally murdered in the lake.As the wedding florist and one of the last people to talk to Mark Baxter alive, Simmy gradually becomes involved w...