by Tim Pears (2007)
Ezra and Sheena Pepin live in Blenheim Orchard in North Oxford with their three children: fourteen-year-old Blaise, entering the storm-world of adolescence. Hector, eleven and precociously clever, and sweet Louie, three years old and the family tyrant. Ezra, a disaffected employee at Isis Water, has abandoned his calling as an anthropologist; Sheena has inadvertently found hers running a travel company. They are like everyone else: over-worked, worried about the children, trying to steer their marriage on an even keel. But change comes knocking at the Pepins' door - and the family will never be quite the same again.
Gavin Corbett
Anthony Sonaghan, an Irish Traveller, is descended from two families whose ancient enmity has endured into the present. He comes to Dublin to lie low, and is disturbed only by Judith, a librarian who encourages him to record his stories, until his uncle Arthur arrives, apparently on the run.
Sheila O'Flanagan
Romy Kilkenny loves her life in Australia, she has her dream job, lots of mates, and a best friend in Keith, who understands her better than anyone. Best of all, she couldn't be further from her family. But when her brother rings to say she's needed back in Ireland right away, Romy's world is turned upside down. Flying home to see her mother and her half-siblings, Romy doubts she'll fit in better now than she ever did. She also worries that the accidental half-kiss with Keith at the airport may have brought their easy friendship to a sudden end. Whatever lies ahead, it's not what Romy's expecting - even the people we grow up with can surprise us, and if love is to be found, it will find a way.
Mark Neilson
Sophie Hargreaves hopes to repair her shattered family by buying a rundown vineyard in Piedmont and bringing everyone together again. Sadly, her attempt fails and she's left struggling to bring in the grape harvest on her own before she faces ruin. Then, just as she begins to lose hope, Sophie finds help from an unlikely source: three strangers fleeing a storm and its flooding. They find themselves wrestling with the problems of saving the grapes and making the ancient winery viable. Unexpectedly, Sophie finds a new life in the remote wine valleys of Northern Italy.
Gus Lee
Kai Ting grows up in a Mandarin family that fled to San Francisco, isolated from American culture until a stepmother treis to erase every vestige of China from the household.