Gil McNeil

The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club

Needles and Pearls

Suddenly widowed by a car crash that ended the life of her unfaithful husband, Jo Mackenzie moves to a small British seaside community and takes over her beloved grandmother's knitting shop, where she pursues a new romance, witnesses the arrival of an A-list celebrity, and is introduced to a dessert-addicted knitting club.

Knit one pearl one

Life hasn't been a bed of roses for Londoner Molly Taylor lately. Newly divorced and struggling to find a new home and a way to support her three boys, she's stunned when her beloved Aunt Helena dies and leaves her Harrington Hall, a three-hundred-year-old manor house on the Devon coast, where Molly grew up. But does Molly really want to run a bed-and-breakfast in an old house where the only thing that doesn't need urgent attention is Aunt Helena's beautiful rose garden? Or care for Uncle Bertie, an eccentric former navy officer with a cliff-top cannon? Or Betty, his rude parrot that bites whomever annoys it? Yet Molly's best friend Lola is all for the plan. "My heart bleeds. Your very own beach, the beautiful house, and Helena's garden. All you have to do is grill a bit of bacon." But with Molly's conniving brother running the family hotel nearby, the return of a high school flame with ulterior motives, and three sons whose idea of a new country life seems to involve vast quantities of mud, this is not going to be easy. And then Harrington Hall begins to work its magic, and the roses start to bloom... Warm, witty, and chock-full of quintessential British charm, A GOOD YEAR FOR THE ROSES is a story for anyone who has ever dreamed of starting over...with or without bacon.

A Novel

A Good Year for the Roses

Divas Don't Knit

Single motherhood has never been so much fun. Annie Baker's got it made-an idyllic life in the country, a part-time job in town as a freelance film producer, and a boy who's crazy about her. The only problem is, he's six years old. Featuring Annie as its frazzled but tireless heroine, Gil McNeil's endearing first novel turns chaos to poetry. Annie doesn't remember what it feels like to be pulled in any less than seven directions at once, but that's the beauty of her life. It seems like everywhere she turns there's a crisis in the making and a man who needs fussing over--whether it's her son, Charlie, who will only eat sausages for breakfast; her high-maintenance director-boss Barney, who's constantly being attacked by his own espresso maker; the crew on her ad shoots, whose work ethics are controlled exclusively by their stomachs; or her work nemesis, Lawrence, who's simply out to get her fired. And then she meets Mack... Funny, heartbreaking, truthful, and romantic, The Only Boy for Me is a stunning debut.

The Only Boy for Me

Stand by Your Man

For everyone who fell in love with Annie Baker and her 'Only Boy for Me', here's what happened next.

In the Wee Small Hours

Most people would think Annie Baker had it all: an idyllic life in the country and a fabulous job as a film producer. And so would she, if it weren't for the men in her life. Her six-year-old son Charlie gets traumatised if she buys the wrong kind of sausages. Her tempestuous boss Barney is a Great Director, but keeps getting stuck with dog food commercials, and as for Lawrence, well, he just wants to get her fired. And then she meets Mack... Hilarious and poignant, The Only Boy for Me will make you laugh and cry.

Life just keeps getting more complicated for Annie Baker. Her sister Lizzie's pregnant and wants Annie to be her birth-partner - she's planning an active labour, in water, with lots of candles and music. Her partner Matt isn't too sure, although he's bought some new swimming trunks just in case. Annie's friend Leila has got a new man, Tor, and she's getting heavily into yoga, while Kate from the village has somehow ended up having an affair with her own ex-husband. And as for the men in Annie's own life, it just gets worse. Her seven-year-old son Charlie is now officially Pagan, and desperate for his own pet pheasant. Boss Barney is building a bit of a reputation for TV commercials involving stunts, so if she's not lurching around the North Sea in a trawler, she's stuck up a crane. Then there's Uncle Monty to keep an eye on, a retired mole-catcher who collects bric-a-brac. He's eighty-three and a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and has just threatened the Meals on Wheels lady with a shotgun and refuses to leave the farm where he's lived all his life. And as if all that wasn't difficult enough, Mack comes back from New York, just when Annie was beginning to think she might be able to cope without him ... For everyone who fell in love with Annie Baker and her Only Boy for Me, here's what happened next. And for anyone who's ever wondered how to combine motherhood, the country life and a career in town, and why pheasants make that weird clicking noise, this is essential reading.

Sarah Brown

They may be your inspiration or your best friend, kind protectors or big on homework and manners, there for the first nappy change or always down the pub - but there is no one else quite like Dad. In Dads, Britain's finest and funniest share their anecdotes and personal recollections about both what it is like to be a dad - from the shock of looking after a new born to the mixed blessings that are teenagers - and their changing relationships with their own fathers. The phenomenal list of high-profile contributors includes Sir Richard Branson, Bill Bryson, Andrew Collins, Jilly Cooper, Richard Curtis, Sir Alex Ferguson, Anna Ford, Joanne Harris, Charlie Higson, Kathy Lette, Davina McCall, Fiona Millar, David Miliband, Anthony Minghella, John O'Farrell, David Puttnam, Ian Rankin, David Tennant, Alan Titchmarsh and Fay Weldon Hugely entertaining and thought-provoking in turns, this celebration of fatherhood explores just what it is to be a dad.

A Celebration of Fatherhood by Britain's Finest and Funniest

Dads

Hugo Tagholm

Whether it is memories of childhood holidays or exotic fantasies of faraway places, a sea and its coast forms the most evocative of landscapes. Combining elements of romance, danger and mystery, it provides the perfect inspiration for this unique collection. The finest writers from our water-bound nation, including Alexander McCall Smith, Ruth Rendell, Joanne Harris, Joseph O'Connor and Libby Purvis, give us their accounts of adventures and chance encounters, short stories and non-fiction pieces representing the many facets of the sea's power that will haunt and inspire. The collection also includes gripping accounts of real-life adventures on the ocean from such experienced sailors as Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West and Tracy Edwards. A literary tribute to the last earthly frontier - the ocean.

Journey To The Sea

Grandparents. - what would we do without them? They come in all shapes and sizes but with their wise words and kind ways they can be a source of inspiration and encouragement like no other. Here Britain's national treasures share their personal anecdotes about grandparents. Some recollect fond childhood memories of their Granny or Granddad, while others share with us their own experiences of what it is like to be a grandparent. Both hugely entertaining and heart warming, this wonderful celebration is the perfect gift for a much-loved grandparent.

Grandparents

Slip one ... A year after her husband's death, Jo Mackenzie is finally starting to get the hang of being a single parent. Knit two together ... The boys are thriving in their new seaside home, the wool shop is starting to do well and despite two weddings, an in-school knitting project and Trevor the Wonder Dog coming to stay, she's just about keeping her head above water. Cast off ... But boys, babies and best friends certainly make life a lot more interesting. Can Jo cope when things get really complicated? Because if knitting truly does keep you sane when your life starts to unravel then it looks like Jo is going to need much bigger needles.

For every woman who has ever dreamed of starting over, or being a better mother, or just knitting a really nice scarf . . . When her husband dies in a car crash--not long after announcing he wants a divorce--Jo Mackenzie packs up her two rowdy boys and moves from London to a dilapidated villa in her seaside hometown. There, she takes over her beloved Gran's knitting shop--a quaint but out-of-date store in desperate need of a facelift. After a rough beginning, Jo soon finds comfort in a "Stitch and Bitch" group; a collection of quirky, lively women who share their stories, and their addiction to cake, with warmth and humor. As Jo starts to get the hang of single-parent life in a small town, she relies on her knitting group for support. The women meet every week at the shop on Beach Street and trade gossip and advice as freely as they do a new stitch. But when a new man enters Jo's life, and an A-list actress moves into the local mansion, the knitting club has even more trouble confining the conversation to knit one, purl two. The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club is an uplifting, winning tale about the healing power of friendship and new beginnings. It's a charming novel that will delight all passionate knitters--and win over befuddled, would-be knitters, too.

Didn't anyone tell you that divas don't knit? Knit-one... Jo Mackenzie needs a new start and jumps at the chance to take over her grandmother's wool shop in a small seaside town. Purl-one... But it's not going to be easy with two young sons to cope with, an A-list actress moving into the local mansion and a knitting group addicted to cake. Stitch and Bitch! Gil McNeil's funny and uplifting novel turns prejudices and assumptions upside down, telling it how it really is in the world of knit-one, purl-one.

Gil McNeil

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