Showing titles in Family Life

Ven, Roz, Olive and Frankie have been friends since school. They day-dreamed of glorious futures, full of riches, romance and fabulous jobs. The world would be their oyster. Twenty-five years later, Olive cleans other people's houses to support her lazy, out-of-work husband and his ailing mother. Roz cannot show her kind, caring husband, Manus, any love because her philandering ex has left her trust in shreds. And she and Frankie have fallen out big time.

Against the chaotic backdrop of World War II, Grace Murphy is working as a midwife in Doncaster Royal Infirmary with her two friends, Clodagh and Patsy. In between delivering babies and tending wounded airmen, the girls endure bombing raids, rationing and the hardships and heartbreak that war brings. But in the faces of the new babies she welcomes to the world, Grace always looks for hope, as she dreams of a time when the war will end.

Set against a background of political turbulence in Kerala, Southern India, The God of Small Things tells the story of twins Esthappen and Rahel. Amongst the vats of banana jam and heaps of peppercorns in their grandmother's factory, they try to craft a childhood for themselves amidst what constitutes their family - their lonely, lovely mother; their beloved uncle Chacko (pickle baron, radical Marxist and bottom pincher); and their avowed enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grand-aunt).

The Condition tells the story of the McKotches, a proper New England family that comes apart during one fateful summer. One day on the beach, Frank McKotch is struck by an image he cannot forget: his 13-year-old daughter, Gwen, strangely infantile in her child-sized bikini, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin Charlotte. At that moment, he knows a truth that he can never again unknow: something is terribly wrong with his only daughter.

At his mother’s family house in the south of France, Patrick Melrose has the run of a magical garden. Bravely imaginative and self-sufficient, five-year-old Patrick encounters the volatile lives of adults with care. His father, David, rules with considered cruelty, and Eleanor, his mother, has retreated into drink. They are expecting guests for dinner. But this afternoon is unlike the chain of summer days before, and the shocking events that precede the guests’ arrival tear Patrick's world in two.

Faith Jackson fixes herself up with a great job in TV and the perfect flatshare. But neither is that perfect—and nor are her relations with her overbearing, though always loving, family. Furious and perplexed when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica, Faith makes her own journey there, where she is immediately welcomed by Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history.

Unwanted visitors come in all shapes and sizes, from three selfish brothers to a crusader from the past. Mimi Mountjoy's life is suddenly filled with problems. Her business as a purveyor of fountains is threatened and her husband Edmund, who desperately needs to finish his book on the Templars, is afflicted with writer's block. Then Mimi's mother decamps abroad to escape her three unmarried sons - who promptly descend on their sister in Eyot, with extremely disruptive results.

Absorbing and escapist, The Villa on the Riviera is perfect summer listening for fans of Rachel Hore and Santa Montefiore. Polly Smith is struggling to make a living as an artist when her friend and patron, Oliver, invites her to the south of France. But her world is unexpectedly turned upside down when she digs out her birth certificate to apply for a passport. Her parents are not who she believed them to be - even her name is different.

It’s 1965, and life has taken a turn for eighteen-year-old Anton Addison-Rice. Nearly a year after his brother died in a tragic accident, Anton is still wounded - physically and emotionally. Alone for the holidays, he catches a glimpse of his neighbor Edith across the street one evening and realizes that she’s in danger. Anton is determined to help Edith leave her abusive marriage. Frightened and fifteen years Anton’s senior, Edith is slow to trust. But when she needs a safe place to stay, she lets down her guard, and over the course of ten days an unlikely friendship grows.

Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. She has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up and her mother—the only parent who raised her—is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings, she finds clues about the West African father she never knew. Through reading his student diary, chronicling his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London, she discovers that he eventually became the president—some would say the dictator—of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive.

Daisy McCrae's life is in tatters. She's lost her job, broken up with her boyfriend, and has been reduced to living in the attic above her family's store, the Union Street Bakery, while learning the business. Making things worse is the constant feeling of not being a "real" McCrae, since she was adopted as a child and has a less-than-perfect relationship with her two sisters. Then a long-standing elderly customer passes away, and for some reason she bequeaths to Daisy a journal dating back to the 1850s...

Life is sweet for chocolate maker Chloe Lyon…Business is booming at her artisan chocolate-makers 'Chocolate Wishes' in the picture-perfect Lancashire village of Sticklepond - not least because all of Chloe's sweet treats contain an inspirational prediction for each customer. If only her own life was as easy to read in the cards, perhaps Chloe could have foreseen being jilted at the altar….

When Noah and Maya find themselves on the same rescue team, they’re immediately drawn to each other. Yet, with so many complications in their personal lives, do they have time to open their hearts to someone new? As their friendship grows, Noah and Maya are both about to discover that life is worth nothing unless you share it with the people you love.

Rural West Cork, Ireland. Two Kids, Joseph and Paul, and their struggling, poet father, Fraser, are battling grief and poverty. When a letter arrives with a summons to Dublin and the promise of publication, it offers a chink of light—the hope of rescue. But Dublin is a long, wet and hungry way from West Cork in the mid-'70s, especially when they have no money—just the clothes they stand up in and an old, battered suitcase. So begins an almost anti-roadtrip of flipsides and contradictions.

John Moffatt and Rosemary Leach star in this BBC Radio 4 production of Noël Coward’s patriotic play about the ups and downs of a working-class family between 1919 and 1939. This Happy Breed opens in 1919, when the Gibbons family have just moved to their smart new home in the suburbs of South London. Against a background of social change and national upheaval spanning twenty years, the family celebrate their own triumphs and deal with their personal traumas.

Bristol 1936. Jenny Crawford has resigned herself to a loveless marriage living hand to mouth with their two children. Like many others, husband Roy struggles to find work at the docks but a chance encounter turns the family's fortunes around. Not only does he get regular work but they are also allocated a council house on Coronation Close on the outskirts of the city. Jenny and the children are overjoyed, this is the fresh start she could only ever dream of. But trouble feels never too far away.

The village of Alvesdon has been home to the Castells for generations. But the year is 1939 and the peace and tranquillity there is about to be shattered once more by the stormclouds of war in Europe. As three generations of the family gather, they must all face the prospect of their lives being transformed beyond recognition the moment Britain declares war on Germany.

When Rosie and Jules discover a ground-breaking clinical trial that enables two women to have a female baby, they jump at the chance to make history. Fear-mongering politicians and right-wing movements are quick to latch on to the controversies surrounding Ovum-to-Ovum (o-o) technology and stoke the fears of the public. What will happen to the numbers of little boys born? Is there a sinister conspiracy to eradicate men at play?

Juliette always thought she’d have more time. But as her 40th birthday approaches she is dealt the deadliest of blows - she has just weeks to live. As the terrible news sinks in, Juliette’s only concern is for her 15-year-old daughter, Rosie. Who will take care of her precious child? Who will love her daughter with the same fierce love? The answer lies in a secret Juliette hoped never to reveal....

When solo travellers Benni, Emma and Ruth find themselves holidaying together at charming Rose Cottage in Brixham, Devon, they are initially disappointed to be sharing with strangers of a different age group. But 'friendship and home comforts' are guaranteed at Rose Cottage and soon a bond blossoms between the women, who each have valuable life lessons to share.