Books with title Blossom's Family Album

All Alison ever wanted was a blissful childhood for her six children, with summers at the beach and birthday parties on the lawn at their family home. Together with Ingrid, the family au pair, she has worked hard to create a real "old-fashioned family life". But beneath its postcard sheen, the picture is clouded by a distant father, Alison's inexplicable emotional outbursts, and long-repressed secrets that no one dares mention. For years, Alison's adult children have protected her illusion of domestic perfection - but as each child confronts the effects of past choices on their current adult lives, it becomes evident that each must face the truth. Penelope Lively's novels of history, memory, and character have earned her a loyal legion of fans. Like Ian McEwan's Atonement, this novel is a measured, thoughtful look at how events of the past, both small and large, seen and unseen, deeply inform character and the present. Quietly provocative and disturbing, Family Album is a highly nuanced work that showcases a master of her craft.

"[In this] haunting new novel, the act of forgetting is as strange and interesting as the power of remembering." -The New York Times Book Review Penelope Lively is renowned for her signature combination of silken storytelling and nuanced human insights. In Family Album, lively masterfully peels back one family's perfect façade to reveal the unsettling truths. All Alison ever wanted was to provide her six children with a blissful childhood. Its creation, however, became an obsession that involved Ingrid, the family au pair. As adults, Paul, Gina, Sandra, Katie, Roger, and Clare return to their family home and as mysteries begin to unravel, each must confront how the consequences of long-held secrets have shaped their lives.

A novel of family intrigue from "one of the most accomplished writers of fiction of our day" (The Washington Post)All Alison ever wanted was a blissful childhood for her six children, with summers at the beach and birthday parties on the lawn at their family home. Together with Ingrid, the family au pair, she has worked hard to create a real "old-fashioned family life." But beneath its postcard sheen, the picture is clouded by a distant father, Alison's inexplicable emotional outbursts, and long-repressed secrets that no one dares mention. For years, Alison's adult children have protected her illusion of domestic perfection-but as each child confronts the effects of past choices on their current adult lives, it becomes evident that each must face the truth. Penelope Lively's novels of history, memory, and character have earned her a loyal readership. Like Ian McEwan's Atonement, this novel is a measured, thoughtful look at how events of the past, both small and large, seen and unseen, deeply inform character and the present. Quietly provocative and disturbing, Family Album is a highly nuanced work that showcases a master of her craft.

Blossom is an adventurous and curious cow. She has a big imagination and good friends, including Ferdie the Bull and Steve the Rooster. She loves her life, even though the cow herd leader disapproves of almost everything Blossom does. Then her farm world changes and she is worried. Blossom worries about adjusting to new owners anda new family. Will they accept her the way she is? Or must she change to fit in? Along the way, she gains a new animal friend in Matilda, a sassy and independent cat.

*NOMINATED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD*Family Album 'a hugely enjoyable read' from Booker Prize winner Penelope Lively'This novel should delight her regular readers and ensnare new ones' Evening StandardAllersmead is a big shabby Victorian suburban house. The perfect place to grow up for elegant Sandra, difficult Gina, destructive Paul, considerate Katie, clever Roger and flighty Clare.But was it? Now adults, the children return to Allersmead one by one. To their home-making mother and aloof writer father, and a house that for years has played silent witness to a family's secrets. And one devastating secret of which no one speaks . . .'One of those ridiculously simple, ridiculously readable novels whose artistry only becomes apparent when you put it down' Sunday Telegraph'A pleasure to read, hugely enjoyable, consistently absorbing, hilarious' IndependentPenelope Lively is the author of many prize-winning novels and short-story collections for both adults and children. She won the 1987 Booker Prize for her highly acclaimed novel Moon Tiger. She is a popular writer for children and has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award. She was appointed CBE in the 2001 New Year's Honours List, and DBE in 2012. Penelope Lively lives in London.

Hollywood, 1945. Shipping heir Ward Thayer and screen star Faye Price are reunited after a chance meeting two years earlier. Unable to forget the connection they shared and helpless to resist it, romance quickly sparks. But for Faye, daring and passionate, the life she's heading for with Ward is a threat to her ambition. How can she decide between Hollywood and motherhood? Is it right to choose fame over family? Faye is on the brink of an impossible choice that will shape her life - and the lives of those she loves - in ways she could scarcely have imagined.

A big shabby Victorian suburban house, the smell of raincoats and coq au vin in the hall, the six mugs for the children slung from the kitchen dresser hooks: for destructive Paul, difficult Gina, elegant Sandra, considerate Katie, clever Roger and flighty Clare, Allersmead was the perfect place to grow up. But was it? Now grown-up and off in different directions, one by one the children return to Allersmead, to their home-making mother and aloof writer father and a house that for years has played silent witness to the secrets of a family, and one particular secret of which no one speaks.