"In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a butch antipodean outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of "matron." Within this landscape of immense privilege, where difference is met with hostility, the matron finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body. That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster's wife, a woman who is her polar opposite--an...

"Jackie Newsome's best friend is dead, and everyone knows who killed her. Jackie is an ex-emotional eater and mother of four, who has finally lost the weight she long yearned to be free of. But leaving her old self behind proves harder than she ever imagined. She believes she should be happier, but misery still chases her, and motherhood threatens to consume her. Her only salve is Theresa, her best friend whose life she desperately covets. Their bond...

"At the height of the Second World War in England, Nina Woodrow joins the Royal Air Force and rebels against her careful upbringing by embarking on an illicit affair with an officer. She risks losing everything for Guy Nicholson: her comfortable home, her childhood friends, and, especially, the love of her father, an enigmatic widower. Meanwhile, in the sleepy village where Nina grew up, where the upheavals of war seem far away and divorce remains...

Osaka elegy. Switchboard operator Ayako agrees to enter into an affair with her married boss after he promises to support her and her father - setting her off on a seemingly irreversible downward spiral. Sisters of the Gion. Two geisha sisters - one modern-minded, the other staunchly traditional - disagree over how to deal with the men controlling their lives and livelihoods. Women of the night. The story of two sisters, Fusako, a war widow, and...