Reading Between the Lines

RE-ISSUED WITH A BEAUTIFUL NEW LOOK, A PERFECT NOVEL FOR FANS OF MAEVE HARAN AND PATRICIA SCANLAN

Linda Taylor worked for the Civil Service in London and Angola, and as a vice-consul in Sri Lanka before teaching in Japan. On her return, she read English at Oxford. When her first novel, Reading Between the Lines, was published in 1998 it immediately became a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller; her second novel, Going Against the Grain, was published in 1999 to great acclaim, followed by Beating About the Bush, Rising to the Occasion and, most recently, Shooting at the Stars. She lives in Kent.

When Julia Cole abandoned her safe job and raced up the M40 to read English at Oxford, she didn't give a thought to the future. But now that she's thirty and newly graduated, it's pay-back-time - at least as far as the bank is concerned. With Fleabag, her mad cat, and Maggie, her eternally forty-something friend, providing her only sane company - and her last relationship further in the past than her last pay cheque - she can't help wondering where she's going wrong. 
 
But then Rob walks into the class she teaches - and his alarming brother Leo, a barrister with a penchant for cross-examining, strides into Maggie's party and puts Julia in the stand. Suddenly, Julia's life is hotting up. 
 
But can she take both brothers at face value? Or is she overlooking the obvious? Perhaps Julia should try reading between the lines...

Falling Into Place

Linda Taylor writes so well and so wisely. Her characters are compelling and she knows how to tell a story with honesty and compassion. When you find yourself sneakily reading when you really shouldn't be, you know it's a good book!' - Jill Mansell

Linda Taylor writes so well and so wisely. Her characters are compelling and she knows how to tell a story with honesty and compassion. When you find yourself sneakily reading when you really shouldn't be, you know it's a good book!

Insightful and well observed, this is a poignant, funny, evocative, read

If you're going to pick this book up, you'd better tell the rest of the family to be prepared to fend for themselves til you've finished. A Linda Taylor novel is not to be interrupted.

'Take the phone off the hook and pull up your favourite chair...unputdownable'

'You'll be flipping pages so fast, the breeze will keep you cool on the beach'

'Fast paced and funny...the perfect summer read'

Linda Taylor worked for the Foreign Office in London, Angola and Sri Lanka before teaching in Japan. On her return she read English at Oxford, and taught in language schools in Oxford and London. She now lives in Kent, where she grew up, with her husband and baby son. When her first novel, Reading Between the Lines was published in 1998 it won the RNA New Writer's Award, was selected for WH Smith Fresh Talent and immediately became a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. Her subsequent novels, Going Against the Grain, Beating About the Bush and Rising to the Occasion were published in 1999, 2000 and 2001, to great acclaim. Her last novel, Shooting at the Stars, was shortlisted for the Parker Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

When Ginny became pregnant as an undergraduate years ago she never regretted her decision to leave university and raise her daughter as a single mum. Now, though, with nineteen-year-old Marie off travelling in her gap year, a blast from the past brings surprising news that threatens to throw her well-ordered life into disarray... 
 
And then suddenly Ginny's sister, impulsive, free-spirited Charlotte, returns from abroad. She has always prided herself on taking the road less travelled but now, bringing with her a surprise of her own, is she finally ready to settle down? Or does her heart lie somewhere further afield? 
 
And both Ginny and Charlotte are baffled by their mother's behaviour. Surely a woman whose husband has left her for another woman should be displaying more emotion than what Jane exhibits? Is she hiding her grief beneath her calm exterior or could she really be happier living alone? 
 
Everything seems to be falling apart. But maybe it's just falling into place.

Shooting At The Stars

A SPARKLING ROMANTIC COMEDY WHICH  WILL APPEAL TO ALL FANS OF MAEVE HARAN

Linda Taylor worked for the Civil Service in London and Angola, and as a vice-consul in Sri Lanka before teaching in Japan.  On her return, she read English at Oxford.  When her first novel, Reading Between the Lines, was published in 1998 it immediately became a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller; her second novel, Going Against the Grain, was published in 1999 to great acclaim, followed by Beating About the Bush, Rising to the Occasion and, most recently, Shooting at the Stars.  She lives in Kent.

Caroline Blake longs for a night under a cloud-free sky with the telescope of her dreams. Busy, happily single, and passionate about her hobby, her life is as ordered as the science classes she teaches. Lizzy Carter is living the life she'd longed for. With a lively young family, an adoring husband, good friends, and almost enough money, she appears to have it all. Antonia Clarke is a divorcee with a teenage daughter, an ailing car, an obstinate mother and a lodger she needs to placate. She longs for twenty-four uneventful hours - but the gods have other plans. When the engaging Tom Grainger moves into each of the women's lives, things start to change. Three women whose paths have already crossed, find their fates are about to collide.

Beating About The Bush

Linda Taylor worked for the Civil Service in London and Angola, and as a vice-consul in Sri Lanka before teaching in Japan. On her return, she read English at Oxford. When her first novel, Reading Between the Lines, was published in 1998 it immediately became a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller; her second novel, Going Against the Grain, was published in 1999 to great acclaim, followed by Rising to the Occasion and, most recently, Shooting at the Stars. She lives in Kent.

Ella Norton has opted for the simple life. Gone are the power suits, the high earnings and the high stress of city life - and instead she's got her own cottage, a course in horticulture, and a crush on her dynamic tutor Matt. 
 
But life isn't all rustic paradise - Ella has two lodgers - gorgeous, worldly Miranda and unglamorous, naïve Faith - who can't stand each other. And then there's the matter of Matt's wife and the fact that something dodgy and possibly illegal seems to be going on next door. 
 
When the police arrive and set up a stakeout in Ella's bedroom, things begin to spiral seriously out of control...

Rising To The Occasion

Linda Taylor worked for the Civil Service in London and Angola, and as a vice-consul in Sri Lanka before teaching in Japan. On her return, she read English at Oxford. When her first novel, Reading Between the Lines, was published in 1998 it immediately became a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller; her second novel, Going Against the Grain, was published in 1999 to great acclaim, followed by, Beating About the Bush, Rising to the Occasion and, most recently, Shooting at the Stars. She lives in Kent.

Cathy Gordon has made a discovery. Adopted at birth, she finds out at the age of twenty-eight that she has a grandfather. But when she arrives at a cricket match to meet Frank, there is no trace of him - only an alarmingly sexy man called Nick. 
 
Heading off to Frank's home in leafy Oxford, she encounters a grumpy old man who only takes pleasure in two things. Cricket, and arguing - especially with his lifelong friend, Barbara. 
 
Determined to bond with her only living relative, Cathy takes up the challenge - a challenge which means her path crossing with Nick's once again. But as the summer heatwave continues, Cathy realises that there is more at stake than family ties. Will any of them - including Frank's beloved England team - rise to the occasion?

Linda Taylor

Louise isn't sure where her life took the wrong turning, but it's not shaping up as well as she might have hoped. She's just turned thirty-two, her job as a party planner - the latest in a long line of occupations - might kindly be described as not her natural forte, and she watches helplessly as her dynamic elder sister charges up the career path. The only road Louise seems to be on is the one paved with good intentions. 
 
Scatty, disorganised, bad at co-ordinating her wardrobe, Louise resolves that it's time to get it together - even her boyfriend is part-time. But then she discovers she's succeeded at one thing: getting pregnant...

Linda Taylor

Books by Linda Taylor

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