Michael Joseph

A young woman born into enduring seaside poverty walked down the aisle of an Ascot church in 1952. She stopped on her way to the altar to curtail the acces of Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Marie Louise, after clutching a slew of white freesias. Sheila McCairn owed her unusual royal connection to Dorothy Peyton, who opened the doors of her rural manor house – Englemere Wood – to 30 children in the Waifs and Strays Society's care when they were evacuated during World War II. Peyton, who is firm but loving, is one of the two adult 'Angels of Englemere' children celebrated in Karen Farrington's touching tale of 'lost, feral' children, giving new hope and inspiration. Peyton, the charming and artistically gifted woman-in-waiting, had lost her husband, Ivor, just before the war began. Dorothy inherited £22,000 (£1.5 million in today's money). One of her three sons died from diphtheria; the other two remaining two were with the Officer Training Corps and she knew they would soon be on war. Englewood Wood's grand rooms, which were on Crown property in what was once Windsor Forest, seemed to be stifled. She filled them with the hope she could give them. She knew that her empty ballroom would make a wonderful dormitory, and that the 22 acres of grounds would have a great deal of space for outdoor games. She also wanted to hear children's laughter again.

This second book about the TV presenter's farming career tells more of the tragedies that keep befalling him, and, as in the first one, he performs them for maximum comic effect. He knows that the feared flea beetle will be out there, knife and fork at the ready, and napkin tucked in'. He attempts to grow wasabi, the Japanese culinary herb used in Japanese cuisine, but the pheasants eat it. 'Have you ever seen a pheasant sweat? I have.'

Following a string of uncharacteristic career blunders, London GP Jess is on an unexpected break from her whirlpool. Jess isn't keen when her husband Rob decides that the family will spend the summer in a rented Dorset cottage, but it soon feels better than she has in years.