This collection of twelve humorous short Christmas stories follows a cast of entertaining characters as they prepare for the festive season, from a small boy trying to teach Santa time management to the elderly lady celebrating what's likely to be her last Christmas Day.

Flash fiction, sudden fiction, microfiction, ultra short fiction - call them what you will, these twenty wry and witty short stories examine change at every stage of life, in a natural progression from birth to death.

A personal account of how the author's family came to terms with the diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes for both husband and daughter, this book was written for three purposes:

A light-hearted, old-fashioned short story for the festive season. Find out what happens when a new young Queen, bored of wild boar, challenges her huntsmen to find a new dish fit for the royal Christmas feast. Is this tale the real reason that we eat turkey at Christmas? Probably not, as I made it all up.

These 15 warm, witty short stories take an affectionate look at the institution of marriage, offering five gentle tales about each of the following stages: seeking a partner, committing to marriage, and surviving the long haul. Each story involves different characters, from single girls seeking Mr Right, to couples struggling with the technicalities of actually getting hitched, to long-wedded couples who have plenty of time to repent at leisure. Although most of the stories are told from a female perspective, this is far from being a feminist rant, but is rather a gentle celebration of matrimony - provided you find the right partner, plan the wedding your way, and find ways to live together long-term, despite each other's foibles.

This collection of humorous short essays combines affection for the timeless values of community life in an English village with a nostalgia for aspects that are quietly slipping away. Easy to dip into, this light-hearted volume provides entertaining reading for anyone interested in modern English rural community life, wherever they live. Written between 1991 and 2015, most of these essays first appeared in the Hawkesbury Parish News, the community newspaper for Hawkesbury Upton, the Cotswold village in which Debbie Young has lived for the last 25 years. Very active in village life, she is founder of the annual Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival.

Affectionately dubbed "the Jewel in the Crown of the Tetbury Advertiser" by its ever-patient editor, Debbie Young has been a regular columnist for this award-winning community magazine since 2010. In its ten issues per year, she shares her homespun philosophy and wry English humour with its loyal readers. This collection brings together her columns from 2010-2015, charting history in the making as it affects local residents, and giving her whimsical perspective on the wider world from the heart of the Cotswolds.

When Sophie Sayers inherits a cottage in a sleepy English Cotswold village, she’s hoping for a quieter life than the one she's running away from. What she gets instead is a dead body on a carnival float, and an extraordinary assortment of suspects. Is the enigmatic bookseller Hector Munro all he seems? And what about the over-friendly neighbour who brings her jars of honey? Not to mention the eccentric village shopkeeper, show committee, writers' group and drama club, all suspiciously keen to welcome her to their midst.

Just when Sophie Sayers is starting to feel at home in the Cotswold village of Wendlebury Barrow, a fierce new vicar arrives, quickly offending her and everyone else he meets. Banning the villagers’ Halloween celebrations seems the last straw, particularly when he instead revives the old English Guy Fawkes’ tradition with a bonfire piled high with sinister effigies.

When a mysterious stranger interrupts Sophie Sayers' Nativity play to accuse the whole village of murdering a baby, Sophie Sayers' imagination runs wild, as usual, not helped by the surprise arrival of her ex-boyfriend just as her new romance with charming local bookseller Hector Munro was starting to hot up. What secrets is the stranger hiding, and whose baby is it anyway? Can Sophie hang on to Hector without driving Damian into the unsuitable arms of Carol, the aging eccentric proprietor of the village shop? With the help of her new-found friends in Wendlebury Barrow, she's going to give it her best shot...

Sophie Sayers' plans for a romantic Valentine's night at the village pub didn't include someone being shoved to their death down its ancient well.

When Emma, a young English journalist, is required to babysit in a dark country house on the longest night of the year - the winter solstice, 21st December - she must confront both her fear of the dark and her unresolved grief for her much-loved late Great Aunt Sophie. Where will she find the courage she needs to avoid risking an even greater loss?

When Bunny Carter, the old lady from the Manor House, is discovered in an open grave, Sophie Sayers is sure it’s a case of foul play. But when it comes to suspects, she’s spoiled for choice.

When Sophie Sayers joins a writers' retreat on a secluded Greek island, she's hoping to find inspiration and perhaps a little adventure. Away from her rural English comfort zone, she also takes stock of her relationship with her boyfriend Hector.

When Gemma Lamb takes a job at a quirky English girls’ boarding school, she believes she’s found the perfect escape route from her controlling boyfriend – until she discovers the rest of the staff are hiding sinister secrets:

When an American stranger turns up claiming to be the rightful owner of the school’s magnificent country estate, teacher Gemma Lamb fears losing not only her job and her home, but also her hopes for a relationship with charismatic PE teacher Joe Spryke.

When a stray peacock turns up in Wendlebury Barrow, Sophie Sayers' neighbours are full of ideas on what to do with it. But to Sophie's consternation (and her kitten Blossom's) , the peacock appears to have plans of its own - and they feature Sophie's precious cottage garden.

In the first of a new series of quick reads (20% novel length), a charity knitting project is under way in a remote Cotswold village - what could possibly go wrong? When that village is Wendlebury Barrow, the setting of the popular Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries, anything might happen - such as the only yarnbombing event ever to include a real explosion.

After 30 years in a joyless marriage and a dead-end job, Juliet Morris is resigned to a humdrum life in her quiet corner of the Cotswolds, until a chance encounter at a dental appointment reminds her of what might have been.

For anyone who loved St Trinian’s – old or new – or loves a cozy mystery on a grand estate filled with rather ‘interesting’ characters.

Sophie Sayers is ready for a glorious summer, but when a dead body is found in the village school’s lost property cupboard the summer holidays take an unexpected turn.

When English teacher Gemma Lamb’s school flat is wrecked by storms, maverick headmistress Hairnet insists the girls must fund its repair by setting up their own businesses – the start of a series of hilarious unintended consequences.

Sophie and Hector are heading to the Highlands.