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Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel / by Hogan, Ruth,1961-author.;
Tilly was a bright, outgoing little girl who liked playing with ghosts and matches. She loved fizzy drinks, swear words, fish fingers and Catholic churches, but most of all she loved living in Brighton in Queenie Malone's magnificent Paradise Hotel with its endearing and loving family of misfits-- staff and guests alike. But Tilly's childhood was shattered when her mother sent her away from the only home she'd ever loved to boarding school with little explanation and no warning. Now, Tilda has grown into an independent woman still damaged by her mother's unaccountable cruelty. Wary of people, her only friend is her dog, Eli. But when her mother dies, Tilda goes back to Brighton and with the help of her beloved Queenie sets about unravelling the mystery of her exile from The Paradise Hotel and discovers that her mother was not the woman she thought she knew at all ... Mothers and daughters ... their story can be complicated ... it can also turn out to have a happy ending.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Mothers and daughters; Heiresses; Friendship; Family secrets;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The moon, the stars, and Madame Burova : a novel / by Hogan, Ruth,1961-author.;
Madame Burova, beloved Tarot reader, palmist, and clairvoyant, is retiring and leaving her booth on the Brighton seafront. After inheriting her mother's fortune-telling business as a young woman, Imelda Burova has spent her life on the Brighton pier practicing her trade. She and her trusty pack of Tarot cards have seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Now, after a lifetime of keeping other people's secrets, Madam Burova is ready to have a little piece of life for herself. But she still has one last thing to do, to fulfill a promise made in the 1970s, when she and her girlfriends were carefree, with their whole lives still before them. In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when a sudden and unlikely discovery leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail, which leads to Brighton, the pier, and directly to Madame Burova's door.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Magic realist fiction.; Clairvoyants; Older women; Promises; Secrecy; Tarot;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Phoenix Ballroom : a novel / by Hogan, Ruth,1961-author.;
For fifty years, Venetia Hargreaves's world revolved around her husband. She built their life around his big career, with dinner on the table at six, a lovely home, and a dutiful son just as business-minded as his father. Now Venetia's a wealthy widow left with a beautiful but empty home, an enviable bank balance, and a distinct feeling that she missed the boat. Once upon a time, she was a dance instructor who dreamed of opening her own ballroom school with a fellow teacher who won her heart. Instead, Venetia chose the safer path. So, at seventy-four years of age, Venetia declares her independence, first with a makeover, and then by adopting a new dog. But something is still missing ... until on one of her dog walks by the river she passes by a building she remembers all too well. In her youth it was the spectacular Phoenix Ballroom, where she used to teach waltzes and tangos. These days it's a community center and spiritualist church, funded by a mysterious benefactor who only pays for the upkeep. Eager to revive at least one meaningful thing from her past, Venetia buys the Phoenix Ballroom, and finds a supportive and loving community of lost souls who become a delightful multigenerational family-by-choice. As the ballroom regains its former glory, the community and Venetia's humdrum life are revived as well ... proving wonderful things can come from the darkest of places.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Ballrooms; Communities; Families; Older women; Widows;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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