SHEILA NORTON
MY PREVIOUS BOOKS
WINTER AT CLIFF'S END COTTAGE
(WINNER of the RoNAs award 2022 for the Christmas
and Winter seasonal novel of the year).
Published on 9 December 2021 by Piatkus
Cliff's End Cottage is a local landmark. Perched on the South Devon coast, its garden has begun slowly toppling into the sea, yet the elderly and infamously stubborn owner Stella refuses to leave her home. When Holly, a young journalist and single mum struggling to make ends meet, decides to interview Stella about her life, at first she's given short shrift. However, helped by a slice or two of cake and a couple of friendly cats, a tentative friendship begins to develop between the two lonely women.
Stella and Holly may live different lives, but during the cold days of winter, as Stella shares her story, the two women discover more and more in common. Time is running out for the house on the edge, but perhaps, together, Stella and Holly can find a new way forward.
A heart-warming story where two women from different generations find that a new friend - no matter how late in life they may appear - can mean everything.
ESCAPE TO RIVERSIDE COTTAGE
Published on 4 March 2021 by Ebury.
After the sudden death of her estranged husband, Clare is shocked to discover she has inherited a dog and a small fortune. Convinced by her adult children to finally do something for herself, Clare embarks on a coast-to-coast adventure - until she stumbles upon an unmarked location on the fringes of South Devon.
When Clare finds herself driving down a narrow road to the tiny village of Little Sorrell, she is met with distant, cold, and rude locals. But as she falls in love with a cottage she wishes to call home, can Little Sorrell truly be the place of second chances?...
WHAT I DIDN'T TELL YOU
Published on 7 August 2020, available only on Amazon,
this is a story about teenage friendship and betrayal during the 1960s.
When Judith hears that an ageing British rock star has been charged with retrospective abuse crimes dating back to the 1960s, his name doesn't just ring bells - it brings back floods of memories. She knew Ricky Gold, when she was a teenager growing up in Southend, before she emigrated with her family to New Zealand. And she wonders if she, or Trish, her best friend from back then, might be able to get to the truth of the matter. Why does Judith care enough about it to make the long journey back to England, on a complex quest for answers? And what other memories will her trip stir up - quite apart from stirring up an unresolved relationship with her first boyfriend, Eddie, with whom she parted back in 1965? Was Ricky Gold really guilty? Is someone holding back the truth? Or perhaps it's just the problem of trying to look back fifty years into the past.
THE LONELY HEARTS DOG WALKERS
Published on 6 February 2020, and available in both paperback and ebook, this is the story of Nicky, who returns to live with her mum, in her childhood home in a small Devon village after the break-up of her marriage. It's hard to start over, especially for her little daughter Mia. Will a new puppy help? Will making new friends help? Can joining with the community to fight against the redevelopment of their village park give her life some purpose? Or will she find love again?
‘A thoroughly enjoyable, gentle snapshot of the lives of four generations, friends and lovers, with lots of adorably loyal pets.’ – ‘Devon Life’ magazine.
THE PET SHOP AT PENNYCOMBE BAY
Published by Ebury on 21 February 2019, in paperback and ebook. Set in Devon, with my heroine working in a pet shop but also volunteering with the wonderful Pets As Therapy charity which helps her to conquer her shyness.
When you’re having a ruff time, it’s time to make a change…
After losing her job and with her confidence at an all-time low, Jess has taken refuge in the beautiful Devon seaside town of Pennycombe. But things aren’t exactly turning out as she hoped. Jess’s new job at the local pet shop comes under threat when boss Jim starts thinking about retirement, and she feels like she’s treading on eggshells living with her cousin Ruth.
But with faithful dog Prudence by her side, Jess is determined to become more involved in the local community. It’s not long before she soon makes new friends, including handsome Tom and his son Jacob. But her hopes of romance are dashed when she sees Tom with a mystery woman...
Can Jess make Pennycombe feel like home?
THE PETS AT PRIMROSE COTTAGE
This book was serialised first in four digital instalments, starting with Part 1 , 'A Place to Hide', and from March 2018 is now also published as a complete story in both paperback and ebook editions.
Emma Nightingale needs a place to hide away. Pursued by the demons left by her ex-boyfriend, she takes refuge in quiet Crickleford, a sleepy town in Dartmoor, where she can lie low.
Life in Crickleford is quiet and peaceful, but it won’t be for long if people discover the truth about Emma’s past. Not wanting to make too much of a fuss, she ends up lying about why she's there - she's looking after some cats, she says - then suddenly the town’s new ‘pet-sitter’ is in high demand!
THE VETS AT HOPE GREEN
Published in June 2017 in paperback and ebook editions, as well as previously in four digital instalments, this is a story about a girl with a dream ... and the animals she loves.
Sam has always dreamed of working with animals...
But her receptionist job in a London vets is not hitting the spot. Unsure of whether a busy city life is for her, she flees to her Nana Peggy’s idyllic country village.
But despite the rolling hills and its charming feel, life in Hope Green is far from peaceful. On first meeting Joe, the abrupt and bad-tempered local vet, Sam knows she must get him on side, but that is easier said than done...
With her dream close enough to touch, will she get there, or will events conspire against her...?
CHARLIE, THE KITTEN WHO SAVED A LIFE
Charlie's story is a sequel to OLIVER, THE CAT WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS, my first 'cat' story. It was published in paperback and ebook editions on 11 August 2016.
But what could I do? I was just a little cat and nobody ever listened to me. I made a promise to myself that I’d do everything I possibly could to save her, whatever the danger to me, and no matter how many lives I lost in the process...
Charlie the kitten would do anything for his human. Just having recovered from a debilitating illness, eleven-year-old Caroline isn’t feeling her best, and the arrival of a new baby only makes her feel even more left out.
So when Caroline decides to run away, Charlie follows, vowing to protect her at all costs. But, for such a little kitten, it’s a big and scary world outside the comfort of the cottage – how far will he go to save his greatest friend?
OLIVER, THE CAT WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS
Oliver's story - the tale of a little cat with a big heart - was published by Ebury Press in hardback and ebook editions on 22 October 2015. and as a paperback on 3 November 2016.
A friend who brings light at the darkest of times...
Oliver the cat is a timid little thing, and rarely ventures from his home in the Foresters’ Arms.
Then his life changes dramatically when a fire breaks out in the pub kitchen and he is left homeless and afraid. But, with the kindness of the humans around him, he soon learns to trust again. And, in his own special way, he helps to heal those around him. However, it isn’t until he meets a little girl in desperate need of a friend that he realises this village needs a Christmas miracle...
The following six books are available only from Amazon, in both paperback and Kindle editions.
A GRAND THING
'It's a grand thing to be a mother of a mother - that's why the world calls her a grandmother. '
This is a story with grandparents at its heart.
What’s going on with Nanny Kate? She’s always been there to look after the grandchildren, always so sensible, capable and reliable – the only problems up till now have been the arguments between her son and daughters about whose children she looks after the most! Now she suddenly seems to be losing things and forgetting things. Is it her age? Or is it because she’s recently got mixed up with some strange friends from the children’s music group – Bob with his arthritis, his family worries and his possible crush on Kate, and reluctant younger grandmother Jackie who dresses like a teenager and isn’t even sure she likes children? To say nothing of nasty neighbour Pam with her incomprehensible hostility and interference. Kate’s children are worried. Will they have to find a new childminder? Whose fault is it that their mum’s losing the plot? Kate just wishes they’d stop arguing. She loves them all and she’s absolutely fine – isn’t she?
TICKET TO RIDE
This book tells two interwoven stories - one of which is based on the tragedy of the child migrants to Australia, while the other takes place during the music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In 1954, two small children arrive in Australia after a long sea voyage, with no idea why they’ve been sent there or what’s going to happen to them. Nearly fifteen years later back in England, promising young musician Jack Hunter disappears abruptly with no explanation to anyone, devastating his girlfriend and band mates. Two journeys – both changing lives forever – lives that eventually become entwined, across the decades and across the continents.
YESTERDAY
Winner of the Guardian Legend Times Self-Published Book of the Month - November 2014
It’s the early 1960s, the dawn of Beatlemania and Mods & Rockers - and teenager Cathy Ferguson is desperate to be a Mod – if only her mum would let her. When the first burst of fighting kicks off between the Mods and the Rockers at Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, Cathy shouldn’t even be there, but the events which follow will haunt her for the rest of her life. Forty years later, as a middle-aged struggling journalist, she needs to revisit her unhappy memories of that time in order to write a story. In doing so, perhaps she can heal some wounds, and find out exactly what did happen back in 1964. Forty years is a long time to bury your past, but if Cathy’s going to write this story, she’s going to have to start digging.
THE SISTERS SERIES
These three stories about the Jennings sisters - Sophie Being Single, Debra Being Divorced, and Millie Being Married - are not only available as individual paperback and Kindle editions but also as a combined 'boxed set' of the Kindle editions, which is a real bargain!
Earlier books : These are mostly now only available as Kindle books from Amazon.
SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGIES
These two books, available only as Kindle editions, are anthologies of short stories - twelve in each book - most of them originally published in women's magazines. TRAVELLERS' TALES s is a collection of stories with holiday or travel settings, while the stories in LET'S GET THE KETTLE ON all explore various aspects of the relationship between mums and daughters.
THE TALES FROM TRILOGY
I wrote these three books - TALES FROM A HEN WEEKEND, TALES FROM A WEDDING DAY and TALES FROM A HONEYMOON HOTEL, under the pseudonym of Olivia Ryan. The first two are now available only as Kindle editions, but the third is still available in both paperback and Kindle editions. Although these three books have the common theme of weddings, they are entirely separate stories about different characters.
FIRST NOVELS
These are my first five romantic comedy novels, originally published by Piatkus between 2003 and 2006. They are now only available as Kindle ebooks from Amazon.