This is a collection of research papers on the sensitive and difficult issue of contact with birth family members by adopted and permanently fostered children.

Braving another emotional minefield, this is a novel by the author of The Choir, A Village Affair, The Rector's Wife and A Spanish Lover.

How can you prove your innocence when you can't remember the crime? Being a cop runs in Billy Harney's family. The son of Chicago's Chief of Detectives whose twin sister, Patty, also followed in their father's footsteps, there's nothing Billy won't give up for the job, including his life. Left for dead alongside his tempestuous former partner and a hard-charging assistant district attorney out for blood, Billy miraculously survives. But he remembers...

Casey's Unit is, as ever, full of troubled, disaffected pupils, and new arrival Leo is something of a conundrum. Thirteen year old Leo isn't a bad lad - in fact, he's generally polite and helpful, but he's in danger of permanent exclusion for repeatedly absconding and unauthorised absences. Despite letters being sent home regularly, his mother never turns up for any appointments, and when the school calls home she always seems to have an excuse. Though...

Emelda's husband Charlie has left her for a dancer half her age. Her five sons blame her for their father's leaving. For comfort she turns to her only true friend - ice cream. But lately there's a handsome man driving the ice-cream van. Could romance be about to blossom?

Delilah has lived out her tempestuous marriage to hell-raiser Raf in the glare of the media spotlight. Now planning a milestone birthday, she has more on her mind than invitations. Raf has been offered a part in a movie he can't refuse. But will he succumb to the temptations he's struggled to resist for the last ten years?

For individual carers without enough support, having a loved one with dementia often remains challenging. This text looks at the practicalities and relationships.

The curiously named Isamay, a would-be academic, is trying to write a coherent thesis about grandmothers in history from Sarah Bernhardt and George Sand to the matriarchal Queen Victoria and other influential grannies while constantly ambushed by the secrets her own family has been keeping.

This is Martin Spinelli's inspiring story of finding purpose in his life after the tragic death of his wife in a car crash, and the story of his son's miraculous recovery.