Barleybridge – serie

At the busy veterinary practice in Barleybridge, it's not just the animals who need loving care and attention...The lively Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital is bustling with energy. Everyone is working hard to make sure that sick animals in the surgery and on the farms are treated. But at the same time, some of the staff are coping with crises in their personal lives. Kate is worrying about her exam results and hoping she can get into veterinary college. Dan's wife's baby is due any moment. Letty is worried that she may be terminally ill but is afraid to tell anyone. Joy finds that she is still in love with Mungo, a fact that finally compels her husband Duncan to leave home. Rhodri is deeply in love with Megan, a local farmer's daughter, but she can't marry him because she is committed to caring for her elderly father. A wonderfully pacy, funny but tender novel about life in the country.

Reissue of the first Barleybridge novel, set in a veterinary practice, by the author of the Turnham Malpas series.Kate arrives at Barleybridge Veterinary Practice on her first day as the new receptionist. The hills rise almost immediately from the edge of the car park, and dotted all over the slopes are grazing sheep. Turning round she can see the town, which has now crept up the foothills, making the practice the last bit of civilisation before the hills. The setting is idyllic. Kate quickly gets to know the other staff, and becomes engrossed in the work and drawn into the lives of her colleagues and those of the animals and their owners. But as she gets more and more involved with the practice, Kate realises she has a very difficult decision to make...

In the middle of a sultry summer heatwave, the inhabitants of Barleybridge find love, conflict and much more...When Kate worked at the Barleybridge practice, she had thought herself in love with Scott. But that was years ago and she is over him now - or so she thinks. When she returns to the practice, she is alarmed to discover that suddenly, yet again, she is completely besotted with him. Some things at the practice have changed: there's a new vet, Virginia, who seems to go out of her way to criticise and upset Kate, not to mention upsetting the clients. But Virginia is not all she seems. Scott, very much in love with his wife Zoe, hates the idea that they have not yet had a second child. Convinced that the fault is not his, he refuses to seek help. The ensuing rows with Zoe drive a wedge between them. Will he look to someone else for comfort? Kate hopes that he might...