Böcker av Susan Day

Sally-Ann has never been further from home than Scarborough. She is suffocating in her parents' house, fed up with their old-fashioned rules and bored with her job. Then Terry comes in to the library where she works to look at maps for his "trip around the world."'What's your name?' he asks her. 'Zita,' she lies. But becoming Zita is not so simple.Susan Day deftly leads you into Sally-Ann/ Zita's life and adventures, her coming of age, discovery of life's unpredictabilities and growing old. Her skilful depiction of the characters brings them to life and you'll miss them and wonder about them when you've turned the last page.

Nothing is more important to Lynn and Dave Wilde than family. They have lived in Sheffield all their lives, and their two married daughters live close by. Their son Jamie meets and marries Niecey, and they have a son. Niecey is something of an enigma - she is not from Sheffield, she appears to have no family, no friends and no past - but she is accepted into the family. Then Jamie discovers, by accident, the birth certificates of two children, and consults his parents and sisters about what this might mean: are they Niecey's children? did they die? who is their father? Does she know where they are? Does this explain her constant wandering around the city, her hovering outside school gates? As the secret gradually comes out, each member of the family reacts to the situation in a different way. Tensions run high, and Niecey is forced to reveal her history. Finally, answers come from an unexpected source, and open the way to a resolution. Sue Day describes with wonderful sensitivity, precision and honesty the life of this ordinary Sheffield family, as they are faced with an extraordinary dilemma.

As deaths mount during the coronavirus pandemic a retired history teacher reflects on the much greater personal impact of her sister's death 12 years before. Pam Dearly - lonely, grumpy, resentful - uses the lens of lock-down to review her life, her family and her relationship with her sister.

This beautifully understated story, of two working-class girls in the 60's, explores the opportunities and the limitations, hopes and disappointments - and the music - that they grew up with; and the choices they hardly remember making that shaped their lives.

One wartime morning four girls set out on a bike ride that will bind them together for years to come - through marriage, children and divorce, and even across continents. Many years later they are still in touch, and still trying to understand the tragedy that has been one of the constants in their lives. What did happen to Marcie?

For the past six months, Erica Jacobs had spent her time chasing after Jack and his assets while running from Travis and his charms. She wanted stability in her life, and Jack could provide that. But the only thing he was willing to give her so far was a friendship with fringe benefits. Travis, on the other hand, was passionate and loving and offered her the stability she was looking for. But Travis seemed to be too much of a playboy, and she wanted a future with someone that would last a lifetime, not a few months. After careful consideration, she decided to confront Jack about his intentions. If things went badly for her, Travis would pick up the pieces. Or would he?

There are families that would fall apart if the truth came out. Jen admires her father and Frank believes that his daughters are happy, but no one in any family knows the whole story. This family has fractured before, and been patched up by secrets and evasions. Now things are about to change.

Don't Call Me Grandma! probes the little-known underworld of my life as a grandma - the fearsome challenge against time that makes choking seem delightful. Do people assume you don't have sex anymore? Has babysitting become the supreme fear in your life, surpassing demonic possession? Were you ever assaulted by a baby biscuit? These are a few fearful situations that I have endured as the result of my agonizing transition from normalcy to the geriatric nightmare of becoming a grandma. Don't Call Me Grandma! also delves into the trauma of getting older. The "golden" years are not golden. The title, Senior Citizen, holds no rank. Wrinkles WILL find you. Allow me to bring some light-hearted laughter to your busy day through Don't Call Me Grandma! - a satirical but humorous revelation depicting every hidden aspect of what happened to me when I was hit with the double whammy of getting older and becoming a grandma.

The design revolutions of the early 20th century were woven into the very fabric of the carpets and rugs of that era. This book charts the evolution of carpet design out of the floral effusions of the Victorian salons and into the angular elegance of Art Deco and bold abstraction of Modernism popularized by the machine age.