GIL MCNEIL

Didn't anyone tell you that divas don't knit? Knit-one Jo Mackenzie needs a new start and jumps at the chance to take over her grandmother's wool shop in a small seaside town. Purl-one But it's not going to be easy with two young sons to cope with, an A-list actress moving into the local mansion and a knitting group addicted to cake. Stitch and Bitch! Gil McNeil's funny and uplifting novel turns prejudices and assumptions upside down, telling it how it really is in the world of knit-one, purl-one.

Slip one A year after her husband's death, Jo Mackenzie is finally starting to get the hang of being a single parent. Knit two together The boys are thriving in their new seaside home, the wool shop is starting to do well and despite two weddings, an in-school knitting project and Trevor the Wonder Dog coming to stay, she's just about keeping her head above water. Cast off But boys, babies and best friends certainly make life a lot more interesting. Can Jo cope when things get really complicated? Because if knitting truly does keep you sane when your life starts to unravel then it looks like Jo is going to need much bigger needles.

Is it better to forgive and forget, or should you just get even? Is it possible to live in the country and not lose your mind completely? Do chickens really make good pets? And what exactly is a hardy perennial? Alice Mayhew, part-time architect and full-time mother to Alfie, is to gardening what Alan Titchmarsh is to deep-sea fishing. So finding she's been volunteered to design a new garden for the village comes as a bit of a shock, because apart from anything else she's far too busy trying to convince Alfie that wearing green trousers doesn't make you Peter Pan, and that flying is best left to the experts. Molly O'Brien is finding it hard enough coping with Lily (aged four and likes washing up) and Matt (aged thirty two and doesn't) before she discovers she's pregnant. And then there's Lola Barker, who causes havoc wherever she goes, and brings a whole new meaning to the word high-maintenance. Toddlers, jelly, bad behaviour, romance and gardening tips all loom large in Gil McNeil's hilarious and heartbreaking new novel. Stand By Your Man turns prejudices and assumptions upside down with humour and passion, telling it like it really is. Sometimes it's hard to be a woman

Put some more magic in your life! A fantastic new collection of short stories and much more, by some of the best writers today With brand-new stories from twenty-five of Britain's favourite authors including Joanna Trollope, Jilly Cooper, John O'Farrell, Penny Vincenzi, Kathy Lette, Marika Cobbold, Marina Warner and Toby Young. TOTALLY MAGIC will raise funds for the charity PiggyBankKids, which supports fundraising efforts for a wide range of British charities who create opportunities for children and young people. TOTALLY MAGIC is a PiggyBankKids project to raise funds for the National Council for One Parent Families. GBP1 to go straight to charity for every copy sold.