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Morag Joss

This page lists novels by Morag Joss.

Cover images are, where possible, of the first UK edition.

 

Morag Joss: Novels

Funeral Music

Morag Joss

Hodder & Stoughton

1998

A Sara Selkirk novel.

"International cellist Sara Selkirk is apprehensive about the charity concert in Bath's famous Pump Room. It's the first time she will have performed in public since the death of her lover the previous year. But, in the event, Sara's performance is overshadowed by the death of the concert's organiser, Matthew Sawyer. In the ensuing police investigation, many secrets are uncovered including a stolen needlework collection, an immigration racket, a headmaster's adulterous affair with his secretary. What, if anything, do any of them have to do with Sawyer's death?"
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Fearful Symmetry

Morag Joss

Hodder & Stoughton

1999

A Sara Selkirk novel.

"Exhausted after a gruelling world tour, international cellist Sara Selkirk is looking foward to a few months' recuperation at her picturesque cottage near Bath. But her growing attraction to the music-loving DCI Andrew Poole causes her to make the mistake of joining an amateur operatics society. The Circus Opera Group is a motley crew: There's faded diva Helene and her autistic daughter Adele; vain, talentless composer Cosmo and his long-suffering girlfriend, Poppy. Not to mention Andrew's wife, who's beginning to grow suspicious. With this uneasy mix and clash of fragile egos, both Sara and Andrew predict trouble ahead. What they don't expect to encounter is sudden, violent death."
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Fruitful Bodies

Morag Joss

Hodder & Stoughton

2001

A Sara Selkirk novel.

"The discovery of a murdered Japanese tourist in a Bath pub appears to be just another complication in Sara Selkirk's life. Her developing relationship with DCI Andrew Poole is under enough strain already, ever since she brought her former teacher Joyce Cruikshank under her roof. Not to mention her dog Pretzel. Sara seems to have found the perfect solution when she finds a job for Joyce at a private health clinic where her distinguished pianist friend James Ballantyne is a reluctant patient. The Sulis Clinic, combining naturopathy, modern medicine, creative therapies and the beautiful surroundings of the historic spa town of Bath, enjoys a remarkable success rate. So why isn't James getting any better? And where is Joyce slipping off to every day? As Sara delves into the mysteries surrounding the clinic, one thing becomes clear: Pretzel the Dachshund isn't the only one in danger."
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Half-Broken Things

Morag Joss

Hodder & Stoughton

2003

"Family is a powerful force. It’s only when you don’t have one that you realize how strong the bonds truly are. Michael, Jean, and Steph all have learned this the hard way. Michael, abandoned as a child, steals from churches just to make ends meet in his low-rent apartment. Jean lives as a lonely caretaker, watching over vast houses while their rich owners are away. Steph is pregnant and trapped in an abusive relationship. However, in an instant, a life can change forever. When Steph leaves her boyfriend, she finds a home and then a family with Michael, who is overjoyed. Meanwhile, Jean grows more and more comfortable in her current residence, taking proxy ownership rather than facing mandatory retirement. She begins telling stories of a son and soon places an ad in search of one. When Michael realizes what she is up to, he and Steph move in with her, and the three form an ad-hoc family. But reality is never far in this familial fantasy, and it is about to come calling."
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Puccini's Ghosts

Morag Joss

Sceptre

2005

"Her parents are in a failing marriage. Lila’s mother, Fleur, splits time between two hobbies: arguing with her husband about life and money and retreating to her music room to listen to Puccini’s Turandot. Lila’s family, however, is thrown a lifeline when her charismatic and flamboyant uncle arrives from London with a hare-brained idea: an amateur staging of Turandot. With Fleur in the title role and Lila as the slave girl Liu, the production’s most intriguing casting is George’s handsome young student Joe Foscari as the tenor lead, Prince Calaf. Lila quickly falls for him and hopes that he feels the same about her. As opening night looms, secrets are exposed, high hopes are torn apart, and Lila’s painful coming-of-age brings with it devastating lifelong consequences."
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The Night Following

Morag Joss

Duckworth

2008

"On a blustery April day, the wife of a doctor discovers that her husband has been having an affair. Moments later, driving along a country road, she fails to see sixty-one-year-old Ruth Mitchell up ahead, riding her bicycle. She hits her, killing her instantly, and drives away. Horrified by what she has done, she turns her attention to Ruth's bereaved husband, a man as unhinged by grief as she herself is by guilt. And as she insinuates herself into his life, he starts to believe that, for reasons beyond his understanding, his wife has returned to him."
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Across the Bridge

Morag Joss

Alma Books

2011

"When a bridge collapses in the Highlands of Scotland, dozens of people vanish into the river below. A car hired by a woman tourist was filmed pulling onto the bridge moments before it fell. Now numbered among the missing, the woman seizes her chance to start her life over. But her new path takes her no farther than a wooden cabin on the riverbank, where she seeks rebirth and freedom from her old self. There she lives with Silva, an illegal immigrant whose husband and daughter have not been seen since the day of the bridge’s collapse. The women are befriended by the boatman Ron, and together they create a fragile sanctuary. Lost souls all, they keep secrets from each other, yet connect in ways none of them expects, as they strive to reconcile their past histories with the present and shape for themselves an elusive, longed-for future."
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Our Picnics in the Sun

Morag Joss

Delacorte

2013

"For thirty years, Howard and Deborah Morgan have poured all their energy and modest savings into Stoneyridge, a smallholding deep in the English moors. To help with finances, they decide to turn Stoneyridge into a bed-and-breakfast. But a sudden stroke leaves Howard incapacitated and Deborah overwhelmed. Howard's world, once so limitless, has shrunk to the confines of their crumbling house; Deborah's main joy now comes in the form of a brief weekly email from their successful son, who lives abroad. Then, late one evening, two men arrive needing a room for the night - and set off a chain of events that uncovers the relics of old tragedies. New wounds are cut deep, betrayals and cruelties intermix with tenderness and love. And through it all, Stoneyridge quietly hides the bitter and transformative truth."
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Last updated April 2018