LADDER OF YEARS

THE AMATEUR MARRIAGE

Michael and Pauline seem like the perfect couple - he was smitten the first time he saw her in Baltimore. In the heat of the moment, in World War II, they were hastily wed. But perhaps they should never have married.

BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWN UPS

When Joe Davitch first saw Rebecca he wanted for himself some of the happiness that spilled from her. Once married she became the lynch pin of the Davitch family. After Joe's untimely death Rebecca realises that she feels like an imposter in her own life.

BREATHING LESSONS

Anne Tyler's novel covers the events of a day in the lives of Maggie and Ira. The basic incompatibility of their marriage and the love that binds them together nevertheless are both revealed.

CLOCK DANCE

One day, Willa Drake receives a startling phone call from a stranger. Without fully understanding why, she flies across the country to Baltimore to look after a young woman she's never met. This impulsive decision will lead Willa into uncharted territory, and surrounded by eccentric neighbours who treat each other like family, she finds solace and fulfillment in unexpected places.

THE CLOCK WINDER

Newly-widowed Mrs Emerson sacks her handyman and replaces him with Elizabeth, a lanky, awkward girl. A bond develops between the two women, and against her will Elizabeth is drawn into the disorderly lives of the Emerson family.

DIGGING TO AMERICA

In August 1997 two Korean baby girls are flown to Baltimore to be adopted by two very different American families. Over the years the families' lives overlap, especially at the annual party to celebrate 'Arrival Day'. A gentle and funny story of pride, belonging and love.

DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT

Shared memories bind together all families and the Tulls of Baltimore are no exception. Abandoned by her husband, Pearl is left to bring up her three children alone and now, as she lies dying, the past and its secrets are unlocked.

IF MORNING EVER COMES

Law student Ben Joe Hawkes desperately misses his family, so when he hears that his elder sister has returned home with her baby he decides to visit, but once there he has to confront his past.

NOAH'S COMPASS

Liam Pennywell has taken early retirement from his teaching job in a run-down private school and moved into a condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. A day later he wakes up in hospital with a sore and bandaged head and no memory of what has happened. This leads him to meet an unusual woman who also has secrets to hide.

A PATCHWORK PLANET

To his philanthropic Baltimore family, Barnaby Gaitlin looks like a loser. He has an almost pathological curiosity for other people's lives and a hopeless charm that attracts the kind of angelic woman who wants to save him from himself.

A SLIPPING-DOWN LIFE

Teenager Evie Decker lives in a small Southern USA town where she becomes infatuated by a local rock singer. Their lives become entwined when she carves his name on her forehead.

A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD

The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate togetherness. But they are also like all families, in that the stories they tell themselves reveal only part of the picture. Here are four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their anchor.

VINEGAR GIRL

This modern retelling of Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' asks whether a thoroughly modern, independent woman would ever sacrifice herself for a man. The answer is as individual, off-beat and funny as Kate, the woman in question, herself.