KATE SOMERSBY – Resourceful, impulsive, and with much to prove to the village of Whispers Wood, she swapped travelling the world for resurrecting an old dream – that of opening up a business in the clock house on the village green. Now owns the day spa, Beauty @ The Clock House.

JULIET BROWN – Lover of all things craft and vintage, super-chic hairdresser and owner of the new hair salon, Hair @ The Clock House.

EMMA DANES – Jane Austen-loving, matchmaking mixologist moved all the way from Hollywood to Whispers Wood to run the tea room/bar in the clock house, Cocktails & Chai.

DANIEL WESTLAKE – Former accountant moved to Whispers Wood for a fresh start. Owner of the co-office working space, Hive @ The Clock House. Whispers Wood gossip inferred he was the stunt-double for a certain superhero but he’s better known as: The Newcomer.

OSCAR MATTHEWS – Widowed with a daughter, he looks after the bees at the clock house and has recently found love again. Can he fix it … yes he can … because, wearing his tool-belt with aplomb, he also runs his own construction company.

JAKE KNIGHTLEY – Award-winning garden designer, runs his ancestral home, Knightley Hall, located on the edge of the village. Known for his brooding manner and Poldarklicious locks.

GLORIA PAVEY – Single mum. Works at Cocktails & Chai. Frequently turns her ‘sarcasmometer’ up to eleven. Allergic to weddings and impervious to romance … or is she?

SETH KNIGHTLEY – The youngest of the six Knightleys, back living at the Hall with his brother, Jake. His dimples, dancing eyes and gift of the gab gave him the moniker, Salesman Seth, but now he’s determined to prove he’s more substance than sales spiel.

OLD MAN ISAAC – Retired clock maker, previous owner of The Clock House and Whispers Wood’s very own Yoda (because of his age and wisdom, rather than being green and short).

CRISPIN HARLOW – Head of the Residents’ Association, and putting the ‘e’ in pedantic, one village meeting at a time.

SHEILA SOMERSBY – Kate Somersby’s mum, owner of Whisper Wood’s B&B and a demon baker (Note: not an actual demon, this is not that genre).

CHERYL BROWN – Juliet Brown’s mum and retired hairdresser. Known for her prize-winning dahlias.

TRUDIE McTRAVERS – Head of Whispers Wood’s Am-Dram Society, flies very much above the radar with her clashing Lycra and larger-than-life personality.

TUPPENCE McTRAVERS – Daughter of Trudie and Nigel McTravers. Florist, intriguingly referred to as: The Herbalist of Horsham …

MELODY MATTHEWS – Oscar and Bea Matthews’ daughter, her two besties are Persephone Pavey and whichever book she’s reading that week.

PERSEPHONE PAVEY – Gloria and Bob Pavey’s daughter, now planning on plié-ing her way through school.

GERTRUDE – Cow, as in bovine! Prefers chewing the cud with humans over her own herd and is happiest being the village’s nosiest resident.

BEA’s BEES – The honeybees housed in the hives at the clock house. Best known for producing the honey that goes into the copious honey martinis drunk at the clock house.

THE CLOCK HOUSE CHANDELIER – according to Whispers Wood folklore, it has magical properties … Fact!

Chapter 1

Angry Bird Going Cold Turkey

Gloria

Gloria Pavey forgot every single one of the anger-management techniques she had supposedly mastered over the last twelve weeks and with a look that could, quite frankly, wilt steel, demanded, ‘What do you mean I don’t need to come back next week?’

Her therapist, Fortuna Tempest (or Fort Tuna The Terra Pest, as Gloria referred to her when she was being particularly confronting) simply smiled in the same non-judgemental and now only slightly grating way she’d been smiling for the past three months. ‘We did go over this at the end of last week’s session.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t realise you meant it,’ Gloria replied, her heart thudding. She resumed the melting-metal look. ‘I thought you were testing me to see how I’d react. It’s the only reason I didn’t go full-out Basil Fawlty.’

Fortuna replied with a look of her own that suggested cheating in a counselling session was really only cheating yourself and Gloria could have kicked herself.

The Terra Pest genuinely thought she didn’t need to come back?

But no way could it be this simple.

A person didn’t just decide to change … and voila, next stop she was

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Cast of Whispers Wood Characters

Chapter 1 Angry Bird Going Cold Turkey

Chapter 1

Angry Bird Going Cold Turkey