Lancashire Books in Order

The Lancashire series gathers together several of Trisha Ashley's best loved village novels, all set in and around the rolling countryside, moors and small towns of her native West Lancashire.

Each book tells a complete story with its own main couple, so you can dip in anywhere, but they share overlapping settings, familiar side characters and a fondness for seasonal celebrations, local theatre and village gossip that reward reading them as a loose sequence.

The Magic of Christmas, first published as Sweet Nothings, centres on Lizzy in the village of Middlemoss, who is on the verge of leaving her unfaithful husband when tragedy strikes. She throws herself into the Christmas Pudding Circle, a recipe swapping group, and into a rivalry with local food writer Nick while the whole community rehearses an ambitious Boxing Day mystery play.

In A Winter's Tale, Sophy Winter unexpectedly inherits Winter's End, a crumbling old house near Sticklepond, and swaps life as a put upon housekeeper for the far trickier job of lady of the manor. The leaking roof, eccentric residents, rumours that Shakespeare once stayed there and the competing charms of smooth Jack Lewis and quiet gardener Seth give the book a mix of cosy fantasy and everyday hassle.

Wedding Tiers moves to Neatslake, where Josie Gray runs a bespoke wedding cake business and dreams of rural bliss with childhood sweetheart Ben. When glamorous old friend Libby returns to stage an extravagant celebrity style wedding and turn her house into a venue, Josie finds her work life booming just as her relationship starts to crack, leaving room for idealistic photographer Noah to complicate her ideas about happy ever after.

Chocolate Wishes takes us back to Sticklepond, where chocolatier Chloe Lyon makes chocolate wishes filled with hand picked messages, only to be blindsided when the new village vicar turns out to be Raffy Sinclair, the ex rock star who once broke her heart. Twelve Days of Christmas strands grieving house sitter Holly and sculptor Jude with his chaotic family in a snowed in house on the Lancashire moors, forcing them to face old hurts while the village persists in celebrating anyway.

Finally Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues follows Tansy Poole as she inherits a rundown shoe shop and turns it into Cinderella's Slippers, a haven for brides, while unpicking family secrets and sparring with brooding neighbour Ivo. Across the series you can expect big houses and tiny cottages, recipes at the back, and the sense that even in the darkest winters these Lancashire villages are places where people eventually look after one another.