Ruth Symes: 9 books

Ever since she was a baby, Bella Donna has suspected she has magical powers, and she wants nothing more than to be a witch. Bella lives in an orphanage, waiting for her “Forever Family,” until one day she meets Lilith Sorciere and agrees to move in with Lilith and her niece Verity. Bella tries...

Bella Donna seems just like any other student at her school, but she has a secret: she’s really a witch! The other witches who live on Coven Road are having a spell casting contest, and Bella is determined to win. She’s trying to learn as many spells as she can, and that’s no small thing! It’s...

Twins Eddie and Izzie love animals. They want to look after ALL the school pets in the holidays - but the only one left is the grumpy lizard. The lizard cheers up once he goes home with them and eats the food he likes - they name him after his favourite. Then Cornflake grows two bumps on his back,...

Can the baby Bigfoot, Snowball, be reunited with his family? At the Secret Animal Society Sanctuary, hidden away in a remote corner of the country, Christmas is approaching. There's lots to organise with the winter weather drawing in, and all the endangered and rare animals to care for. Even...

The Secret Animal Society needs to help an old friend - Spike. The Secret Animal Society - an organisation which protects those very rare animals few people know even exist - is located in a remote valley close to the sea. When twins Eddie and Izzie move there with their family, they're very...

The intriguing characters in these real family history mysteries include an agricultural labourer who left secrets behind in Somerset when he migrated to Manchester, a working-class woman who bafflingly lost ten of her fourteen children in infancy, a miner who purportedly went to ‘live with the...

Why didn't my ancestors smile for the camera? Was my great-aunt unusual to have several children in her 40s? Should great-grandma really have married her cousin?Drawing on evidence from social history, women's history, and the histories of photography and fashion, to name but a few, this book looks...

Could your ancestors write their own names or did they mark official documents with a cross? Why did great-grandfather write so cryptically on a postcard home during the First World War? Why did great-grandmother copy all the letters she wrote into letter-books? How unusual was it that great-uncle...

Discover the history of family roles and relationships—and how to learn more about your own ancestors. A blend of social history and family history, Family First looks at relationships and our attitudes and experiences surrounding them—fathers, mothers, babies, children, aunts, uncles,...