Book picks similar to
When the Music Stopped by Beryl Matthews


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Martha's Journey


Maureen Lee - 2010
    Martha Rossi lives in a tenement with her husband and their five children. Despite working all the hours she can, the family don't have much to get by on. When Martha's fourteen-year-old son, Joe, proudly enlists to fight for his country just to earn his mother an extra shilling, Martha is horrified. She realises the government is turning a blind eye to the scores of young boys who are joining the army. Despite her pleas and protests, Joe is dispatched to France within weeks. Unbeknownst to them all, Joe's act of selfless heroism will have huge implications for Martha and all the family. As the dreaded telegrams begin to arrive from the front in France, mother's hearts are broken across the country. Spurred on by grief of her own, Martha Rossi begins a quest that will take her right to the doors of No.10 Downing Street. Martha's journey there will be a tough one, but with courage and the support of her friends and family, it will be the most important undertaking of her life. Deeply moving and utterly irresistible, MARTHA'S JOURNEY shows Maureen Lee at her very best.

East End Angels


Rosie Hendry - 2017
    She has managed to avoid their pleas to join the WRENS so far but when a tragedy hits too close to home she finds herself wondering if she's cut out for this life after all.Former housemaid Bella was forced to leave the place she loved when she lost it all and it's taken her a while to find somewhere else to call home. She's finally starting to build a new life but when the air raids begin, it seems she may have to start over once again.East-Ender Frankie's sense of loyalty keeps her tied to home so it's not easy for her to stay focused at work. With her head and heart pulling in different directions, will she find the strength to come through for her friends when they need her the most?Brought together at LAAS Station Seventy-Five in London's East End during 1940, these three very different women soon realise that they'll need each other if they're to get through the days ahead. But can the ties of friendship, love and family all remain unbroken?

Fresh Blood


Jessica Hicks - 2019
     Felix used to be a traveling salesman, drifting through the galaxy and hawking his wares. Used to be, that is, until a freak accident in an out of the way system. One rough landing later and Felix finds himself stranded on a wild, alien planet-- front and center in a deadly role he never auditioned for to entertain a secret audience. The upside? A fellow passenger made it to the escape pod with Felix. With this reptilian stranger at his side, he’s not totally alone. The downside? They don’t share a language. Worse, there’s not one scrap of survival know-how between them, and an ominous clawing is coming from outside the escape pod. As if the struggle to avoid becoming lunch and finding some of their own wasn’t enough, an autonomous implant from an unknown source seeks to integrate them into the system.

The Wedding Dress Maker


Helene Wiggin - 2000
    This is not the first time her stepmother has taken what is rightfully hers. First it was her dead mother's rainbow necklace - Netta's only legacy - now her son... Netta is unable to protest such treatment, for it is 1945 and, in the eyes of her God-fearing community, she is doubly cursed: an unmarried mother who struggled with mental health problems after giving birth to her son. After being banished from her beloved Galloway, to a Yorkshire mill-town, Netta is determined to show she is capable of building a life for herself, so she can return to Galloway and claim back her child... PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS: The Stone Rainbow

Where Fortune Lies


Mary-Anne O'Connor - 2020
    For fans of Nicole Alexander, Colleen McCullough, and Fiona McIntosh.1879: 'Invisible' Anne Brown fears she'll never escape the harshness and poverty of her life in County Donegal, Ireland. Until, one heartbreaking Beltane night, her life is changed forever and she leaves to seek her fortune in far-flung Australia.Upon the death of their father, charismatic Will Worthington and his beloved sister Mari are stunned to find he has left all their money and a ticket to the far shores of Australia to an enigmatic painted woman. It seems their only hope for a brighter future also lies in Australia, where together with Will's best friend, the artist Charlie Turner, they seek their fortunes.Charlie finds love with a mysterious exotic dancer, yet there is trouble on the horizon. His new friends up in the Victorian Alps might be teaching him to run with the wild horses and find his talent with a brush at last, but life in a bushranger gang is a dangerous game.As Charlie struggles to break free from his fate, all four are left with impossible choices as fortunes waver between life and death, loyalty and the heart.

21 Songs in 6 Days: Learn to Play Ukulele the Easy Way: Book + Online Video (Beginning Ukulele Songs 1)


Rebecca Bogart - 2013
    This ukulele primer book is the simplest, easiest, and most efficient way for absolute beginners to master a whole set-list worth of songs. Here's why: Step-by-step instruction AND videos are provided free with your purchase of this music book. You get 45 separate lessons: over 100 minutes of powerful video instruction! No matter your learning style, you can read, listen, or watch as you play along with your ukulele. Learn and master one easy skill at a time. With this innovative way to learn ukulele you'll steadily improve without getting frustrated or developing bad habits. You're learning from a Grammy Award nominated educator and former Harvard Master Class piano teacher. All songs are well-known, easy-to-learn folk songs so you can build your confidence and learn to play with ease. AND all songs (from Row Row Row Your Boat to Jingle Bells to This Land is Your Land) include: strum patterns, chord diagrams, sheet music, and lyrics — everything you need to make your 1st—and 21st—song sound perfect. So whether you read music already or are just searching for your personal Ukulele For Dummies, look no further! The 21 Songs in 6 Days ukulele songbook allows you to sing along, go back to review, and learn at your own pace with the FREE bonus online video instruction! It has all the essential elements you need to learn ukulele now. Make it easy to master the ukulele...grab your copy of this Amazon #1 Best Seller today! Complete Songlist: Are You Sleeping?Row, Row, Row Your BoatThree Blind MiceHave You Seen the Ghost of John?Hey, Ho, Nobody HomeAh, Poor BirdFrere JacquesChatter With the AngelsA Ram Sam SamShoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me (in F)Hush, Little Baby (in F)Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow (in F)C, then G7 EtudeShoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me (in C)Hush, Little Baby (in C)Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow (in C)He’s Got the Whole World in His HandsPolly Wolly DoodleJingle BellsThis Land Is Your LandFor He's a Jolly Good FellowOh, When the SaintsI've Been Working on the RailroadRed River Valley

Emma


Linda Sole - 1999
    How can Emma escape the ties that bind her, to build a life for herself and her child?From the author of The Downstairs Maid(Note: previously published as The Ties That Bind by Linda Sole)

A Pretty Beach Christmas


Polly Babbington - 2020
    The delightfully romantic story continues as the town dresses up for Christmas and reels us in for all the festive feels. We follow along with the journey of Juliette Sparkles, resident midwife, who after a horrid divorce and a few years of ups and downs, suddenly has a very nice piece of luck come her way and she moves to Seapocket Lane.There’s the Pretty Beach Christmas Dance, all the weird and wonderful Pretty Beach Christmas traditions and, well, there may just be an ever-so handsome new resident in town. Will Juliette surprise not only herself, but all the locals in Pretty Beach and get everything she’s dreamt of this Christmas or will she end up back to square one?

Miss Nightingale's Nurses


Kate Eastham - 2018
     Ada Houston is alone. Her grandfather has recently passed away and her brother is missing, last seen working on the Liverpool docks. Everyone assumes him to be dead. But she will not give up hope. Ada's determined search takes her to the Crimea where she joins the team of Florence Nightingale's nurses. She may have set off looking for her brother, but along the way Ada finds friends, romance and a new purpose in her own life in the most troubling and difficult of places.

Just One More Day


Jessica Blair - 2015
    Her elder brother Alastair wastes no time in joining the RAF as a flying officer, and Carolyn decides that when she is eighteen she will follow him into the service by joining the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.While reporting to the Air Ministry in London she meets a good-looking, charismatic pilot, Charlie Wade, currently employed in propaganda work. He believes that with her calm demeanor and resilience, Carolyn should work as an Intelligence officer, and suggests she serve on an active bombing station. At her side throughout the courses and postings that follow is Lucy Gaston, naturally quick-witted and sparky, a perfect foil for her friend.The young WAAFs both obtain prestigious postings in 5 Group Bomber Command, where they perform the vital tasks of briefing and debriefing aircrew returning from operations over Germany. Lucy, an incorrigible optimist, falls head over heels for a member of a Lancaster bomber crew while Carolyn resists her feelings for its dashing pilot. She decides it's not worth the risk of loving a man in wartime. . . only to wonder if she has done the right thing when a new WAAF on the station sets her cap at him.For Lucy and Carolyn, life on a WWII bombing station brings drama, heartbreak and suspense in this touching love story.

The Reading Room


Ruth Hamilton - 2009
    That was her past life, at least. For now Leanne has been forced to start again as Lily, leaving her name, job, and marriage behind. No one in the Lancashire village of Eagleton has a clue about Lily, save that she's come up from the South West with her best friend and a small child. But it’s hard to lead a solitary existence in a small place, and Lily and Babs are swiftly embraced by some of the local characters: Mike, the Catholic priest, who the girls can't help noticing is easy on the eye; Eve, a Liverpudlian, who has a big mouth but a heart of gold; the hairdressers Paul and Maurice; and Dave and his love, Philly, both shy yet determined not to be cowed by Dave’s mother, the domineering matriarch of the village. Soon, Lily's new life is full of promise and as she joins Dave's reading room, a shop come café and library, she begins to relax. But then Eve is wounded in a burglary, and suddenly, Lily is afraid that her secret is out: her husband Clive may have discovered where she is, and, having left her for dead before, is now out to kill her.

Sunshine at Daisy's Guesthouse


Lottie Phillips - 2018
    Daisy Ronaldson’s whole life is turned upside-down when her husband dies from cancer. So when she discovers that he left her a wish: to turn their big English country house into a guest house, she’s in shock... At first it seems like just too big a challenge, but in the rush of making beds, painting rooms and preparing breakfasts, with her helpful (and handsome) friend James, Daisy realizes that her heart is beginning to heal. In fact, she might even be falling in love again!

Rise of The Demon Lords (Aegis of Merlin Book 9)


James E Wisher - 2021
    

Bring Me Sunshine


Laura Kemp - 2019
    When her job doing the traffic news on the radio in London is relocated to Sunshine FM in Mumbles, she jumps at the chance for a new start in Wales. But when she arrives she discovers that she's not there to do the travel news - she's there to front the graveyard evening show. And she's not sure she can do it.Thrust into the limelight, she must find her voice and a way to cope. And soon she realises that she's not the only person who finds life hard - out there her listeners are lonely too. And her show is the one keeping them going.Can Charlotte seize the day and make the most of her new home? And will she be able to breathe new life into the tiny radio station too...?

The School at the Top of the Dale


Gervase Phinn - 2018
    Unsure if he'll ever fit into this close-knit community, Tom joins a motley staff at the village school. With pupils who know more about sheep than they do arithmetic, Tom has his work cut out for him.Add to that an altercation with the beautiful but stand-offish Miss Janette Fairborn and an argument with the local squire's son, and Tom's first term proves a baptism of fire. But Tom soon finds himself growing fond of Risingdale, and with a class of lively and demanding pupils, an end-of-term show to put on, and a jewellery thief at large, he will find himself at the centre of drama, secrets revealed, and plenty of love, laughter and new friendships.Full of colourful characters, and laugh-out-loud moments, The School at the Top of the Dale is a warm and humorous portrayal of life in a small Yorkshire village.