Compelled to use her skills for the war effort, she travels to the Somme, where she is confronted with the horrors at the front. Yet amongst the bloodshed on the battlefield, there is a ray of light in the form of the working class Albert, a corporal from the East End of London. Despite being worlds apart, Edith and Albert can't deny their attraction to each other. But as the brutality of war reveals itself to Albert, he makes a drastic decision that will change both Edith and Albert's lives forever.In the north of England, strong-minded Ada is left heartbroken when her only remaining son Jimmy heads off to fight in the war. Desperate to rebuild her shattered life, Ada takes up a position in the munition factory. But life deals her a further blow when she discovers that her mentally unstable sister Beryl is pregnant with her husband Paddy's child. Soon, even the love of the gentle Joe, a supervisor at the factory, can't erase Ada's pain. An encounter with Edith's cousin, Lady Eloise, brings Edith into her life. Together, they realise, they may be able to turn their lives around . . .The next thrilling saga from the kindle bestselling author of Time Passes Time and Proud of You.

    Loved by most that she meets, Charlotte has a gift for friendship, and it is her work as a Sunday School teacher that gives her hope - and an escape from home. When Charlotte meets Miles Thornton, she is instantly drawn to him. He is new to the area and a widower, with three lovely young sons to look after but the one thing he has longed for is a daughter. As they grow to understand one another, it seems that Miles and Charlotte have more in common that meets the eye... Sweeping from the early 1920s through to the end of World War II, SONS AND DAUGHTERS is a compelling, traditional saga set against the Lincolnshire landscape that Margaret Dickinson portrays so well.

    Oswald proves to be more sadistic and violent than she could ever have imagined. On learning she is expecting a child, Angeline makes plans to run away and take her chances fending for herself and her baby. But then tragedy takes over . . .

    An invitation from the Duke of Moorshire to an evening at Lea Hall? She could still scarcely believe her eyes, even if it was a long-overdue honour - after all her husband Rod had done for the town.There were a lot of Gallachers around Fellburn, and all were equally incredulous. Their Mam was a big-hearted woman, with a laugh to match, but was she really the type to go hob-nobbing with the aristocracy? It would be a night to remember, all right!And indeed it was. But had Maggie, or any of the Gallachers, foreseen how it would turn out, how irrevocably it would change the lives of all of them, she would have torn that invitation into tiny pieces and thrown them on the fire . . .

    17-year-old Muriel Dearlove has weathered the Blitz unscathed, earning her keep in Miss Chapman's grocery shop. But with her sweetheart Bill away fighting and and her friends conscripted into the WRENs and WAAF, life has become tedious for Muriel. Then one day an old friend returns from a stint in the Land Army. She is rosy cheeked and looks healthier than ever, thanks to the outdoor work she has been doing on Northumberland's farms, and she comes with tales of dances with the troops stationed nearby and high jinks with her fellow Land Girls. Desperate for the chance to broaden her horizons, Muriel signs up to become a Land Girl. But getting back to the land is not all about making hay in the sunshine. Back-breaking work and rising before dawn are the least of their troubles when disagreements between town girls and locals arise, and their warden, Mrs Hubbard, is a hard-nosed slave-driver. Then Muriel meets Ernst, a German prisoner of war. And now Muriel has a choice to make. In fraternizing with the enemy, she breaks the law, but to never see Ernst again would break her heart.

    She struggles to fit in, her town ways a mystery to the country children.One day, fleeing school – and the cane – she takes refuge from a fierce snowstorm in the ruins of a stone cottage. Legend has it that World's End is haunted but Mirren has finally found somewhere she can call home and her love affair with this magical place begins.It's the place she falls in love with Jack, the place she secretly hopes will one day become their very own. But the Second World War arrives and everything is thrown into turmoil. Jack returns from leave a changed man – violent and uncaring, a cruel streak shining though.Mirren struggles to cope with the transformed Jack and new motherhood. Then tragedy strikes and history looks set to repeat itself. Is heartache here to stay or can Mirren find solace and inspiration in the only place she has ever felt truly safe?

    But soon the storm clouds of war engulf Europe and they suddenly find their idyllic family life thrown into chaos. Throughout the country young people hasten to join up, and Eileen watches anxiously as her two older girls do the same, one in the air force and one in the land army, while the youngest goes into a factory. With her family scattered and the war getting worse by the day, Eileen throws herself into the community, always on hand to help friends and neighbours when tragedy strikes, while savouring any rare moments of celebration.

    The foundation book of a series. Which I shall be reading as each one is written. Loved it.' - 5 star real reader reviewSunderland, 1940, and the women go to the shipyards to do their bit for the war effort.Polly never dreamed she would be able to work in the shipyards like the men in her family but times are tough and her new job ends up giving her more than she ever expected when she meets enigmatic dock diver Tommy Watts.During the day, head welder Rosie teaches her fledgling flock of trainees their new trade, but at night she hides a secret life.And mother hen Gloria signs up to escape her brutal husband, but finds she cannot run from her problems.The Shipyard Girls start off as strangers - but end up forging an unbreakable bond of friendship in the most difficult times.

    Taking one last look around her little room in Covent Garden, Nettie Carroll couldn’t believe she wouldn’t even be able to say goodbye to her friends. Her father had trusted the wrong man, and now they would have to go on the run. Once again.

    Instead, she applies for a job at the London Herald, where she meets the handsome editor Stephen Clayton.Nine years her senior, she knows her family won’t approve. She is helplessly drawn to him, and despite a past he won’t talk about, he is undeniably attracted to her. But as the war rages on, will Stephen be forced to enlist, and can their union survive the consequences?

    

    Her restaurant has become so popular that she simply can't find enough food to keep up with the demand for meals.With the help of twelve-year-old Robbie, a street urchin, and Janek, a Polish refugee dreaming of returning to his native land, she evades threats of closure from the Ministry. But breaking the rules is not the only thing she has to worry about. . . as Maggie fights to keep her beloved Kitchen open, she discovers that some secrets have the power to change everything.

    A Lincolnshire village on a glorious summer's morning in 1940, the countryside as still as a painting. In the blue sky above, the fate of the whole war will soon rest with the RAF and their desperate effort to win the Battle of Britain. If they fail, Hitler's next step will be invasion. And as the scene comes to life before us over the next six months, this shadow of war will not disappear - the conflict will take husbands and sons away, bring in evacuees from the city and soldiers to defend the coast. There will be more money from war work, but less to spend it on - legitimately at least. Everywhere, the feeling of change is in the air. From the pub to the church, the humblest cottage to the biggest farm, from a struggling single mother to the lady of the manor, the paper boy to a traumatised bomb disposal volunteer, this superb jewel of a novel portrays a community of people and weaves together their stories with passion, betrayal, intrigue and suspense.

    Hitler's war machine has decimated the Allies and the people of Europe must now learn the terror of living under the Third Reich.For Gabrielle Conti, a young French girl working at her family's winery, such news seemed incredibly distant and abstract. Surely these events wouldn't impact her simple life in the French countryside?That was before the body of an SS officer was found in the basement.When her family becomes the subject of a brutal murder investigation, Gabrielle must match wits with SS Captain Hans Tiedemann, a veteran of the Russian Front who is hell-bent on singling out the killer. Gabrielle bets that if she can fool Tiedemann into thinking he is making progress, she just might buy enough time for her family to escape.But that will be no easy task. For as the Germans gather their clues, Gabrielle starts to learn more about her family's true involvement in the war--and saving them could spell the end of the French Resistance.

    All she knows are the sights and sounds of London's East End - but Sally swallows her tears as they leave the familiar landmarks behind, knowing that she has to be a Grown-Up Girl and play mother to her six-year-old brother Ernie. Playing mother is nothing new for Sally - their real mother Florrie, a good-time girl, hasn't even come to the station to wave them off and Ernie, crippled at an early age by polio, is used to depending on his older sister. When they arrive in Cliffehaven, they're taken to live at the Beach View Boarding House where they're welcomed by the open-hearted Reilly family headed up by warm, loving Peggy, and life begins to improve. Sally gets a job in a uniforms factory to help pay her way - and to pay for Ernie's expensive medicines - but then Florrie arrives in Cliffehaven, bringing disaster with her. And Sally is forced to work out where her true loyalties lie ...