That's what the locals are saying about Llandegwen, deep in the Welsh valleys. The village choir, once a source of pride for the small mining community, has been forced to disband; the elderly choirmaster heartbroken by the empty seats belonging to those who'll never return from the battlefields. The arrival of a young war widow from the East End with her little boy sets tongues wagging, not least when rumours abound that she's looking to revive the choir. Can the community set aside their grief and lift their voices, and the village's hopes, once more?

    Though Isa finds satisfaction in domestic service for an aristocratic family in London, when her father returns home from the First World War paralysed and suffering memory loss, she must return home to take care of her family once more.Yet there is only so much Isa can endure over the years, and discovering her husband’s affair is the final straw. Believing she has failed as a sister, a daughter, a wife and a mother, she makes an irrevocable decision… but will she realise in time that her troubled past can also give her the strength to carry on?A tale of family tragedy and the struggle to let go of the past, Her Sister’s Gift is a heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting debut from Sunday Mail Fiction Prize runner-up Isabel Jackson.

    He is the enemy.Stewart hatches a plan to destroy the evidence against him, but what he finds inside those files, is evidence of a vile paedophile ring operating under McCauley’s nose.Now three people are dead and Dave Stewart is the prime suspect.

    When Hitler declared his intention to obliterate the key city of Leningrad on 22 September 1941, he could not have foreseen the grim determination of its citizens. Over the course of 900 days, the city resisted the Germans pounding at its gates. Its survival contributed to the defeat of Nazism. But the price was heavy – over 1 million died in Leningrad from German bombs and artillery, or from disease, the cold or starvation.In its suffering Leningrad became a source of symbolic national pride, of good conquering evil. The story of the siege is one of heroic resistance and stoical survival but it also one of unimaginable suffering and extreme deprivation. THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD: HISTORY IN AN HOUR is essential reading for all history lovers.Know your stuff: read about the Siege of Leningrad in just one hour.

    Pregnant by her gangster lover, she found herself on the streets and then in the grips of a bent copper called Donny Maguire.When her daughter Angel is born, Dora is already under the influence of drink and drugs, and handed around to Donny’s mates. Growing up in the shadow of her mother’s abusive relationship, Angel is nothing like her mother, but when matters turn murderous, Angel is forced to grow up fast and survival becomes the name of the game.For some, being on the wrong side of the law is the safest place to be . . .No one uncovers the underworld like Jessie Keane.

    Indeed, many view this historic win as a culmination of the sacrifice and courage of the Civil Rights movement - and even more people view President-Elect Barack Obama's win as a signal that America is indeed ready for a new direction and a new era. In Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, President-Elect Barack Obama gave his victory speech to an estimated crowd of 65,000 people - and tens of millions of people around the world watched the moment unfold on their television and computer screens, or listened to this monumental moment on the radio. This is the entire speech, including the interjections of the crowd screaming "Yes we can!". This speech is already in the history books, and you can read this anytime you need a stroke of hope or inspiration. This will make a great addition to any book collection.

    Estranged from her husband Dan, who suffered from two strokes triggered during the Blitz, she finds comfort in living closer to her remaining sister, Nellie, and a cast of new neighbours. But they too have problems of their own: Vera Corcoran fears for her life at the hands of an abusive husband and Olga Konstantinov fled Russia to seek a new life in Britain. But even though the bombs have stopped falling, tremors still rock the family when Alice's reviled mother is kicked out of Nellie's home and seeks vengeance. Despised by her daughters, Elsie Stewart was a cruel mother and forced their father to an early grave. Alice is desperate to start a family of her own and be a much better example to her own children. But will this be with the man she's married to? And when visions from the past resurface, she soon uncovers a dark secret that her mother has kept hidden for so long . . .

    After some school bullies trick the naive boy into getting lost in a forbidden, dank, dark cave, he thinks all hope is lost. Luckily, he has run into Alex, an independent and brave, equally plucky classmate who is ready to lend a hand.The new duo explores the dangerous cave, running into spiders, skeletons – even zombies along the way! As Steve slowly builds confidence maneuvering the depths of the cave, it seems like the team might be on their way out...that is, until a chance meeting with Freddy, a member of the gang of bullies, throws a wrench into their plans…Will Steve and Alex be able to make it out of the cave intact, or has Steve's luck begun to run out? Read Forbidden Cave to find out!A heartwarming tale of newfound courage in the face of adversity, The Forbidden Cave will have any fan of Minecraft rooting for the heroes from beginning until the end, a perfect holiday pick for your child.Disclaimer: This book is a work of fanfiction; it is not an official Minecraft book. It is not endorsed, authorized, licensed, sponsored, or supported by Mojang AB, Microsoft Corp. or any other entity owning or controlling rights to the Minecraft name, trademarks or copyrights.

    We had taken off in peace at nine-thirty and landed in war at noon.'Jackie Moggridge was just nineteen when World War Two broke out. Determined to do her bit, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. Ferrying aircraft from factory to frontline was dangerous work, but there was also fun, friendship and even love in the air. At last the world was opening up to women... or at least it seemed to be.From her first flight at fifteen to smuggling Spitfires into Burma, Jackie describes the trials and tribulations, successes and frustrations of her life in the sky. [Publisher's Description]

    

    They are supposed to bring her back before school starts in the fall. They don't. They can't. It's Autumn of 1939; Hitler's Blitzkrieg is in motion. Europe is at war! Sylvia is going to have to wait a lifetime. A US citizen, she will become an Enemy Alien when America enters WWII. Through the duration she lives with another aunt, a nun in a convent, has to go to German schools in the Rhineland then run east to Bavaria where her uncle is drafted into the German Army. Alone with Betty and her two babies she must survive the Allied invasion, her only hope of rescue. Her mother, deserted by her husband will go years without any knowledge of her only child. Everyone is waiting and wants to know, "Where's Sylvia?".

     The most talented voice since Dilly Court - an absorbing, thrilling and romantic historical saga with characters you'll fall in love with. Ellen O'Casey, an Irish Catholic immigrant, is struggling to support her ailing mother, her teenage daughter and herself. Washing other people's laundry in the day, and singing in bawdy pubs at night, Ellen is determined to make a better life for her family by saving enough for the passage to New York where the rest of her extended family have already emigrated. But Danny Donovan, a local gangster and the landlord of the pubs where Ellen sings, intends to make her his mistress. A widow in her late 20s, Ellen has refused to let another man in her life, least of all the brutish Danny, whose advances she doggedly resists. But when Ellen catches the eye of the new doctor in town, Robert Munroe, an intense rivalry is formed between the doctor and Danny. For not only are Robert's feelings for Ellen reciprocated, but the ambitious doctor also intends to investigate the appalling living conditions of the local community and Danny's own hand in it. But as Ellen and Robert become closer and aim to bring an end to Danny's reign of terror, their own chance at happiness seems suddenly to be at stake...