Book picks similar to
The Land Girls by Annie Wilkinson
fiction
historical-fiction
genre-romance
age-wee-kids-britain
We'll Meet Again
Lily Baxter - 2011
Here Meg meets charismatic German undergraduate Rayner Weiss and the couple fall passionately in love. But all too soon, Britain is at war with German y, Guernsey has been occupied and Meg's family home requisitioned by the German army.Meg insists on remaining with her father, determined to help save her beloved island from the ravages of war. And then she finds herself face to face with Rayner - now a German officer - once more and her life is thrown into turmoil as they risk their lives to meet in secret . As the conflict in Europe intensifies, basic provisions become scarce and soon the people Meg loves come under threat. Torn between her love for Rayner and her duty to her family and the island she grew up on, a heartbroken Meg has a terrible choice to make...
The Woman Who Left
Josephine Cox - 2001
Living and working with Ben's father, Ronnie, they are quietly contented. But when Ronnie dies, their whole world changes. Ben's lazy brother, Jacob, returns, convinced he stands to inherit Ronnie's small fortune. And he means to have his brother's wife; though just as she did years before, Louise warns him off. Jacob, however, is not so easily dismissed. When he realises Ben will inherit everything, Jacob is beside himself with rage, and commits a terrible deed, one that threatens to destroy everything his brother and Louise hold dear...
Muddy Boots and Silk Stockings
Julia Stoneham - 2008
The country is at war With so many men away fighting, it is the women left behind who must keep the country going, and when Alice Todd is abandoned by her husband, she must find a means to provide for herself and her young son. She is offered the job of looking after the group of land girls at Lower Post Stone Farm and soon discovers they each have a story - and some have secrets they'd rather not reveal. The harsh times of war are tempered by the Saturday evening dances in the local hall, but as the hostilities continue, it is clear to Alice that there is more tragedy to follow closer to home. Muddy Boots and Silk Stockings is the evocative and compelling story of the sacrifices made during wartime and the indomitable spirit of those left behind, from a writer of the much-loved drama series The House of Eliot.
Pocketful of Dreams
Jean Fullerton - 2017
But things don't seem so rosy when rationing, evacuation and air-raids start to put this larger-than-life family to the test.When a mysterious young man arrives at the Brogans' local parish church, he provides just the dazzling distraction they need - and for eldest daughter Mattie, the promise of more than she'd ever wished for. But as the pair fall deeper in love, they are drawn into secret dangers, rife on the very London streets they call home.As the young couple race to protect the East End as they know it, can their dreams survive the darkening backdrop of war-time...?
Until We Meet Again
Rosemary Goodacre - 2019
An office worker, she lives at home, along with her parents and spirited younger brother, Bertie. But her life is transformed when she meets handsome young man, Edmond Derwent, son of one of the wealthiest families in the small town of Larchbury, and student at Cambridge University.The couple are falling deeply in love when war breaks out and, eager to do his duty for England, Edmond signs up as an officer. The couple plan to be wed, eager to start a new life together - but their happiness is short-lived when Edmond is sent to Flanders to lead his men into battle. Amy trains as a VAD nurse and is soon sent to France, where she sees the true horror of war inflicted on the brave young men sent to fight.Separated by war, Edmond and Amy share their feelings through emotional letters sent from the front line. But when Edmond is critically wounded at Ypres, their love faces the biggest test of all – can their love stay strong while the world around them is crumbling?A romantic, emotional saga set in WW1 – readers of Rosie Goodwin, Katie Flynn and Val Wood will be captivated by this story of love.
Martha's Girls
Alrene Hughes - 2012
She is torn between Sean O’Hara – wanted by the police for something he didn’t do – and RAF radio engineer Sandy, serving in India.Pat is sensitive and thoughtful, and dreams of life beyond the Ulster Linen Works. When she is introduced to a dashing tenor, the possibility of a new life seems ever more real . . .Peggy, hot-headed and glamorous, loves her job in Mr Goldstein’s music shop on Royal Avenue, where she catches the eye of a Humphrey Bogart lookalike, but he isn’t all he appears . . .Sheila, the youngest, wants to stay on at school, but her family desperately need another wage. Above all, she longs to be treated like a grown up.Although they lead very different lives, the sisters share a passion for singing and when they are asked to join a new troupe of entertainers, Martha fears this will put them in temptation’s way. Can she hold her family together and keep her girls safe, even when the bombs begin to fall? The Golden Sisters, the fabulous sequel to Martha's Girls, is out now!
The Uncertain Years
Beryl Matthews - 2010
Tomboyish Becky plans to join the ATS, her neighbours Bob and Jim the navy and army respectively. Only Becky's brother Will is left out of the excitement; because of a slight physical disability, he is forced to stay behind. As the friends are separated, their youthful enthusiasm is tempered by the grim newspaper headlines and their own experiences, and they will feel both joy and pain before the war is over.
A Piece of Blue String
Lee Strauss - 2013
A slightly different perspective than many world war two novels.
Jessie's Promise
Rosie Clarke - 2017
DEVON 1918. When Jessie Hale loses her nursing job at the end of the First World War, she leaves London to become the nurse maid to the Kendle family in Devon. On arrival she finds the family in disarray. Captain Kendle is a loving father but is traumatised by the war and kept at arm's length by his frosty wife. When their elderly Nanny suffers a bad fall, Jessie has to try to bring the household together. Gradually Jessie finds her place in their lives, becoming devoted to Captain Kendle's lively son Jack, his lovely, but quiet daughter Catherine, as well his invalid Mother. Jessie soon starts to love her life at Kendlebury Hall, but problems arise when her feelings for her employer start to change... What people are saying about JESSIE'S PROMISE: 'A beautiful story very well written' 'I quickly got drawn into this book, the description made me realise how tough life in service was' 'Jessie's Promise is a book that HAS to be devoured this year'
Unshed Tears
Edith Hofmann - 2012
It has only very recently been published. Although it has been written as a novel, it details events, which were all too tragically true.Edith Hofmann is a survivor of the Holocaust, born in Prague in 1927 as Edith Birkin. In 1941, along with her parents, she was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, where within a year both her parents had died. At 15 she was left to fend forherself.The Lodz Ghetto was the second-largest ghetto to Warsaw, and was established for Jews and Gypsies in German-occupied Poland. Situated in the town of Lodz in Poland and originally intended as a temporary gathering point for Jews, the ghetto was transformed into a major industrial centre, providing much needed supplies for Nazi Germany and especially for the German Army.Because of its remarkable productivity, the ghetto managed to survive until August 1944, when the remaining population, including Edith, was transported to Auschwitz and Chelmno extermination camp in cattle trucks. It was the last ghetto in Poland to be liquidated due to the advancing Russian army. Edith was only 17, and one of the lucky ones.For the majority, it was their final journey. A small group of them were selected for work. With her hair shaved off and deprived of all her possessions, she travelled to Kristianstadt, a labour camp in Silesia, to work in an underground munitions factory.
As Time Goes By
Harry Bowling - 1998
They've raised their family with not much money but lots of love. When World War Two breaks out they know that nothing will be quite the same again. As the Blitz starts to take its toll and the close-knit community in Carter Lane endures the sorrows and partings which they had dreaded above all else, they find comfort in one another and solace in the knowledge that their wounds will eventually heal - as time goes by. AS TIME GOES BY by is a vivid portrayal of an East End community struggling to survive the horror of the Blitz.
Once Upon a Marquess
Courtney Milan - 2015
But when a tricky business matter arises, he’s the only one she can ask for help. With any luck, he’ll engage a servant to take care of the matter, and she won’t even have to talk with him.But Ashford has never forgotten Judith. He knows she will never forgive him for what he’s done, but when offered the chance to assist her, he arrives in person. His memory of Judith may have haunted him, but it pales in comparison to the reality of the vivacious, beautiful woman he rediscovers. Throughout his life, he has always done what is correct. But now, he finds himself doing something utterly wrong…falling in love with the one woman he can never have.
Claws of Steel (S.S. Wotan Dogs of War Series)
Leo Kessler - 1974
They had taken the most impregnable fortress in Europe, faced Stalin's cadets in the screaming inferno of the Russian front, and returned with only a handful of survivors. They were Hitler's elite, dedicated, relentless men, for whom death held no fear, Assault Regiment Wotan. Their next mission was a lightening blow at Kursk in the very heart of Soviet Russia. As they advanced across the burning steppes after the fall of Stalingrad, the men of Wotan found the bodies of German soldiers, hanged, tortured, and mutilated, and they swore they would not leave Russian soil until they had taken their revenge.
A Splendid Little War
Derek Robinson - 2012
Not for long. By 1919, White Russians were fighting the Bolsheviks (Reds) for control of their country, and Winston Churchill (then Minister for War) wanted to see Communism 'strangled in its cradle'. So a volunteer R.A.F. squadron, flying Sopwith Camels and DH9 bombers, went there to duff up the Reds. 'There's a splendid little war going on,' a British staff officer told them. 'You'll like it.' Looked like fun. But the war was neither splendid nor little. It was big and it was brutal, a grim conflict of attrition, marked by cruelty, betrayal and corruption. Before it ended, the squadron wished that both sides would lose. If that was a joke, nobody was laughing. "A Splendid Little War" tests the pilots' gallows humour in a world of armoured trains and elegant barons, gruesome religious sects and anarchist guerrillas, unreliable allies and pitiless enemies. The comedy of this war, if it exists, is very bleak. Derek Robinson is at once our finest living comic novelist and a master of military fiction. Biggles was never like this.
Battle Stations: A heart-stoppingly realistic military thriller
Roger Jewett - 1988