Book picks similar to
The Mersey Girls by Katie Flynn


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historical-fiction
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The Ribbon Weaver


Rosie Goodwin - 2010
    A wealthy family's tragic secret. A girl determined to make her mark.One winter's night, Molly Earnshaw rescues a newborn baby from the snow and changes two families for ever. The tiny girl grows into a beautiful and gifted young woman. Although devoted to Molly, who she believes is her grandmother, Amy has far-reaching ambitions - encouraged by her neighbour's son, Toby, she longs to move beyond ribbon-weaving to designing the hats and clothes the ribbons adorn. Her talent is recognised by Matthew Forrester, the influential owner of famous hat factories and shops. But Matthew is a haunted man with secrets in his past that torture him and his family. His son's wife, Victoria, is deeply troubled, and when Amy's flair leads her to London and then Paris, Victoria is consumed with jealousy. Amy's dreams seem to be coming true, but as more secrets are revealed and Amy is caught between two worlds, she must choose where her heart truly belongs.

The Other Side of Happiness


Pamela Evans - 2011
    

Izzy's War


Isla Dewar - 2010
    It came when she was flying. She thought she could write a book about the things she'd seen from above - herds of deer, hundreds of them, rippling across hilltops, houses...people small as matchstick men. Once, she'd seen a couple entangled in their own not-as-private-as-they-thought rapture on a sun-soaked moor. She was addicted to the air. 'Vicar's daughter Izzy feels hugely guilty that she's having a very good war. Having learned to fly in a travelling circus before the war, she's now joined the Air Transport Auxiliary as one of their few female pilots and is having the time of her life. The only cloud on the horizon is having to lie to her father about her exact role in the ATA. Her father is against the whole notion of women flying - he certainly wouldn't approve of her becoming a 'spitfire girl'.Izzy also feels distinctly out of place among the more upper class ladies of the ATA. She would love to be as worldly as her flighty housemate, Julia, or as sophisticated as society wife Clare. But when Izzy finds herself falling for the charms of a dashing American doctor it is to Julia and Clare that she turns for help...

The Doorstep Girls


Valerie Wood - 2002
    Friends since early childhood, they have supported each other in bad times and good. But their families are bound together by more than friendship, and secrets from the past threaten to make their lives even more difficult. The local cotton mill has provided work for Ruby and Grace since they were nine years old, and now years later both girls find themselves the object of attention from the mill owner's sons. As times grow harder, and money ever scarcer, Grace becomes involved in campaigns against poverty and injustice, while Ruby is tempted into prostitution. The two girls are searching for something that could take them far away . . . But what price will they pay to find it?If you like books by Katie Flynn and Dilly Court, you'll love Val's heartwarming stories of triumph over adversity.

Succession


Steven Veerapen - 2020
    She has yet to nominate an heir.The crown looks set to fall to James of Scotland.But it is far from inevitable.Gowrie, a sinister Scottish traitor, has arrived in England. On him is a document containing a shocking secret that will compromise King James.Languishing in prison, artful thief Ned Savage is freed by his patron, the queen’s principal secretary, Sir Robert Cecil. His mission is to find the document before it can be made public. If he succeeds, his life will be spared.But he is not alone in seeking Gowrie.On his trail are a ruthless gang of conspirators. The Red Cross Plot aims to prevent any foreigner from taking the English throne. And the Knights of the Red Cross will kill to secure the document.In a journey that will take him from London to Derbyshire and Scotland, Savage must foil the Red Cross Plot, protect King James’s darkest secret, and keep himself safe from execution.And he must do it all before the curtain falls on Elizabeth’s reign.

The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal


Emily Hourican - 2021
    

Distant Images


Audrey Howard - 2004
    Only those who know them best realize that Milly's dark brown eyes hide a wild, untamed wantonness, while Beth's silvery-grey ones betray her idealism and kindness.But the only man in the room either of them wants is the one who could destroy both their lives. Hugh, sixteenth Lord Thornley, is a rake who needs to marry an heiress to restore the fortune his father gambled away. Even a lowly daughter of a glass manufacturer will do - provided she is biddable and strong and willing to bear the son he needs. Beth, he decides, will make him the perfect wife. But it is Milly who traps him into a loveless marriage - and sets in motion a chain of events that could destroy everything they hold dear.

Grace and Mary


Melvyn Bragg - 2013
    Hoping to shore up her memory, he prompts her with songs, photographs and questions about the 1940s, when she was a young woman and he a child in a small Cumbrian town. But he finds that most of all it is her own mother she longs for - Grace, the mother she barely knew. John sets out to recreate their buried family history, delving into the secrets and silences of Mary's fractured childhood as he imagines the life of her spirited mother. Reaching from the late 19th century to the present, this becomes a deeply moving, reflective elegy on three generations linked by a chain of love, loss, and courage.

Polsinney Harbour: A heartwarming family saga set in Victorian era Cornwall


Mary E. Pearce - 1983
    A heartwarming family saga set in Victorian era Cornwall. When Maggie arrives in Polsinney Harbour she finds work on Rachel Tallack's farm, where Rachel's fisherman son, Brice, starts to take an interest in the young woman. Maggie's hopes for the future are dashed when Rachel discovers her well-kept secret. Faced with disapproval from her neighbours, and Brice, Maggie finds herself all alone once more. But then a proposal that could solve all of her problems comes from a very unexpected source. Can Maggie find love and acceptance in Polsinney Harbour, and will the dangers of a cruel sea threaten her lasting happiness? A heartwarming and gripping tale of courage and love in Victorian times, from the bestselling author of the much-loved Apple Tree Saga and Cast a Long Shadow.

The Doorstep Child


Annie Murray - 2017
    . . Evie spent her early years left outside on the step. With a drunk for a father and a neglectful mother, all little Evie has ever craved is a safe home and a normal existence. Her young eyes had seen so much but this never tainted her spirit. If it wasn't for her best friend Gary, and friendly dog called Whisky - Evie might never have made it to the sixteenth birthday.At sixteen she meets Ken, a sweet brown-eyed boy, not much older than she is. Perhaps her fortunes have changed? But no sooner does she give over her heart, she is betrayed, not for the first time in her young life... Will Evie ever find the love and warmth she's always craved?

Storm of Arrows


Paul Bannister - 2019
    For fans of Bernard Cornwell and Michael Jecks.' Richard Foreman 1330. Edward III of England calls on Lancastrian baron and longbow archer Sir Thomas Holland to capture Roger Mortimer, the regent who usurped the young king’s throne and murdered his father. Holland and his bowmen next help butcher the Scots at Dupplin Moor and destroy the French fleet at Sluys. Yet the archer's greatest challenge is still to come. The Black Prince and Holland lead a great raid across Normandy. But not all goes according to plan. Two French armies pin the heavily-outnumbered English between the Seine and Somme. Their one hope of escape is to cross a dangerous ford. Thomas personally leads the vanguard and although he engineers the defeat of a waiting enemy force, there is still blood to be spilled. The archer and the Prince must still face a desperate battle against the might of France - at a village called Crecy. Recommended for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Michael Jecks and Robyn Young. The archer and the Prince must still face a desperate battle against the might of France - at a village called Crecy. Paul Bannister is a journalist and author. He has written for national newspapers in Britain and America, covering assignments in about 40 countries. His is also the author of the Forgotten Emperor and Crusader series.

Barbed Wire


Elmer Kelton - 1980
    And neither side takes prisoners!

The Street Orphans


Mary Wood - 2018
    When her father is killed in an accident and her family evicted from their cottage, she hopes to leave her old life behind, to start afresh in the Blackburn cotton mills. But tragedy strikes once again, setting in motion a chain of events that will unravel her family’s lives. Their fate is in the hands of the Earl of Harrogate, and his betrothed, Lady Katrina. But more sinister is the scheming Marcia, Lady Katrina’s jealous sister. Impossible dreams beset Ruth from the moment she meets the Earl. Dreams that lead her to hope that he will save her from the terrible fate that awaits those accused of witchcraft. Dreams that one day her destiny and the Earl’s will be entwined.

Trouble at the Redstone (Leisure Western)


John D. Nesbitt - 2008
    Will Dryden followed the trail of a missing man to the Redstone Ranch, where he will have to find the truth about three other murdered men.

The Muse


Jessie Burton - 2016
    . .On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .