Book picks similar to
The Wayward Tide by Alison McLeay
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I'll Be Seeing You
Rosie Archer - 2021
Three women become friends when working in their local picture house. When life is so tough for everyone, a trip to the pictures is the perfect way to escape, to dream of romance and hope for the good things peace will bring.It is 1943 on England's war-weary south coast where the conflict seems never-ending. After the heartache of the previous year, Connie Baxter now appears to have everything a girl could want. There is Ace, a man who loves her. She enjoys an enviable lifestyle despite the deprivations of war. She has friends and a job she adores as an usherette at the Criterion cinema. But appearances can be deceptive and Connie is struggling in more ways than one.Then, to compound Connie's problem, her nemesis, Cousin Marlene, returns home. Secrets come to light, revealing jealousies that could shatter Connie's world once more, and Connie realizes that Ace isn't the man she thought he was.In the darkest days of war, the glamour of movies and their stars can lift the bleakest of moods, while friends make the good times better and the bad times bearable.
The Orphan Dancer's Desperation
Nell Harte - 2020
Struggling to survive, Genevieve dances on the street for coins saving every coin she can to bring the family home.Frail and earning barely enough to stay alive, a fortuitous meeting brings Genevieve to the Mowbray’s Music Hall. Now with more earnings and regular employment, Genevieve puts her plan into action to deliver her siblings from the workhouse, yet soon discovers a jealous and bitter enemy set on her ruin. Now alone and fighting for her life, Genevieve is evicted from her humble home for a wrong she never committed and thrown onto the streets.Guy Chambers, a handsome and kind violinist, suspects Genevieve has seen more trouble in her life than she reveals. Careful never to frighten her, he gradually gains her trust and a fledgling love begins to bloom. When Genevieve disappears without a word, Guy is desperate to find her, and searches the streets and alleyways, but what he discovers brings him to the brink of despair.Will Genevieve be able to survive and bring her family home? Will Guy find her in time to save her? Or is all hope lost for their love, her family, and a future together?If you enjoy clean historical romance, you will love Nell Harte books.
Every Mother's Fear
Joanna Warrington - 2017
PERFECT FOR FANS OF 'CALL THE MIDWIFE', Jodi Picoult, Katie Flynn, Nadine Dorries & Rosie Goodwin it's about TWO WOMEN CAUGHT UP IN A PHARMACEUTICAL DISASTER . . Sandy an aspiring model has a one-night stand with a journalist that results in pregnancy. Shunned by her family, she quietly checks herself into a maternity home to wait out her pregnancy and prepare to have the baby adopted. Rona and her husband have been trying for a baby for years, but Rona is unable to conceive. When Sandy delivers a child disabled by thalidomide, Rona commits a terrible crime and makes a life-changing decision that will have dramatic consequences.Meanwhile, Sandy’s journalist lover stumbles upon the scoop of a century. As he investigates corruption entrenched in the company that developed thalidomide, he is surprised to reconnect with Sandy. He and Sandy feel drawn to each other, but both will have to confront old wounds if they want to be together. An interesting slice of social history which will stir every emotion within you.
Hidden in the Heart
Beth Andrews - 2006
High-spirited Lydia expects a very dull visit, but her sojourn to the village of Diddlington is not as idyllic as she anticipates . . .A charred and bludgeoned corpse is found in the woods, and suspicion falls on Lydia’s aunt’s suitor, an intriguing Frenchman. Convinced of his innocence, Lydia enlists the help of her new friend, John Savidge, to catch the real killer. But before their dangerous adventure ends there will be more than one unexpected discovery.
Along the Endless River
Rose Alexander - 2021
But when Anselmo dies suddenly on the treacherous waters of the Amazon, a pregnant Katharine must decide whether or not to continue her husband’s dream, alone.Meanwhile her sister Mabel is struggling to support their family back in London. Navigating new worlds in the upper class, she discovers that life as a housemaid has its own dangers, and Mabel soon learns that the whims of men can prove deadly…Mabel and Katharine must both fight for their futures if they are ever to be reunited. Can they find love and happiness along the way?A stunning saga of love, betrayal, secrets and family for fans of Dinah Jefferies, Erica Brown and Renita D'Silva.
Luck Be A Lady
Anna King - 2017
Her peaceful childhood in Kent is devastated when her parents and younger brothers are taken by smallpox. When her cousin Richard offers to take her in, it seems an offer too tempting to refuse. But Richard’s bedridden sister is in need of constant attention, and when Rebecca moves into Richard’s house in London’s East End, Richard moves out. Luck, it seems, has been anything but a lady. And when Rebecca is attacked while out shopping, it seems that fate is far from finished with her. Then Rebecca is rescued by Jimmy Jackson, an East End bookie with deep brown eyes and rugged good looks. And as she gets to know him, she realises she has found that rarest of men: one who is as kind as he is attractive…
For readers of Katie Flynn, Annie Groves, and Rosie Goodwin, Luck Be A Lady is a heartwarming East End saga.
Tomorrow, Jerusalem (Rachel Patten Dramas Book 1)
Teresa Crane - 1989
Yet these events will affect her as profoundly as she is to affect those close to her: Toby, the urchin she rescues from starvation; Philippa Van Damme, who shows her a world she had never dreamed of; and the Patten family, stimulating and eccentric, whose orphanage becomes her first real home, and whose social revolution she will find herself reluctantly involved in...From the squalor of the East End slums to the devastation of the Flanders Fields, Tomorrow, Jerusalem is a stirring evocation of a lost generation, and the passionate tale of one woman’s fight against all odds. Perfect for fans of Santa Montefiore, Lucinda Riley and Kate Morton.
A Courtesan Countess Worth the Scandal
Ava MacAdams - 2021
When her family is threatened, she does the one thing she can to protect them: publishes a book exposing them all.After his disaster of a marriage, Liam Westwood, the Earl of Keswick, made a sacred pact: never fall in love again. Having spent his years abroad, he never expected to meet a vixen that would test his sanity and haunt his nights upon his return.With the Ton’s most scandalous secrets hiding between the pages of her book, Nora has no shortage of people who wish to see her suffer. And some are determined to see her ruined. When the manuscript falls in Liam’s hands, his feelings of betrayal are overshadowed by a single thing: a name that jumps out more than all the others put together. His.
Lyon in the Rough
Meara Platt - 2022
unusually. Welcome to the world of THE LYON'S DEN: The Black Widow of Whitehall Connected World, where the underground of Regency London thrives... and loves.Proud Scottish brothers, Cheyne, Matthew, and Lucas are known as the Lyons of Mar. Cheyne and Matthew have fallen in love and married their brides, will Lucas be next?Lucas Lyon thought he could escape the matchmaking schemes of his distant relation, Bessie Dove-Lyon, by waiting for the morning of his departure from London to visit her. But she is ready for him, and he leaves her Lyon’s Den to return to Edinburgh not only with the beautiful Beatrix MacGlory in tow, but her overly perfumed aunt and her aunt’s little yipping dog.Will he survive the ten day journey in a cramped carriage with those three? More important, will he keep his hands off Beatrix? He is falling in love with her, but she is returning to Edinburgh for an arranged betrothal to another man.
Since when has that stopped Lucas from claiming what he wants?
Secrets of the Heart
Gilda O'Neill - 2008
They hoped it would be over by Christmas...
Britain is at war and the proximity of the docks means that life in and around London's Turnbury Buildings is hard and dangerous. Chances are taken, people have secrets, hearts are broken. And feelings about foreigners are running high.
Sixteen-year-old Freddie Jarrett is secretly seeing a girl from the local Chinese community - a relationship that would be frowned on by both families, despite the fact that they all support the fight for freedom from oppression. And his sister Grace has her own secret to hide. A secret that no one outside the immediate family must ever know.
As the threat of the Luftwaffe looms over the docks, the community is threatened with being torn apart by prejudice, fear and separation, and the disturbing loss of stability that brings with it the feeling that it is only what happens today that counts for anything...
Christmas to Come
Carol Rivers - 2007
It’s December 1940 and the London Blitz has provided them with one essential; scraps of food they scavenge on the debris of bombed buildings. There’s no love and little for them to eat in the derelict dockside slum they once called home. This is a danger area and to Bella almost worse than the Luftwaffe’s nightly raids. Their mother is a drunkard and earns her meagre living on the streets, turning a blind eye to the abuse her boyfriend dolls out to her two unwanted and neglected children. It’s left to Bella to protect Terry, who has endured so many beatings he is mentally scarred. Bella has learned at a young age that life doesn’t play fair. Her hero is Micky Bryant, a good-looking, streetwise teenager, and the one person she truly trusts. And it’s to Micky that Bella turns in her desperation. But is Micky the kind benefactor Bella believes him to be and will her decision have serious consequences in the years ahead?
Two For Three Farthings
Mary Jane Staples - 1990
Slightly against his better judgement he took them in, fed them cocoa, and put them to sleep in his bed. A few days later he found that - somehow - he had become the unofficial guardian of Horace and Ethel. It was him, the orphanage, or separation for the gutsy little pair who would have to be farmed out to anyone who would take them, and Jim felt a sudden affinity for the two cheeky cockney kids. The first thing he had to do was find fresh lodgings for them all.Miss Rebecca Pilgrim was a woman of strict Victorian principles, eminently respectable, and determined to keep her privacy intact. She had reckoned without her new lodgers - Horace, Ethel and, above all, the irrepressible Jim Cooper. And thus began the humanizing of Miss Pilgrim, who turned out to be younger, prettier, and far gentler than any of them had suspected.
The Lord and The Red-Headed Hornet
G.L. Robinson - 2021
She's a bossy, fiery red-head. Her handsome brother wants to join the army and fight against Napoleon. But he's all she has and she wants him to become a diplomat instead. She gets a job with an aristocrat hoping he will provide the contacts. Needless to say, it doesn't work out exactly as any of them expects.