Showing titles in 20th Century

The East End of London has been devastated by the Blitz and the people are struggling to come to terms with their ravaged city. Rationing bites ever deeper, and and everything that makes life better is in short supply. For the district nurses, the challenges are tougher than ever. Gladys loves her work in the Civil Nursing Reserve, but just when she needs to rely on her sister at home to help out with the chores, she turns into a handful of trouble. Edith is learning to cope with her boyfriend's injuries after Dunkirk but will she have to choose between her love for him and her career?

Liverpool, 1855. Ada Houston is alone. Her grandfather has recently passed away, and her brother is missing, last seen working on the Liverpool docks. Everyone assumes him to be dead. But she will not give up hope. Ada's determined search takes her to the Crimea, where she joins the team of Florence Nightingale's nurses. She may have set off looking for her brother, but along the way Ada finds friends, romance and a new purpose in her own life in the most troubling and difficult of places.

It's the final year of training for three young nurses at The Nightingale Hospital. Helen is at a crossroads in her life as she battles with her domineering mother over both her love life and her future career. Dora can't stop loving Nick, who is married to her best friend, Ruby. Millie is anxious about her fiancé, sent to Spain to cover the Civil War, and things only get worse when she encounters a fortune teller who gives her a sinister warning.

1943: the world is at war, and the villagers of Tyneham are being asked to make one more sacrifice: to give their homes over to the British army. But on the eve of their departure, a terrible act will cause three of them to disappear forever. 2018: Melissa had hoped a break on the coast of Dorset would rekindle her stagnant relationship, but despite the idyllic scenery, it’s pushing her and Liam to the brink.

From Tiffany Reisz, the international best-selling storyteller behind The Bourbon Thief and the Original Sinners series, comes an enthralling new novel about a woman swept away by the tides who awakens to find herself in 1921, reunited with the husband she's been mourning for four years. Fans of Kate Morton and Diana Gabaldon will fall in love with the mystery, romance, and beauty of an isolated South Carolina lighthouse where a power greater than love works its magic.

1942, Manchester. World War II is in full swing, and Lily Mullins is determined to do her bit for the war effort. Her friends and sweetheart have all joined up, and Lily's sure there must be a role for her that goes further than knitting socks for the troops! When she decides to volunteer for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Lily soon discovers that she has a talent as a wireless operator. Helped along the way by a special gang of girls, she finds strengths she didn't know she had and realises that the safety of the country might just be in her hands....

In the glittering aftermath of the Great War, Ralph Madgwick and Keppel Howland have fled the disillusionment of post-war England for the wild promise of Southern Rhodesia. Their quest for fortune in the African bush has yielded nothing but dust and disappointment—until a chance encounter changes everything… When the legendary flying ace Harry Brigandshaw spots their campfire from his biplane and invites them to his sprawling estate, Elephant Walk, the two friends find themselves thrust into a world of colonial wealth, power, and dangerous temptation.

When the war finally ended in May 1945, Lieutenant Danny McClain made good on his promise to come back for Anya in Holland. He expected her to put up a fight but instead found her exhausted and utterly broken. Maybe it was unfair, asking her to marry him when she was so vulnerable. But this much he knew: He would spend a lifetime helping to make her whole again. The war had taken everything from Anya - her family, her friends, her home, her faith. She clung to the walls she'd fortressed around her heart, but what future did she have apart from Danny?

As death and destruction fall from the skies day after day in the London Blitz, Australian ambulance driver Lily Brennan confronts the horror with bravery, intelligence, common sense and humour. Although she must rely upon her colleagues to carry out her dangerous duties, Lily begins to suspect that someone at her ambulance station may be giving assistance to the enemy by disclosing secret information.

Spring, 1941. The families of Jubilee Row are still reeling from the loss of one of their own, and as the Blitz on Hull intensifies, it seems as if there will be more tragedies to come. As the street braces itself, capable mum Ruby Maguire takes charge as usual, bolstering spirits and lending a hand, as well as keeping her flighty sister Pearl on the straight and narrow. But the unexpected appearance of a face from her past threatens Ruby's future far more than Hitler's bombs. Meanwhile, the other inhabitants of Jubilee Row are finding love - and hope - in the most unexpected places.

In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam war, nurse Rowie Leonard is serving a 12-month tour of duty. She supports the war and is committed to caring for wounded New Zealand and Australian troops. After a few months, however, she realises that nothing at all about the conflict is as clear-cut as she'd assumed.

The war continues to rage, but for now, Harbour House continues to keep the Roby family safe from harm. Not so for new lodger Richard Stoneleigh. As one of the few men who can captain a ship, Richard is called to help with the dangerous evacuation of troops from Dunkirk – it’s a perilous voyage that almost costs Richard his life…

Rising singer-songwriters Jane Quinn and Jesse Reid looked untouchable. Captivating crowds in festival meadows, lighting up turntables, intoxicating fans from coast to coast. It was a connection that inspired the greatest love songs. But nothing lasts forever. Beneath the hits that made them, a dark secret threatened to break them. Now it’s time to hear the whole story, finally revealed in Jane’s iconic album, Songs in Ursa Major....

Scotland, 1940: War rages across Europe, but Invermoray House is at peace - until the night of Constance’s 21st birthday, when she’s the only person to see a Spitfire crash into the loch. Rescuing the pilot and vowing to keep him hidden, Constance finds herself torn between duty to her family and keeping a promise that could cost her everything. 2020: Kate arrives in the Highlands to turn Invermoray into a luxury B&B, only to find that the estate is more troubled than she’d imagined.

1938: Divya has made the long sea journey from India to England, employed as a nanny by a British family. But once they arrive, she is cruelly abandoned, with no means to return home. Afraid and alone, she faces prejudice and rejection… until she finds her way to an Irish-run boarding house on West India Dock Road and meets Jack, Charity and a host of unexpected friends.

A sweeping, multigenerational saga for fans of Downton Abbey, set around the stately home of Cavendon Hall as the roaring '20s change the family's fortunes forever. It's 1926. One stately home's future lies with four very different young women.... On a summer weekend in 1926, the Ingham family gathers at Cavendon Hall, the great house in Yorkshire that has been their family home for centuries, summoned by the earl.

Wild-spirited Effie Gillies has lived all her life on the small island of St Kilda but when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time—until a storm hits and her world falls apart. Three months later, St Kilda falls silent as the islanders are evacuated for a better life on the mainland. With her friends and family scattered, Effie is surprised to be offered a position working on the Earl’s estate.

Marion Crawford is just 22 years old when she becomes governess to the little Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose in 1931. As their beloved 'Crawfie', she is instantly confided in, trusted and immersed in the lives of the royal family. As World War II finally comes to an end, it's clear that Princess Elizabeth has fallen in love. Now heiress presumptive to the British throne, no one believes that Prince Philip of Greece is a suitable husband for the future queen of England. No one, that is, except for Crawfie.

Liverpool, 1937. Jessica is married to Bertie, a mean, patronising man who she has stayed with purely for the sake of her two young children. To make up for the love and passion that is missing from her life, she spends the occasional afternoon at the local cinema, lost in romantic films. But when an unexpected glass of champagne is offered to her in a Liverpool hotel, the consequences turn out to be shattering. When Bertie discovers his wife's deceit, he is ruthless in his revenge. He sells their house and disappears....

Liverpool, 1955. With her abusive husband drinking all her wages, Alice faces a daily struggle to provide for her family. Her eldest daughter, Cathy, has always longed to be a nurse, but when poverty means she’s forced to leave school and get a job it looks like her dreams are over. But Cathy isn’t willing to give up, and with the support of old friend - and new love - Gianni, she manages to secure a place as a cadet nurse. Now, though, her mam must stand up to her violent husband alone - and with less money coming in, Alice will be in danger of losing everything.