Days after her mother dies, Josie Knight makes a startling discovery among her personal effects. Secreted within the clutter of the London house she will soon have to sell, lies a yellowing envelope in the folds of a treasured rocking chair. A gift that was never sent, a relic of a doomed romance? Somehow Josie is sure it conceals a story.But there is no one left to tell it. Rumours surrounding her grandmothers transformation from American Southern belle to affluent English lady in...

It is 1968. Nine-year-old Lucy Butler, a lonely child, is the daughter of a GP in London's Kentish Town. When Lucy encounters the huge, boisterous Valentine family, from the big house up the road, she is instantly enthralled. Throughout that summer, she longs to be one of those eight children with their famous liberal parents, their streetwise confidence and wonderful freedom. How much it contracts with her onw, narrow-minded and over-protective family!Over the weeks, Lucy forges a...

London's Kentish Town in the Thirties and Forties teems with life in every street and alleyway. It is a place where everyone knows everyone else, where lives are interwoven in intricate webs and where feuds are passed down from generation to generation, 'Respectable' families live amicably alongside the poorest, the most unfortunate and most feckless, and loyalties for family and community are strong. While many families yearn to move away from the grimy streets to the fresher climes of Hi...

One of those apparently simple but unforgettable pieces of writing that just stay on and on in the memory.' - Rosie Thomas'So touching. This is as much Dally's story as John's, and her growing awareness of her own vulnerability and neediness, which she has disguised for years under the mask of the sturdy, capable big sister, is painfully honest.' - The Times'This surprisingly candid memoir...it's hard not to be moved by this tale...a poignant, no-frills record of life.' - M...

Timeless romance from the best-selling author of Tuppence to Cross the Mersey. With over 3 million copies sold around the world, Helen Forrester’s heart-warming and gripping fiction, set in post-war Liverpool and France, continues to move readers.Set in the aftermath of war, this is a tale of courage and endurance of ordinary people.A young Liverpool woman is widowed in the Second World War before she can know the happiness of having a family.On a trip to Normandy, ...

Timeless romance from the best-selling author of Tuppence to Cross the Mersey. With over 3 million copies sold around the world, Helen Forrester’s hard-hitting and gripping fiction set in post-war Liverpool continues to move readers.Peggy Delaney was a Lancashire girl born and bred, beginning to live again after the heartache of the war.Ajit Singh was a charming young Indian man — a student shortly to return home to an arranged marriage.When Peggy and Ajit fell in l...

It's 1969 and Mary Schormann is living quietly in Wales with her ex-POW husband, Peter, and her teenage twins, Richard and Victoria.Her niece, Linda Booth, is a nurse - following in Mary's footsteps - and works in the maternity ward of her local hospital in Lancashire.At the end of a long night shift, a bullying new father visits the maternity ward and brings back Linda's darkest nightmares, her terror of being locked in. Who is this man, and why does he scare her so?T...

A new family, a new beginning or a life changed forever?When Clover Beckitt’s mother announces her impending second marriage, Clover can’t help but be wary. Especially as the new – very young – husband comes with a new stepsister for Clover.But Ramona brings with her a freedom that Clover has never been permitted. Like the aircraft being pioneered at the time, with Ramona in her life, Clover finds there are new horizons to explore and new people to meet. Her new outlook eve...

1945. Finally, peace has been declared. Cathie hardly dares believe that Alex, the fiancé she has not seen for nearly two years, is coming home. And, finally, life can begin again for Cathie and the orphaned baby in her care.But the Alex who returns is not the kind, loving man Cathie remembers. He’s cold, selfish, sometimes even frightening. So Cathie has a choice: stand by him, and try to contain his violent temper? Or hold her tiny baby close…and run from the man...

Ruby and Grace had grown up in the slums of Middle Court, the poorest place in Hull. Friends since early childhood, they had supported each other in bad times and good. Ruby's ma, Bess, addicted to the opium which dulled the pain of her miserable existence, tried hard to be a good mother, but without too much success, while Grace's parents, Bob and Lizzie, looked after the girl as well as their own family as best they could. But the two families were bound together by more than friendship,...

A heartbreaking tale of love and loss in a time of war, perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Annie Groves.Jenny O’Leary is devastated one morning in 1940 when she receives a telegram giving her the dreadful news that one of her brothers has been killed in action. Grief threatens to engulf her, but as an ARP warden, tending to Birmingham’s injured after the nightly raids, she is well-used to the suffering that thousands are enduring every day.Linda Prosser is just twelve year...

Only tragedy can save her…When young Lucy Piddock meets the kind and dependable Arthur Goodrich, he seems to be the perfect match. A stonemason by trade, Arthur works in his father’s Black Country business. But he lights no flame in Lucy’s heart and she wants more. Lucy dares to dream of love and holds a candle for Dickie Dempster, a debonair guard who works on the newly constructed railway.Prompted by Lucy’s rejection, Arthur leaves home for a new life and new love in Bris...