Showing titles in 20th Century

From the author of Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year The House Between Tides comes a sweeping and atmospheric story of family ties, interwoven mysteries, love and redemption, set between Scotland and Newfoundland.

As a 13-year-old World War Two evacuee, Edie’s mother was chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe and taken to live at Milderhurst Castle with the Blythe family. In the grand and glorious Milderhurst Castle, a new world opened up for Edie’s mother. She discovered the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, their dangers. Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle, she too is drawn to Milderhurst Castle and the eccentric Blythe sisters. Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Before the Rains by Dinah Jefferies, read by Naomi Frederick. A gripping, heart-wrenching tale of love against the odds from the Number One Sunday Times bestselling author Dinah Jefferies 1930, Rajputana, India. Since her...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'We are cursed, here at Harfold, whether you believe in it or not.' 1922, Wiltshire. When Vee Morgan accepts the job of gardener at a crumbling stately home, she's hoping for a fresh start where nobody knows her troubled history. But Harfold Manor is shadowed by grief...

Brought to you by Penguin. AN IMMERSIVE AND HEARTFELT EXPLORATION OF FAMILY AND LOVE 'A beautiful bittersweet story of love, loss and families all set in the most irresistible of locations. Tears were shed!' Graham Norton 'A moving and powerful novel from one of Ireland's finest new writers'...

May 1943. The tide of war has turned at last, with an Allied victory looking increasingly certain, but all is not well for the residents of Silverdale. Newlyweds Bobby and Charlie find themselves back in civilian life after Charlie is given a medical discharge from the RAF. But the village of Silverdale has been forever changed, and the memories of their lost young men cast a long shadow.

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.

Brought to you by Penguin. Ever since she can remember, Meg has wanted to be a professional cook. But it's 1966, and in restaurant kitchens all over England it is still a man's world. Then she gets a call from her mother who is running a small hotel in Dorset. There's an important banqueting...

In the heat of the French summer, young Englishman Stephen Wraysford travels to France and falls in love with his host's wife, Isabelle Azaire. When the world stops, their affair falters, and Stephen signs up. In a maze of tunnels under the trenches, Stephen finds the courage this war demands from the men in his command. And it is here that he will fight for everything he has ever known and loved.

'Meticulously researched and beautifully told . . . a wonderfully satisfying read' – Santa Montefiore The Sunday Times Bestselling Historical Fiction Summer on St Kilda – a wild, remote Scottish island. In the 1930s, two strangers from drastically different worlds meet . . . Wild-spirited...

The Empire is not just a theatre. From music hall to vaudeville, from revue to grand musical spectacular, it holds a special place in the nation's heart. For its audience, for its actors and singers, for the stagehands, the front-of-house staff, for its backers and its debtors—and above all for its owners—it truly is a palace of dreams. And for young Jack Treadwell, struggling to adapt to civilian life after the horrors of the trenches, it's a lifeline. When he receives a letter out of the blue inviting him to work at The Empire, he leaps at the chance.

When war is declared, Lily sees an opportunity to escape her domineering father: she will join the Great Western Railway factory to win her financial independence and move out of home. Maggie doesn’t want to simply follow in her sisters’ footsteps and work in the laundries at the GWR. So, when the chance comes to volunteer for men’s work in the machine shop, she’s the first to raise her hand. Catherine, a clerk in the GWR office, has been helping with London’s evacuation efforts, organising trains to move children out of the city.

1901. Tina Rose is the beloved daughter of a wealthy Jewish family while Edward grew up with an abusive father in the wilds of New Zealand. Despite their differences, the two fall madly in love when Edward arrives in England, looking for a better future. However, the consequences of their love affair are terrible for Tina, as she is shamed by the father she adores, and Edward is sent away. Against all the odds, Tina and Edward find each other again.

Black Country Orphan is a moving story of the courage and strength of women, by the Sunday Times bestselling author Annie Murray. The early 1900s: Cradley Heath, a town in the Black Country near Birmingham and centre of the world’s chain-making trade. Lucy Butler, a young girl crippled by a...

England, 1903. Giles, the Earl of Stainton, has fled from his stifling duties to resume his research in Egypt, leaving behind his wife Kitty, and his infant son. Kitty, still reeling from Giles' sudden departure, struggles to keep spirits high in the castle and establish herself as the true mistress of the house, an impossible task given how many secrets the inhabitants are hiding from her. The Earl's younger sisters, Rachel and Alice, are both pursuing forbidden romances, and his brother Richard begins a new business venture, spurred on by his clandestine lover. 

Dana and Caitlin meet on the ferry from Ireland, both in search of new lives in Liverpool, having left their secrets behind in Ireland. But Dana is ambitious, and when the opportunity comes to own their own tearoom she persuades her friend to join her. No one is willing to rent property to a couple of girls, so when Caitlin’s new man-friend says he’ll back them, they are delighted. Soon the tearoom is thriving.

When the Berlin Wall goes up, Karin is on the wrong side of the city. Overnight, she’s trapped under Soviet rule in unforgiving East Berlin and separated from her twin sister, Jutta. Karin and Jutta lead parallel lives for years, cut off by the Wall. But Karin finds one reason to keep going: Otto, the man who gives her hope, even amidst the brutal East German regime. 

A woman burdened by war...A doctor torn between passion and duty...A sweeping tale of love in the face of dishonor from the incomparable storyteller--Kathleen Woodiwiss. Alaina MacGaren is forced to flee the devastation of her homeland in the guise of a young boy, only to find sanctuary in the...

Hetty Affleck is working as a maid at the prestigious Beach Hotel in Littlehampton. Her beau, Lorcan, is away at war and has recently stopped replying to her letters but she is determined to keep her spirits up. When she meets wealthy shipbuilder's son Victor Perryman, they pass the time of day and they both feel a connection but she can't allow herself to think anything more of it - not only does she have Lorcan to think of, but she and Victor are divided by wealth and class.

As the clouds of war gather over Cavendon Hall, the next generation must step forward.... The great house of Cavendon Hall has stood on the Yorkshire moors for centuries. Two families, the aristocratic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them, have been bound by loyalty since the first stone was laid. But when war looms, the survival of the great Cavendon estate must rest with the Earl's eldest daughter, Daphne, and her sister in-law, Cecily Swann.