Showing titles in 20th Century

When Tess Angel receives a solicitor's letter inviting her to claim her inheritance - the Villa Sirena, perched on a clifftop in Sicily - she is stunned. Her only link to the island is through her mother, Flavia, who left Sicily during World War II and cut all contact with her family. Initially resistant to Tess going back to her roots, Flavia realises the secrets from her past are about to be revealed and decides to try to explain her actions.

Brought to you by Penguin. The sixth heartwarming, feel-good instalment in the much-loved Railway Girls series! Manchester, 1942. There are surprises in store for the railway girls this festive season... When Cordelia's daughter Emily falls for a young chap who doesn't meet the approval of her...

In 1987, Miri returns to her hometown to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Beautiful, gripping and deeply moving, In the Unlikely Event is an unforgettable novel from Judy Blume. Thirty-five years ago, when Miri Ammerman was fifteen and in love for the first time, three...

Evie Fraser, paid companion to a crotchety spinster, seems destined for a lonely life. Then, out of the blue, a marriage proposal arrives by post. She met the handsome Douglas Barrington just once - at his wedding - but never forgot him. Now widowed, plantation owner Douglas offers her a new life on the lush, exotic island of Penang. How can Evie resist?

Autumn, 1942. The Blitz has come to an end, but for many families, it's not over yet. As the residents of Jubilee Row begin to rebuild their lives, twins Sybil and Maudie Maguire decide to go off and do their bit by joining the WAAFs. But what starts off as a great adventure soon forces the girls to grow up as they are confronted with the harsh realities of war. Will they stick together, or will their experiences drive them apart? Back in Hull, their older sister Florence is a typing pool supervisor who has resigned herself to a life without love.

Despite her privileged upbringing, Daisy Lennox has always longed to make something of her life. She is drawn to the suffragette movement, but when her father faces ruin they are forced to move to the country and Daisy’s first duty is to her family. Here she becomes engaged to her childhood friend – a union both families have dreamed of. But, on the eve of their wedding, war is declared, and Daisy knows her life will never be the same again...

Beautiful, dark-haired Lily has been abandoned in a Birmingham slum as a tiny child. With few clues as to her identity she endures a childhood of loneliness and loss. At eighteen she applies for a post as nanny with the family of a Captain Fairford, a soldier in Ambala, north India and his...

Even with peace on the horizon, Met WAAF Jenny Hazleton is as busy as ever. Her keen weather-forecasting allows the pilots to continue their missions, including food drops to starving allies and the repatriation of prisoners of war. Navigating many of these missions is Flying Officer Edwin Holland, whose rejection of her advances at Christmas still stings. Edwin is increasingly haunted by his role in the war, including the bombing of Dresden, and Jenny yearns to comfort him. But when he reveals the shocking reason he turned her down, she must decide if their friendship is well and truly over.

If you love the bestselling historical fiction author Molly Green, her newest heartfelt, engrossing World War Two saga is out now: make sure you read The Wartime Librarian's Secret! Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms are full of secrets … June, 1941 Britain is in the throes of war, but Katharina...

Brought to you by Penguin. The village of Alvesdon has been home to the Castells for generations. But the year is 1939 and the peace and tranquillity there is about to be shattered once more by the stormclouds of war in Europe. As three generations of the family gather, they must all face the...

Still grieving the loss of her wandering, free-spirited mother, Lucy Kincaid leaves Nashville for the faded town of Cape Hudson, Virginia. She goes to see the house she’s inherited—one she never knew existed, bequeathed to her by a woman she’s never even met. At the heart of this mystery is the hope that maybe—just maybe—this “Winter Cottage” will answer the endless questions about her mother’s past...including the identity of her birth father.

1904 INDIA: beautiful and headstrong Clarissa Belhaven and her delicate sister Olive find their carefree life on their widowed father's tea plantation threatened by his drinking and debts. Wesley Robson, a brash young rival businessman, offers to help save the plantation in exchange for Clarrie's hand in marriage, but her father flatly refuses. When Jock Belhaven dies suddenly, his daughters are forced to return to their father’s cousin in Tyneside and work long hours in his pub.

New Horizons for the Woolworths Girls is the emotional and hopeful finale to the beloved Woolworths Girls series by bestselling author Elaine Everest. There are fresh challenges and new beginnings on the horizon for the girls at Woolworths . . . When the Bexleyheath branch of F. W. Woolworths is...

A heart-wrenching family saga about women in World War 2, the strength of friendship, and hope. 1940, Liverpool: Alice Turner and her best friend, Millie Markham, work for the war effort at Rootes munitions factory, making shell caps and Halifax bombers. Alice’s sweetheart Terry is home from...

Believing in Tomorrow is the new sweeping family saga from the top ten bestselling author of One Snowy Night, Rita Bradshaw. Molly McKenzie is only eleven years old when her abusive father beats her to within an inch of her life. Escaping from the hovel she calls home, Molly is found by kind...

Fans of Katie Flynn, Rosamunde Pilcher and Dinah Jeffries will love this emotional and sweeping wartime romance set in Singapore from bestselling author Margaret Mayhew. READERS ARE LOVING THE OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE! "Moving tale of bravery and human endurance...the sounds and smells and life of...

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...

The legendary Emma Harte, heroine of A Woman of Substance, returns… The legendary Emma Harte, heroine of A Woman of Substance, returns… At the centre of this sweeping saga stands Paula O'Neill, beloved granddaughter of Emma and the guardian of her vast business empire. Paula believes that...

Anna is distraught when her beloved mother, Ines, passes away. She inherits a box of papers, handwritten in Italian and yellowed with age, and a tantalizing promise that the truth about what happened during the war lies within. The diaries lead Anna to the small village of Rofelle, where she slowly starts to heal as she explores sun-kissed olive groves, and pieces together her mother’s past: happy days spent herding sheep across Tuscan meadows cruelly interrupted when World War Two erupted and the Nazis arrived....

Can she finally put herself first, in order to find love? Peggy Cassidy is a milly, working in the Belfast linen mills to just about get by. But Peggy also has another job - a secret one. She works as a handywoman - an illegal midwife, tending to the women of her community in their time of need...