Showing titles in 20th Century

Jackie: when her first marriage ends in tragedy, Jackie Kennedy fears she’ll never love again. But all that changes when she encounters...Ari: successful and charming, Ari Onassis is a man who promises her the world. Yet soon after they marry, Jackie learns that his heart also belongs to another. Maria: a beautiful, famed singer, Maria Callas is in love with Jackie’s new husband - and she isn’t going to give up.

The brand-new heartwarming instalment in the Cornish Girls saga series from the RNA Romantic Saga of the Year nominee, perfect for fans of Ginny Bell and Elaine Everest The world is at peace at last, is it time for the Cornish Girls to love again? Cornwall, 1947. Tragedy strikes the village and...

Brought to you by Penguin. The first book in a heart warming and uplifting historical fiction series, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin Will she find the strength to start again? When Jenny Gregory leaves wartime London for the quiet town of Allanby Cross, she feels as though her...

Penguin presents the audio book edition of The Missing Sister by Dinah Jefferies, read by Anna Bentinck. Belle Hatton has embarked upon an exciting new life far from home: a glamorous job as a nightclub singer in 1930s Burma, with a host of sophisticated new friends and admirers. But Belle is...

Young, bookish Sylvia Beach knows there is no greater city in the world than Paris. But when she opens an English-language bookshop on the bohemian Left Bank, Sylvia can't yet know she is making history. Many leading writers of the day, from Ernest Hemingway to Gertrude Stein, consider Shakespeare and Company a second home. Here some of the most profound literary friendships blossom - and none more so than between James Joyce and Sylvia herself.

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.

They say a tiger that devours too many humans can take the form of a man and walk amongst us.... In 1930s colonial Malaya, a dissolute British doctor receives a surprise gift of an 11-year-old Chinese houseboy. Sent as a bequest from an old friend, young Ren has a mission: to find his dead master's severed finger and reunite it with his body. Ren has 49 days, or else his master's soul will roam the earth forever.

Brought to you by Penguin. A heart-warming, romantic story of friendship, camaraderie and triumph over adversity that fans of Donna Douglas, Daisy Styles and Call the Midwife will adore. Winter, 1942. Brenda and Joyce are just two of the girls who have joined the Women’s Land Army and are...

Welcome to England, 1809. London is a violent, intolerant city, exhausted by years of war, beset by soaring prices and political tensions. By day, John Church preaches on the radical possibilities of love to a multicultural, working-class congregation in Southwark. But by night, he crosses the river to the secret and glamorous world of a gay molly house on Vere Street, where ordinary men reinvent themselves as funny, flirtatious drag queens and rent boys cavort with labourers and princes alike. There, Church becomes the first minister to offer marriages between men, at enormous risk.

Dottie Perks has forged a new life for herself in London, with a new job and a loving boyfriend. She's safe, happy and loved. What more could she ask for? But when Dottie visits her home in Brighton, the last person she expects to see is her first love, Ralph Bennett. As old feelings come rushing to the surface, Dottie struggles to deny the strong chemistry between them. She can't throw away everything to be with Ralph...can she?

It is 1942, and with the country still at war, the girls who work for Joe Lyons are praying for their loved ones to return home safely. Happily married, Rose is busy with staffing problems at the teashop with many women taking on war work. Rose dreams of her husband’s return while trying to...

From the best-selling author of The Beekeeper’s Promise comes a gripping story of three young women faced with impossible choices. How will history - and their families - judge them? Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets. War-scarred Mireille is fighting with the Resistance; Claire has been seduced by a German officer; and Vivienne’s involvement is something she can’t reveal to either of them.

Dr. Ainsley Graham is cultivating a reputation as an eccentric. Two years ago, he catastrophically ended his academic career by publicly claiming to talk to ghosts. When Joachim Cockburn, a WWI veteran studying the power of delusional thinking, arrives at his door, Ainsley quickly catalogs him as yet another tiresome Englishman determined to mock his life's work. But Joachim is tenacious and openhearted, and Ainsley's intrigued despite himself. 

1976. Rushing out of the University Library, undergraduate Alice Kenzie bumps straight into PhD student Tristan Somers. There begins a whirlwind romance, and Alice falls pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. Then Tristan is killed in a car accident. Unable to cope, Alice takes her baby to Summer House, Tristan's family home in Suffolk, leaves her there and disappears. 2018. Olivia Somers has always been told that her mother died in the same accident as her father. When she finds old letters in Summer House, everything she ever believed about her mother is called into question.

Princess Grace of Monaco has invited the world-famous Forsyth Variety Company to perform at her annual high society ball. Monaco is in the heat of its preparations for the Grand Prix when the Forsyth family makes their emotional return to the city, stirring up painful memories for father Ed Forsyth. When daughter Evie Forsyth meets Formula 1 driver Charles, their chemistry is unforgettable and a passionate affair begins. Meanwhile her brother Cal Forsyth is on location with Hollywood's biggest star, his new glittering career shaken by the arrival of a stranger from his past.

At RAF Fenthorpe, instrument repairer Thea is helping her sister, Pearl, plan her wedding alongside fellow WAAF and maid of honour Jenny. A misfit amongst the women on the base, though, Thea is struggling to get others onboard. When Flight Sergeant Fitz makes a point of befriending and standing by her, sparks fly between the two. And when Fitz’s crew member, Jack, faces being stripped of his rank due to cowardice, Thea throws herself into seeking justice and support for him.

Family and friendship mean everything under the darkening skies of wartime Britain, by Sunday Times bestselling author Margaret Dickinson. It is the 1930s and the Maitland family have spent the years following the Great War struggling to come to terms with its catastrophic aftermath, and their...

From Annie Murray, the bestselling author of The Bells of Bournville Green, comes Secrets of the Chocolate Girls, another gritty family saga about love, war and chocolate . . . September 1940, Birmingham. While her husband and daughter work at Cadbury's Bournville factory, Ann Gilby has her...

Peggy Serrano couldn’t wait for her best friend to come home from the war. But the Jimmy Barnett who returns is much different from the Jimmy who left, changed so drastically by his experience as a medic in Europe that he can barely function. When he attempts the unthinkable, his parents check him into the VA hospital. Peggy determines to help the Barnetts unravel what might have happened to send their son over the edge. She starts by contacting Jimmy’s war buddies, trying to identify the mysterious woman in the photo they find in Jimmy’s belongings.

Cathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband, and even when he’s conscripted she knows it’s only a brief respite - divorce is not an option. Cathy, a true Brogan daughter, stays strong for her beloved little son, Peter. When her husband is declared missing in action, Cathy can finally allow herself to hope - in just 6 months she will legally be a widow. In the meantime, she has to keep Peter safe and fed.