Showing titles in World War II

July 1941. As the war grinds on, Lady Joanna Harcourt knows that her time at Goodwill House is drawing to close. A new chapter awaits, one that she never expected to happen to her – she is going to be a wife and mother again! Excited with their new arrival and with her beloved Flying Officer John Sergeant back in her life, Joanna hopes that even though war clouds gather, love will prevail, and the future will look brighter than ever for the Harcourt family. John has just one last mission to complete, before they can be together.

The most ambitious of three sisters, Lorraine ‘Raine’ Linfoot always dreamed of becoming a pilot. As a spirited 17-year-old, she persuades her hero Doug Williams to teach her to fly. When war breaks out in 1939, Raine is determined to put her skills to good use. She enlists in the Air Transport Auxiliary, becoming one of a handful of brave female pilots flying fighter planes to the men on the front line. Raine embraces the challenges of the job, despite its perils.

London, 1944. With bombs raining over London, keeping the Battersea Tavern open is no easy feat for owner Winnie Berry - but the community need the warmth and familiarity of the pub more than ever. After marriage, Maureen Fanning had moved out to Wandsworth with her bad-tempered husband Brancher. But when he loses both his job and their lodgings, the only people who will take them in are her kindly grandparents, Len and Renee. Getting a cleaning job at the Battersea Tavern is the least she can do to pay them back. It would all be fine...if it weren't for Brancher.

It is early 1940, and World War Two has already taken a hold on the country. Rose Neville works as a Lyon’s Teashop Nippy on the Kent coast alongside her childhood friends, the ambitious Lily and Katie, whose fiancé is about to be posted overseas in the navy. As war creates havoc in Europe, Rose relies on the close friendship of her friends and her family. When Capt. Benjamin Hargreaves enters the teashop one day, Rose is immediately drawn to him.

Glasgow, WW2. Despite being shy and reserved, Jeannie finds herself newly engaged to Arthur the day war is announced. Unsure if she would ever get another proposal, Jeanie accepts. But with war raging on, her wedding must wait. As she sets off to work at a munitions factory, she meets Eileen, Janet and Annie. As her new friends reveal their chaotic romances at such a troubling time, Jeannie is grateful to be settled with rigid, formal and straight-talking Arthur. Until she begins to doubt everything.

Bristol 1938. A shadowy presence overshadows Coronation Close, watching and waiting. Jenny Crawford is the first to notice the stranger and wonders why his attention is fixed on Thelma Dawson’s house. When challenged he makes a hasty retreat. Meanwhile Thelma is having trouble with her precocious daughter Mary who is about to leave school and start work. Mary considers herself an adult but to Thelma she’s still a little girl; an attitude resented by her daughter.

Molly wants to fight Hitler by using her skills as a pilot. But the USA says no to female pilots. America is at war and Molly, a qualified pilot, is determined to use her skills in the air against the Nazis. The American Air Force isn't ready to admit female pilots just yet but the British are desperate for pilots following their devastating losses in the Battle of Britain.

Irish domestic worker Norah King's decision to ask her wealthy employer, Caroline Parker, for an elegant red coat that the Beacon Hill matriarch has marked for donation ignites a series of events that neither woman could have fathomed. The unlikely exchange will impact their respective daughters and families for generations to come, from the coat's original owner, marriage-minded collegian Cordelia Parker, to the determined and spirited King sisters of South Boston, Rosemary, Kay, and Rita.

November 1944. A German rocket strikes London and five young lives are atomised in an instant. November 1944. That rocket never lands. A single second in time is altered and five young lives go on - to experience all the unimaginable changes of the 20th century. Because maybe there are always other futures. Other chances.

The war is over, and Germany in ruins. Posted to an Allied-run Hamburg, reporter Georgie Young returns to the country she fled seven years prior – at the onset of the conflict – to find it unrecognisable. Amidst the stark horrors of a bombed-out city crumbling under the weight of millions of displaced souls, she discovers pockets of warmth: a violinist playing amidst the wreckage, couples dancing in the streets, and a nation trying to make amends.

Forced to leave their family home in London after it is bombed, Maddie and her two daughters take refuge at Knyghton, the beautiful country house in Norfolk where Maddie’s husband, Philip, spent the summers of his childhood. But Philip is gone, believed to have been killed in action in northern France. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Maddie refuses to give up hope that she and Philip will some day be reunited. Arriving at Knyghton, Maddie feels closer to her missing husband, but she soon realises that there’s a reason Philip has never spoken to her about his past.

In the snowbound city of Kiev, aspiring historian Mila Pavlichenko’s life revolves around her young son—until Hitler’s invasion of Russia changes everything. Suddenly, she and her friends must take up arms to save their country from the Führer’s destruction. Handed a rifle, Mila discovers a gift—and months of blood, sweat and tears turn the young woman into a deadly sniper: the most lethal hunter of Nazis. Yet success is bittersweet. Mila is torn from the battlefields of the Eastern Front and sent to America while the war still rages. There, she finds an unexpected ally.

Paris, 1941. With Nazi occupation imminent, journalist Elodie Mitchell plans to return home to Chicago. But an unexpected invitation to a Josephine Baker show changes everything. Mistaken for the star, Elodie is whisked backstage, where she uncovers an underground resistance movement hidden beneath the glitz and glamour. Drawn into a whisper network of spies, Elodie accepts a perilous mission: to go undercover as Josephine's cousin and gather vital intelligence.

In this daring debut, Susan Elia MacNeal blends meticulous research on the era, psychological insight into Winston Churchill, and the creation of a riveting main character, Maggie Hope, into a spectacularly crafted novel.

Natan Borkowski has it all. In line to take over the successful family business, his future is set. Julia Horowitz lives in poverty. The daughter of a shoemaker, she dreams of a different life—a different world. Everything changes when Hitler’s armies invade Poland. Natan’s future is ripped away by the flick of a switch of a Luftwaffe pilot. When the smoke clears, Julia and her family find themselves locked within the walls of the newly-formed Jewish ghetto.

Promoted within the British intelligence service, Paul is sent to Algiers during a ceasefire announced by French General Darlan. But when a deadly new assignment pushes his skills to the limit, will he step up to the challenge of his new role? At Bletchley Park, Claire and her team of analysts discern from decoded messages that the Germans have employed a new type of radar that is decimating RAF bombers. And the messages she decodes grow more troubling by the hour.

Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption. One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help.

Bristol 1941. Having left her abusive husband for very good reasons, Mary Anne Randall finds herself judged harshly by her friends and neighbours, after courageously risking everything for a second chance at happiness with Michael. With Michael away fighting, Mary Anne is less concerned by her tarnished reputation and focusses on keeping her beloved children safe. But with the bombs beginning to fall on Bristol, danger is all too close to home.

It’s 1943, and the district nurses have two new recruits. As the country ramps up for D-Day, the new nurses are getting to know their patients on their patch in London’s East End. Lily is quite sure of herself and doesn’t believe she has anything new to learn. She’ll find out the hard way that anyone can be made a fool of when she meets a man who promises her everything.

In the aftermath of the General Strike, times are tough for coal miners and their families. When Cally loses her beloved mum, she hopes her father will comfort her. But instead she soon acquires a cruel stepmother, and Cally begins to fear that she is on her own. Through uncomfortable years in service, to a terrifying brush with the streets, through hard work and determination, Cally finally finds a place for herself. She even trusts enough in the future to create her own family, despite being abandoned by her own.