Showing results for "Emma" in 20th Century

Dublin, 1918. In a country doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders: Doctor Kathleen Lynn, on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over the course of three days, these women change each other’s lives in unexpected ways.

Germany, 1943. Jordanna cries out desperately to her mother, tears spilling down her cheeks. She is being torn one way, her parents another. And in Jordanna’s terrified, wide brown eyes, there is only one question: Will I ever see you again?

At 17, Renee Rushmore lives at home with her father Ivan—a cruel man who rules the house with an iron fist and keeps Renee isolated and alone. She is desperate to escape him, but with no friends to help her, what hope does she have? Then war breaks out. With factories and farms looking to take on female workers, Renee dares to hope that her freedom might be within grasp. And when she hears through a kindly local farmhand named Jimmy that Oak Valley Farm is in need of help, she might just have found her chance.

May 1940. The Second World War has been waging for eight months and life for Harriet and her family is uncertain. She and her parents make their way back to their homeland for refuge since Guernsey is not seen to have strategic value to Churchill. But, when they get there, they face disaster as the Germans have invaded and taken over their island. Harriet must find a way to survive while her home is overrun.

Janie and her husband, James, have a strong, loving marriage. A move from an inner-city slum to a peaceful new estate outside of Bolton should have been a fresh start for them and their three children. But when war is declared and James announces he has signed up, Janie fears it's the beginning of the end. Waving goodbye to their menfolk is a sacrifice that families are making all over the country and Janie does her best to make do, forging friendships in her new community.

Summer, 1945. The nation rejoices as the Second World War comes to an end, but Banbury Street matriarch Eva Parke foresees trouble ahead. Her daughter, Mildred, awaits the return of her fiancé from overseas duty, and doubts begin to seep into her mind about how little she knows of the man she has promised to marry. Meanwhile new neighbour, dancer Cissie Cresswell, hides a terrible secret. Can the two young women unite to face the doubt and uncertainty of the future?

1942. When Helda Dahlstrøm flees her abusive husband and Nazi-occupied Norway with her eight-year-old son she doesn't know if they'll make it out alive. In her desperate journey to safety she'll find safety on the rocky shores of the Shetland Islands, rescued by Canadian Flight Sergeant Bill Gauthier. As WWII's destruction rages at their doorsteps, can love find its way through the rubble?

Twenty-year-old Kate is ready to leave behind her small London suburb and chase her dream of becoming a singer. But when Britain declares war on Germany, Kate’s future is suddenly uncertain. Her ambitions are put on hold as she faces the threats of bombing raids and the possibility of invasion. Living in a time of fear and uncertainty, Kate struggles to find balance in her life—particularly as a speech disability hinders her singing career and a failed romance adds to her emotional burden.

Olivia’s life in Guernsey is uprooted by the Nazi occupation. Forced to flee in the dead of night, she escapes to London’s East End. As she steps foot in Bethnal Green, Olivia’s former life is there to greet her, and she’s ordered to spy for the British. To find her son’s father, she agrees to undertake this dangerous mission. Will she make it home to hold her little boy again?

As war rages, Barbara Sinclair is desperate to escape her unhappy home life. And with the threat of German bombs ever present, Barbara reluctantly agrees to marry John, her childhood friend, who is leaving to join the RAF. But an encounter with Alex Everton, a dashing Spitfire pilot, complicates matters for Barbara. With emotions running high, she begins to question whether she has made a terrible mistake. With the constant threat of death all around her, Barbara must try to find a way to deal with the complexities of her difficult home life and her emotional relationships, too.

Four people's lives are dramatically torn apart by a single terrifying event. Two days before Christmas the express train to Strasbourg crashes into a local train in the winter darkness outside Paris. On board is Gilles Malroux, a man with a shady past and a strong reason to avoid the police. In the mayhem of the crash he is badly injured but to avoid capture by the police he swaps identity papers with one of the other victims of the impact. Gilles tries to flee in the dark but finds himself taken to the house of a woman he doesn't know but who calls him Davide.

London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’ world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash. Josie’s beloved tearoom boss has been killed, and Josie herself is injured, with nothing left and nowhere to go. Evacuated to the English countryside, Josie ends up at the estate of the aristocratic Miss Harcourt, a reluctant host to the survivors of the Blitz. Now a threat looms larger than anyone imagined. And a dangerous secret is about to upend Josie’s life again.

One of the best-selling and most famous sagas of the last four decades, The Shell Seekers is an enduring classic which has touched the hearts of millions worldwide. Set in Gloucestershire, London, Cornwall and Ibiza, and shifting between 1939 and 1985, this poignant drama explores themes of memory, fate, trauma and connection.

When war is declared in September 1939, Rosie Mitchell reluctantly returns from London to the Somerset mining town of Hillsbridge to be with her widowed mother. She had fled to the city some years earlier to escape the heartache and shame of a disastrous end to her relationship with the man she has always loved, and still does. Now she will once more be brought face to face with him, and with her rival and childhood friend, Anne Hastings.

Lieutenant Ronnie Carpenter and his wife check into their chintzy room at the Dolphin Hotel. Then Ronnie steps out for some air. Never to return. He’s only just checked in. Now he’s vanished without a trace. The next morning, Ronnie’s body is found, slumped in the passenger seat of a stolen car, abandoned on Broadmeadow Farm. A bullet through his head. Dolphin manageress Daisy Moore can’t help but be drawn into the investigation. Especially when Ronnie’s long-suffering wife comes crying to her for help. Simply devastated. But Daisy can’t shake the feeling that her tears are all for show.

As the world teeters on the brink of WWII, Eliza Lavery is alone in the world after her fiancé, Davey, was lost in the Irish Civil War. But a chance meeting on the wild beauty of Ballmastocker Bay could change everything. Eight decades later, troubled by her future, Saoirse O’Donnell walks on the pink sands of Bermuda’s Horseshoe Bay. When she uncovers a connection to Eliza, all those years before, she hears a story that promises to influence her own heart and her own choice – but also to reveal a long-buried secret.

Having done her duty as an ATS girl, Lance Corporal Ruth Cox is moving on to new challenges and has signed up to work as a gunner girl, helping to keep the skies clear of enemy planes and safe for our brave boys in blue. But on the way to her new barracks, Ruth meets handsome Sargeant Sam Johnson. Ruth isn’t looking for romance, and she knows she has a dangerous job ahead, but there is a connection between her and Sam that she can’t deny.

Left homeless after the Exeter Blitz, May must find a job if she's to put a roof over her head and help support her two younger sisters. Taking a job as housekeeper to farmer George, May soon ends up getting stuck into more than just cleaning and cooking. The Ministry of Agriculture will close Fair Maids Farm if it doesn't meet their produce targets, but George refuses to heed their warnings. With only two reluctant Land Girls to help, May receives unexpected guidance from Dan, a neighbouring farmer, whose kindness gets tongues wagging in the village.

Artist Marguerite Segal is recruited by British Intelligence into befriending Etienne Valade, a local priest. Her mission is to persuade him to pass on information from the high-ranking German officers who attend his church: evidence of their war crimes. Connected by a passion for art, Marguerite and Etienne soon fall in love, but their association increasingly puts her at danger of violent reprisals. With his church frequented by Nazis, Etienne is a suspected collaborator, and distrust is high.

Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters—each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next—dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they've weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister's lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she's become Hitler's mistress.