Showing results for "friendship" in World War I

Life for Elsie is difficult as she struggles to cope with her alcoholic mother. Caring for her siblings and working long hours at Swift's jam factory in London’s Bermondsey is exhausting. Thankfully her lifelong friendship with Dot helps to smooth over life’s rough edges. When Elsie and Dot meet Millie Swift, they are nervous to be in the presence of the bosses’ daughter. Over time, they are surprised to feel so drawn to her, but should two East End girls be socialising in such circles?

In 1915 three women start work at a toffee factory in the market town of Chester-le-Street, Durham. Anne works for the enigmatic owner Mr Jack. She is highly efficient and whips Mr Jack's disorganised office - and Mr Jack himself - into shape. However, behind her business-like façade, Anne hides a heart-breaking secret. Elsie is feisty, fun and enjoys a good time. However, her gadabout ways get her into trouble when she falls for the wrong man in the sugar-boiling room. And there's dependable Hetty, who's set to marry her boyfriend when he returns from the war.

It is 1910 in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Fourteen-year-old Rosie Waterhouse lives with her father, Sam, well-known as the local poacher, in a cottage on the Thornsby Estate. The land is owned by William Ramsey, a harsh and heartless man, determined his only son, Byron, should marry well and produce an heir. Rosie is quick to learn the tricks of her father’s trade and it’s when she’s poaching fish from the estate’s stream that she meets Byron.

From the moment Len came into their lives, everything changed for Millie and Elsie. Both fell in love with him, but he chose Millie because of her attractive legacy - the Jam Factory. Millie’s expecting Len’s baby, and it should be the happiest time, but her husband’s true colours have come to the fore - and Millie is forced to leave the marriage. Now Millie is desperate to save her child from Len’s clutches. Will Len ever allow her to find happiness?

After losing her beloved fiancé at Ypres in 1917, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Billington faces a lonely future estranged from her upper-class parents due to her association with Charlie Sayers and his working-class family. No longer able to live under her parent’s roof she is taken in by Charlie’s father, escaping the suffocating demands of her parents. Betty soon learns all too well about the realities of life after an accident at the Woolwich Arsenal munitions works.

Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years, a bond formed by a lifetime of memories. Since childhood they have seen each other through life's milestones: stealing vodka from their parents, REM concerts, unexpected Scottish wakes, marriages, infertility, children. As Ash notes, 'Edi's memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.' When Edi is diagnosed with the final stages of terminal ovarian cancer, she makes the painstaking decision to leave behind her husband and son to move to a hospice down the road from Ash.

Elsie’s worked her way up at Swift’s Jam Factory from the shop floor to the top, and now it’s her time to shine. But when she’s involved in an incident involving her half-sister, Millie’s, new husband, she is forced to keep it secret - the truth could threaten their sisterly bond. Dot is dogged by fear, coming to terms with her mother’s rejection of her. She should be enjoying the happiness she craves with her beloved Cess; instead, she’s trapped in an asylum, haunted by the horrifying cries of inmates.

Ellen. Abandoned by her father for the second time, left scarred from the orphanage, Ellen finally finds happiness and hope—reunited with her long-lost gran. But it cannot compensate for being torn apart from her beloved friends Ruth and Amy. When a devastating encounter leaves Ellen broken and desperate, she is forced to fight her past demons. Ruth. Ruth has found peace, building a new life as an actress surrounded by new friends. But still, she longs to be with Ellen and Amy after everything they endured together in the orphanage.

With the Great War behind them, four friends are ready to live again. Lydia, a society beauty, has everything—wealth, status and a husband who survived the War. All she has to do now is provide an heir. Widowed Sarah cares for her wounded brother, certain that no one will ever replace her brave husband. Younger sister Beatrice finds it hard to shine, especially when there are so few men left to shine for. And independent Ava—who can light any room—is determined to seize the freedom of being a single woman.

July 1914. Britain is in turmoil as WW1 begins to change the world. While the young men disappear off to foreign battlefields, the women left at home throw themselves into jobs meant for the boys. Hiding her privileged background and her suffragette past, Constance Copeland signs up to be a Clippie on the trams in Staffordshire, despite her parents' disapproval. Constance, known as Connie, soon makes fast friends with lively fellow Clippies, Betty and Jean, as well as growing closer to the charming, gentle Inspector Robert Caldwell.

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini, a bold, revelatory novel about one of the great untold stories of World War I—the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, who broke down gender barriers in the military and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to victory.

Needing to find a job, Betty Dean is sent into service at Stowford House. The work is gruelling, and her dreams of making something of herself seem out of reach. When Betty is forced to leave after a scandalous incident, she feels that her life is over—until a new job throws her a lifeline. Meeting Connie and Jean brings the joy of friendship, even if Betty struggles with having to keep secrets from her new pals. When soldier Duncan Kennedy enters Betty's life, it seems that she may finally find the love she's always wanted. But opening herself up to someone new isn't easy.

Spring 1919. WW1 might be over, but the inhabitants of Dorcalon in the Welsh Valleys still feel the pain of the war that took so many of their men. Polly Smith is trying to survive her own battle at home. After her abusive husband, Gus, was finally jailed, Polly has been raising her two-year-old son alone. But being a single mother isn't easy, and Polly finds it harder still as Gus's criminal activities leave her with a bad reputation. Lonely and struggling for money, Polly retreats as she becomes the subject of cruel gossip.

1942 - Japanese bombs rain down in Darwin, Australia. Motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger’s daughter, turns to the road, seeking the deep-country sorcerer who put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress, and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. As they journey from the vine forests to Australia’s wild and magical monsoon lands, they will encounter grave danger and discover true love.

Early in the Great War, men left Britain’s factories in droves to enlist. Struggling to keep up production, arsenals hired women to build the weapons the military urgently needed. “Be the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun,” the recruitment posters beckoned. Thousands of women—cooks, maids, shopgirls, and housewives—answered their nation’s call. These “munitionettes” worked grueling shifts often seven days a week, handling TNT and other explosives with little protective gear.

1914. Working in a bustling café on London's Shaftesbury Avenue, Joyce Taylor dreams of opening her own restaurant. But when the man she loves enlists in the war and a surprise request comes through from her dying grandmother, Joyce's life gets turned upside down. Struggling to keep the café afloat with her new found responsibilities, it's not long before Joyce starts to feel the pressure might be all too much. Luckily, her supportive friends Annie and Rose are on hand to help.

Un matin de la Grande Guerre, le capitaine Armand siffle l'attaque contre l'ennemi allemand. Les soldats s'élancent. Dans leurs rangs, Alfa Ndiaye et Mademba Diop, deux tirailleurs sénégalais parmi tous ceux qui se battent alors sous le drapeau français. Quelques mètres après avoir jailli de la tranchée, Mademba tombe, blessé à mort, sous les yeux d'Alfa, son ami d'enfance, son plus que frère. Alfa se retrouve seul dans la folie du grand massacre, sa raison s'enfuit. Lui, le paysan d'Afrique, va distribuer la mort sur cette terre sans nom.

1914. A boy enrols in the army, hoping to find peace in the great adventure of war. Handed a rifle, he discovers the grim reality: grey days distinguished only by the ever-present spectre of death. In the midst of horror, he finds close friendships, love and companionship. In an unexpected act of courage, he changes the course of history, bringing German and Brits to put down their weapons for a celebration of peace.

A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story - a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network - from New York Times best-selling author Lauren Willig.

Washington, DC, 1914. Ivy Olwen knows how to survive on the streets without two coins to rub together. But when destiny thrusts her into the nest of a covert agency of assassins sworn to drive back the world’s darkness, she acquires a new set of lethal skills. Her education—from explosives to etiquette, sharpshooting to sabotage—is as far-reaching as the organization’s missions. But it’s the hours she spends among the towering bookshelves in the library and stargazing on the roof with Agent Jack Vale that make her heart fly.