Showing results by publisher "Boldwood Books" in 20th Century

It’s all change for the Seaside Girls…Singer Jessie Delaney has finally got her big break in London’s West End and is determined to make the most of her golden opportunity, even with the start of the Blitz. Lonely, and lacking the guidance of friends and family, Jessie hopes that seasoned performer Adele Bailey will help her find her feet. But, when fame beckons friendships are tested and loyalties are divided.

After an unexpected heartbreak and a nasty accident on a busy Liverpool street, Lara Flynn is desperate to start afresh and leave painful memories behind her. She takes on a new job as a district nurse and midwife at a country practice, in the remote Lancashire village of Ingleside. But instead of the friendly rural idyll she pictures, Lara finds she must cycle vast distances to visit locals who harbour an innate suspicion of a newcomer from the city – as well as dealing with unpredictable livestock, an erratic senior doctor and often challenging medical cases.

It’s 1922, and after spending a year travelling through Europe, Iris Woodmore returns home to find a changed Walden. Wealthy businesswoman Constance Timpson has introduced equal pay in her factories and allows women to retain their jobs after they marry. But these radical new working practices have made her deadly enemies. A mysterious sniper fires a single shot at Constance – is it a warning, or did they shoot to kill? When one of her female employees is murdered, it’s clear the threat is all too real – and it’s not just Constance in danger.

With the arrival of English prisoners of war on Marchese Ginori’s farmhouse estate, Rosa is immediately wary. Her husband was killed by the Allies and she will not trust any inglesi around her daughter. The marchese’s daughter, Emma, is thankful for the extra help. Especially when Italian soldiers are forced into hiding, fleeing the Nazis. Emma vows to protect her childhood best friend, Marco, at any cost. It’s a dangerous time to be harbouring fugitives, and as the POWs prove their allegiance in helping the Italian men, Rosa begins to become close to one in particular

Kent, 1939. Soon to marry her childhood sweetheart, Eliza thinks her life is set. But when war breaks out, everything changes and, while helping the soldiers returning from Dunkirk, she bumps into Lewis, an unforgettable stranger from her past. Eliza’s in-laws’ country home becomes a cell for code breakers receiving messages from the French Resistance, with Eliza as translator. When Lewis is assigned to head up the team, the pair fall dangerously in love. But with the enemy watching across the Channel and rumours of spies in their midst, Eliza is torn between passion and duty.

England, 1940. Only given two days leave after barely escaping Nazi troops in Paris, Lily Baker visits her fiancé’s family and is dismayed to learn he’s still missing in action. And going from an exciting overseas telephonist post to a routine office assignment leaves her bored… until the Blitz begins. Joining the Air Raid Protection service, Lily’s perilous new role puts her on the chaotic frontlines of deadly shelling and scared crowds turning hostile. But despite her heroism, she is plagued by guilt when she starts feeling attracted to a fellow A.R.P. member.

Fifteen-year-old Kate lives a rarefied life of wealth and privilege in the pre-war Hong Kong expatriate community, but when the Japanese invade she’s interned in squalid Stanley Camp with her parents. Enduring cramped conditions, humiliation, disease, and starvation, Kate befriends seventeen-year-old Charles, who is half Chinese, and they give their hearts to each other under the orchid tree. Meanwhile, forty miles away in Portuguese Macau, thirteen-year-old Sofia’s suspicions are aroused when her father invites a Japanese family to dinner.

On a cold winter day in 1955, Kate Arden got on a train to go home for Christmas. This is the story of what happened when she got off that train. In 1943. In 1943 Kate Arden was engaged to the man she loved, Jeffrey Rushbrooke. She was devastated and heartbroken when he was called up for wartime duty and later killed on a secret mission in France. But what if Kate could change that? What if she could warn him and save his life? Or will fate have a bigger surprise in store for her?

I’d given up everything to fight for the Resistance. But nothing prepared me for discovering my sister was a traitor. Kept by a Nazi SS officer, outwardly she barely resembles my beloved Justine anymore. But I guessed her secret. About her beautiful, fragile little child. The baby she’ll do anything to protect. And I believe that deep down she still knows what is right. As the Nazis threaten everything we ever held dear, I know I have one chance. I must convince her to betray the evil she seems to have chosen. I need her to find her true self once more.

Spring 1939 - Dashing young William Burton and the beautiful Constance Han set sail from London on the same ocean liner to Hong Kong. Connie is intrigued by Will’s talent for writing poetry, and as romance blossoms she offers to give him Cantonese lessons to help him with his new job — a cadet in the colonial service. But once in Hong Kong, Connie is constrained by filial duty towards her Eurasian parents, and their wish for her to marry someone from her own background.

Brought up in Cornwall by her grandparents, Aster thinks often of her parents, who were taken from her at a tragically early age. The only thing she has to remember her mother by is her Flower Book, a journal of pressed flowers that charts Violet’s life and dreams – and keeps all her secrets...On her 21st birthday, Aster receives devastating news that turns everything she knew about herself upside down. Will she finally discover what really happened to her parents?

Essex 1941. Unhappy with life at home with her privileged family, Hannah Austen-Bagshaw runs away to join the Land Girls Army, carrying with her a dark and terrible secret. Life on the farm is tough, but when Hannah meets handsome working-class flight lieutenant Jack, they form an immediate friendship. But unbeknownst to Jack, Hannah is sheltering a young German pilot who has crash landed in a nearby field. Torn between her duty and her humanity, Hannah knows she risks being arrested as a traitor, but she cannot see the young pilot suffer.

England, 1941. Reunited briefly with her husband-to-be before he returns to fighting, Lily Baker now finds her mundane army office work dreary. But when her boss asks her to keep watch on the happenings at the depot, she quickly suspects a new weapons supplier of fraud. As she trains her sharp eye on the potential cheat, she agrees to help an unmarried colleague with an unexpected pregnancy. But when, without evidence, she is accused of being the one with child, she faces hard decisions.

Cleethorpes – 1940. As the new year dawns, the show at the Empire comes to an end and it’s time for the girls to move on. All the seaside girls have their own battles to fight. And while they figure things out it’s time for them to do their bit for the war and keep Britain smiling.

With the outbreak of War, the fishing fleet is confined to port, bringing hardship to the families and businesses of Fishers Wharf. Ruth Evans awaits the safe return of her father’s last trawler carrying her wayward brother Henry, the future of the family business. But unbeknown to their father, Henry sees war as a chance to break free from the constraints of his privileged background and follow his heart. Much is expected of Ruth. Her marriage to Arthur Marshall will help realise her father’s dream uniting two of the largest trawler companies in Grimsby.

1924. The First World War is over and eleven-year-old Alexa is growing up on the idyllic Cornish coast with her best friend Harvey. But she soon discovers there are secrets at the heart of her family that have been hidden for years. And when her mother dies suddenly, she finds her whole life thrown into turmoil. 1931. Still reeling from the secrets she uncovered, Alexa flees to the intoxicating city of Venice. But her new glamorous life is not what she hoped for and, with dark shadows closing in, she will question everything she thought she wanted.

Austria, 1938. After years of hardship, Ella is full of hope for a better future for Austrians, and when Hitler marches into Linz, she can’t help but become swept up in the euphoria of her boyfriend, Max. But she soon realises her mistake. When she witnesses a woman being shot in the street and a childhood friend’s Jewish department store is closed down, she knows she must do something. It’s a dangerous time to be a resistor, especially when her fascist boyfriend proposes to her.

Narvik, 1940. After Laila awakens to the sight of warships in the fjord, it isn't long before she turns resistor to the brutal Nazi regime. She is horrified when local girls begin affairs with enemy soldiers, yet against her own principles, she finds herself falling in love with German soldier, Josef. Josef is not like the others. He becomes involved in helping her and the locals with resistance activities, risking his life on more than one occasion.

It is yet another night of air raids, and instead of heading to the basement of her London workplace – risking being in the same vicinity as him, the man who hurt her in the worst way possible – nineteen-year-old Clare runs to the first place she can think of… and makes a decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

1944: Bologna, Italy, and the streets are crawling with German soldiers. Nineteen-year-old Leila Venturi is shocked into joining the Resistance after her beloved best friend Rebecca, the daughter of a prominent Jewish businessman, is ruthlessly deported to a concentration camp. 1981: Exchange student Rhiannon Hughes arrives in Bologna and meets Leila, her landlady. Soon, Rhiannon finds herself being drawn into a web of intrigue. Leila’s nephew seems to be interested in a far-right group, but how is the nefarious leader connected to Leila?