Nadine Dorries

It is 1953 and five very different girls arrive at the nurses' home in Lovely Lane, Liverpool, to start their training at St Angelus Hospital. The world in which they now find themselves is complicated and hierarchical, with rules that must be obeyed and woe betide anyone who strays from them. But when an unknown girl is admitted, after a botched late abortion, a tragedy begins to unfold which will rock the world of St Angelus to its foundations.  Book 1 of series.

On Christmas morning Kitty Doherty gives birth to her baby - who is immediately taken away for adoption in America. But Kitty's life is hanging by a thread, her only hope a dangerous journey through snow to Ballymara and her Irish family. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Sean and Alice try to set up a new life, far away from the families they have deserted in Liverpool. Book 3 of series.

St Angelus runs like a family: the workers take care of their own – a lesson the new assistant matron, Miss Van Gilder, is about to learn the hard way. The nurses of Lovely Lane have a secret which is dividing their close knit group and when Nurse Pammy Tanner once again breaks the rules, her actions threaten them all.  Book 2 of series.

Christmas may be the season of goodwill and festive cheer, but not for the poor of 1950s Liverpool. And for St Angelus Hospital in Lovely Lane, it is frantically busy. There are the old, the dying, the children and the emergencies. The nurses, known locally as the Angels of Lovely Lane, are run off their feet. Dana, Beth, Pammy and Victoria hardly have time to catch their breath, let alone have a Christmas of their own.  Book 4 of series.

Summer is coming to the four streets - but so is trouble, especially for its redoubtable women, who've struggled through a bitter winter to put food on the table. The Dock Queen Carnival is only weeks away, but there's no money for the usual celebrations. No sign of a tramp ship with illicit cargo to be quietly siphoned off by the dockers. Peggy Nolan, with seven boys and a husband too lazy to work, has hit rock bottom and is hiding a terrible secret. Little Paddy, her mischievous eldest, is all too often in trouble, but he'd do anything for the mother he loves. How can he save her from selling herself on the streets - or worse? Maura and Tommy Doherty always looked out for any neighbour in trouble, especially Peggy, but they're far away, running a pub in Ireland and corrupt copper, Frank the Skank, is moving into their old house on the four streets. Can anything bring them home in time?  Book 4 of series.

1950s' Liverpool. In the tight-knit community of the Four Streets, the people laugh, grieve and hope together. But what can they do when a betrayal at the heart of their world comes to light? Book 1 of series.

A dreadful murder has been committed and 14-year-old Kitty Doherty is pregnant with the dead man's child. This secret is so dangerous that it is decided Kitty must go to Ireland to await the baby's birth. But in Liverpool, the police aren't giving up their search for the truth. The streets are alive with gossip and rumour, and it isn't easy to keep a secret that big. Book 2 of series.

Liverpool, 1963. Mary Kate Malone is bitterly unhappy that her father has married again after the death of her mother. She leaves home in Tarabeg on the west coast of Ireland and heads for Liverpool to find her mother's sister. But she finds herself penniless and alone, with no place to stay and no idea how she will survive. Meanwhile, back in Ireland, a long-buried secret is about to come to light which will set an unstoppable chain of events in motion.  Book 2 of series.

Noleen Delaney is one of an army of night cleaners at St Angelus Hospital. Son Finn has done something unheard-of and passed his Eleven Plus exam. How on earth will they pay for his books, his grammar school uniform and shoes? Bronia Ryan has battled depression since her husband died and now one of her sons is in prison. Her youngest, Lorcan, wants no part of a life of crime, but how can he ever escape? Or protect his mother from her vicious eldest son? As usual, St Angelus is at the heart of things. Life and death, love and loss, jealousies, rivalries and betrayals are woven into a rich tapestry in Nadine's great series about poverty, sacrifice and community spirit in post-war Liverpool and the early days of the NHS.  Book 3 of series

In post-war Tarabeg, two women are waiting for ambitious Michael Malone to return home. Rosie, the local schoolteacher and Sarah, whose brutal fisherman father would kill her if he knew, both love Michael, and hope to become his wife. Michael Malone's choice will have fateful consequences for everyone especially, in due course, for his young daughter.  Book 1 of series

Christmas is coming, but will the nurses of St Angelus get a chance to enjoy it? Nurse Victoria Baker is heavily pregnant, but as the snow begins to fall, has she made a big mistake about her dates and put the life of her unborn baby at risk? And who is the figure obsessively watching St Angelus from the shadows? Or the mystery woman who turns up one dark evening, begging for a room? In Lovely Lane only one thing is certain. Christmas will be anything but peaceful.  Book 5 of series.