Family Stories

Penny's childhood was spent in the shadows of her mother's business schemes, feeling alone and unimportant. It fell to Lorna, her mother's acquaintance, to take care of the lonely little girl, but the rejection always cut deep. When Penny turns 16 and tragedy strikes, Lorna's cousin Maureen, a feisty ex-stripper from London, strides into her life. Penny determines to make her own way in the world and, with Maureen, throws herself into a thrilling new life on the grimy streets of Soho. In this seedy world of dancing girls and gangsters Penny must grow up quickly, she must be brave, and she's forced to face the truth about some very dark secrets from her past.

As the threat of bombing raids intensifies, newly-qualified teacher, Phyllis Saunders, is evacuated with her school to Dorset. Here she encounters prejudice and suspicion. But she is determined to make the best of life, for herself and the children in her care. All the while her fiancé and submariner, Sammy, is facing danger out at sea. But soon she is nursing a secret she can tell no one, and she is forced to make a decision she hopes she will never regret…

As the Depression hits the north of England, Hannah Casey's life is turned upside down. Since her father's death, Hannah and her mother Miriam have lived with her aunt and uncle - but as Hannah's beauty develops, she catches her uncle's roaming eye. Escaping to her friend Naomi's house whenever she can, Hannah is always made to feel welcome, and she begins to court Naomi's handsome brother Adam. But when she finally flees from home, it is the taciturn Jake, Naomi's older half-brother, who shines through as her protector...

When her drunken, jealous husband threw her out onto the streets, Mary McGann pawned her wedding ring and fled to Ireland. Once there she and her three children were befriended by Richard O'Neill a local land agent. Just as life improved, Mary was forced to return to her husband and the Liverpool slums. Could she ever be happy again?

Jean and Vi are twins but couldn't be more different. As war breaks out, agonising decisions must be faced by the Liverpool family. All the traditional certainties are overturned. Then the twins' younger sister, singer Francine, returns home unexpectedly and stirs up the past, even in the midst of present danger.

Ella Burton works as a cleaner at the Palace Theatre, a place of glamour and excitement to the people of Swansea at the turn of the 20th century. Abused by the ruthless manager of the theatre, she is thrown out on the streets and forced into a brutal marriage.

Cornwall 1786. Adam Loveday has a talent for ship design and a thirst for adventure, but his wastrel elder twin, St John, sets a plan in motion to ensure that Adam never gets what his heart desires - the family boatyard!  Book 1 of series.

It is twenty years since Julius died, but his last heroic action still affects the lives of his widow Esme, and his two daughters, Emma and Cressida.

Nellie McDonough and Molly Bennett have been best friends forever, and live near each other in a Liverpool backstreet. Over the years they have been busy helping their loved ones, and recently have received wonderful news that will affect both their families.

Kate Madison’s family are grown up and ready to forge lives of their own, but she can’t keep her children from playing against the odds. The hardest lesson will be that she can’t protect them from the choices they make.

Twins Winnie and Dora are used to conflict. Professionally, their father cuts a controversial figure with his modern fishing techniques, whilst at home his temper rules the household. His one ambition for his daughters is that they should marry well.

May, 1941. Meet the Air Raid Girls: three young women keen to do their bit during the Yorkshire blitz. Connie's life has taken an unexpected turn since her husband died - she's living at home and working in the family bakery - but night shifts as an ARP Warden give her a firm sense of purpose. Her younger sister Lizzie is eager to play her part too, perhaps as an ambulance driver. Her fiance refuses to support her decision... but does he really know what's best for her?

Twenty-year-old Pamela has led a sheltered life, but when her family's home is destroyed in a raid she must learn to stand on her own two feet - helped by new friends. As bombs fall and fires rage, the young women face the destruction of everything they've ever known. Can their fighting spirit prevail? And what of their families and the men they love?

A wonderful new Christmas story of friendship, love and duty in wartime by the author of The Air Raid Girls, for fans of Elaine Everest and Rosie Hendry. November, 1941. Christmas is coming... and despite the blackout, shortages and a constant threat of air raids, the inhabitants of Kelthorpe on the Yorkshire coast are determined that war won't stop them celebrating. 

The run-up to Christmas sees sisters Connie and Lizzie, and their good friend Pamela, busier than ever. Between their jobs, carol-singing rehearsals with the church choir and night shifts doing their bit as Air Raid Wardens and ambulance drivers, it's all go. But when Connie and Lizzie's dear dad falls ill, their sweethearts Tom and Bill are called up by the Royal Navy for dangerous mine-sweeping duties, and Pamela's sweetheart Fred is targeted by vicious locals, the girls have to believe in miracles to keep soldiering on. Can their dearest wishes come true this Christmas?

Maxime Touta, a successful journalist, looks back over his life in Egypt. In 1863 he was thirteen years-old when he and his family arrived in Alexandria, as exiles from Syria. With the building of the Suez canal, Egypt was on the dawn of a new era. This proved to be a dramatic and romantic time for Egypt and Maxime himself.

It is the 1950s and as the Duchy, the Cazalets’ beloved matriarch, dies, she takes with her the last remnants of a disappearing world – of houses with servants, of class and tradition – in which the Cazalets have thrived. Only one thing is certain: nothing will ever be the same again.  Book 5 of series.

Iris, Marianne, Eva and Clemency are all daughters of Sheffield manufacturer, Joshua Maclise. As war approaches and changes the sisters' lives, Clemency fights to free herself from the bonds that confine her and to discover love at last.

In defending herself against her brutal husband, eighteen-year-old Ruby Clark is forced to flee London.

She has no idea where Cliffehaven is, or what she will find there, but she knows that she will never be able to return home again.

At first it seems she's fallen on her feet. She gets a job at the local armaments factory, and the couple she is billeted with are kind and supportive. But when her host makes advances, Ruby is left homeless once more.

Until Peggy Reilly welcomes her into the warmth of Beach View boarding house and Ruby dares to hope for a brighter future…

Haydn Powell realises his childhood ambition when he returns to Pontypridd as a star. However, his elation is dampened when he discovers the conflicts that have developed in his family.  Book 4 of series.

It's 1921 and eighteen-year-old orphan Daisy May has to work hard as a dancer in a nightclub to support her little sister Mary-Jane, who is six. One night a fire starts and Mary-Jane is alone in the house. The night's events lead to the sisters being split up and Daisy May fears that she will never see Mary-Jane again.

It is 1946: The war is over and three young women face a new kind of life. But peacetime brings its own pressures, with each facing life with all its joys, sorrows, and surprises.

This novel tells the story of two warring French families from 1911 to 1940. With its themes of war, love and money the novel brings home with great clarity how close the two conflicts were.

By 1870 Emma Grady has spent seven years as a convict in Australia. Now, having earned her ticket of leave, she lives for the day when she will return to England, to face those who cheated and betrayed her. And to Marlow Tanner, the man she loves, and whose tragic child she had borne and lost. Book 2 of series.

During the Second World War, in the iconic Bryant & May match factory, Annie, Rose, Pearl and Millie carry on making matches for the British Army, with bombs raining down around them. Inspired by the Dig for Victory campaign, Annie persuades the owners to start an allotment in the factory grounds. In the darkest of times, the girls find their allotment a tranquil, happy escape and they bring about a powerful change, not just in the factory, but their own lives.

Set in Manchester in 1905, this is the story of the Sandberg family who, having fled anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire, now struggle through the Great War and the Depression in England. When they meet an Austrian family, they form a powerful friendship that shapes the lives of three generations of descendants.

It's 1939 and Abigail Vickers, meets James Benson and they both fall completely in love, but her dominant and selfish mother, Nora, is jealous of Abby's beauty and success. When war breaks out, all their lives change forever. Abby begins to wonder if she will ever find happiness. Only time will tell if there are better days ahead...

As the Japanese begin their assault on Singapore, Sarah Fuller and her sister are forced to leave their parents behind. They arrive in Cliffehaven, on the south coast of England, and here Sarah must find work to support them both. As time goes on and the news of events in Singapore worsen, Sarah fears she will never see her fiancé, Philip and her parents again.

Brenda Stuart, held in an internment camp in France during the war, believes that her son at least is safe. But when she finds that she has lost him too, her life is in complete turmoil. And her sister-in-law, Prue, has fallen in love with an Italian PoW. Can they resolve their problems and manage to rebuild their lives now that the war is at last over?

Five young Ayrtons all grew up at Amberwell, playing in the gardens and preparing themselves to venture out into the world. To each of these children, Amberwell meant something different, but common to all of them was the idea that it was more than just where they lived - it was part of them.  Book 1 of series.

Fern Jenkins' life is changed for ever when her brother is killed in action and her father dies in a mining explosion. Turned out of their home, Fern and her mother Wynne are forced to seek a new life in Cardiff.

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.

Ross Poldark is now the MP for Truro, but his old feud with George Warleggan still continues.  Book 7 of series.

Anila Tandy, the ‘Bird Girl of Calcutta,’ is given the chance of accompanying a scholar on an expedition to record bird life in Bengal. She hopes that this will give her the chance to search for her father who has been missing for many years and is now presumed dead.

When Charlie Higgins is unfairly dismissed from his job in a Leicester shoe factory his family become crippled by poverty. Refusing to surrender to her husband's misfortunes, Annie manages to keep food on the table and faith in their hearts. Until tragedy strikes again...

The story of a passionate young woman whose headstrong determination to make a life for herself leads to tragedy.

In 1955 Cyprus is torn apart by a military campaign. Ariadne and young British officer Stephen Allenby meet and fall in love, but when it becomes known, he is sent home. In 1998 his daughter, Cressida, now 36 travels to Northern Cyprus to seek answers to the pain-filled memories of her father's disappearance.

Hope and Jack Langley are a couple who seem to have it all and the birth of a second child completes their happiness, but appearances can be deceptive.