Maggie Mash

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…

New Year's Eve, 1940: three women are thrust together in the heat of war, determined to help their country. Billeted in a tiny cottage, they must learn to live and work together. Brave, beautiful and fiercely independent, they find romance, confront loss, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime.

Dido Belle was the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain and a slave woman, adopted by the Earl of Mansfield. As Lord Chief Justice of England he would preside over the drowning of 142 slaves by a shipping company. This is the story of a family that defied convention, the legal trial that exposed the cruelties of slavery and the woman who challenged notions of race at the highest rank.

London, 1867. A woman lies murdered in Green Park. Allegra Benedict was the beautiful Italian wife of an art dealer. As Inspector Ben Ross of Scotland Yard begins his investigation, his wife Lizzie looks into Allegra's private life and uncovers more than one reason why someone might want her dead...  Book 3 of series.

When seventeen-year-old Mary O'Connor collapses one Sunday in church she is taken to live with Dr Roberts and his wife in a beautiful Yorkshire village for her health.

With Britain at war, unable to remain idle, Mary finds employment in the local steel works but when her fiancé Tom Downing is killed in action Mary is convinced it is retribution for their night of sin during Tom's Christmas leave.

However, Mary grows to love Jack Holmes, a local miner. They marry and move into a humble terrace house with little but their love to keep them going. Mary sets up her own dressmaking business and it seems as if she has finally found peace of mind. But the business starts to dominate her life until tragedy once more threatens to destroy all she most cherishes...

The year is 1562. Lady Catherine Grey, cousin of Elizabeth I, and her husband have been arrested - their crime is to have secretly married and produced a child who might threaten the Queen's title. Alone in her chamber at the Tower of London, Catherine hears ghostly voices; echoes, she thinks, of a crime committed in the same room where she is imprisoned…

It is Halloween, and when police find the body of a young girl on Harden Moor the scene suggests a ritual sacrifice. DI Handford and DS Ali discover that she had previously accused a teacher of sexual assault, but the case had collapsed. Then they find that the prime suspect is a man without a past.

It is 1945 and in the Yorkshire market town of Middlebeck, fifteen year old Maisie Jackson is waiting for the return of her sweetheart Bruce Tremaine. When Bruce arrives he has a beautiful female friend in tow who is determined to become his wife. Will Maisie stay in Middlebeck or will she move on?

Elizabeth of York was one of the key figures of the Wars of the Roses. She married Henry Tudor to bring peace to a war-torn England. Alison Weir builds a portrait of this beloved queen, placing her in the context of the magnificent, ceremonious, often brutal world she inhabited.

Emma fell in love with Dr Roele van Dyke, and hoped that he felt the same. When he had to go home to Amsterdam he offered her a job in his practice, which she accepted. But did he want her as his secretary or his wife?

Lucy Gabbitas has just left school and is excited about joining her sisters at the local umbrella factory. But then her beloved father dies of lung disease leaving Lucy and her brothers and sisters broken-hearted. With barely enough to make ends meet, the family receive no sympathy from their tyrannical mother, Annie, and their first Christmas without him holds little comfort and joy.

Things seem to be looking brighter for Lucy when she meets John Grey and falls in love. That is until Annie becomes seriously ill and dies, and Lucy is forced to put her family first. But despite their continued hardship and despair, Lucy resolves to turn their home into a happy one for her brothers and sisters, and for the family of her own she dearly hopes for. And she is determined to make Christmas a joyous occasion for them all once more...

Berlin 1941. Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a nineteen-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision, takes off her yellow star and vanishes into the city. Never certain who could be trusted, it was her quick-witted determination and the most hair-raising strokes of luck that ensured her survival.

Hester Fielding's bleak Yorkshire childhood was transformed by the discovery that she was a very talented dancer, who became a prima ballerina. Her life was the stuff of dreams but now she has retired to her Yorkshire roots, where every year she organises a ballet to be performed on Twelfth Night.

January 1945, West London: Sylvia Simpson has become an invaluable member of the Marigold's crew - but as the V-I and V-2 rockets draw closer, someone from her past is about to rock the boat. Now Sylvia must choose between keeping the promises she has made, and remaining loyal to the people she loves the most. Polly and Verity are waiting for their sweethearts' safe return, and have their own battles to fight on the home front. It will take all their resolve to keep their heads above water, but as long as they stick together there will always be hope.  Book 3 of series.

In 1209, as the Cathars are besieged in Carcassonne, a young woman is given a book by her father, which, he says, contains the story of the Grail. In 2005, Alice Turner is excavating in the area when she finds a tomb with two bodies, and sets in motion a terrifying sequence of events. Richard & Judy Bookclub

The Wars of the Roses, between the houses of Lancaster and York was characterised by treachery, deceit and bloody battles. This gripping account focuses on Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, and his wife Margaret of Anjou, who took up her arms in her husband’s cause and battled in a violent man's world.

Catherine Tinsall is gearing up for Christmas - in the middle of summer. As the writer in chief on Happy Homes magazine, she is putting together a 'perfect Christmas' competition, to remind readers of the festive season's true meaning. Then tragedy strikes and Catherine is forced to reassess her priorities, and work out what the perfect Christmas really means.

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox; her mother was a queen, her father an earl, and she herself was the granddaughter, niece, cousin and grandmother of monarchs. Beautiful and tempestuous, she created scandal by falling in love with unsuitable men. Fortunately, the marriage arranged for her turned into a love match.

March 1944: It's been five months since Verity Clement fled home for a life on Britain's canals. Hauling cargo between London and Birmingham is tough but far easier to face than the turbulence she's left behind. New recruit Sylvia is struggling with demons from her past while crewmate Polly receives devastating news. Verity does her best to help, but a shocking discovery is about to turn her own life upside down....  Book 2 of series.

Mary Boleyn was overshadowed by her younger sister Anne, whom famously married Henry VIII. Yet despite almost being lost in history Mary Boleyn was a fascinating woman whose life, courage and determination is recounted in this detailed portrayal.

A new character, Lizzie, is introduced in this, the fourth in the series of Soho stories set in the 1950s. She takes in her employer’s niece, Peace, who has run away from boarding school, and when the girl goes missing again Lizzie recruits her new man to the search. Some strong language.

Marie is turning 69 this year, but there are no signs of her slowing down! The year brings plenty of challenges, but worst of all, it seems Gene is getting too old to want to hang out with his groovy granny any more. Maybe learning to graffiti and speak street slang will help win him back!

When Madeleine Belfield loses her family and her home in the Blitz, she is sent to live with relatives in the safety of the Yorkshire Dales. She slowly adjusts to life at Brooklyn Hall and her new family, especially Aunt Plum. Years later a visit back to Yorkshire reveals the truth about the past - a revelation with unimaginable consequences.

High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. It seems like the perfect retreat for Emma Temple. But for her grandmother, Freya, the house evokes terrible memories. Emma is drawn deeper into Freya's story: one of crushed idealism, lost love, and families ripped apart by war.

Drawing on letters and diaries, this book reveals Jane Austen’s bond with a family servant, Anne Sharp; how Charlotte Brontë was inspired by the daring feminist Mary Taylor; the relationship between George Eliot and the author Harriet Beecher Stowe; and the friendship of Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield – a pair too often dismissed as bitter foes.

Sarah is finding life as a governess in a small, 1930s' English village quite enchanting, until the family she works for becomes the victim of a hate campaign. At first it was a dead dog, but then a human skeleton, and finally a corpse, are found on the lawn.

In England in the 1930s, eighteen-year-old Helen Carstairs braves the prejudice of friends and family to marry Heine, a young German photographer who has fled the growing horror of the Nazis. But the storm clouds are gathering in Europe. When fighting breaks out Heine is interned, their small son is evacuated and Helen is left to face the Blitz alone. And the agony of war threatens to divide a family already tormented by conflicting passions of loyalty, shame, betrayal - and love.

A mysterious visitor has arrived in Turnham Malpas. What can Titus Bellamy want? Is it true, the villagers ask each other, that he has discovered a medieval charter which grants the right to hold a market on their picturesque village green? And if it is true, can he be stopped? It appears not...  Book 13 of series.

Ford and Mercedes Barclay have decided to spend their twilight years in the lovely village of Turnham Malpas - but will these two newcomers be made welcome? Mr Fitch, the village benefactor, is less than impressed, leaving Ford and Mercedes to wonder whether village life is really for them.  Book 14 of series.

October 1943. Nineteen-year-old Polly Holmes is leaving London behind to join the war effort on Britain’s canals. Stepping aboard the Marigold amid pouring rain, she rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck into life on board. On the gruelling journey from London to Birmingham, she will soon discover that a world of new beginnings awaits.  Book 1 of series.

Since 1994, the UK's National Lottery has created more than 2,300 millionaires. Expensive cars and dream holidays are all top of the wish list for the winners. Five winners share the details of the highs and lows of their lives once they became millionaires. Quick Reads.

When Billy Butlin founded his holiday camps in 1936, they were bastions of community spirit and havens of luxury. Rich in period detail and highly evocative, this is the story of seven women who worked as redcoats in Butlin’s Golden Age, and the lifelong friendships they formed with each other and those who also worked or holidayed there.

In Belvoir Castle, 1683, the heir of the Earl of Rutland falls suddenly ill. Within a few short weeks he will suffer an excruciating death. Soon the whole family will be stricken with the same terrifying symptoms. It is said witches are to blame, but the author claims to have uncovered a murderous conspiracy at the heart of the injustice.