Julia Franklin

1922. When Lady Emily Fitzallan returns to Leysmorton Manor where she spent her childhood, it brings back many memories. But the disturbing discovery of a soldier’s skeleton at the base of an ancient Yew tree brings the past shockingly into the present. Could the man’s untimely death have its roots in her sister Clare’s disappearance, which occurred almost half a century ago . . .?

Susie Moran is a success. She has founded and run her own highly profitable company, and now her three daughters are all involved in the business. But can the needs of a family business override the needs of the family itself? In wanting to preserve her business, will Susie lose something much more precious?

The Beach Hut follows the stories of the families who come to Everdene each year, people who fall in - or out - of love, remembering their pasts, or trying to forget them There's Jane Milton, left only debts by her husband, and forced to sell the beloved beach hut that holds so many happy memories; Sarah; for whom fidelity has lost its appeal; and Harry, suffering from the anguish of first love when he falls for Florence - who has grown up to be far more alluring than she ever used to be.

August 1939. Genie Watkins, a Birmingham kid, would love to have a proper happy family like her Italian friend, Teresa. But Genie hasn't reckoned with the outbreak of war, her already rocky family being split up and the strangely liberating effect it all has on her mother....

Janine Lewis is Manchester's first female Detective Chief Inspector. She's also a single mother to three demanding children, and pregnant with a fourth and she has her first murder to investigate. An elderly dying man and a seven-year-old child are the only witnesses. This isn't going to be an easy case to crack for the new DCI...

It's 1152 and a beautiful woman of 30 is riding southwards through what is now France, leaving behind her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage to Louis of France. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose now is to return to her vast duchy and marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet.

Summer in Frantham had been long and lazy, and DI MacGregor had enjoyed the peace after a traumatic year. But when the skeletal remains of a woman are found during excavations at the local airfield Mac finds himself swept up into a maelstrom.

When he loses his fortune in the Wall Street Crash, Eugenie Winford's father commits suicide, leaving Eugenie and her mother ruined. She changes her name and goes into hiding as a housemaid. When her identity is revealed, she flees again, ending up with a poor family in Lambeth, with whom she faces the hardships of the Depression.

Three women in their fifties - one widowed, one divorced and one never married - meet when they join a choir. When they decide to combine their talents to restore a run-down hotel on the Cornish coast and turn it into a spa offering holiday courses, conflict is bound to result. In the months that follow they discover that a choir can teach you a good deal more than how to sing.

Manchester, 1942. There are surprises in store for the railway girls this festive season... When Cordelia's daughter Emily falls for a young chap who doesn't meet the approval of her father, Cordelia is reminded of her own first love - a love that she has never forgotten. Mabel is determined to get to the bottom of a spate of local burglaries. Her heart is in the right place as she sets out on a quest to clear her friend's name, but there will be unforeseen consequences. It's nothing short of a miracle when Colette returns to Manchester. But it's not going to be easy for her to keep living the life she once knew, and an impossible situation lies ahead. There will be more than one storm for the railway girls to weather but with the friendship and support of one another, there's hope that all will be well by Christmas...  Book 6 of series.

This will be a Christmas to remember for the railway girls...

Little Max is growing day by day and Joan is adjusting to her new life. But in her heart of hearts, she is desperate to return to work on the railways.

Margaret's job in the engine shed is demanding. But when a friend finds herself in crisis, she knows she must do everything she can to help her. 

Alison is overjoyed at the prospect of organising a Christmas wedding until a long-held secret is revealed. Knowing the truth, can she find the strength to forgive those she holds most dear?

As war rages on, the railway girls must also battle with matters of the heart. Can they overcome their troubles in time for Christmas?  Book 8 of series.

The brand new festive Railway Girls novel set in Manchester during WWII. Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell, Daisy Styles and Margaret Dickinson.

Manchester, 1941

Christmas is the season for family and friends, and this year the railway girls will need each other more than ever.

Dot's dear friend Cordelia appears to have the perfect life. When her daughter Emily arrives home unexpectedly, she can't wait to introduce her to her friends. But things don't go to plan and Cordelia has to decide where her loyalty lies.

Things aren't going too smoothly for Alison either. Her beloved boyfriend has yet to propose, but there's a charity fundraiser dance and she's dressed up specially. Surely, tonight must be the night.

Colette's friends are envious of her devoted husband. He meets her after every shift on the railway, and accompanies her around town. Colette has a secret, one that will change her life, if only she knew who to confide in.

The railway girls have survived unsettling times, and while the bombings might have eased, their own turmoil has only just begun. With Christmas fast approaching, will their wishes come true?  Book 4 of series.

Rose and Myrtle Sylvester look up to their older sister, Peggy. She is the sensible, reliable one in the household, but when war is declared in 1939 they must face the hardships together and huge changes in their lives are inevitable. For Rose, there is the chance to fulfil her dream of becoming a clippie on Sheffield's trams like Peggy. But for Myrtle, the studious, clever one in the family, war may shatter her ambitions.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, Persimmon "Simmy" Brown's flower shop near Lake Windermere receives a string of anonymous delivery orders. But each one causes their recipient great distress, and Simmy suspects that the messages they contain mask a sinister intent. Then one of the recipients disappears As if that isn't enough, Simmy's friend Kathy turns up, on the trail of her wayward daughter Joanna, who has grown unhealthily close to her university tutor. When Kathy attempts to reason with her daughter she finds that Joanna's older lover may be even more menacing than she had imagined. With both Kathy and Joanna in peril, Simmy and her friends find themselves caught up in a web of deception, blackmail and murder.

When Professor Hallam rejects three candidates sent by her secretarial agency, Lucille Abbey goes to interview him herself and finds him as impossible as the other girls had said. She accepts the challenge of working for him herself - a useful excuse to delay a trying holiday to Paris.

Manchester, 1943. Emily is enjoying her new job as a station porter until she learns that a trusted friend at work may be involved in something underhand...

Persephone's romance with Matt is blossoming - but can two people from such different walks of life really make a go of it?

All is going well with wedding planning for Mabel until someone divulges a secret about Harry, which could threaten their future.

As war rages around them, the railway girls must face their own battles. With the support of one another, will they make the right decisions when it comes to matters of the heart?  Book 7 of series.

On a sunlit afternoon in seventeenth-century Dorset, a young girl falls in love with a stranger. But when her Puritan brother tries to force her into an unbearable marriage she flees, taking with her only the gift left to her by her unknown father - a gold pendant sealed by an engraving of an axe, and the words 'St Matthew'. But it’s a perilous legacy that others will kill for …  Book 1 of series.

Jo Melling has arrived in Birch End from Australia, still grieving her father's recent death. She's not intending to stay long, but after tracking down her distant family, Jo becomes more involved in village life than she could ever have imagined.

Jo also finds herself drawn to Nick, a handsome newcomer to the village. Nick had planned to settle in Birch End and start a business, but as he grows closer to Jo, he realises he may have to choose between his dreams and a chance at love.

Meanwhile, the new local council are faced with some tough decisions of their own. It's time to take a stand against the poor conditions in Backshaw Moss, the nearby slum, but some councillors want things to stay as they are - and will go to any lengths to make sure they get their way…

Charlotte Nicholls and three-year-old Chloe have left their home and friends, and are now building a new life for themselves. All Charlotte wants to do is to blot out what went before, and to look only to the future. Then, suddenly, their nightmare returns, and Charlotte finds she has no power to prevent what comes next...

In the dead of night, with blood on her hands, she made her escape. Accused of murder, Alejandra flees her home, escaping to the southern edge of Spain, where she faces a life of poverty and destitution.

Seduced by the power of the rich and the anonymity that waits across the water in Tangier, Ale makes a bid for a new start. But it will come at a cost: a life of deception. Because Ale's new friends want to know what she is running from, they want to know who she is and whether they can trust her. 

Fifty years later, a young American writer wanders the streets of Tangier, searching for inspiration. When he stumbles across a trace of Ale's life, he finds himself tangled in a story of scandal, love and danger that has not yet reached its end.

When Charlie Cartwright went off to fight in the Spanish Civil War he left behind Rose, pregnant with his child. In revenge for his desertion Rose marries Luke Barton and makes a happy life. After VE day Charlie returns home and vows not to come between them, but Luke's jealousy pushes Rose into Charlie's open arms…

Who was John Lewis? What story lies behind the retail empire that bears his name? Behind the glass windows and displays of soft furnishing, this book reveals the family that founded the shops in all their eccentricities, and whose relationships became blighted by conflicts of epic proportions as their wealth bloomed.

Born into poverty, John Lewis was orphaned at the age of seven when his father died in a Somerset workhouse. Dreaming of a better life, the young man travelled to London at the start of what would become a retail revolution. From early years as a draper's apprentice, we see how Lewis's first pokey little business opened on Oxford Street in 1864, and expanded as an emerging middle class embraced the department stores as a recreational experience.

Prize-winning biographer Victoria Glendinning has had full access to the company and family archives to write this eye-opening story. She captures the toxic relationships that unfolded between Lewis and his two sons, Spedan and Oswald, as they collided over the future of their retail empire - their worst moments including emotional blackmail, face-slapping and a kidnapping - and much litigation between father and both sons.

Yet the family never broke up and Spedan's vision of a Partnership model to act as an ethical corrective and foster a community of happier, more productive workers was eventually realised and survives to this day.

With riveting personal detail, this brilliant group biography captures a rags-to-riches story and a tempestuous family saga, all unfolding against the dramatic social and political worlds of nineteenth-century London. The book concludes with an assessment of the position John Lewis holds in British sensibilities, and whether John Lewis and institutions like it have a place in our future.

Friday nights, the best night of the week, the night they all looked forward to more than they cared to admit - talking, drinking, laughing and crying together. They were six female friends, different in age and circumstances, but with one common need: the warmth and support of their Friday nights. It was a time to share secrets and fears, triumphs and tragedies and, above all, to feel safe in the company of women friends. But things never stay the same forever, especially when a man is introduced into the mix...

Josie O'Casey arrives in London after twelve years in America and is met with an East End that is much changed. Drawn back to her childhood haunts - and her childhood sweetheart, Patrick Nolan, she finds he now belongs to another. The couple are offered a glimmer of hope, but their chance at happiness is threatened by the all-powerful Ma Tugman and her criminal empire..

Hester and Harriet are reluctantly driving to visit relatives on Christmas Day when they come across a young woman hiding with her baby in a bus shelter. The sisters insist on bringing Daria and Milo home with them. But soon Hester and Harriet's carefully crafted peace and quiet quickly begins to fall apart…

Back at work after maternity leave, DCI Janine Lewis finds herself in the thick of two major investigations. The battered body of a young woman is recovered from the River Mersey and a schoolgirl is killed in a hit and run. As Janine and her team fight to unravel the story behind each death, she struggles with equally demanding dramas at home.

Manchester, 1942

A new year brings new hope for the railway girls.

Alison's romance with the charming Dr Maitland is blossoming, but then she is posted away from Manchester. Working in a canteen isn't part of her plan, nor is meeting her beau's old girlfriend - one who just happens to want him back.

Margaret is supportive of her friend's new relationship until she realises exactly who he is. Torn between keeping her secret and warning Alison, she turns to Joan for help.

Working in Lost Property wouldn't be Joan's first choice of job, but with a baby on the way she knows she can't continue being a station porter. As she looks to the future, can she put the troubles of her past behind her?

Being a railway girl isn't always easy but together, they can overcome every challenge that stands in their way.  Book 5 of series.

In a hidden corner of London, Henri Lachapelle is teaching his granddaughter Sarah and her horse to defy gravity, just as he had done in France, fifty years previously. Meanwhile lawyer Natasha Macauley's life seems to have gone awry. When her path crosses that of Sarah, she doesn't know that Sarah is keeping a secret, one that will change all their lives forever . . .

An unexpected inheritance from her grandmother offers Libby Pulford the opportunity to escape her abusive marriage and return to her Lancashire roots with her young son Ned. But her domineering husband Steven won't let her go so easily. She turns to her new neighbour for help, former police detective Joss Atherton, to whom Libby feels a growing attraction. But Joss has troubles of his own. Emily Mattison is trying to make contact with the daughter she was forced to give up for adoption so many years before. People's lives are destined to intertwine in ways they could never have imagined.

Book 2 in the Hope series.

Thea's parents decide to host a big family Christmas in a house by the sea... even though they are, in fact, about to split up. And while her sister and brother are both settled, Thea herself is newly single - her boyfriend has ditched her in favour of his pedigree dogs, and Thea can't decide whether or not she minds.

There will be copious food and drink, holly and mistletoe, lots of bracing walks and a wintry barbecue on the beach. If it seems an odd way to celebrate the final break-up of a marriage, no-one is saying so. But then no-one had anticipated that the new partners might actually turn up to complicate the sleeping arrangements...

As Cornwall experiences the biggest snowstorm in living memory, the festive atmosphere comes under some strain. Will Thea manage to find some happiness for herself?

When twins Annie and Lauren attend their older sister Chelsea's fortieth birthday party at the Dorchester Hotel, they wonder why their lives are so different. Chelsea's husband is twirling her round the dance floor, while Annie's husband has gone fishing and Lauren's lover is at home with his wife and children.

Annie and Lauren decide it's time to make a change and turn their lives around, it's time they starting living for again. But have they left it too late? It's now or never.

When twins Annie and Lauren attend their older sister Chelsea's fortieth birthday party, they wonder why their lives are so different. Chelsea's husband is twirling her round the dance floor, while Annie's husband has gone fishing and Lauren's lover is at home with his wife and children. The twins decide it's time to make a change and turn their lives around. But have they left it too late? It's now or never...

Dan and Sally Oliver and their friend Chloe Hennessey are lucky to be alive. Three years on, after surviving one of the world's biggest natural disasters - the Boxing Day tsunami - their lives have changed dramatically. Dan and Sally have everything Chloe wishes for in life - a happy marriage and a beautiful child. She's been on a mission to find the perfect father for the child she craves. When she meets Seth Hawthorne, she thinks she may have hit the jackpot. But is Seth the man she thinks he is?

When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper's archives for a story, she doesn't think she'll find anything of interest. Instead she discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband - and Ellie is caught up in the intrigue of a past love affair despite her own romantic entanglements with a married man.

When Caroline Daniels takes a deadly fall in front of a train and her lover fails to turn up at the funeral, Zoë Boehm wants nothing to do with the case. But Caroline's boss is persistent, and as Zoë attempts to unlock the secrets of a woman she's never met while in search of a man who could be anywhere, she starts to wonder if he's found her first. And if he has, will that make her the next victim?  Book 2 of series.

A sweeping story of orphans and outcasts, haunted by the past and fighting to liberate themselves. At its centre is Monica Johnson, cut off from her parents after falling in love with a foreigner, and her bitter struggle to raise her sons in the shadow of the wild moors of the North of England.