Shirley Hall

From the outbreak of World War II to the evacuation of Dunkirk, this book follows the fortunes of the people who live in a working class street in Portsmouth. The joys, sorrows and friendships of April Grove are played out against the backdrop of a seaport arming for war. Book 1 of series.

A priest goes missing outside the Abbey walls and a novice, Meriet, is soon linked to the crime. Only Brother Cadfael believes in his innocence and he has to employ all his powers of detection to save the boy from the noose.

Three vintage tales of medieval intrigue and treachery featuring the author's monastic sleuth Brother Cadfael. The stories show the chain of events that led him into the Benedictine Order and, evoking Shropshire backgrounds and his understanding of the frailties of human nature, show him at the height of his detecting skills.

A scandal involving a top American politician reveals some ugly family truths.  Book 1 of series.

In Paris 1793 the blade of the guillotine falls on the neck of the King himself, and the spirit of the French Revolution lies in tatters. The Reign of Terror has begun. This is a thrilling tale of secrets, murder, revenge and romance.

Rivalries and passions in an am-dram group lead a to a real-life case for D.C.I Jack Finch.

Sequel to 'The Sun in the Morning' (3250). In the 1930s, after some years at a drab school in Britain, the author returns to India with her sister. Here she describes their life and travels in India in the golden years of the British Raj.

This is the story of Frances Purcell and sees her though art school and her passionate relationship with Gabriel Mackenzie.  Book 2 of series.

True stories from the Golden Age of Piracy (15th to the 18th century), when corsairs ruled the waves all over the world.

It is 1933 and Rebecca arrives alone on a small Caribbean island. Here she encounters voices from the past and the spirit of Sibyl Jardine. The voices remind her of the girl she once was and the woman she could become.

Amid the tragedy of Monmouth's rebellion in 1685, Sir Alexander St Barbe returns to claim his inheritance.  Book 3 of series.

The story of Tom, Laura, Hugh and Margaret, who live in the great house Charlecote before the outbreak of the First World War. Their parents are stern and Tom is sent away to boarding school but during the holidays the four of them have many adventures in the grounds of the house.

Alison is 13. Her mother has recenty died; her dad has just bought a house in the North. Brimming with resentment, she is determined to dislike the rambling old Coal House. But as she becomes involved, the house and its unsolved mystery draws her in.

Minty is the kind of girl who notices things. Pockets of cold air on a stairway. Cries on the wind. Ghosts.

On night-time jaunts from the house where she's staying while her mother recovers from an accident, Minty stumbles upon a moondial which takes her back in time. She finds Tom, a sickly kitchen boy, and Sarah, a girl with a birthmark who is only allowed out at night because her family think she has the mark of the devil...

This book contains a collection of true stories of epic journeys over the ice wastelands of Antarctica.

Hannah Goslar was a childhood friend of Anne Frank, and here she remembers her own experiences in the war.

This book contains 10 true stories of spies and espionage. Each story is as glamorous and dangerous as the fictional James Bond.

Living with their widowed mother in sleepy Fenmarket, Clara and Madge Hopgood stand out from the crowd - beautiful, artistic, and daring to declare political opinions at Rectory parties. Eventually they escape to London, where they are caught up in the whirlwind of new social and political ideas following the revolutions sweeping Europe in 1848.

While Alicia was a schoolgirl a jilted boyfriend had killed himself, and her parents had moved from Kent. When she turns up after twenty years she is welcomed back although nobody knows why she has returned. Within hours Inspector Thanet has to investigate her murder.

The arrival of a fugitive from police justice brings dangers, sorrow, and pain for the inhabitants of Bramsbourne, particularly for the Trents and the local vicar, a disabled war veteran.

London 1589. Joel Downes is sent by his former master's widow to look for the grandchild she has never seen. Apparently, Frances Tabor has vanished into thin air, but Joel discovers Grace Wilton, a penniless orphan, who is very pretty and amenable. Joel needs money - why shouldn't he pass off Grace as the missing heiress? However, Joel is not quite as clever as he thinks, while poor Grace is not cut out to be a conspirator.

In the heart of Victorian London, Owen Oliver walks out of his gloomy lodgings and doesn't stop his travels until he reaches Kent. There, he secures employment in a shipping agency and his fortunes start to increase. But Owen is not content. All around him he sees the helpless destitution of the poor. So when he takes the matter into his own hands and rescues a beautiful ragged child with haunting blue eyes and long golden hair, his fate is sealed . . .

The Earl of Templecombe had dared to kiss Miranda Melbury at their first meeting, when she had required rescuing when her horse bolted. Now, it was rumoured that the Earl, somewhat the worse for gambling losses, was looking for a new source of funds. Was he planning to persue Miranda because she had become an heiress - or did he plan to finance his future by other, more criminal means?

Willow’s friend, Richard Crescent, has been found drenched in his colleague’s blood, and is accused of murder by the police. Willow, convinced he couldn’t have done it, rushes back form her Tuscan holiday, and together with her friend, C.I. Tom Worth, tries to solve the murder.

Sequel to 'The Fountain Overflows' (3637); It is the early 1900’s and Clare Aubrey’s feckless husband has disappeared leaving her in charge of the family. Rose and Mary are at music college, Cordelia is assistant to an art dealer, and younger brother, Richard, is contemplating Oxford. Meanwhile events of the First World War gather pace.

Lively authorised biography of the creator of the detective Roderick Alleyn;

Nancy Mitford's letters to her friends show acute observation, fantasy and wit.

Penelope Lively provides snapshots of recollection of childhood in Egypt, during the 1930s in a land of canals, palm trees, mud-brick villages and water buffalo, under the ever-watchful eye of her nanny Lucy. Even the second world war did not disrupt her idyll which was finally shattered by adolescence and her parents' divorce.

When Alison marries Rigby Toan she is blissfully happy, but then recession strikes and their home is repossessed. Alison realises belatedly that her husband is very different from the man she thought she had married.

Two cousins embark on a voyage to Chile and meet two children on board ship. Dire consequences follow.

Dorothea May's tranquillity is shattered by the wedding arrangements for her grand-daughter, when she is asked to put up the bridegroom's feckless friend. As the wedding approaches, the scene is set for a highly charged conflict of generations.

The disappearance of a beautiful woman causes a mystery of mind and motive ending in an unexpected romance.

What is the truth about Valentine Siddons, acclaimed poet and World War I hero? When her researcher and his notes mysteriously disappear, Elsa Meyers, who is developing a film about the poet's life, is forced to conduct her own investigation and Elsa's discoveries about the poet's legacy ultimately force her to face her own conflict of loyalties.

Mitford USA is one of those pretty peaceful villages everyone dreams of retiring to. Just as the village rector, Father Tim, thinks he needs a change, life hots up!

Elizabeth was a typist, Alan was a mechanic and one day they decided to opt out of the rat race. This is the story of their first years in a semi-derelict farmhouse overlooking Snowdonia.

Sequel to: 'At home in Mitford' (5282). In sleepy Mitford, Father Tim realises that he is in love with Cynthia Coppersmith, but the path of true love never runs smooth.