Showing titles in 20th Century

The new Anna Jacobs saga continues the story of the younger sisters of Keara Michaels, the heroine of A PENNYWORTH OF SUNSHINE, following their fortunes from nineteenth-century Ireland to the brave new world of Australia. Three sisters. Three journeys. One destination. In 1863 the authorities...

During World War I, the ancient manor house of Greyladies in rural Wiltshire is requisitioned for a hospital. Living in Swindon, Phoebe Sinclair is unaware of any connection to Greyladies and the Latimers. She loses her job when her German employers are interned because of the war. When Phoebe is posted to the hospital at Greyladies, she feels she's come home. But Frank is still pursuing her and Corin has his own problems. With obstacles at every turn, can Phoebe find happiness and embrace the role of mistress of Greyladies?

It’s 1945, the war is over and the soldiers are coming back to the bomb-ravaged East End. Tom Smith is one of the thousands who are returning home. He can’t wait to see his wife, Jessie, their son, Billy, and the new baby daughter he hasn’t even laid eyes on. But life back home wasn’t easy, especially once Jessie’s army pension was stopped after Tom deserted. So when she was told to put her infant daughter Emma-Rose into a home for her own good, she thought it was for the best. But how will Tom take the news?

‘The Silk Code had me absolutely hooked… A great storyline full of bravery, trust, love, survival, betrayal and determination.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Based on the true story of ‘Englandspiel’, one woman must race against the clock to uncover a traitor, even if it means...

A tale of hardship and social injustice, Miss Purdy's Class by Annie Murray is a heartfelt saga with strong emotional relationships at its heart, read by actress Annie Aldington. In the New Year of 1936, Gwen Purdy, aged twenty-one, leaves her home to become a schoolteacher in a poor area of...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Bomb Girl Brides by Daisy Styles, read by Anne Dover. The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the...

Read by Anna Popplewell, known for her role in The Chronicles of Narnia. Richard & Judy Book Club Pick Sunday Times Bestseller Set during London's blitz and filled with warmth, wit and heartbreak, Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce is a wartime story about the power of friendship, the kindness of...

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award From the bestselling author of The Piano Tuner, comes Daniel Mason's The Winter Soldier, a story of love and medicine through the devastation of the First World War. Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War One explodes...

New York, 1942: Avery is engaged to be married. Longing for adventure instead, she jumps at an unexpected offer to trade her library job for undercover intelligence-gathering in Portugal. But her new life in Lisbon, known as the Capital of Espionage, challenges everything she thought she knew about herself.

In Chocolate Girls, read by actress Frances Barber, three very different women work together at Cadbury's Bournville factory, and their lives become entwined by war and work - and a child called David. Edie, the main character, marries young to escape her unhappy family home. Widowed at nineteen...

1941. The Blitz rages over London. And even in Cornwall, the war is being fought. When Violet loses her sister in the Blitz, she must take her nieces to safety in Cornwall. On the coast, she meets carefree chorus girl Eva, who is also running from the dangers of London. But Porthcurno hides a secret military base, and soon Violet and Eva realise there’s a battle to fight in Cornwall, too. Together with local Hazel, who works on the base, they must come together to help the war effort. But will their friendship be enough to keep them safe? 

For the district nurses of Victory Walk, there's been little time to bask in the triumph of D-day as London is facing a new threat - the buzz bombs. Everyone is terrified, never knowing where the next one will strike. Into this tense atmosphere, new nurse Iris must make her mark. She’s had more experience of nursing than many, but since arriving in East London from the countryside, she has struggled to fit in with the other staff. Meanwhile, Alice is facing an agonising wait to hear if her boyfriend, Joe, has survived D-day.

Autumn, 1942. The Blitz has come to an end, but for many families, it's not over yet. As the residents of Jubilee Row begin to rebuild their lives, twins Sybil and Maudie Maguire decide to go off and do their bit by joining the WAAFs. But what starts off as a great adventure soon forces the girls to grow up as they are confronted with the harsh realities of war. Will they stick together, or will their experiences drive them apart? Back in Hull, their older sister Florence is a typing pool supervisor who has resigned herself to a life without love.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is an epic love story one hundred years in the making . . . Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing. Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a...

From the top-ten bestselling author of One Snowy Night, Rita Bradshaw, comes The Winter Rose, a sweeping family saga set in the north of England. It’s December 1902 and Rose O’Leary is looking forward to her baby girl’s first Christmas. But then tragedy strikes: her husband dies at the...

A compelling wartime drama from the author of The Street, perfect for fans of Pam Weaver and Kitty Neale. The Windmill Theatre was one of the most famous clubs of the 20th century. Its heyday was during WWII when it famously ‘never closed' and it became famous for its ‘tasteful' nude performances. Dawn is a pretty and feisty blonde. Losing her job as a chambermaid, she goes to work as a dancer at The Windmill Theatre.

An enthralling historical fiction from the bestselling author of the Guinness Girls series Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy, a recent arrival to England from Massachusetts, is already a huge hit in 1930s London society. Her status as the daughter of an ambassador puts her at the centre of the most elite...

Even with peace on the horizon, Met WAAF Jenny Hazleton is as busy as ever. Her keen weather-forecasting allows the pilots to continue their missions, including food drops to starving allies and the repatriation of prisoners of war. Navigating many of these missions is Flying Officer Edwin Holland, whose rejection of her advances at Christmas still stings. Edwin is increasingly haunted by his role in the war, including the bombing of Dresden, and Jenny yearns to comfort him. But when he reveals the shocking reason he turned her down, she must decide if their friendship is well and truly over.

High school best friends Rose and Dax each have a secret—they like the other in a way they shouldn't in 1920s Prohibition Era California. After sharing a first kiss, they're forced apart—each sent to a different city to account for their sin. Rose lands in the coastal tourist city of Half Moon Bay in virtual servitude, working for a distant cousin for pennies. Dax has an idyllic existence in San Francisco, living with her married sister. Then the fates change

1950. In the wake of the war, Audrey Clarkson leaves her manor house in England for a fresh start in America with her young son. As a widowed war bride, Audrey needs the support of her American in-laws, whom she has never met. But she arrives to find that her longtime friend Eve Dawson has been impersonating her for the past four years. Unraveling this deception will force Audrey and Eve’s secrets - and the complicated history of their friendship - to the surface.