Rachel Booker has a difficult start in life. When her father dies, deep in gambling debt, her mother must harden herself to make ends meet, but becomes so hard she has little room left for affection or warmth. Mother and daughter work at the open market in Birmingham, selling second-hand clothes or whatever they can find just to put a little food on the table.But the market has a silver lining: it's there that Rachel makes her first childhood friend, Danny. As they grow older, the ...

A Wartime Secret is the moving short story of a family torn apart by war, from bestselling author Annie Murray.Some lies are harder to hide . . .Grace and Ted Chapman married at the beginning of the war, but then Ted was called up to fight . . . Grace was left alone, fearful that her beloved Ted would never return. With the passage of time, Grace began to create a new life and found comfort in the arms of another man. Then along ca...

In Annie Murray’s bestselling Chocolate Girls, three very different women work together at Cadbury’s Bournville factory, where their lives become entwined by war and work – and a child called David.Edie marries young to escape her unhappy family home. Widowed at nineteen, and having lost her child from the marriage, she faces the war grieving and lonely. Then one night during the Blitz, an infant mysteriously abandoned during the bombing is handed into her care . . .

In 1984 two young mothers meet at a toddler group in Birmingham. As their friendship grows, they share with each other the difficulties and secrets in their lives:Joanne, a sweet, shy girl, is increasingly afraid of her husband. The lively, promising man she married has become hostile and violent and she is too ashamed to tell anyone. When her mother, Margaret is suddenly rushed into hospital, the bewildered family find that there are things about their mother of which they had no ...

Now the War is Over is a moving story of post-war hardship and the struggles of a reunited family, featuring characters from Annie Murray's bestselling War Babies.The Second World War has finally come to a close. Birmingham is welcoming home its menfolk, and a new chapter is beginning in Rachel Booker's life. Her husband has returned, and the family that struggled for survival throughout the uncertain war years is now together. But family life set...

A tale of hardship and survival, set between Birmingham and Canada across the 1950s, 60s and 70s, The Doorstep Child is a heart-rending story from the bestselling author of the Chocolate Girls series, Annie Murray.From a tender age little Evie struggled . . .Evie spent her early years left outside on the step. With a drunk for a father and a neglectful mother, all little Evie has ever craved is a safe home and a normal existence.Her young e...

The Orphan of Angel Street is a moving story of fortitude and survival from Annie Murray, author of War Babies.Abandoned at birth, little Mercy Hanley shows a fierce determination few others can match. Her inner fire burns brightly, even in the harsh conditions of turn-of-the-century Birmingham. For behind Mercy's pale and haunting face, there is a mind of steel, as her harsh foster mother, Mrs Gaskin, soon discovers. Beatings, threats and poverty...

Shortlisted for Historical Romantic Novel in the Romantic Novelists Association Books Awards.Birmingham, almost a decade after the end of the Great War, and the women of Lilac Street have had more than their fair share of troubles . . .Rose Southgate is trapped in a loveless marriage. Shy and isolated, she makes the best of life, until she meets a man who changes everything.Jen Green is struggling to make ends meet, with a sick husband and five chil...

As the pressures of rationing, bombing raids and sleepless nights grow, two sisters must decide what they really want from life – and if they're brave enough to fight for it. Meet Me Under the Clock is a beautiful wartime story from Annie Murray.Growing up in Birmingham, Sylvia and Audrey Whitehouse have always been like chalk and cheese. When the Second World War breaks out, Sylvia is still dreaming of her forthcoming marriage to fiancé Ian – while Audrey...

'This heartfelt story is perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Katie Flynn' - Candis'Gritty and moving story-telling' - Peterborough TelegraphAnnie Murray's The Pearl Button Girl is book one in the Children of Birmingham series, starting in Victorian Birmingham and following the trials and triumphs of the Fletcher family.Working at the local pearl button factory, Ada Fletcher is doing her be...

'This heartfelt story is perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Katie Flynn' - Candis'Gritty and moving story-telling' - Peterborough TelegraphAnnie Murray's The Pearl Button Girl is book one in the Children of Birmingham series, starting in Victorian Birmingham and following the trials and triumphs of the Fletcher family.Working at the local pearl button factory, Ada Fletcher is doing her be...

1940 - Small Heath, in the heart of Birmingham, is facing the darkest days of the war.Two very different girls from this tight-knit community join up as ARP wardens to do their bit for the Home Front.Violet Simms lives with her controlling, widowed mother who runs the local pawn shop. At just twenty-years-old, Violet longs for friendship, love and escape. It seems her dreams might come true until tragedy strikes on one of the very worst nights of the Birmin...