Emily Soldene's life spanned the entire Victorian era. As both leading lady and a formidable impresario with her own opera company, she was a darling of London's music halls and theatre land, later reinventing herself as a journalist and writer. From humble working-class beginnings, Emily's fiery ambition would see her counting the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Charles Dickens as friends and mingling with the Rothschilds, Oscar Wilde and aristocrats. She even alleged that she had a close ...

‘Oh my goodness – another girl Mrs Swain!’Clara’s normal iron composure broke and she screamed, ‘No! That’s not the bloody deal!’And that is how my nanna, Bertha Swain, entered the world.When Helen Batten’s marriage breaks down, she starts on a journey of discovery into her family’s past and the mysteries surrounding her enigmatic nanna’s early life.What she unearths is a tale of five feisty red heads struggling to climb out of poverty and fi...

‘Oh my goodness – another girl Mrs Swain!’Clara’s normal iron composure broke and she screamed, ‘No! That’s not the bloody deal!’And that is how my nanna, Bertha Swain, entered the world.When Helen Batten’s marriage breaks down, she starts on a journey of discovery into her family’s past and the mysteries surrounding her enigmatic nanna’s early life.What she unearths is a tale of five feisty red heads struggling to climb out of poverty and fi...

‘A second’s silence and then an almighty scream. It was the most moving thing I had ever seen … A baby, a real live baby, another human life had entered the world. It didn’t seem possible and yet I had witnessed it with my very own eyes.’Born into a happy working-class North London family in the mid-twentieth century, Katie is determined to ‘do something’ with her life. Working in the impoverished East End in the 1950s, she meets the Sisters of St John the Divine – a commu...

'A second's silence and then an almighty scream. It was the most moving thing I had ever seen . A baby, a real live baby, another human life had entered the world. It didn't seem possible and yet I had witnessed it with my very own eyes.'Born into a happy working-class North London family in the mid-twentieth century, Katie is determined to 'do something' with her life. Working in the impoverished East End in the 1950s, she meets the Sisters of St John the Divine - a commu...

A tale of love and heartache in the Second World War. The, sequel to Without Sin, Wish Me Luck will delight Margaret Dickinson's legions of fans.Fleur Bosley didn't believe in love at first sight, at least not until she bumped into Robbie Rodwell on a railway station in the blackout of wartime Britain. Posted to a newly-built Lincolnshire airfield, Robbie as a wireless operator on bombers and Fleur as a R/T operator in the watch office, their only escape i...

The Sweet family have run the local bakery for as long as anyone can remember.Twins Ruby and Mary Sweet help their widowed father out when they can. Mary loves baking and has no intention of leaving their small Gloucestershire village. While Ruby dreams of life in London.But as war threatens there will be changes for all of the Sweet family with brother Charlie off to serve and cousin Frances facing evacuation. But there will be opportunities too, as the twins’ baking talen...

In 1930s Birmingham, in the impoverished district of Nechells, a young girl bravely endeavours to hold her family together in trying times. A Hopscotch Summer is an emotional journey of determination and resilience from Annie Murray.Read by Penelope Freeman (My Daughter, My Mother)Emma Brown is a young girl whose usual cheerful spirit is challenged when her household welcomes a new baby. Her mother, Cynthia, is losing herself. Her father, ...

Rosa grew up an orphan in a remote, watery island fastness on the wild East coast of Yorkshire. Taken in as a small child by the motherly Mrs Drew, she realised as she grew up that this large and seemingly close farming family contained many troubled souls. Mr Drew, whose religious fervour held a dark secret; Jim, the eldest son, who was terrified of something from his past; Delia, longing to escape from the island; and tall, handsome, confident Matthew, who wanted only one thing - Rosa he...

A brand new series from the bestselling author of A Christmas Promise. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn.For the ordinary people of Empire Street, life will never be the same again.Kitty Fisher has plenty on her plate to keep her busy. Since her mother died when she was just a child, she’s cooked, cleaned and scraped to make ends meet for her drunken father and her headstrong brothers.Rita Kennedy, living with her husband under the roof of his spiteful mother-in-law, is...

LOVE AND A PROMISE - a heartrending Liverpool saga from bestselling author Lyn Andrews. Perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and Kate Thompson.Maddy Kiernan knows her situation is desperate. With her parents dead, her brother Thomas is left as guardian to Maddy and her sister Carmel. But Thomas has plans that don't include his sisters and his reckless ambition could put all their futures at risk. Sharp-witted and strong-willed, Maddy knows it is she who must assume re...

A heartwarming novel from Dilly Court, the No.1 Sunday Times bestseller.With the fate of her family in her hands, Rose has to make a terrible choice. Be thrown onto the streets without a penny to her name, or watch her loved ones fall into ruin . . .Rose is keeping a dreadful secret, and too scared to ask her strict father for help, it’s down to her to keep her brother from the hangman’s noose – whatever it takes. Her innocent sister Cora is on a different ...