When teenagers Beth and Sam Bolton are orphaned, their baby sister is taken into a new home, so they decide to set sail for a new life too... in America. On board the steamer to New York, Beth and Sam meet charismatic gambler Theo, and quick-witted Londoner Jack, and the four band together to seek their fortunes. Beth has always dreamed of playing her fiddle to large audiences... and finds herself doing so in the saloons, where she is a huge success and lovingly nicknamed Gypsy by her fans. But the foursome fall foul of local gangsters and flee to Canada… As word gets out that gold has been found in the Klondike, they embark on a dangerous and epic journey to reach the Yukon valley, trailing across snowy mountains and treacherous rapids. Who will break first? Theo, the handsome-yet-greedy bounder? Dreamy Sam, so easily influenced by money? Practical Jack, a man devoted to his friends? Or Beth, the woman with the gypsy in her soul, who cares more for music than gold?

Laura Brannigan is in jail for a murder she claims she didn't commit. For two years she's been battling for justice - insisting the police made a terrible mistake; pleading that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. With her spirits at their lowest ebb, she's resigned to her miserable fate - until, out of the blue, a letter is delivered to the prison. At the sight of the letter's handwriting, Laura's heart lurches - taking her back to a different, happier time and memory of an old love…

Somerset, 1836, and baby Hope is cast out from a world of privilege as living proof of her mother's adultery … Smuggled away from the Harveys and Briargate House to a nearby village, Hope grows up in the arms of the warm and loving Renton family, unaware of her true identity. But fate has harsh plans for Hope and a chain of events sees her forced to lead a vagabond's existence until she finds the courage to fight back and prove herself a fearless and able nurse, a vocation that takes her to the horrific battlefields of the Crimea. But the secrets of the past are not yet done with Hope Renton and she must return to England to face the legacy of her birth … With the storytelling magic that has won Lesley Pearse millions of fans, Hope is the portrait of a remarkable woman who will never let the world - or injustice - bring her down.

When Fifi declares to her mother that she has secretly married Dan Reynolds, a handsome but itinerant bricklayer, her mother in incensed. Despite her mother's disapproval, Fifi heads to London with her new husband to set up home in Kennington. Their flat may be small and the area quite deprived, but she finds the freedom of her new life exhilarating. Insatiably inquisitive, Fifi is fascinated by her eclectic mix of neighbours: Yvette the French dressmaker; Frank, the retired widower; and Miss Diamond, the formidable and well bred woman who lives downstairs. They are all a complete mystery to her and she can't wait to discover what really goes on behind their front doors, particularly those of the Muckle family... The Muckle's live in terrible squalor. Fifi can't help but listen to their violent quarrels, watch the endless people coming and going, or the stories and legends about this ruthless family. And when she tries to help Angela, the youngest member of the Muckle family, who has been physically abused by her father, Fifi unwittingly starts a chain of events that puts her and Dan in terrible danger, and will change their lives forever.

Set in the 1930's, Secrets tells the story of one girl's struggle against cruelty and, her quest for love. Adele Talbot is twelve when her younger sister is killed in a road accident at London's Kings Cross, and her mother Rose - so devastated by the loss - begins to abuse her. Adele is sent to a children's home in Tunbridge Wells, but soon runs away to trace her grandmother Honour, who she has discovered lives in Sussex. But Honour is a bitter, eccentric woman who is not best pleased to see her granddaughter. Eventually the two forge some sort of bond and Honour allows Adele to stay. When Adele meets Michael Bailey on the marshes two years later and real love and friendship enter her life, she feels she can finally put her hurtful past behind her. But then war breaks out and as if that wasn't upheaval enough, Rose decides to rear her ugly head again. And she has a few unpleasant surprises for Adele...

'As long as I'm still breathing then I'll still hope' Mary Broad is just eighteen when, one spring day in 1786, she makes a foolish mistake and steals a hat from a passerby. For this crime she is sentenced to death. But then she is given a reprieve: she is to be one of several hundred convicts who will sail to a new colony on the other side of the world - Australia. For a Cornish girl who has previously never been further than Plymouth, this is almost as horrifying a fate as death. Suddenly, courage and determination are all Mary has. She promises herself one thing - she will survive whatever it takes. How she accomplishes this, in spite of the horrors that lie ahead of her, not just for herself but also for those she loves, is breathtakingly audacious. Based on a true story, Remember Me is quite simply one of the most gripping and moving tales of human endeavour you will ever read.

When Daisy Buchan is 25, her beloved mother dies, and as she is reeling from this trauma, she is shocked to be told by her father that she is adopted - and that her real mother was a poor young teenager from Cornwall. No one knows who her real father is. Eventually Daisy finds out more about her mother, Ellen Pengelly, a farmer's daughter from a remote Cornish village, and as the layers of her family history are stripped away Daisy is horrified by what she learns. She is taken on a journey back to the past, a journey that uncovers a gripping story of innocence corrupted, and a family torn apart by greed and misery...

'Trust me!' she spat. 'As soon as someone says trust me, you can be sure they're going to let you down or hurt you.' A heartwarming, gripping story about the power of the human spirit. All her life, people have told little Dulcie Taylor they'll look after her. And every time, she and her sister May have been hurt. Their parents. Their teacher. The convent. Then the two girls are offered the chance of a fresh start in Australia. But the new life that they hope for in an exciting, vibrant country goes horribly wrong. Will Dulcie break away from her sad past and build a bright new future for herself?

An epic saga of life, death, tears and laughter, from a storyteller thousands have come to love and trust. Moving from the slums of Victorian London to the plains of the Wild West, the darkest edges of New York and the gold rush of San Francisco, Never Look Back is the story of beautiful and intelligent Matilda, who rises out of poverty to forge a new life for herself in the land of the free. Escaping the deprivation she was born into, Matilda travels to America with Giles, a Church of England minister, his wife Lily, and their young daughter Tabitha. There she finds passion and heartbreak, but it's not until she meets Captain James Russell that she finds true love. A love that must withstand separation, war, and the constraints of their society. Matty has a hard road to travel, but eventually she discovers that life must go on, no matter how painful, and that she must never look back...

Like every girl, Charlie is simply looking for love... On a glorious, hot summer's day sixteen-year-old Charlie Weish's privileged childhood comes to an abrupt and terrifying end when she witnesses her mother being brutally attacked in her own garden by two strangers. Her father has disappeared and it soon becomes evident to Charlie that dark forces are at work, shattering not only her financial security but even her trust and belief in her parents. When she meets kind, funny student Andrew, his love for her helps her through the hard times and further tragedy, but before they can build a life together they must unravel the mysteries of the past and face the evil people who seek to crush them. All Charlie has to fight them with are her intelligence and determination. But will they be enough?

How long can you conceal the past before it comes back to haunt you? Rosie Parker is no more than a child when her mother dies during the war. Left to the less-than-tender mercies of her father Cole and her brutish step-brothers Seth and Norman, she sees the arrival of housekeeper Heather Farley as a possible replacement mother and her salvation. But when Thomas Farley comes looking for his sister several years later, he discovers Heather has left the Parkers in mysterious circumstances, abandoning her small son. As the terrible truth about Heather's disappearance comes to light, Rosie is compelled to leave the farm and make her own way in the world. And if that means being exposed as the daughter of a murderer, that's a risk she'll have to take... Rosie is the compelling story of how love and tenderness can grow, like wild roses, out of the most barren ground.

"You killed two people," Beth said. "You're likely to spend the rest of your life in prison." Susan looked up. Her eyes had a faint spark now. "It was worth it," she said. Beth Powell and Susan Wright were best friends - both from troubled families, their only happy times were the summers they spent together as children. Until fate intervened and separated them. It's twenty-nine years later when they meet again. Susan is a down-and-out who has shot two people in cold blood. Beth is the lawyer allocated to defend her. Yet their friendship still endures, even as the evidence against Susan mounts up - a friendship that must be stronger than the traumas of the past. Because for one of them, there can be no happy ending ...

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