Evelyn Waugh was born in Hampstead in 1903 and educated at Hertford College, Oxford. In 1928 he published his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). During these years he also travelled extensively and converted to Catholicism. In 1939 Waugh was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, experiences which informed his Sword of Honour trilogy (1952-61). His most famous novel, Brideshead Revisited (1945), was written while on leave from the army. Waugh died in 1966.

Evelyn Waugh

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Emma Kennedy

From the author of bestselling The Tent, The Bucket and Me, now a BBC1 comedy series, THE KENNEDYS. 
 
As the youngest in a family of six, all eleven-year-old Anthony wants is a pair of shoes to call his own. Instead he’s condemned to wear a pair of hand-me-down wellies that may or may not be haunted. 
 
When war comes to his small, impoverished mining village, life starts to get more exciting: there are American soldiers, his sister has joined the WAAF – Mrs Reece even has a banana! But it is only when a foreign plane crashes into the Welsh hillside that Anthony and his gang discover what war is really about…

Shoes for Anthony

Laura Andersen

Torn between his kingdom and the woman he loves. . . 
 
William Tudor, now King Henry IX, sits alone on the throne. But England must still contend with those who doubt his legitimacy. William is betrothed to a young princess from France, but still he has eyes only for his childhood friend Minuette, and court tongues are wagging. 
 
Even more dangerous – if discovered – is that Minuette’s heart and soul belong to Dominic, William’s best friend and trusted advisor. . .

The Boleyn Deceit

Gloria Cook

All she wants is a roof over her head... 
 
After her plans to elope with her married lover fall through, Rachel Kivell is broken-hearted, and saddened that she must remain in her small Cornish mining town, with all of its dark secrets. 
 
But her brooding is put to an end when the loving but childlike Alice Bowden turns up on her doorstep. Poor orphaned Alice has nowhere to go, but Rachel cannot see herself taking on the responsibilities of a child. Can she put her worries aside, or will Alice never find a place to call home? 
 
 
 
Note: Previously published as All in a Day

A Home for Alice

A gritty, heartwarming family saga for fans of Poldark

Ella March Chase

The court of the Queen Elizabeth is a hot-bed of intrigue and ambition... 
 
It is a place where reputations can stand or fall on the merest hint of scandal. Lingering rumours even surround the Virgin Queen herself, despite the fate of those foolish enough to besmirch her reputation. 
 
Recently arrived in court, Nell de Lacey is surprised to discover that many think she bears more than a passing resemblance to the younger queen. That, coupled with an old mystery about a missing portion of the Queen's past some years prior, is enough to set tongues wagging. And wherever the truth lies, even the rumour is sufficient to place Nell on a dangerous path that could all so easily end with her head on a block...

The Virgin Queen's Daughter

Rupert James

Hell hath no fury like a stepsister scorned... 
 
Elizabeth Miller has brains, a trust fund and an unreliable fiancé. Rachel Hope is a young aspiring actress: beautiful, talented, seemingly sweet. Under normal circumstances they would never have even met, but their parents' marriage makes them reluctant siblings. But the girls are about to discover they have another thing in common - they share the same taste in men... 
 
After a devastating betrayal rips their new family apart, the two women are no longer sisters, no longer even speaking. Now Rachel is on the verge of the fame she's always craved.Elizabeth has become a gossip columnist, one who knows far too many secrets about Rachel's past. And she's hell-bent on getting her revenge...

Stepsisters

Rosie Clarke

All she wanted was her husband to come home… 
 
Newly married to the caring RAF pilot Jonathan Reece, Emma thinks that life couldn’t be better. But her happiness is short-lived: within months, Jon’s plane is shot down over France and he is declared missing, presumed dead. 
 
Alone and with two children to care for, Emma’s first thought is how to support her family. But when she makes a new friend in the American businessman Jack Harvey, she is faced with a difficult decision. Should she take a last chance at happiness? 
 
The second book in the ‘Emma’ trilogy – a warm, nostalgic saga, perfect for fans of Katie Flynn 
 
(Note: previously published as The Bonds That Break by Linda Sole)

Emma's War

(Emma Trilogy 2)

Maggie Hope

Will her courage be enough to protect her family? 
 
Eleanor Saint spends as much time as she can helping in the community of her small mining town, even though her snobbish grandmother disapproves of her visiting the poor. When she comes of age, Eleanor is married to Frances Tait, a missionary, and she is delighted to have a husband who shares her passion for helping others. 
 
It is not long before Eleanor starts a family of her own. But when Mr Tait’s work takes their family far from home, her children face dangers that Eleanor could never have imagined. She will need to put her family first, before everything else, if she wants to protect them… 
 
A gripping saga from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Coal Miner's Daughter

A Mother’s Courage

All she wants is a family of her own... 
 
Lottie is just three years old when her Mammy dies and she is sent to the workhouse. A childhood spent in poverty, skivvying for other people, leaves her with no prospects, no family... 
 
Yet Lottie is bright and has ambitions for a better life. And when an opportunity arises at the local Chapel, Lottie seizes her chance. But will she ever be anything more than a workhouse child?

Workhouse Child

Kerry Katona

On the surface of it glamour girl Charly Metcalfe finally has it all. She's officially a W.A.G, having bagged premiership footballer Joel Baldy to be her boyfriend - and she has the lifestyle to go along with the title. She lives in a million-pound penthouse. She gets invited to the most glamorous parties, and Joel will buy her anything she wants. 
 
But behind closed doors, life as a footballer's other half isn't as perfect as it seems. Joel has a temper and when he and Charly argue he lets his fists do the talking. Charly knows she should get out but there's one problem...she loves him. In fact she loves him enough to marry him in spite of their problems - and her own family's objections. But having married in haste, is Charly going to regret her decision all too quickly...?

The Footballer's Wife

June Francis

Seventeen year old Katie is about to discover a devastating family secret... 
 
Katie is the apple of her mother's eye and is being trained to take over the family business. But when Celia, her natural mother, re-enters her life, her world is turned completely upside down. 
 
Tormented by her divided loyalties, Katie is plagued by a question Celia refuses to answer - who is her real father? 
 
(Note: Originally published as Somebody Else's Girl)

A Daughter's Choice

Elizabeth Morton

All she wants is one last dance… 
 
Lily and Vincent have been dancing everything from the waltz to the foxtrot together since they were six-years-old. Now a teenager, Lily realises she has feelings for Vincent that she never knew were there. 
 
However, with Vincent off to war, Lily is evacuated to a mother and baby home with her younger siblings. It is there that she finds she has more in common with the fallen women than she once thought. But as the bombs begin to fall in Liverpool, will she ever see her sweetheart again?… 
 
A heart-warming saga for fans of Call The Midwife from the author of A Liverpool Girl.

A Last Dance in Liverpool

Caroline Beecham

Can Eleanor follow her heart in troubled times? 
 
Eleanor Roy is determined to do her bit for the war effort after being recruited by the War Artist Advisory Committee. When she meets handsome artist Jack Valante, her dreams seem to be finally coming true when Jack promises to help her pursue her ambition of becoming an artist. But after a whirlwind romance, Eleanor is devastated when Jack is posted overseas. 
 
When Eleanor receives some unexpected news she desperately tries to find Jack. But with the young couple torn apart by war, will they be reunited and find happiness at last? 
 
A heartwarming wartime saga perfect for fans of Ellie Dean and Nancy Revell.

Eleanor's Secret

Her father is dead and her mother doesn't want her... 
 
When Babby's dad is killed in a senseless bar room brawl it changes their family forever. She is sent away only to return home a few years later, unmarried and pregnant. Her mother is incandescent with rage and with Callum - Babby's sweetheart - nowhere to be found, persuades her daughter to go to a Mother and Baby Home. 
 
But does Babby have no option but to give her baby up...

A Liverpool Girl

Mia Dolan

Life's been hard for Marcie Brooks, but when she marries Michael Jones things start to look up. Not only has he given her daughter, Joanna, his name but they now also have a son. The family's finances are on the up too, with Michael opening his first nightclub. 
 
However, when he refuses to do business with Paddy Rafferty, an Irish gangster, Michael soon finds himself on the wrong side of the law. He claims he's being framed for murder and Marcie wants to believe him but she has worries of her own. With her husband in prison, everyone seems to think she needs to sell the club and concentrate on raising her family. But a little voice seems to be telling Marcie she needs to fight for her children's future...And if that means standing up to intimidation, then so be it...

Wishing and Hoping

Audrey Reimann

‘You’ll have to sit with the orphans,’ she said. ‘On the bottom table.’ 
Lily pulled her coat tight. ‘I’m not an orphan. I have a Mam.’ 
‘But you haven’t got a dad. Never did have one.’ 
 
 Growing up in Macclesfield, a town whose cotton and silk industries were hit hard by the war, poor Lily Stanway never got to know her father. Neither can she understand the tensions and ties between her mother and the members of two Macclesfield families, the Hammonds and the Chancellors. But when she falls for a man she shouldn’t and finds herself in trouble, many family secrets start to unravel…

A Daughter’s Shame

Scarlett Bailey

A fun, festive romantic comedy to curl up with this winter. If you love Jenny Colgan’s An Island Christmas and Josie Silver’s One Day in December you'll love this heartwarming Christmas read. 
 
All she wants is a perfect Christmas Eve wedding... 
 
It’s been on Anna’s wish-list since she was a little girl, dreaming of a far happier family life than she’d ever experienced. 
 
But now – only two weeks before her big day – her perfect husband-to-be drops a bombshell... 
 
Only nothing’s going to stop Anna’s plans – not even the pesky inconvenience of discovering her groom already has a wife!

Married by Christmas

All Lydia's ever wanted is a perfect Christmas... 
 
So when her oldest friends invite her to spend the holidays with them, it seems like a dream come true. She's been promised log fires, roasted chestnuts, her own weight in mince pies - all in a setting that looks like something out of a Christmas card. 
 
But her winter wonderland is ruined when she finds herself snowed in with her current boyfriend, her old flame and a hunky stranger. Well, three (wise) men is traditional at this time of year...

The Night Before Christmas

Dare she risk her reputation? 
 
When the orphaned Flora MacDonald escapes from a harsh reform school she falls - literally - into the arms of Andrew Stewart, a handsome sailor on shore leave. But their blossoming love is interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. 
 
With Andrew away fighting, Flora finds herself in an impossible situation: alone and pregnant. Out of desperation, she travels to Andrew's country estate, but she doesn't know how kindly his well-to-do family will welcome her in. Will she find a home where she can raise a child?

Flora's War

Immodesty Blaize

Money. Fame. Love. Who says you can't have it all? 
 
Being the daughter of a showbiz icon is a mixed blessing for Sienna Starr. Though she dreams of following in her famous mother's footsteps, she wants to get to the top on her own merits. 
 
Securing a role as a chorus girl in the Follies seems a step towards achieving her ambitions. But life isn't all glamour and glitz and, off the Strip, Las Vegas can be a dark and sinister place. 
 
Sienna then makes the mistake of ruffling the feathers of the show's star, Brandy Alexander. A legend in her own dressing room, not least for her astringent charms, Brandy doesn't take kindly to younger, prettier girls trying to outshine her. 
 
Yet Brandy's has more than one skeleton in the closet and dark secrets she'd do anything to hide...

Ambition

Beth Miller

‘I never think of Laura as my step-sister, but that’s what she is.’ 
 
Once they were the best of friends, inseparable as only teenage girls can be. 
 
That is until Miffy’s Jewish father runs off with Laura’s Catholic mother and both of their families imploded – as well as Laura’s intense relationship with Miffy’s brother... 
 
Twenty years on, they’re all about to meet again...

When We Were Sisters

Katia Lief

Karin Schaeffer's husband is missing presumed dead. 
 
The police are convinced that Mac took his own life after the brutal murder of his parents in what looks like a robbery gone bad...Karin is determined to do all she can to find her husband...alive or dead. 
 
Only she's about to discover how little she knows about the man she married. 
 
But someone else is watching the Schaeffer family. Watching, waiting and biding their time before they reveal the dark secrets of Mac's past - and exact a terrifying revenge.

Hide and Seek

(Karin Schaeffer 2)

Nicole Jordan

An arranged marriage… 
 
Shy Sabrina Duncan returns to the Highlands as an adult, only to discover that she’s the last descendent of her clan – and must wed the local laird in order to save it. 
 
Niall McLaren, the infamous rogue, both intrigues and scandalises her. All powerful, he has much to offer a wife – everything but faithfulness. 
 
And though convenience may rule their marriage, a binding love will seal their fate… 
 
Rouge Romance - your first stop for romance books

The Lover: A Rouge Historical Romance

She is a servant girl... 
 
When her father becomes ill, Emily Carter finds herself sent into service at Priorsfield Manor in order to provide the family with an income. 
 
He will be the Lord of the Manor... 
 
Emily strikes up an unlikely friendship with the daughters of the house, as well as Nicolas, son of the Earl. But as the threat of war comes ever closer, she becomes even more aware of the vast differences between upstairs and downstairs, servant and master... 
 
If you like Downton Abbey you’ll love this!

The Downstairs Maid

Maggie Ford

In his absence, she will find her strength… 
 
After a childhood in poverty and leaving school to work at the age of thirteen, life is beginning to look up for Brenda Wilson. Freshly married to her handsome soldier husband, she finds her true vocation in hairdressing. 
 
However, Brenda is forced to give up her dreams of owning her own salon as Harry is called into service, leaving her to bring up their daughter all by herself... 
 
A warm-hearted and gripping saga, from the author of The Factory Girl and A Girl in Wartime

A Soldier's Girl

What will she sacrifice for love? 
 
Growing up in London’s East End with six siblings, Nora Taylor has always been close to her younger sister Maggie. But when she meets Maggie’s fiancé Robert, they are immediately drawn to each other. Forced to choose between her family and her heart, Nora decides to marry the man she loves – even if it means losing her sister. 
 
When the First World War breaks out, Nora must fight to hold her family together through the challenges and tragedies to come. As her children grow up they embark on their own adventures, but another war will threaten all their hopes for the future. Can this broken family survive the dark days of wartime? 
 
A sweeping saga charting one family’s fortunes through the First and Second World War and beyond, perfect for fans of Maggie Hope and Dilly Court.

The Rag and Bone Girl

An ex-cop with a death wish. A serial killer with a gruesome agenda... 
 
Detective Karin Schaeffer was a happily married mother until she got too close to catching a serial killer. 
 
The press nickname him The Domino Killer because he systematically murders whole families, leaving a trail of bloody dominoes as the only clues to his next victim. Having brutally slain Karin's husband and child, he left her a chilling message scrawled in her daughter's blood: YOU ARE NEXT. 
 
But now the Domino Killer has escaped prison and the police believe he's on his way to find her. 
 
And Karin is waiting...

You Are Next

(Karin Schaeffer 1)

Michelle Richmond

Her sister was murdered. The killer was never found. Until now… 
 
All her childhood Ellie Enderlin had lived in her sister’s shadow. But then Lily was murdered and their family changed forever. 
 
Now, decades later, Ellie comes into possession of Lila’s lost notebook and has a chance to finally discover the truth about her sister’s death. But her search for justice will lead her to uncover her sister’s darkest secrets… 
 
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of THE MARRIAGE PACT, a Richard and Judy Book Club Selection.

No One You Know

She's no more than an unpaid servant... 
 
Lorinda is only a child when tragedy deprives her of her true family and, sent to live with her aunt in her boarding house, she grows up desperately craving affection. 
 
And although she finds friendship - and even love - in the boarding house, she finally sees a chance to escape her drab surroundings and unkind family. But is a marriage of convenience better than a love that's true?

Orphan Girl

A family torn apart. A daughter’s courage... 
 
When Elizabeth and her four sibling are orphaned, she and her brother are sent to a children’s home; their younger sisters into foster care. 
 
Life in the home is hard, but she is determined to look after her brother and make a better life for them both. Working as a nurse gives her a purpose but she risks everything by falling for wounded officer Jack Benson. Far above her in wealth and station, Elizabeth cannot marry him and she risks losing her nursing place if there is any hint of impropriety about her conduct. 
 
Then Elizabeth learns that her sister, Jenny, has been adopted by an abusive farmer. Torn between her hopeless love for Jack and her sister, must Elizabeth make an extreme sacrifice to reunite her family?

A Daughter's Gift

Can this East End girl find a better life? 
 
Born in a tenement on the Isle of Dogs, Jessie has higher hopes for her future. When she manages to land a job at the Telephone Exchange, her earnings allow her to join the choir at the People's Palace. There, she catches the eye of the charming James Medway who sweeps her off her feet. 
 
But married life isn't a bed of roses, and when Jessie falls pregnant it quickly becomes clear that James is far from the doting husband she'd hoped for. Can Jessie find a way to stay strong for her baby? 
 
A heart-warming and gripping East End Saga, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Maggie Hope.

Mile End Girl

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