Marjorie Preston dreams of a life on the stage but believes she will never get the chance. When handsome singer Denby Sinclair needs a new assistant at short notice he takes her on and it seems as if her dreams will come true, especially when he proposes marriage. But Denby, unbeknownst to her, has a secret that will destroy all her hopes for her new life as a performer and her own personal happiness.
For Crystal Wyatt, growing up on a ranch in Northern California, Hollywood seems a million miles away. Yet her captivating beauty singles her out, and her enchanting voice launches her into longed-for stardom. Neither rape, nor murder, nor the darkest scandals could keep her star from rising - even as it leads her away from the man she loves. For Spencer Hill, Crystal is a haunting but unattainable vision. For as his career as a high-powered Washington lawyer takes off, he is trapped by unbrea...
Something Dangerous (Spoils of Time Trilogy, v.2)
by Penny Vincenzi
The dazzling Lytton twins, Adele and Venetia, grow up with the world at their feet. Born into the great Lytton publishing empire, they are rich and admired, with a confidence verging on arrogance. At eighteen, in 1928, their future seems assured. But the spectre of Nazi Germany is growing...Gradually the twins' lives darken in unimaginable ways, as they struggle to cope with circumstances their privileged world has not prepared them for. But it is not just the twins whose lives have been irrevoc...
John Jakes continues the fascinating story of the Crown family dynasty in Chicago. Moving from 1906 to 1917, AMERICAN DREAMS brings to life a brash young nation taking its place on an international stage as the children of the German immigrant Crown family prepare themselves for the excitement of a new century. As Fritzi Crown becomes a comedy film star, her younger brother Carl seeks greater thrills in flying planes and their cousin Paul finds his destiny filming the destruction wrought by Wor...
When ruthless Michael McCarthy evicts the Cronins, tenants in the estate that isto become his son's, old Mag Cronin calls down the power of darkness on Michael and his descendants. At first the curse is laughed off but in the next generation the McCarthys suffer a terrible toll of lives lost and blighted. Onlyhandsome young Michael, his father's pride and joy, seems to lead a charmed life, prospering as a barrister in Dublin with his wife and daughters. Then slowly the workings of the curse are...
Big changes are in store for Dr Laura Grant at the rural practice at Hawkshead as new partner Piers Chandler is eager to make his mark, pushing for widespread changes. Meanwhile, Laura uncovers a cancer cluster and fallout from a nearby nuclear processing plant is the prime suspect.
'It's not the leaving of Liverpool that's grieving me, but my darling when I think of thee...' It is a cold February night in 1925 when two teenage sisters - Mollie and Annemarie Kenny - escape from their home in a tiny Irish village. Their beloved mother has died and the girls have suffered shocking abuse at the hands of their doctor father. With sensitive, creative Annemarie so traumatised she can barely remember her name, Mollie decides they should make a new life for themselves and she takes...
Beginning in the year 1929, this is the intensely gripping story of the relationships that develop between two families. Liam, a surly young man who is 'the wild card' of the novel, becomes entangled with Christine and with the British activities of the IRA. Ned, Christine's younger brother, an insecure and frail character, allows himself to be carried along in their savage and uncontrollable relationship, until the spotlight is turned on him and his affections for Liam. Meanwhile, at t...
MAGGIE JORDAN When most of Maggie Jordan's family are killed in a freak flood, she is forced to find work in one of Glasgow's carpet mills. She becomes engaged to Neil Sanderson, but struggles on alone when he decides to go to Spain to join the Republicans. Though she eventually joins Neil abroad, she finds him distant and ruthless, and fiercely jealous of her new friendship with American journalist Howard Taft. SCARLET RIBBONS Sadie Smith, born with a degenerative hip, is unable to walk. Sent t...
Heartbroken when boyfriend Jack goes off with another girl, Tess is more distraught when her widowed mother shows a liking for Jack's father, Dan. Although he's been separated for many years, a Catholic is always married and she knows her mother can only get hurt. Love never seems to run smoothly in 1960s Belfast. Tess' best friend, Agnes, has accepted Tony's offer of marriage because she felt she couldn't let him down when he proposed so publicly, but she's unsure if she really loves him. T...
Wednesday's child is full of woe...When Rachel Watkins gives birth to her daughter on Ash Wednesday in 1953, she prays the old saying won't be proved true. She's shed enough tears over her troubled marriage to Derek, and she hopes that Lorna will be the sunshine to light up their unhappy home. But Derek's overnight 'business trips' continue - until one day he announces he's never coming back, and Rachel and Lorna must get by without him. As the 1960s beckon, Rachel marries again, but Lorna resen...
1923: Jarrow, Tyneside. Catherine McMullen, or Kitty as she is known, is seventeen, restless and rebellious. Furious with her mother Kate for marrying a common seaman, Catherine is thrilled when her aunt divulges the secret Kate fought hard to protect - the identity of Catherine's father. The revelation that he was a wealthy gentleman fuels Catherine's desire to better herself and escape her squalid surroundings. Taking a job at the workhouse laundry, Catherine is further confronted by the horro...
Living in their two-up-two-down in Rotherhithe in 1938, Eileen and Ronald Wells lead a happy and settled existence with their three daughters, all of whom have jobs, boyfriends and promising lives ahead of them. But soon the storm clouds of war engulf Europe and they suddenly find their idyllic family life thrown into chaos. Throughout the country young people hasten to join up, and Eileen watches anxiously as her two older girls do the same, one in the air force and one in the land army, while...
Orpha Buchanan and Peg Meriweather had a very different start in life. Orpha surrounded by wealth and riches, Peg dumped on a doorstep as a baby with nothing to her name. But one thing they had in common was a mother who despised them and wished them gone. Hortense Buchanan wasn't made to be a mother. Bullied herself when she was a child, she continues the tradition with her own children. When her daughter, Orpha, runs away from home, Hortense celebrates, never once worrying for her safety....
Heart-stopping and gripping, this classic Diney Costeloe story shows the courage of one family in the face of great danger. Nineteenth-century Paris is in flames, houses ransacked, streets barricaded. Most people are fleeing the ravaged city, but the St Clair family have made a fateful decision – to return to Paris from their house in the country. As the horrors of the Commune and the ensuring siege engulf the St Clairs, little Helene falls ill and becomes separated from the family. Lost and...
A love that lasts a lifetime… When Julia Conrad is faced with the prospect of losing her company or marrying Aleksandr Berinksi she knows there is only one option. Marrying the Russian biochemist will keep him in the US and it’s only a marriage of convenience…that is until love starts to get in the way! Jill Morrison wasn’t expecting her best friend’s wedding dress to be delivered to her hotel in Hawaii – especially as now,...
Their New Year's Beginning (The Fortunes of Texas: The Wedding Gift, #1)
by Michelle Major
At the stroke of midnight, A stranger’s kiss changes everything… When Brian Fortune enters a local antique store a few days later, he's stunned to find Emmaline Lewis, proprietor—and mystery New Year’s Eve kisser! Surprise turns to shock when he realises that she's also six months pregnant. Brian is really not ready to become a family man. But suddenly he knows he’ll do anything to stay at Emmaline's side—for good…
Paris, 1871. A lost child. A family divided. The bitter backdrop of war. A heart-stopping and gripping tale of endurance for fans of historical fiction. The St Clair family have returned home after the war, seeking refuge in Paris. But their safety is not to last. Their young daughter, Hélène, falls ill and, in an unlucky twist of fate, is separated from her family. Alone and afraid, she is left to fend for herself on the streets, until she is found by a group of violent revolutionaries......