As a child Zoë may have been naïve, gauche and inexperienced but innocent she never was - even before meeting the hands-on stranger Mr. Friedmann or the unforgettable sewing lesson with her grandmother. And she moves on to a highly unorthodox schooling, star-struck by Catholic celebrity Father Raymond (who signs photos of himself for the novices) and comes to the attention of the convent militia. The heroine's zig-zag progress from childhood to maturity is a path fraught with comic misunderstandings, adult subterfuge and the perils of non-conformity.

'The story focuses on love, trust, and sacrifice, against a backdrop of the cruelty of war' STEVE JOHNSON As a quaint old Norman church bathed in the late morning sunshine, a young bride waits anxiously for her groom. Anna, a German of Roma origin is stepping into a new life in London. She will finally escape the horrors of her past. When Anna flees the death camps of 1930s Germany to England, she is relieved. But events in her adopted homeland throw her best-laid plans in disarray. This is her story. It's a story about hope and heartbreak, love and hate, anger and confusion, blind prejudice and intolerance, and even redemption. Sam Martin's gritty prose tells a sensitive story. Seamlessly, he gives a well-rounded view of the war on the home front; its claustrophobic, tense atmosphere, the prevailing opinions of the day, and the seismic decisions taken by those in power. Just hope what happens to Anna, never happens to you.

'Morgan provides a vivid recreation of that dreadful day combined with an equally evocative picture of nineteenth-century life ... Thrilling' Publishing News

On Thursday, 8 May 1902, the citizens of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, huddled together in their cathedral as the sky turned black: Mont Pelée, the volcano, had suddenly come alive. Within minutes the beautiful city had been destroyed along with its 30,000 inhabitants. The only apparent survivor was Ludger Sylbaris, a labourer who became a minor celebrity as he toured America recounting the horrors of the explosion. Fire Mountain is the thrilling story of that fateful day, the complex political events that played a part in the tragedy and a fascinating history of the island itself.