Bristol 1941 Having left her abusive husband for very good reasons, Mary Anne Randall finds herself judged harshly by her friends and neighbours, after courageously risking everything for a second chance at happiness with Michael. With Michael away fighting Mary Anne is less concerned by her tarnished reputation and focusses on keeping her beloved children safe. But with the bombs beginning to fall on Bristol, danger is all too close to home. Will Mary Anne rise above her tarnished reputation and protect those she loves from the uncertainty of a world at war? A sequel to A Wartime Wife. Praise for Lizzie Lane: 'A gripping saga and a storyline that will keep you hooked' Rosie Goodwin 'The Tobacco Girls is another heartwarming tale of love and friendship and a must-read for all saga fans.' Jean Fullerton 'Lizzie Lane opens the door to a past of factory girls, redolent with life-affirming friendship, drama, and choices that are as relevant today as they were then.' Catrin Collier 'If you want an exciting, authentic historical saga then look no further than Lizzie Lane.' Fenella J Miller

An absorbing tale of the strength and heartbreak of family ties - Winter, 1940. Anna MacRae is only five years old when her mother dies in childbirth and she is left with twin baby sisters. Anna is a gifted child, with a warm personality to match, but not so her sisters - and as, through the years, their pranks turn to stealing, bullying and worse, Anna must learn to cope with them if she is ever to find happiness of her own.

At first, the people of Ariana were little more than nomads with a few tricks for continuing their survival. Eventually, however, they developed agriculture and began to settle down, advancing as a society. As they progressed from small farming communities into a thriving civilization, they evolved in other ways as well. They developed a military composed of professional soldiers and a written language to act as a medium for complex messages. In this predecessor of ancient Persia, three generations of rulers fostered this change, beginning with a man called Hooman.

Despite being a son of an influential family, Hooman started at the bottom and rose to greatness, advancing to the rank of general at a surprising rate. Even so, he is surprised to find himself crowned successor to the throne of Ariana. A man of genuine character and remarkable kindness, he seemed the best choice. But can he handle this much responsibility?

A young man, Hooman is only learning the ways of the world. He must navigate love, hate, tradition and deceit all within the boundaries of his culture. He must embrace tragedy and hold happiness at bay in order to become the man who can lead and protect a fledgling nation.

An emotionally compelling family saga about second chances and regaining one's spirit. Newly widowed after a forty-year marriage, Margaret Wright is finding it hard to adjust to independence, having been stifled for so long by her overbearing, controlling husband. Is she up to the challenge? Margaret's decision to make a fresh start by redecorating her home has unexpected consequences when talented interior designer Jason Parker enters her life. Her growing closeness to a man twenty years younger than herself causes increasing tension among her family and friends. But having only just attained her longed-for freedom, is Margaret falling into another trap? If she rushes headlong into a new relationship, is she in danger of making the same mistakes all over again?

Sue Wilsher, author of When My Ship Comes In, makes an emotional return to 1950s Essex Tilbury, 1950s. The Empire is a boarding house run by Vi, Doris's mother - the Empire Girls of the title. When Doris becomes pregnant out of marriage, she is kicked out of the house and forced to fend for herself. Desperate to look after her daughter, she takes any job going. She falls in with the Windrush immigrants and finds herself helping one to a new life in Britain.

The friendship between five-year-olds Sara Miller and Judy Levine begins in the summer of 1941, when their families move into adjoining row houses in Washington, D.C. Almost immediately, the United States enters World War II, and their childhood is thrust into a world dominated by the consequences of history. When asked to help their sick friend, Su Ling, keep up with her studies as she recuperates from rheumatic fever, her grandmother, An Lei, teaches them the ancient Chinese game of Mahjong, destined to become an invariable part of their lives as it merges cultures, love, and friendship.

Separated for the first time when they enter college, their personal choices, shaped and impacted by half a century of unparalleled wars, loss, and heartbreak, only bring them closer together, as they marry, raise their families, and pursue their chosen careers. Their lifelong journey, caught in a web of intricate and surprising twists of fate, surfaces in the public eye when a Ukrainian farm girl inadvertently unlocks a thirty-five-year mystery that has haunted them since their graduation from high school.

From coast to coast and across the globe, their heartwarming and compelling story confirms the powerful bond of friendship.

Some battles will be fought on the Homefront...The war has had a devastating effect on the Sweet Family with young Charlie Sweet, lost at sea, presumed dead and bombs falling on nearby Bristol. Still there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon in the form of Mary Sweet's upcoming wedding to her Canadian beau. But even that has failed to rouse their father from his grief. But in London a baby has been found in a bombed out house, sheltered in the arms of his dead mother. A child to make life worth living again... Discover the gripping, heartfelt second instalment in Lizzie Lane's bestselling Sweet Sisters trilogy. Praise for Lizzie Lane: 'A gripping saga and a storyline that will keep you hooked' Rosie Goodwin 'The Tobacco Girls is another heartwarming tale of love and friendship and a must-read for all saga fans.' Jean Fullerton 'Lizzie Lane opens the door to a past of factory girls, redolent with life-affirming friendship, drama, and choices that are as relevant today as they were then.' Catrin Collier 'If you want an exciting, authentic historical saga then look no further than Lizzie Lane.' Fenella J Miller

Don't miss the gripping new drama from the nation's favourite storyteller! Are some memories best forgotten? Maureen Bancroft has never learned the art of putting herself first. As a widow with a gentle temperament and humble ways, she's been easy to take advantage of. All that changes when an unexpected windfall comes her way. Determined to make up for lost time, she decides to take a holiday and, needing a companion, looks up her friend, Barbara Hayle. Glamorous, and with a successful career on the stage, Barbara seems to be everything that Maureen is not. But things aren't as they seem, and what starts out as a nostalgic trip between friends, becomes something different altogether. Much has changed in the years since they first met now Maureen has something that her friend desperately needs, and Barbara is used to getting exactly what she wants. As their journey takes them down some dark byways, will this be the one friendship that Maureen should have left firmly in the past? Praise for Josephine Cox: 'Cox's talent as a storyteller never lets you escape the spell' Daily Mail 'A surefire winner' Woman's Weekly

"A Walk Among Blue Slate Markers" is a historical novel about that "peculiar institution" called slavery. In the early seventeen hundreds, Tobias Rutherford, a shopkeeper in Liverpool, England, sets in motion a cruel chain of events that followed his son, Winfield, across the Atlantic Ocean and into his mansion at Irongate Plantation. Winfield and his wife, Beatrice, are consumed with jealousy and hatred, not only for each other, but for their house slaves, as well. And when passions erupt in candlelit bedrooms, Winfield attempts murder and Beatrice forces Absalom, a house slave, to commit a crime, that if revealed, would find him hanging from the end of a rope. After Winfield's death, Matilda, his great-great granddaughter continues the violence. Out of revenge, she accuses Celia Godwin, a free black, of harboring a slave. The slave is thought to be a Rutherford, but old Dulcie, midwife at Irongate, is made to swear that Cressa, a slave girl, gave birth to the child. In the end, it is Tobias' great-great-great granddaughter, who becomes the victim to violence at the hands of runaway slaves.