Will the war be over by Christmas? As the war moves into 1945 the lives of the women of Woolworths continue. When store manager, Betty Billington, announces she is expecting Douglas's baby her future life is about to change more than she expects. Freda has fallen in love with the handsome Scottish engineer but will it end happily? Maisie loves being a mother and also caring for her two nieces although she still has her own dreams. When her brother appears on the scene he brings unexpected danger to the family. Meanwhile Sarah dreams of her husband's return and a cottage with roses around the door but Woolworths beckons. Will our girls sail into times of peace, or will they experience more heartache and sorrow? With a wedding on the horizon, surely only happiness lies ahead - or does it? A Gift from Woolworths is the fourth instalment in Elaine Everest's much-loved Woolworths series.

The families of Andros Odyssey are entangled in the insanity and the destructive forces of the Crusades. The Crusades started with Islam, which expanded through war by making people believe through force. This brought the Crusades, a series of holy wars. They were a means of defending against the expansion of Islam. The Crusades were led by equally self-righteous, intolerant and ruthless people. The proto-imperialism of the Crusaders introduced Western aggression to the Middle East, leaving it in ruins and at the same time, devastating Byzantium, which happened to be in the way. In desperation, the Byzantines had to fight both, Christians and Moslems. Byzantium, with its stiff resistance against the idea of the Crusades, soon became an enemy to the West. As a result, the failed Crusades left Byzantium exhausted and vulnerable to new attacks from the East. In spite of the danger to the West, help against the Turks came too little and too late, resulting in the total destruction of Byzantium and the fall of Constantinople. families evolve and old families are transformed because of name changes under the Turkish occupation.

She's out of retirement - and out for revenge When Georgina Garrett wakes in the night to find intruders in her house, she knows she must do everything she can to keep her children safe. But just when she thinks the ordeal is over, she realises something is terribly wrong. She arrives at her crime-lord husband David Maynard's London house to find a bloodbath. Six of David's best men lie dead and he is nowhere to be found. Georgina may have walked away from the game but she's still the best player on the street. Now, she will stop at nothing to get her husband back and to make whoever took him pay for ever daring to set foot in her town. 'Terrific - read it and be hooked!' - bestselling author Jessie Keane on Trickster Readers are loving RAVEN! 'Fast moving, gritty and not for the faint hearted' 'Another fantastic episode in the series' 'Yet another amazing book by Sam Michaels' 'Gritty, violent, edge-of-your-seat tension. The end - phew!' 'This is a BRILLIANT book and Sam's fans will love it. Worthy of more than 5 stars!'

"Bells of May" is the tale of a family rooted in the mystical Harz Mountains of Germany. Five generations of women are forced, by circumstance or choice, into unfamiliar lives-on the other side of the mountain and halfway around the world.

A descendant of Celtic priests, Katherine Allewelt is a surprisingly pragmatic girl until her well-arranged life is shattered by her doomed relationship with a young miner. Heartbroken, Katherine accepts a servant's position in the city, where she matures, educates herself, and shares a deep friendship with her mistress while fighting an attraction to the master. When her mistress dies, Katherine returns home and tries to pick up the threads of her old life.

Follow the saga of Katherine and her descendents for the following one hundred fifty years through love, loss, and challenge.

During the Second World War, life in the iconic Bryant & May match factory is grimy and tough. Annie, Rose, Pearl and Millie carry on making matches for the British Army, with bombs raining down around them.

Inspired by the Dig for Victory campaign, Annie persuades the owners to start Bryant & May allotment in the factory grounds. With plenty of sweat and toil, the girls eventually carve out a corner of the yard into a green plot full of life and colour.

In the darkest of times, the girls find their allotment a tranquil, happy escape. Using pierced dustbin lids to sieve through the shrapnel and debris, they bring about a powerful change, not just in the factory, but their own lives.

As the war rages on, the garden becomes a place of community, friendship – and deceit. As the garden thrives and grows, so do the girls' secrets . . .

The Allotment Girls is an inspiring and heartwarming novel of wartime hardship, friendship and fortitude from Kate Thompson, author of the Secrets of the Sewing Bee.

Once a home full of love, all that remains in Greyfriars House are secrets and lies . . . On a remote Scottish island sits Greyfriars House, a house haunted by unspoken words and family mysteries. But once it was a happy and comforting place and in the summer of 1939, family and friends gather to forget their fears about the impending war. Nine-year-old Olivia watches the grown-ups with fascination particularly her mother and her two aunts, the three daughters of the family who own the island. Then Olivia she sees something she isn't meant to and when the truth comes out it reverberates through the generations. Almost fifty years later, Olivia has fallen ill and urges her own daughter, Charlotte, to visit Greyfriars to reconnect the existing branches of the family. Charlotte is hesitant to get to know her great-aunts, women who have always shunned her mother, but curiosity and a desire to run from her own life get the better of her and she goes to the island. But Greyfriars House is a shadow of its former self and Charlotte finds her great-aunts tense and cautious. There is something they want to share with Charlotte, but in order to truly understand their secret Charlotte must first understand what happened to them before and during the war . . .

The thrilling new book from Sheila Riley in her Liverpool Saga series 1916 LIVERPOOL Following the death of her father, Ruby Swift, and husband Archie finally move back into Ashland Hall. As the Great War rages, fathers and sons take the King's Shilling and head off to fight the unknown enemy, not knowing what horrors lie ahead. With Ned Kincaid in the Navy, Archie signs up to the volunteer constabulary and nurses Anna Cassidy and Ellie Harrington enlist to do their bit for King and Country. Soon the true casualties of war are being brought home in droves, Ruby converts Ashland Hall into an auxiliary hospital for wounded servicemen. It's not long before the true cost of war is brought closer to home and Anna and Ellie enlist in the British Military Nursing Corp and soon find themselves in the battlefields of France in search of the truth. But they soon discover more than they bargained for... Praise for Sheila Riley: 'A powerful and totally absorbing family saga that is not to be missed. I turned the pages almost faster than I could read.' Carol Rivers 'A fabulous story of twists and turns - a totally unputdownable, page turner that had me cheering on the characters. I loved it!' Rosie Hendry 'A thoroughly enjoyable, powerful novel' Lyn Andrews 'An enchanting, warm and deeply touching story' Cathy Sharp 'Vivid, compelling and full of heart. Sheila is a natural-born storyteller.' Kate Thompson 'This author knows the Liverpool she writes about; masterly storytelling from a true Mersey Mistress.' Lizzie Lane

From the internationally bestselling author of A Woman of Substance comes the continuing story of indomitable heroine, Emma Harte Emma Harte is now eighty years old and ready to hand over the reins of the vast business empire she has created. To her favourite grandchild, Paula McGill Fairley, Emma bequeaths her mighty retailing empire with these heartfelt words: 'I charge you to hold my dream.' A towering international success, this is the powerfully moving tale of one woman's determination to 'hold the dream' which was entrusted to her, and in so doing find the happiness and passion which is her legacy.

Under her mother's constant scrutiny and lost in the shadow of her famous senator father, Melissa is the third child in the politically prominent Dickenson family, where ambition comes first and Melissa often comes last. In college, she meets Blake, a man of mixed race and apparently unknown parentage. His adoptive parents are lawyers whose defense of death-row cases in the past brought them head-to-head with Melissa's father when he was the governor of Pennsylvania.

While Melissa and Blake's attraction is immediate and fiery, a dangerous secret lurks beneath their relationship -- one that could destroy them ... and their families.

Provocative and beautifully written, and dealing with themes of love, honesty, identity, and the consequences of ambition, The Third Child is a remarkable page-turner.

The final part in the sweeping Abbeyford Trilogy, Abbeyford Remembered is a tale of old grudges, new love and heart-warming drama, from the much-loved author Margaret Dickinson. The years have done nothing to dull Evan Smithson's cold fury against his father's family. Born the illegitimate son of Guy Trent, Evan has lived his life fuelled by the desire for vengeance, leaving little time for his daughter Carrie and her questions about their own family history. But Evan's grudge is old, and the new generation of Trents and Smithsons have their own agenda. Carrie turns to Jamie Trent, Guy Trent's grandson and heir, for answers and the pair fall in love. Evan stands between the lovers, convincing Carrie that Jamie has betrayed her. In desperation Carrie marries Lloyd Foster, only to discover that her father has deceived her. Carrie's new husband takes her to London, Paris and even India, but Carrie is unable to find true happiness while her thoughts keep turning towards Jamie Trent. How can she live in the present when her heart remains in the past?

More than a decade has gone by since Esther Cunningham, weakened by the consumption which would soon take her life, left her precious daughter in her mother's care. Now eighteen, Lorna Cunningham is eagerly awaiting the day when she can leave the Newcastle house in which she's known only heartache. The Arabian ancestry of the father she has never known has meant that she has been nothing more than an unwelcome guest in her grandmother's home, forced to take second place to her spoilt cousin, Rose, who has wanted for neither love nor material comforts. Lorna takes comfort from her growing friendship with bookseller Edwin Randall, who shares her love of reading and inspires her with his passion to improve the terrible conditions of the Newcastle slums. But their relationship is overshadowed by Lorna's infatuation with the handsome and charismatic Maurice Haldane - the man Rose is determined she herself will marry and who has the power to change all their lives for ever...

Will the coming war divide them . . . ? For as long as she can remember Peggy O'Shea has been expected to work at the family dairy, look after her younger siblings, and eventually marry cow-keeper Martin Gallagher. And that's the way it has predictably gone, apart from one glorious summer when at the age of eight she meets handsome Anthony Giardano. But there's bad blood between the Irish O'Sheas and the Italian Giardanos, so perhaps for the sake of both of their families, it's a good thing when Anthony suddenly disappears. Ten years later at the start of the war, Peggy bumps into Anthony again. But as they begin to rekindle their friendship, Italy joins forces with Germany and Liverpool turns on its Italian residents overnight, making any relationship between Peggy and Anthony impossible . . . The Girl From Liverpool is a gritty World War Two historical saga from Elizabeth Morton, acclaimed author of Angel of Liverpool.

The BRAND NEW wartime saga from the much-loved author of THE TILBURY POPPIES. Perfect for fans of Annie Murray and Donna Douglas The war is over, but their friendship has just begun . . . Essex, 1918 Working at the local munitions factory has given Aggie the freedom she's long desired. But the Great War is coming to an end, and the men are coming home. Determined to hold on to her new-found independence, Aggie decides to join the Women's Police Service and become a Copperette. Like Aggie, Mim wants nothing more than to do her bit for her country. Never one to shy away from hard work, she's eager to help her fellow women and keep up morale - even if that does mean opening her home to Aggie and helping her train. With the last days of war upon them, Aggie and Mim face shocking loss. But in the face of great hardship, can they find a way to work together? A heart-warming story of love, loss and friendship, set against the backdrop of wartime England REAL READERS love Sue Wilsher's novels: 'I loved reading about the wartime challenges Mim and Aggie faced - a great combination of historical fact, emotion and grit. I couldn't put it down' 'Another brilliant book from Sue Wilsher bringing history alive. Unforgettable characters and great storytelling' Brilliant book . . . the third one I've read by this author and I can't fault it at all - would highly recommend' 'A great story with local interest for anyone who knows Thurrock. A tribute to those who lived through that time and endured so much'