'His best novel yet ... A Middlemarch-like triumph' Telegraph 'A pleasure bomb of a novel' Vogue 'A true modern master' Independent It's 23 December 1971, and the Hildebrandts are at a crossroads. Fifteen-year-old Perry has resolved to be a better person and quit dealing drugs to seventh graders. His sister Becky, the once straight-laced high school social queen, has veered into counterculture, while at college, Clem is wrestling with a decision that might tear his family apart. As their parents - Russ, a suburban pastor, and Marion, his restless wife - tug against the bonds of a joyless marriage, Crossroads finds a family, and a nation, struggling to do the right thing. 'Funny, moving, crackling with life, it has what all great fiction should have' Financial Times 'Intoxicating - a luxuriant domestic drama' Guardian THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A GUARDIAN BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2021 * AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR * A WHITE REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR * A LIT HUB BOOK OF THE YEAR

It's 1931 and eighteen-year-old Greta is working in a laundry in Liverpool, where she lives with her widowed mother and thirteen-year-old brother Kenny. When a scruffy black and white collie follows Greta home one day, Kenny wants to keep the animal, but they can't afford to feed him. And so Greta tracks down the owner: Mungo Masters, a wealthy man who runs funfairs in three towns. Mungo falls for Greta, though he's her mother's age, and doesn't bother to tell her that he's married already. When Mungo gives Greta and Kenny jobs at one of his fairs, it seems life is looking up. But Mungo is not good news...

To a select band of dedicated fly fishermen, Star Lake, 'created by man and perfected by God', is their angling Mecca, but now the lake and its trout are threatened by none other than the villain Hardwick and the formidable wife of the 'noble Piscator' who recounts this tale of fish, fishing and fishy goings on. An 'obnoxious harpy' of terrifying strength, she is a woman who inspires terror or lust (often both) in all men who encounter her. Our hero's only protector is his old and malodorous friend Mort, a devious and unprincipled reprobate but a man of magical skill with a fly rod. An absurd and very funny collection of tales of shenanigans among the members of an angling syndicate somewhere in middle England, ranging from a duel and a brush with the occult to the pursuit of a homicidal pig.

What will happen when the truth finally comes out?Blackshirts march through the East End in 1930s London and the Jewish community is under threat of violence. In the midst of this, Jessie Warner discovers a family secret and turns to her mother for answers - but she is met with silence. Over in Bethnal Green, Hannah Blake reluctantly joins the Blackshirts, forced by her cold-hearted mother to do so. Next-door neighbour Emmie Smith looks on, wishing she could tell Hannah the truth about her family and provide her with hope for a brighter future. Meanwhile, Emmie's son Tom, chipper and handsome, has fallen for Jessie Warner who he is desperate to bring home. Their lives intertwine and soon, so do their secrets... A compelling family saga perfect for fans of Ruth Hamilton and Rosie Hendry.

Same as the author's Chinese novels published respectively in California, China, and Taiwan, this English version tells about a Dr. Wang's rocky emotional life. He has been romantically involved with three women at different phases of life. His first adolescent love was an American girl, Cox, who is born in China. In his twenties he meets Dr. Wu, his second love. Both end abruptly against their will in pain because of politics. After barely surviving the cultural Revolution, he comes to America in the late 1970s. Here he meets a young nurse, Guan, from Hong Kong, but twenty years younger. At ending of the story, Dr. Wang and these three women have a chance to meet at a party in Los Angeles. The unspoken passions between Wang and his former loves have persisted across the Pacific over the years. The congregation learns that the 50-year-old bachelor will marry one of the three women. The reunion is bitter and sweet. It reflects Dr. Wang's miseries in his life, an epitome of China's modern history, like 'Dr. Zhivago' for the Russians. What we see here is a special slant on China's modern history that would lead to the current rapid rise, a reaction to its darkest age showcased by Dr. author uses knowledge of the subconscious to create the characters and dreams to enrich the expression in the novel. It was marked by a Chinese national psychiatric journal as 'A living textbook in psychodynamics.

When a young girl is forced to uproot her city life to work on a farm, she finds unexpected happiness . . . and pain. 1955. When nineteen-year-old Tessa Richards' beloved grandmother dies she is forced to live with her Uncle Richard and Aunt Naomi on their farm. However, Deirdre, a bad-tempered girl who was disabled in a riding accident, flourishes under Tessa's guidance . . . and Tessa flourishes under the attention of a friend of Deirdre's father, the distinguished author Giles Lampton. But it is a friendship that will cause heartache as well as happiness, and there are dark clouds on the horizon for them all . . .

Flowers spill everyone's secrets...Working on their busy flower stall in Champion Street Market, Lynda and her mother, Betty, have lots of opportunities to observe their customers and speculate about their lives. Sam regularly buys bouquets for his wife, Judy, so why does she always look so worn out and miserable? Then there's Leo, who comes every week for flowers for his mother, but has never bought so much as a rosebud for his elegant wife. As for Lynda's father, he ran off long ago, so is it any wonder that she has such a low opinion of men? But could all that really be about to change? A gripping saga of gossip and parenthood set around a beautiful flower stall in 1950s Manchester, perfect for fans of Pam Howes and Nadine Dorries. Praise for That'll be the Day 'You can't put a price on Freda Lightfoot's stories from Manchester's 1950s Champion Street Market. They bubble with enough life and colour to brighten up the dreariest day and they have characters you can easily take to your heart' Northern Echo 'You won't want to put it down' 5* Reader review 'The twists and turns leave you gasping' 5* Reader review 'The Champion Street Market stories are so realistic' 5* Reader review

Cullercoats Bay, 1895. Titian-haired Kate Lawson is eighteen when the sea claims her beloved and leaves her with a broken heart - and a shameful secret. Banished from home by her violent father, Kate relies on the kindness of her aunt, until she too is cruelly taken from her. When Kate meets Richard Adamson, the owner of a fleet of steam trawlers, she knows she should despise the man who's stealing the livelihood of hardworking fisherfolk - yet she finds herself falling in love with him. Has Kate found her safe harbour at last, or will the sins of the past destroy her chance for happiness?

A gripping and poignant wartime saga following the highs and lows of the young, courageous members of the Women's Army. January 1941. Peggy Collins has learned a lot during her time as a Spark Girl. Posted to Swansea, as a driver to the squadron leader, she often hears things she shouldn't and she knows to be discreet, understanding how serious the phrase loose lips sink ships really is. Peggy meets and falls in love with pilot Jim Hudson, but her heart is broken when he becomes missing in action and Peggy is left fearing the worst. That isn't the end of the shocks in store for Peggy and she is forced to remember a promise made long ago. But can she keep her word while the bombs fall? Full of wartime adventure, romance and heartbreak, A Wartime Promise is perfect for fans of Daisy Styles, Kate Thompson and Ellie Dean. Praise for The Spark Girl, Ruby's heart-warming debut (published as Fiona Ford): 'A fabulous debut from an immensely talented author' Annie Groves 'A compelling first novel which I promise you won't be able to put down' Daisy Styles 'Ford gets to the heart of what it was like to live through the dangerous war years in this warm, captivating, down-to-earth story which is brimming with engaging characters, adventure, romance and heartbreak.' Lancashire Post

Kay Clifton has waited five, long, lonely years for her husband Bob to come home from the war. Despite her excitement at his return, their whirlwind romance prior to his departure makes her feel as though she hardly knows him, so it's not surprising that Kay is apprehensive when she meets him at the station. Kay's hopes of starting their blissfully happy marriage are dashed by the presence of Bob's fellow soldier Tony. Bob is indebted to Tony for saving his life and seems hell bent on repaying that debt to the couple's detriment. But as Tony starts acting more and more strangely, Kay worries that something else happened during the war that Bob is keeping secret. And Bob himself isn't behaving like the man whom she waved off so tearfully all those years ago. But with the love and encouragement of her family and friends, Kay is determined that whatever it takes she will bring out the Bob with whom she first fell in love and forge the future that they had envisaged before the war wreaked its havoc.

Soon to be a major television event from Pascal Pictures, starring Tom Holland. Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, the USA Today and #1 Amazon Charts bestseller Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man's incredible courage and resilience during one of history's darkest hours. Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager-obsessed with music, food, and girls-but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier-a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler's left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich's most mysterious and powerful commanders. Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share. Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting saga of history, suspense, and love.

A heartwarming romance set in Merseyside during and after World War I. Lovely young Cathy is left pregnant with her first child when her husband is killed in the war. For a while she lives with her in-laws, but she leaps at the chance to return as a maid to the household where she worked before her marriage. With the birth of her daughter she is compelled to return to her parents-in-law, a less than ideal situation, particularly when in due course Cathy is being courted by dear old friend. When Cathy marries again and sets up in the antiques business with her husband, it looks like at last she will find the happiness she deserves, but she has made an enemy who can't bear to see Cathy enjoying her life...

The Liverpool-based World War II saga from the new Katie Flynn

When Sam Grey joins the ATS, and is posted to Liverpool she wants to show that she s as brave as any man, and when she doesn t get the chance her lively nature leads her into confrontation with her authoritarian boss. Sparks also fly when she encounters Johnny, whose heroic work in bomb disposal makes him very attractive to many women but Sam s determined not to fall for his charm.

Sally wants nothing more than to protect her small children while her husband is a prisoner of war. She works hard doing shifts in a factory and singing at the Grafton ballroom, confessing to no-one the shameful reason why she needs two jobs. But help is at hand, from a most unlikely source.

This stirring tale of women fighting together to do their bit for their country, keep their families together and finding love and fulfilment in the process will delight her fans and win her many more."

It's July 1930 and Lorna Mathews couldn't be happier. She thought she was about to lose her job but instead the business's new owner, Mr Wyndham, wants to keep her on. Lorna's mother, though, is horrified by the news and finally confesses that Lorna was the result of an affair with Oliver Wyndham, whose family cast her out when Oliver died and the pregnancy was revealed. Shocked to the core to learn that the man she has always thought to be her beloved father simply adopted her at birth, Lorna resolves to find out everything she can about the past and especially about the tragic death of Oliver Wyndham. Working with the Wyndhams, she soon begins to stir up old secrets and the truth starts to emerge. But Lorna hasn't reckoned with falling in love with a member of the family she should hate...

From debut Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Mapepa comes the saga of the four Taha sisters, and the indomitable matriarch who carried her daughters—and her community—through times of drought and violence in their Harare neighborhood.

From the red soil of her garden in Southgate 1, a crowded suburb of Harare, Nyeredzi watches the world. She knows not to venture beyond the grasses that fence them off from the bush, where the city’s violent criminals and young lovers claim the night. But on this red soil, she is sovereign. It is here where she learns how to kill snakes, how to fight off a man, and how to take what she is due. It is here where Nyeredzi and her three older sisters are raised, and where they will each find a different destiny.

Decades prior, a young woman abandons a position of great power to seek justice in the second Chimurenga War, only to return to find her world in shambles. So Zuva Mutongi sets off to build a world of her own, raising four daughters—Nyeredzi, Hannah, Abigail, and Ruth—and defending them from the evils beyond their small Harare home. But when a letter from her long-estranged brother calls her back to a past life, Zuva must reconcile with her duty and heal the broken community she left behind.

Tsitsi Mapepa’s vibrant debut is the history of a new Zimbabwe, with resilient women and men who raised a nation from its ashes. It is the chronicle of an L-shaped house, long awaited and much beloved, and the guests, welcome and unwelcome, who cross its threshold. It is the coming-of-age of four sisters, who will discover the secrets of womanhood on the volatile streets of Harare. But above all, it is a love song to one woman—a soldier, healer, chief, and mother—whose fierce devotion to her people is a testament to the bonds of blood that bind us all.

Michael Zabinsky is an iconoclastic science teacher with a revolutionary zeal to enrich the lives of his pupils and create a better world. Driven by the idealism of youth as a volunteer in 1970s Botswana, he finds his dedication to teaching tested to destruction on returning to England. But Michael doesn't just teach - he thinks. He contemplates the human condition. He confronts racism and political correctness, and after 9/11, Islamism. He tries to juggle the demands of his job with those of his personal life. And there is a twist. At a reunion with Michael's fellow Botswana volunteers, it transpires that something unforeseen has happened to the village where they used to teach. What has become of their former pupils? Does Michael need to reevaluate his time in Africa?

* Longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Longlist 2022 * 'A stunning achievement' TLS 'Unforgettable' Nguyen Phan Que Mai, author of The Mountains Sing As the Korean independence movement gathers pace, two children meet on the streets of Seoul. Fate will bind them through decades of love and war. They just don't know it yet. It is 1917, and Korea is under Japanese occupation. With the threat of famine looming, ten-year-old Jade is sold by her desperate family to Miss Silver's courtesan school in the bustling city of Pyongyang. As the Japanese army tears through the country, she is forced to flee to the southern city of Seoul. Soon, her path crosses with that of an orphan named JungHo, a chance encounter that will lead to a life-changing friendship. But when JungHo is pulled into the revolutionary fight for independence, Jade must decide between following her own ambitions and risking everything for the one she loves. Sweeping through five decades of Korean history, Juhea Kim's sparkling debut is an intricately woven tale of love stretched to breaking point, and two people who refuse to let go.

When Suzy Lunt's widowed mother Josie marries Luke Palmer, it's mainly to keep a roof over their heads. But soon Josie realises she's made a mistake, and she and Suzy flee Liverpool and a man they now fear. But will they be safe from the past in Birkenhead?

A dramatic and heartwarming Victorian saga, perfect for fans of Maggie Hope and Anne Bennett. Shropshire, 1875. Hettie Jones has grown up in Ironbridge. She has never known her father and, since her mother's death, has been brought up by the Malone family, who treat her as one of their own. She works as a pit girl at the local coal mine, alongside her childhood playfellow, Evan - although lately, their friendship seems to be blossoming into something more. But when Queenie King takes a fancy to her, Hettie's life is transformed. Trained first as a lady's maid, and then hurtled into a world of luxury and gentility, she finds her new position difficult to reconcile with her past life. And with Queenie's daughter-in-law scheming against her, Hettie's situation becomes dire. Can Hettie really use her new position for good, and will she find a way to bridge the divide between rich and poor? 'A compelling blend of real history, rich period detail, and a gritty, authentic story brimming with love, loss, intrigue, hope, and bitter revenge, The Orphan of Ironbridge delivers a dramatic final chapter to this exciting trilogy.' Lancashire Evening Post Praise for The Daughters of Ironbridge: 'A Journey. Compelling. Addictive.' Val Wood 'Evocative, dramatic and hugely compelling . . . The Daughters of Ironbridge has all the hallmarks of a classic saga. I loved it' Miranda Dickinson 'Feisty female characters, an atmospheric setting and a spell-binding storyline make this a phenomenal read' Cathy Bramley 'The Daughters of Ironbridge has that compulsive, page-turning quality, irresistible characters the reader gets hugely invested in, and Walton has created a brilliantly alive, vivid and breathing world in Ironbridge' Louisa Treger 'Such great characters who will stay with me for a long time' Beth Miller 'The attention to period detail and beautiful writing drew me right in and kept me reading' Lynne Francis 'Vivid, page-turning drama' Pippa Beecheno 'A powerful sense of place and period, compelling characters and a pacy plot had me racing to the end' Gill Paul 'A story that is vivid, twisting and pacy, with characters that absolutely leap off the page' Iona Grey 'Beautiful and poignant. I'll definitely be reading The Secrets of Ironbridge' Tania Crosse

When Ruby's father returns, shell-shocked, from the front lines of the Great War, the young girl realises that things will never be the same again. Forced to leave school and help her mother wash clothes, Ruby closes the door on her childhood. When she takes a job at the local laundry, Ruby enjoys the friendship of the other women there, but there's also bitchiness and jealousy amongst the workers. At home there's growing tension with the live-in landlord as Ruby grows into an attractive woman, but not the kind who's willing to use her charms to win favours. Ruby's heart belongs to one man only, a local boy she's known all her life, but there are many battles to be fought before they start a life together...

Two hundred years have not dimmed Fielding's realism. His humor is closer to our own than that of any other writer before the present century."-Kingsley Amis "An exquisite picture of human manners."-Edward Gibbon "The plotting is complex, astonishing and perfect. It brims with good nature and generosity of spirit....it's full of jokes, suspense, cliffhangers, narrative reversals and pathos."-Jonathan Cole The History of Tom Jones is Henry Fielding's greatest work and one of literature's earliest examples of a fully realized protagonist, with both virtues and vices on abundant display. The picaresque story of the orphan Tom, his exile, then subsequent adventures and loves is bristling with the spirit of mid-18th century Britain yet remains a deeply ambitious novel.The frank portrayal of human nature and innovative narrative structure of this classic continues to entice readers hundreds of years after it's publication. When Mr. Allworthy, a kind country squire, returns from London he finds a baby boy in one of the beds of his estate. Through his inquiry, he determines that the mother is a local woman named Jenny Jones. Allworthy sends her away from the country, and decides to raise the boy, named Tom Jones, with his unmarried sister in their home. Soon after, Allworthy's sister marries and gives birth to her own boy, known as Blifil. He initially appears to be virtuous, yet as he grows it becomes apparent he inherently deceitful. Years later, when Squire Allworthy falls ill Blifil betrays Tom, and he is banished from the house. In his exile, Tom's adventures across his country begin. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The History of Tom Jones is both modern and readable.