'[I was] completely transported . . . so sparely and yet vividly told. I admired it immensely' Clare Chambers 'Aroa Moreno Duran writes with a rare sensitivity about the unconsidered consequences of giving everything up for love' Claire Fuller Winner of the Premio Ojo Critico Katia has grown up amongst the ruins of the once mighty Berlin, now shattered by Allied bombs. In their tiny, freezing flat, Katia's father teaches her of the righteousness of the new Soviet republic, who will always keep watch over them. As a young woman, a chance encounter with a man from the west causes Katia to realise there might be more to life on the other side of the wall. But blinded by the first blush of love, she fails to understand that it's not what lies ahead, but what she will leave behind. Translated from its original Spanish, The Communist's Daughter is a spare and exquisite novel that depicts twentieth century Europe through one family's tragic story. 'Beautifully written, powerfully realised. A novel that touches the heart' Kate Hamer

In the Full Light of the Sun follows the fortunes of three Berliners caught up in a devastating scandal of 1930s' Germany. It tells the story of Emmeline, a wayward, young art student; Julius, an anxious, middle-aged art expert; and a mysterious art dealer named Rachmann who are at the heart of Weimar Berlin at its hedonistic, politically turbulent apogee and are whipped up into excitement over the surprising discovery of thirty-two previously unknown paintings by Vincent van Gogh. Based on a true story, unfolding through the subsequent rise of Hitler and the Nazis, this gripping tale is about beauty and justice, and the truth that may be found when our most treasured beliefs are revealed as illusions. Brilliant on authenticity, vanity and self-delusion, it is a novel for our times.

He stared desperately into the dark trying to force his eyes to see, so that they ached more than ever . . . He sensed that the eyes of men were drilling into the back of his neck, so that it felt prickly. Being lost when you are the leader is the worst thing of all. He hated them because he was lost . . . Rage and despair were welling up inside him . . . 1943, the North African desert. Major Tim Sheldon, an exhausted and battle-weary infantry officer, is asked to carry out a futile and unexpected patrol mission. He'd been on many patrols, but this was to be the longest and most dangerous of all. Fred Majdalany's superb novel of the men who fought in the North African campaign puts this so-called minor mission at center stage, as over the course of the day and during the patrol itself, Sheldon looks back on his time as a soldier, considers his future, and contemplates the meaning of fear.

'Fascinating ... a poignant book ... an unusual and absolutely authentic view of those convulsive years' OBSERVER 'Each story in Wave Me Goodbye is a relic of the Second World War' SUNDAY TIMES 'This is as stark and acidic a collection of war stories as you will read ... Stripped bare of the sentimentalism attached to love in wartime' SCOTSMAN This collection of wartime stories includes some of the finest writers of a generation. War had traditionally been seen as a masculine occupation, but these stories show how women were equal if different participants. Here, war is less about progress on the frontline of battle than about the daily struggle to keep homes, families and relationships alive; to snatch pleasure from danger, and strength from shared experience. The stories are about saying goodbye to husbands, lovers, brothers and sons - and sometimes years later trying to remake their lives anew. By turn comical, stoical, compassionate, angry and subversive, these intensely individual voices bring a human dimension to the momentous events that reverberated around them and each opens a window on to a hidden landscape of war. Writers include: Jean Rhys, Beryl Bainbridge, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, Stevie Smith, Rosamond Lehmann, Barbara Pym, Angela Thirkell, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Dorothy Parker, Doris Lessing, Olivia Manning, Rose Macaulay and Stevie Smith

The crescendo of war, a crushing blow, a path to redemption...Peacetime political machinations threaten Kelly Maguire's ambitions to be a Captain. But then war breaks out, and the world needs men who are willing to risk everything. As World War II explodes, and after a devastating loss in the Battle of Narvik, Maguire finds himself washed up at Dunkirk during the evacuation of 1940. Once more he must prove his worth. On the ocean, and the beaches, Kelly will fight for his country, and for the ones he loves. But, on the verge of true greatness after the Normandy landings, he is tasked with one final mission, one that could end his career... Back to Battle is an earth-shattering novel set at the heart of the bloodiest war ever fought.

Find the truth; risk everything. A gripping WWII spy novel full of intrigue and peril from a modern master.1942: A German spy comes ashore on a desolate stretch of Lincolnshire beach. But he is hunted down by a young detective, Richard Prince. The secret services have need of a man like him... In occupied Europe, Denmark is a hotbed of problems for British intelligence. Rumours of a war-ending weapon being developed by the Germans are rife. Sent to Copenhagen, Prince is soon caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Dodging Gestapo agents, SS muscle and the danger of betrayal, his survival - and the war effort - hangs in the balance. Gripping and intense, Prince of Spies is the first in a new espionage series that will delight fans of Alan Furst, Philip Kerr and John le Carre.

Angelo, a private in Mussolini's 'ever-glorious' Italian army, may possess the virtues of love and an engaging innocence but he lacks the gift of courage. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, he ends up fighting not only for Italy but also for the British and German armies. With his patron the Count, the beautiful Lucrezia, the charming Annunziata, and the delightful Major Telfer, Angelo's fellow characters are drawn with humour, insight and sympathy, making the book a wittily satirical comment on the grossness and waste of war. Eric Linklater, who served with the Black Watch in Italy in World War II, is one of Scotland's most distinguished writers. In Private Angelo he has written a book which demonstrates that honour is not solely the preserve of the brave.

A heart-warming story of friendship and family during the first Christmas of World War Two. Autumn 1939 and London prepares to evacuate its young. In No 5 Jubilee Street, Bermondsey, ten-year-old Connie is determined to show her parents that she's a brave girl and can look after her twin brother, Jessie. She won't cry, not while anyone's watching. In the crisp Yorkshire Dales, Connie and Jessie are billeted to a rambling vicarage. Kindly but chaotic, Reverend Braithwaite is determined to keep his London charges on the straight and narrow, but the twins soon find adventures of their own. As autumn turns to winter, Connie's dearest wish is that war will end and they will be home for Christmas. But this Christmas Eve there will be an unexpected arrival... Praise for The Evacuee Christmas: 'A heart-warming tale of friendship and family' Woman

Liliana's beloved husband has been dead six months when she finds a roll of banknotes in a drawer with a note: "Treat yourself to something nice, love". The same morning, in her local cafe, she spies the headline on La Republica: two men have been shot and injured in Rome and it is suspected that Libya's Colonel Gadaffi is behind it. When she reads the name of one of the victims, Abrama Cattaneo, the last forty years of her life in England - not speaking Italian, never mentioning her Italian family - disappear in an instant.

She is transported back to her years in Italy and in Tripoli, and she realises that Cattaneo, a poet, is the nephew she last saw when he was a baby. Immediately she knows what she must do. She boards a place to Rome, where she plans to reclaim the life that she failed to have. Her real life.

Moving between past and present, to explore Liliana's years as a young woman in Tripoli under Italian occupation, The Fourth Shore shines a light on a forgotten period of brutal repression and once again shows that the emotionally crippling effects of war linger for decades after the fighting has stopped.

Ultimate soldier. Ultimate mission. But can the SAS distract the Nazis to allow airborne landings to go ahead? September 1944: in the wake of the successful 'Anvil' landings, the Allies plan airborne landings in the Orleans Gap. To 'soften' the enemy beforehand, they decide to drop a squadron of men and jeeps in Central France, to hit enemy positions to distract attention from the landings taking place elsewhere Operation Kipling begins when 46 jeeps and 107 well-armed SAS men from C Squadron are parachuted in with orders to establish a base and contact the Maquis - Frenchmen living in makeshift forest camps, conducting sabotage missions behind enemy lines. Even as they are setting up camp, the airborne landings are cancelled and the SAS ordered to conduct 'aggressive' patrolling. Over the coming weeks, C Squadron must carry out a succession of high risk night raids against the Germans, racing into occupied towns in jeeps, firing on the move, and racing out again: to continually harass the enemy and inflict heavy casualties. Or die trying.

Based on a true story, a gripping historical novel about a German immigrant who becomes embroiled in a Nazi spy ring operating in New York City in the early days of World War II. At the end of the 1930s, Europe is engulfed in war. Though America is far from the fighting, the streets of New York have become a battlefield. Anti-Semitic and racist groups spread hate, while German nationalists celebrate Hitler's strength and power. Josef Klein, a German immigrant, remains immune to the troubles roiling his adopted city. The multicultural neighborhood of Harlem is his world, a lively place full of sidewalk tables where families enjoy their dinner and friends indulge in games of chess. Josef's great passion is the radio. His skill and technical abilities attract the attention of influential men who offer him a job as a shortwave operator. But when Josef begins to understand what they're doing, it's too late; he's already a little cog in the big wheel-part of a Nazi espionage network working in Manhattan. Discovered by American authorities, Josef is detained at Ellis Island, and eventually deported to Germany. Back in his homeland, fate leads him to his brother Carl's family, soap merchants in Neuss-where he witnesses the seductive power of the Nazis and the war's terrible consequences-and finally to South America, where Josef hopes to start over again as Jose. Eventually, Josef realizes that no matter how far he runs or how hard he tries, there is one indelible truth he cannot escape: How long can you hide from your own past, before it catches up with you? Copyright 2020 by Klett-Cotta-J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger GmbH Stuttgart, Germany; Translated by Marshall Yarbrough

If you like nail-biting tension, all-guns-blazing action and high-octane drama, then this historical adventure novel from multi-million copy bestselling author Douglas Reeman is perfect for you. Fans of Clive Cussler, Bernard Cornwell and Wilbur Smith will not be disappointed. 'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' - Sunday Times 'A terrific nautical yarn from one of the best Naval authors' -- ***** Reader review 'Another romping good yarn by my favourite author. The only trouble is when I start reading, its hard to put it down :-)' -- ***** Reader review 'A must read' -- ***** Reader review *********************************************************************************** The Allies are poised for the invasion of Italy. Yet the Germans hold a vital card: a floating dock - the only one in the Adriatic large enough to take a major warship. Moored at a small port near Rimini, it is exposed, vulnerable. It must be destroyed before the Germans can tow it to a safer harbour. Air, surface and conventional submarine attacks are out of the question. Only one team can do the job and still stand a chance of surviving - the crew of HM Midget Submarine XE 51...

Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941.  Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler.  But when he refuses to join the company's boxing team, he gets "the treatment" that may break him or kill him.  First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he's risking his career to have an affair with the commanding officer's wife.  Both Warden and Prewitt are bound by a common bond:  the Army is their heart and blood . . .and, possibly, their death.

In this magnificent but brutal classic of a soldier's life, James Jones portrays the courage, violence and passions of men and women who live by unspoken codes and with unutterable despair. . .in the most important American novel to come out of World War II, a masterpiece that captures as no ther the honor and savagery of men.


From the Paperback edition.

An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller. From the USA Today bestselling author of A Curve in the Road comes a spellbinding novel about one woman's love, loss, and courage during wartime. After a crushing betrayal by the man she loves, Gillian Gibbons flees to her family home for a much-needed escape, but when she finds an old photograph of her grandmother in the arms of a Nazi officer, Gillian's life gets even more complicated. Rattled by the discovery, Gillian attempts to unravel the truth behind the photos, setting her off on an epic journey through the past... 1939. England is on the brink of war as Vivian Hughes falls in love with a handsome British official, but when bombs begin to fall and Vivian's happy life is destroyed in the blitz, she will do whatever it takes to protect those she loves... As Gillian learns more about her grandmother's past, the old photo begins to make more sense. But for every question answered, a new one takes its place. Faced with a truth that is not at all what she expected, Gillian attempts to shine a light not only on the mysteries of her family's past but also on her own future. This gorgeously written multigenerational saga is a heart-wrenching yet hopeful examination of one woman's struggle to survive, perfect for fans of The Nightingale and Beneath a Scarlet Sky.

From the author of the runaway bestseller The Orphan’s Tale comes a remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female secret agents during World War II.

1946, Manhattan. One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs—each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station.

Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a network of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home, their fates a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal.

Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of the brave women of the war and weaves a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances.

Can she overcome her family's doubts to achieve her dream?Meg Turner has a hard life. She lives on a lonely farm in the Lake District and her only company is her bully of a father and her brother, who resents her. They want to keep her at home, but Meg is desperate for more. She finds comfort in her best friend, Kath, and Lanky Lawson, who is more of a father figure to her than her own. Her true source of hope though, is Lanky's son, Jack, who she loves and hopes to marry one day. However as war looms on the horizon and the world is thrown into chaos, Meg realises that the only thing she can really count on is the land she loves. She throws herself into tending the farm, but when a stranger arrives in the dale, her world will change forever. A vivid and enchanting saga of Lakeland life in the Second World War, perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Anna Jacobs.