**THE FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER is now available in ebook** THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'This has to be the most beautiful book I've read in a very long time' ***** 'The best book I have read!' ***** 'Superbly written with characters I truly cared and worried about' ***** 'If you like Kate Morton or Lucinda Riley, you'll like this too' ***** Crossing generations, society's boundaries and international turmoil, The Paris Seamstress is a beguiling, transporting story perfect for fans of Lucinda Riley, Kate Furnivall, Kate Morton and Penny Vincenzi. *************** What must Estella sacrifice to make her mark? 1940: Parisian seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the Germans advance. She is bound for Manhattan with a few francs, one suitcase, her sewing machine and a dream: to have her own atelier. 2015: Australian curator Fabienne Bissette journeys to the annual Met Gala for an exhibition of her beloved grandmother's work - one of the world's leading designers of ready-to-wear. But as Fabienne learns more about her grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets - and the sacrifices made for love. PRAISE FOR NATASHA LESTER... 'Fascinating and impeccably researched' GILL PAUL 'A fantastically engrossing story. I love it' KELLY RIMMER 'A beautiful story in every way' THE LADY 'Intrigue, heartbreak... I cannot tell you how much I loved this book' RACHEL BURTON 'If you enjoy historical fiction (and even if you don't) you will love this book' Sally Hepworth 'A gorgeously rich and romantic novel' Kate Forsyth 'Stunning . . . Will have you captivated' Liz Byrski 'This romance will have you enchanted' Woman's Day 'Natasha Lester is our generation's Louisa May Alcott' Tess Woods 'What a GEM!' Sara Foster 'Natasha Lester brings bold, brave women to life' Courier Mail 'I love this book' Rachael Johns 'Exquisite!' Vanessa Carnevale 'Engaging' Herald Sun 'An essential addition to Australian fiction' AusRomToday 'Utterly compelling' Good Reading 'Emotion that will touch your heart and soul deeply' Jodi Gibson 'Fascinating, evocative and meticulously researched' Annabel Abbs 'Entertaining and provocative' Perth Festival 'Lester has woven a fine, original story of everlasting quality.' BetterReading 'A captivating tale' Daily Examiner 'A delightful and multi-faceted romp through the jazz era' Natalie Salvo 'Excellent historical fiction' The Book Muse 'You will love this even if you're not a regular reader of historical fiction' Jess Just Reads 'Storytelling at its finest' Great Reads & Tea Leaves

Set on an island in the South Pacific during the final days of World War II, when the tide has turned against Japan and the war has unmistakably become one of attrition, "The Breaking Jewel" offers a rare depiction of the Pacific War from the Japanese side and captures the essence of Japan's doomed imperial aims. The novel opens as a small force of Japanese soldiers prepares to defend a tiny and ultimately insignificant island from a full-scale assault by American forces. Its story centers on squad leader Nakamura, who resists the Americans to the end, as he and his comrades grapple with the idea of "gyokusai" (translated as "the breaking jewel" or the "pulverization of the gem"), the patriotic act of mass suicide in defense of the homeland.

Well known for his antiestablishment and antiwar sentiments, Makuto Oda gradually and subtly develops a powerful critique of the war and the racialist imperial aims that proved Japan's undoing.

Nellie March and Jill Banford manage an ailing Berkshire farm at the time of the First World War, a task which is made all the more complicated by the frequent rampages of a local fox through their chicken coop. When a young soldier turns up and begins to interfere with the farm and the lives of the two women, they must find ways to react to this new fox in their midst. A compelling study of the question of power, gender and sexuality, as well as a realistic portrayal of wartime rural England, The Fox showcases Lawrence's inimitable gift for psychological observation and dramatic description.

1967. In a quiet village in the wild lands of the Scottish borders, disgraced academic Cordelia Hemlock is trying to put her life back together. Grieving the loss of her son, she seeks out the company of the dead, taking comfort amid the ancient headstones and crypts of the local churchyard. When lightning strikes a tumbledown tomb, she glimpses a corpse that doesn't belong among the crumbling bones. But when the storm passes and the body vanishes, the authorities refuse to believe the claims of a hysterical 'outsider'. Teaming up with a reluctant witness, local woman Felicity Goose, Cordelia's enquiries all lead back to a former POW camp that was set up in the village during the Second World War. But not all Gilsland's residents welcome the two young women's interference. There are those who believe the village's secrets should remain buried . whatever the cost.

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.

'Shadow Man is a harrowing and horrific game of consequences' Val McDermid THE BRILLIANTLY COMPELLING SECOND NOVEL IN THE DI LUKAS MAHLER SERIES A missing child. A seventy-year-old murder. And a killer who's still on the loose. Ten year-old Erin is missing; taken in broad daylight during a friend's birthday party. With no witnesses and no leads, DI Lukas Mahler races against time to find her. But is it already too late for Erin - and will her abductor stop at one stolen child? And the discovery of human remains on a construction site near Inverness confronts Mahler's team with a cold case from the 1940s. Was Aeneas Grant's murder linked to a nearby POW camp, or is there an even darker story to be uncovered? With his team stretched to the limit, Mahler's hunt for Erin's abductor takes him from Inverness to the Lake District. And decades-old family secrets link both casesin a shocking final twist. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MARGARET KIRK'S DEBUT NOVEL SHADOW MAN: 'Gripping' 'Kept me on my toes right to the end' 'Another great detective is born' 'Shadow Man has a taut plot, maintains suspense cleverly and is crisply written' 'The city of Inverness is almost a character in its own right' 'A top-notch crime thriller, full of intricate twists with a disturbing insight into the mind of a cold blooded killer' 'Dark and atmospheric, I just couldn't put it down'

"The Young Lions" is a vivid and classic novel that portrays the experiences of ordinary soldiers fighting World War II. Told from the points of view of a perceptive young Nazi, a jaded American film producer, and a shy Jewish boy just married to the love of his life, Shaw conveys, as no other novelist has since, the scope, confusion, and complexity of war.

Whatever the indifference or brutality of the world, love still thrives. September 1942: Following the collapse of the Allied resistance in Burma, the full might of the Imperial Japanese Airforce has been unleashed on the cities of Chengdu and Chongqing, in an attempt to force the Chinese government to sue for peace. The brave actions of a squadron of Chinese pilots in their battered planes offer a glimmer of hope in these darkest of hours. May 2019: 29 year-old Torin Cameron from London meets 26 year-old Lu Chen Xi (Sunny) at a business conference in Chengdu. Reluctant at first, she becomes his guide on a journey of discovery, that takes them deep into the Sichuan countryside and opens Torin's eyes to China's heroic role in the second world war-and a family secret that has remained concealed for seventy-five years. Unravelling the threads between wartime China and Europe and modern-day Chengdu and London, Degrees of Separation explores the yin and yang of tangled human experience, the twists of fate and tendrils of connection that wind through generations and across cultures. An uplifting and inspirational story of love and reconciliation.

'A superb example of Deighton's craft' Robert Harris January 1942. Rommel's troops are at the gates of Egypt, soon to threaten Cairo itself. A spy has been leaking British secrets to the German commander, and Captain Albert Cutler has been sent to find them amongst the city's teeming streets and bazaars, before it is too late. But Cutler is not quite what he seems, and Cairo is a city of fool's gold, where nothing can be taken at face value. 'The pace of the story is compulsive ... it is a real pleasure to be swallowed up in Deighton's descriptions of wartime Cairo' Daily Telegraph 'A novel reminiscent in spirit to Casablanca. Play it again, Len' Kirkus Reviews

'Haunting and enchanting by turns. This book will stay with me for a long time. Utterly magnificent' Jenni Keer Can the truth about her family's past unlock her future? Normandy, 1937. Sixteen-year-old Elise embarks on a whirlwind romance with a young American man, which transports her from the drudgery of her everyday life caring for her mother. But neither she nor William is prepared for the war that will threaten to tear them apart... Boston, 2009. Lucy has been left reeling by the death of her beloved grandfather. They had always planned to visit France together after her college graduation; now, still aching from his loss, Lucy decides to take the trip alone. As Lucy traces the steps of her grandfather through the French countryside where he once served as a GI, a powerful story of love, loss and destiny emerges - but can the truth about her family's past unlock her future? Or are some scars too deep to heal? Readers love The Time Between Us: 'Poignant, haunting story took my breath away. A simply stunning debut' Clare Marchant 'Emotional story of love and loss, beautifully woven' Liz Fenwick 'Left me breathless. My emotions were crushed and revived and tangled... I cried and felt heartbreak for the characters. Time stood still and supper cooled while I finished living it... Unmissable... I cannot stop thinking about it' Goodreads reviewer, 'Emotional rollercoaster of love and loss... An excellent read which kept my interest right through to the last page' Jo Lambert 'Fabulous, emotional... This is a beautifully written story of war, love and loss... Pulled me in from the first page and I loved the story of Elise' NetGalley Reviewer, 'Emotional and heart-breaking... If you like WWII books then you will love this one' NetGalley reviewer, 'Fantastic... Hooked me and kept me invested... McCarron was able to capture the sights, smells, sounds, touch and tastes to the extent that I felt I was in the soldier's boots. It was phenomenal!... I was emotionally wrung out by the end of the book... This is the best book out there... Spectacular... Magnificently written, five-star historical fiction must be on your radar' NetGalley Reviewer, 'Very beautiful read. I highly recommend this one. I really like the writer's style and look forward to her future books' @IslaRoseReads, 'Heart-breaking dual timeline story of love, loss and the reality of life' NetGalley Reviewer 'Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and this one did not disappoint... I recommend this book if you like to read historical fiction' NetGalley Reviewer 'Poignant and emotionally complex. Loved it' NetGalley Reviewer

Like Aladdin, but with post-traumatic stress, Charlie Echo is a story about wishes - the last wishes of a dying soldier in Normandy in 1944. Verbal wills of this sort are valid if there are two witnesses and the first men on the scene are radio operator Charlie Goodman and his assistant, Sid Saunders. Unfortunately, in the confusion of events that follow, Charlie fails to ascertain the full identity of the dying officer and is invalided back to Blighty plagued by trauma and remorse. Once he has been demobbed also, it falls to Saunders to break the impasse by getting his comrade to repair a radio telephone, just like the one they were using in France. What he doesn't anticipate is that working on the set will prompt Charlie to not only hear the mystery soldier's voice again, but to see him too. If not quite the genie in the lamp, it seems like there's a ghost in the machine and one that's been transported to his workshop in Leeds. Dismayed to discover that his wishes have not been carried out, the ghost goads Charlie into journeying through post-war Britain in order to fulfil his battlefield promise. Jolting between humour and pathos, it's a journey that transforms reclusive repair man into unlikely pantomime hero and propels Saunders off in pursuit to play his allotted role in the "show".

The master of alternative history asks the question, 'What would have happened if World War II had started in 1938?'. The results are thrilling. The two sides of the Spanish civil war are still locked in a blood-soaked stalemate. Stalin's purge of the Red Army is barely underway. And Neville Chamberlain - sickened by the arrogance and duplicity of the Germans- does not return from Munich waving the piece of paper that would give the Czech arms factories to Hitler and postpone the war until 1939. On October 1, German tanks cross the Czech frontier, touching off declarations of war from France, from England, from the USSR. Poland, fearing the Russians more than Hitler, declares war on the German side. Soon Fascist Spain attacks Gibraltar, the Japanese army crosses the Manchurian frontier into Siberia . . . and the British Army sets off for France, which has launched a pre-emptive attack on the Rhineland. The war we know as World War II has begun - a year early, in an entirely different way.

Primo Levi was one of the most astonishing voices to emerge from the twentieth century: a man who survived one of the ugliest times in history, yet who was able to describe his own Auschwitz experience with an unaffected tenderness. Levi was a master storyteller but he did not write fairytales. These stories are an elegy to the human figures who stood out against the tragic background of Auschwitz, 'the ones in whom I had recognized the will and capacity to react, and hence a rudiment of virtue'. Each centres on an individual who - whether it be through a juggling trick, a slice of apple or a letter - discovers one of the 'bizarre, marginal moments of reprieve'.

Poland, 1941. After the Jews in their town are rounded up, Róza and her five-year-old daughter, Shira, spend day and night hidden in a farmer's barn.

Forbidden from making a sound, only the yellow bird from her mother's stories can sing the melodies Shira composes in her head.

Róza does all she can to take care of Shira and shield her from the horrors of the outside world. They play silent games and invent their own sign language. But then the day comes when their haven is no longer safe, and Róza must face an impossible choice: whether the best thing she can do for her daughter is keep her close by her side, or give her the chance to survive by letting her go…

The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner is a powerfully gripping and deeply moving novel about the unbreakable bond between parent and child and the triumph of humanity and hope in even the darkest circumstances.

The spirit of aloha is found in Hawaii's fresh ocean air, the flowers, the trade winds . . . the natural beauty that smooth the struggles of daily life. In 1922 Honolulu, unhappy in the adoptive family that's raised her, Dolores begins to search for that spirit early on-and she begins by running away at sixteen to live with her newlywed friend Maria. Trying to find her own love, Dolores marries a young Portuguese man named Manolo His large family embraces her, but when his drinking leads to physical abuse, only his relative Alberto comes to her rescue-and sparks a passion within Dolores that she hasn't known before. Staunch Catholics can't divorce, however; so, after the Pearl Harbor attack, Dolores flees with her two daughters to California, only to be followed by both Manolo and Alberto. In California, Manolo's drinking problems continue-and Alberto's begin. Outraged that yet another man in her life is turning to the bottle for answers, Dolores starts to doubt her feelings for Alberto. Is he only going to disappoint her, as Manolo has? Or is Alberto the embodiment of the aloha spirit she's been seeking?

A few months ago fourteen-year-old Ali Banana was apprenticed to a whip-wielding blacksmith in his rural hometown. Now its winter 1944, the war is entering its most crucial stage and Ali is a private in Thunder Brigade. His unit has been given orders to go behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. But the Burmese jungle is a mud-riven, treacherous place, riddled with Japanese snipers, insanity and disease. Burma Boy is a horrific, vividly realised account of the madness, the sacrifice and the dark humour of the Second World War's most vicious battleground. It's also the moving story of a boy trying to live long enough to become a man.

The romantic forested landscape of southwest Germany is the setting for the birth of a friendship that will haunt sixteen-year-old Hans Schwarz for the rest of his life. Hans is Jewish, the son of a doctor who is confident that the rise of the Nazis is only 'a temporary illness' afflicting his beloved country. Hans's new classmate, Konradin von Hohenfels, is a dazzling young aristocrat whose mother keeps a portrait of Hitler on her dressing-table. Hans is immediately drawn to Konradin, and thrilled when a close bond forms between them, forged by common interests that set them apart from the other boys. But their loyalties are soon tested in ways they could not have imagined. Three decades later, from the vantage point of New York City, Hans once again confronts this life-shaping episode from his youth, through a stunning revelation that he stumbles upon by chance. In its story of friendship undone by History, Reunion combines the explosive compression of a fable with the emotional depth of an epic novel many times its length.

As seen in the New York Times Book Review. A December 2019 Indie Next Pick! Set against the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963, Annette Hess's international bestseller is a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting coming-of-age story about a young female translator--caught between societal and familial expectations and her unique ability to speak truth to power--as she fights to expose the dark truths of her nation's past. If everything your family told you was a lie, how far would you go to uncover the truth? For twenty-four-year-old Eva Bruhns, World War II is a foggy childhood memory. At the war's end, Frankfurt was a smoldering ruin, severely damaged by the Allied bombings. But that was two decades ago. Now it is 1963, and the city's streets, once cratered are smooth and paved. Shiny new stores replace scorched rubble. Eager for her wealthy suitor, Jurgen Schoormann, to propose, Eva dreams of starting a new life away from her parents and sister. But Eva's plans are turned upside down when a fiery investigator, David Miller, hires her as a translator for a war crimes trial. As she becomes more deeply involved in the Frankfurt Trials, Eva begins to question her family's silence on the war and her future. Why do her parents refuse to talk about what happened? What are they hiding? Does she really love Jurgen and will she be happy as a housewife? Though it means going against the wishes of her family and her lover, Eva, propelled by her own conscience, joins a team of fiery prosecutors determined to bring the Nazis to justice--a decision that will help change the present and the past of her nation. Translated from the German by Elisabeth Lauffer

'A haunting and thrilling read' Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat 'Original and unsettling - and just a little bit heartbreaking' Rachel Rhys, author of Dangerous Crossing In a sleepy English village in 1944, Annabel and her son Daniel live in the shadow of war. With her husband away, an increasingly isolated Annabel begins to lose her grip on reality. When mother and son befriend Hans, a German PoW consigned to a nearby farm, their lives are suddenly filled with thrilling secrets. To Annabel, Hans is an awakening from the darkness that has engulfed her since Daniel's birth. To her son, a solitary boy caught up in the magical world of fairy tales, he is perhaps a prince in disguise. But Hans has plans of his own and will soon set them into motion with devastating consequences.

THE TIN DRUM presents Hitler's rise and fall through the eyes of the dwarfish narrator whose magic powers become symbolic of the dark forces dominating the German nation in the period. Like Thomas Mann's DOCTOR FAUSTUS, Grass's novel explores the dark roots of power and creativity. An early advocate of 'magic realism'. Gunter Grass is the most powerful and celebrated novelist to appear in post-war Germany. His home city of Danzig is a powerful presence in this novel.