WW2 Manchester: Newlyweds Helen and Jim Harrison have big plans - to leave the family shop where Helen works and set up home together. But when Jim is tragically killed in an air raid, Helen is heartbroken, her life in ruins. Battling grief and despair, Helen resolves to escape her domineering mother and rebuild her shattered world. Wartime Manchester is a dangerous place, besieged by crime and poverty. So when Helen joins the Women's Auxiliary Police Corps, working with evacuees, the destitute and the vulnerable, she finds a renewed sense of purpose. She's come a long way from her place behind the counter in the corner shop. But there's still something missing in her heart. Is Helen able to accept love and happiness and find the courage to change her life?

These characters speak from the heart - the pain and excitement of leaving, the struggle to find work and raise a family and always the longing for home that never goes away. A Cork man drawn into the gangs of 19th century Manchester finds an unlikely escape from his criminal life. A navvy, 'Sure, didn't we build England for them,' is moved by tragedy to make something of himself. A young woman arrives in England expecting the excitement she's read about in magazines, but her matchmaker cousin has other ideas ...Those who crossed the sea carried not only their dreams of a better life, but the strength and good humour to adapt and survive. These fifteen stories portray with precision and honesty the experience of Irish immigrants-focusing on moments of passion, stark reality, and that eternal conflict between where they belong and where they live.

Belfast, 1939, and Martha's daughters are beginning to make their way in the world. Irene, the eldest, is on the lookout for a new job and romance. She is torn between Sean O'Hara - wanted by the police for something he didn't do - and RAF radio engineer Sandy, serving in India. Pat is sensitive and thoughtful, and dreams of life beyond the Ulster Linen Works. When she is introduced to a dashing tenor, the possibility of a new life seems ever more real . . . Peggy, hot-headed and glamorous, loves her job in Mr Goldstein's music shop on Royal Avenue, where she catches the eye of a Humphrey Bogart lookalike, but he isn't all he appears . . . Sheila, the youngest, wants to stay on at school, but her family desperately need another wage. Above all, she longs to be treated like a grown up. Although they lead very different lives, the sisters share a passion for singing and when they are asked to join a new troupe of entertainers, Martha fears this will put them in temptation's way. Can she hold her family together and keep her girls safe, even when the bombs begin to fall? The Golden Sisters, the fabulous sequel to Martha's Girls, is out now!

In wartime it takes courage to follow your heart. Manchester, 1939. Everyone hated the heat and the deafening noise, but for Gracie the worst thing was the smell of chemicals that turned her stomach every morning when she arrived at the Rosenberg Raincoats factory. Gracie is a girl on the factory floor. Jacob is the boss's charismatic nephew. When they fall in love, it seems as if the whole world is against them - especially Charlie Nuttall, who also works at the factory and has always wanted Gracie for himself. But worse is to come when Jacob disappears and Gracie is devastated, vowing to find him. Can she solve the mystery of his whereabouts? Gracie will need all her strength and courage to find a happy ending.