Historical Sagas

Against the chaotic backdrop of World War II, Grace Murphy is working as a midwife in Doncaster Royal Infirmary with her two friends, Clodagh and Patsy. In between delivering babies and tending wounded airmen, the girls endure bombing raids, rationing and the hardships and heartbreak that war brings. But in the faces of the new babies she welcomes to the world, Grace always looks for hope, as she dreams of a time when the war will end.

The three novels that make up The Forsyte Saga chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family through three generations, beginning in Victorian London during the 1880s and ending in the early 1920s. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women.

It was June 1916 when Sergeant Boots Adams of the Royal West Kents, together with his men, was billeted on the Descartes farm in Northern France. It was a short break from the turmoil and horror of the trenches, and Boots and his men, in return for their free billeting, were to help the farmer in his fields. It came as something of a surprise to discover that the land was being managed by a young French war widow, Cecile Lacoste and, to the distant sound of guns, a brief wartime friendship flared between Boots and Cecile.

Anny Woodvine's family has worked at the ironworks for as long as she can remember. The brightest child in her road and the first in her family to learn to read, Anny has big dreams. The moment she is asked to run messages to the big house, she's ready to grab the opportunity with both hands. Margaret King, only daughter of the King family, is surrounded by privilege and wealth. But behind closed doors all is not what it seems. When Anny arrives, Margaret finds her first ally and friend. Together they plan to change their lives.

Dartmoor, 1875. Rose Maddiford, beautiful, vivacious and intelligent, could have her pick of men across Dartmoor. But she is in no hurry to marry unless it is for true love - and certainly not while she can help her father manage the Cherrybrook Gunpowder Mills. Then tragedy strikes. Rose’s father is injured by an explosion at the mill, and the family is left teetering on the edge of poverty. Rose is left with just two options: accept arrogant, controlling Charles Chadwicks’ proposal and move to London or let her family perish. Rose must choose duty over love.

Free-spirited Rebecca Westbrook recognises her perfect match when she sees him. His name is Captain Adam Bradley. She is the harbour master’s daughter. He is smouldering and sophisticated - the most eligible captain ever to sail into the quay. Anyone can see it’s meant to be. But Rebecca is anything but charmed. Her heart belongs to Tom Mason, a lowly cooper she’s known forever. Her father doubts Tom's ability to provide securely for her. But Tom has a plan to prove him wrong. And until then, passionate Rebecca refuses to wait to be with him. But fate has other plans.

1941. Maisie yearns for a family of her own. Raised as a charity orphan in a Catholic convent in Ireland, she believed she was all alone in the world. But when she is twelve, her world is turned upside down by a shocking revelation. She is uprooted from the only life she has ever known, and transplanted against her will to Plymouth, England. Family might not be all it's cracked up to be. But Maisie is resilient. She surrounds herself with a family of her own making. Then war breaks out across Europe and a horrific tragedy occurs during one of the worst nights of the Plymouth Blitz.

1940, Great Paxford, Cheshire. When a spitfire crashes in the village, the lives of an extraordinary community of women will change forever: Frances Barden's greatest challenge is only just beginning; Pat Simms received a respite when her abusive husband went to war, but now he's home Pat doesn't know who to turn to; and for newlyweds Teresa and Nick, the plane crash on their wedding day may just be the start of their troubles.

Dilly is devastated: with her husband unable to work and four children already at home, they cannot afford to feed their newborn baby. Heartbroken, she delivers her baby girl to the Farthing family, who have just lost their own daughter to measles. This act of desperation will change the lives of both families irrevocably. But when the chance for true love finally comes, will Dilly choose family over her own happiness?

Is there a secret terrible enough that it should never be revealed, not even if it was tearing a family apart? For more than five decades, Emma Bauer has kept one - carefully guarding it with all her strength, and for more than five decades, that choice has haunted her life and also the lives of her daughters and granddaughter. Is it too late for wrongs to be righted? Does Emma even have the strength to let the healing power of truth work in her family?

London, 1938: Lizzie Larch is a 20-year-old hat maker in London's east end. She is happy and popular, but she carries a secret. Seven years ago she was viciously attacked and recovered in a private sanatorium where she miscarried a child. Lizzie has no memory of the night of the attack, but secrets cannot stay secret for too long. When she starts courting her boss' nephew, a shocking revelation surfaces; threatening to destroy their new-found happiness.

It’s the 1950s, and Grundy’s Travelling Fair arrives in town. When night falls, the local town is drawn to the fair. But when the fairgoers head home, the Grundys are left behind. Hours are long and the work backbreaking. But family and friends hold things together.

Molly Dawson, now a respectable married woman, lives with her husband, head gardener Charlie, on the Woodchurch Manor estate, where they have brought up three delightful daughters. Her life appears idyllic...but she has suffered the torment of a secret since she was 18 years old. When George Smith - a young stranger fresh out of the Navy - appears at the estate's annual garden party, Molly's life is set to change again....

1850. When Opal Sharp finds herself and her younger siblings suddenly orphaned and destitute, she thinks things can get no worse. But soon three of them - including Opal - are struck down with the illness that took their father from them, and her brother Charlie is forced to make an impossible decision. Unable to afford a doctor, he knows the younger children will not survive. So, unbeknownst to Opal, Charlie takes their younger siblings to the workhouse, where he knows they will at least be fed and have a roof over their heads. Opal is heartbroken and struggles to forgive him.

1940, Liverpool: Alice Turner and her best friend, Millie Markham, work for the war effort at Rootes munitions factory, making shell caps and Halifax bombers. Alice’s sweetheart, Terry, is home from the front for a brief period of leave. But the honeymoon is soon over. Terry must go back to the dangers of Nazi-occupied France, and the ever-present air raid sirens quickly bring Alice back down to earth.

Germany 1939 – To save her baby, Trudi Beck must hand her over to strangers who will take her across the sea to a foreign country. Trudi has already lost her husband to the Nazis, her stepsons are taking the train too. Walking away from the train station with empty arms is the hardest thing she's ever done. London 1939 – Newly married, Sally Matthews, is alone again. Her husband is away training for war, leaving her days and home empty. She volunteers to help with the children from the Kindertransport, becoming captivated by five-year-old Tom and his baby sister, Liesel.

Dottie and Mary forged a friendship over a bag of penny sweets when they were eight years old. They've shared everything together since then. Now, at seventeen, they're both shopgirls working at Woolworths. As they go out in the world in pursuit of love and happiness and life becomes more complicated, the simplicity of their childhood dissolves. The heady excitement of first love will consume them both, but the pain of unintentional betrayal will test their friendship.

Jasmine had been forced into marriage twice. Rebelling at King James's decree that she wed Jemmie Leslie, fifth earl of Glenkirk, she fled to France with her children. But her youngest, the illegitimate offspring of Jasmine's lover, Prince Henry Stuart, is also the king's only grandson. Now the man coming after her and her little boy is the man she both fears and desires....

This story is set at the end of the 10th century and charts the journey of a young warrior, whose father, Bersi, is killed during a raid on Wessex. Sven Bersisson has to grow up quickly and to follow in his father’s footsteps. Sweyn Skull Taker, his uncle, becomes his foster father and they raid Wessex and Frankia, where the young warrior becomes a man. King Sweyn Forkbeard, the king of Denmark, uses their clan to help in his dream of defeating the Norwegians and then taking the throne of England.

Turned out of her ancestral home by her vicious half-brother, the orphaned daughter of an English duke and a French noblewoman makes her way to Paris and takes in abused French streetwalkers, transforming them into sought-after courtesans in the city's most exclusive bordello, Le Boudoir. It is only the beginning of her return to the upper reaches of society and ultimate justice.