Showing results for "Life!" in 20th Century

It's 1953. Memories of the war are beginning to fade. Young Queen Elizabeth has just ascended to the throne. Isobel McIntyre is a doctor-in-training at a London teaching hospital. It's not easy being a woman working in medicine. And Isobel carries the additional burden of a shocking secret. One night three years ago, Isobel took the chance to walk into another woman's life. By the time she understood the implications, it was too late to turn back. Now the secret she's been hiding for so long threatens everything.

It is 1946 in Birmingham: the Second World War is over and three young women face a new kind of life. But peacetime brings its own pressures . . . Read by Penelope Freeman (Her Wartime Secret) Katie O'Neill's childhood has been dominated by her temperamental mother and by frightening secrets...

Deploring social injustice, Lady Deborah Claremont opens a staff agency, concealing the fact that she's a member of the aristocracy. But Deborah has become accustomed to keeping secrets. It began eight years ago in 1918 when her dashing French lieutenant was tragically killed. Amid an undercurrent of social unrest and with the General Strike looming ahead, Deborah meets two very different men: handsome Theodore Field, MP, and the charismatic union firebrand Evan Morgan.

After a whirlwind romance, usherette Connie is swept off her feet when projectionist Charlie proposes in a film reel added to the final frames of Casablanca. Her job at the Tivoli cinema in Tiverton has been a refuge from her violent and alcoholic father, Frank. But that night, Connie disappears, not only from Charlie's life, but from her own as well.

Ordinary lovers, Dena Miller and Will Wallace, confront extraordinary obstacles in their romance. Classism in their native North Carolina threatens to end their nascent romance as it began. Then, larger and more ominous life-threatening challenges of white supremacy and World War II wreak havoc on the dreams of the young couple, forcing them apart.

Sometimes the past won't stay hidden, it demands to be uncovered. The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger is a moving story from best-selling author Suzanne Fortin. Arthur Pettinger's memory isn't what it used to be. He can't always remember the names of his grandchildren, where he lives or which way round his slippers go. He does remember Maryse though, a woman he hasn't seen for decades, but whose face he will never forget.

With Mulberry Lane's favourite pub, The Pig & Whistle undergoing renovation, proprietors Peggy and Able Ronoscki leave the chaos behind and head off on a trip of a lifetime to America. But disaster hits and Peggy finds herself in a critical condition in hospital. Meanwhile, business is booming for young entrepreneurs Fay Ronoscki and Maggie Rowan with their new restaurant and catering empire. Neither has time for love. But when fate throws a famous global singing sensation and glamourous racing car driver into their paths, falling in love with Jace and Greg seems beyond their control.

When a beautiful piece of music stirs mega-tycoon Maximilian West, he remembers the women who have loved him and shaped his life. So begins a dazzling tale, taking us from the streets of London to the suites of New York, from the rise of Nazi Germany to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Strong, powerful, enigmatic, aloof, and adoring - many women made Maximilian the man with everything, but there is only one woman who can make him feel truly alive.

It is 1919. Liverpool has been devastated by World War I. But at last the war is over. Emily Parkinson goes back into service and enjoys the return to normality. But her sister, Phoebe-Anne, has ideas beyond her station. Working as a lady's maid, Phoebe-Ann hopes that one day she will be more than just a friend to her mistress's shell-shocked brother James Mercer. When Emily is brutally attacked, the sisters' lives come close to ruin.

Set in the midst of WW2, Soldier Girl follows a woman on her journey of courage, determination, loss, and resilience – the sequel to A Hopscotch Summer from Annie Murray. Read by Penelope Freeman (Her Wartime Secret) Molly Fox has grown up in the back streets of Birmingham at the mercy of her...

When Olive receives a letter in the post from the father of her daughter - American soldier, Joe - she is shocked. Not only is he losing his sight and, after years of no contact, suddenly wanting to reconnect, but Olive has to decide whether or not to reveal that she has been lying all these years to the man she married - who believes himself to be Joanna's father. When her old friend, Josh, comes back into her life, they rekindle a spark Olive thought was long-dormant. But can she trust the man who kept so many secrets from her in the past?

Timmendorfer Strand, 1951. Zusammen mit ihrer Tante Julia führt Gerda Grabens das Hotel Villa Sommerwind, obwohl sie viel lieber Ärztin werden würde. Die Nachkriegszeit stellt die Frauen immer wieder vor große Aufgaben, und Gerda leidet sehr darunter, dass das Schicksal ihrer Eltern nach wie vor ungewiss ist. Zwar könnte Henning Ahrens etwas über ihre Mutter wissen, immerhin hat er vor ein paar Jahren einen Brief von ihr überbracht. Allerdings macht das Hotel der Ahrens_ der Villa gehörig Konkurrenz. Hennings Familie ist strikt dagegen, dass die beiden jungen Leute sich miteinander abgeben.

After their dreams of starting a family are crushed, Philippa and her husband Marco need a fresh start. Focusing on repairing the crumbling walls and leaking roof of the Cotswolds house they impulsively bought seems easier work than repairing their relationship. When Philippa finds a hidden memorial hidden deep in the garden, the discovery only pushes them further apart. But as Philippa determines to uncover the truth behind the memorial, could the secrets it reveals be the key to finally putting their heartbreak to rest?

Alicia Woodman was born into a home that should have been filled with comfort and joy. Her mother Elizabeth was bright and vivacious, Humphrey Woodman was a prosperous businessman. But Alicia was not Humphrey’s child and he would have nothing to do with her, and before long Elizabeth, too, turned her back on her daughter. It was left to Polly Ford, widow of a dock labourer, to bring Alicia up, to teach her to say ‘Yes, Mama’ and to give the child the love she so desperately needed.

1939. Irena is a young medical student living in Warsaw when the German army invade Poland. Those closest to her are dying and when Irena realises that no one is coming to Poland's aid, it's clear that she is alone. Forced to flee to Britain, Irena meets Richard, a RAF pilot who she's instantly drawn to and there's a glimmer of happiness on the horizon. And then the war becomes more brutal and in order to right a never-forgotten wrong Irena must make an impossible decision.1989.

1922. After the horrors of the Great War, the close-knit Truscott family return to everyday life on their busy Hampshire farm. But the two Truscott sisters are on very different paths. Kate is happily married to Albert, content to be a mother and farmer’s wife. Her younger sister Dot sets her heart on becoming a teacher. But an unforeseen tragedy means Dot must give up her place at college. Instead she resigns herself to becoming a lady’s companion to wealthy Mrs Humboldt, who is a difficult woman to please.

In a sleepy English village in 1944, Annabel and her son, Daniel, live in the shadow of war. With her husband away, Annabel withdraws ever deeper into long-ago memories of happier times. When mother and son befriend Hans, a German PoW consigned to a nearby farm, their lives are suddenly filled with thrilling secrets. But Hans has plans of his own and will soon set them into motion, with chilling consequences.

In 1984 two young mothers meet at a toddler group in Birmingham. As their friendship grows, they share with each other the difficulties and secrets in their lives: Joanne, a sweet, shy girl, is increasingly afraid of her husband. The lively, promising man she married has become hostile and...

Rachel Booker has a difficult start in life. When her father dies, deep in gambling debt, her mother must harden herself to make ends meet, but becomes so hard she has little room left for affection or warmth. Mother and daughter work at the open market in Birmingham, selling second-hand clothes...

With a song in your heart, soldier on... Sing Them Home is a gripping wartime saga from bestselling author Pam Weaver 1943. A German aircraft crashes into a house in Worthing, and causes complete devastation to the local community. Three strangers meet for the first time that day – Pip, Stella...