Showing titles in 20th Century

An explorer at heart, former university professor Phillip Singleton's adventures have only taken place in his imagination - until recently. Exploring the Cornish coast to research a travel book, he encounters a living example of a pirate archetype. Dark-haired, black-bearded Carne Treleaven might have been hewn from the very rock his name describes, and Phillip is eager to discover more. As personalities clash, secrets unfold, and riches are revealed, the two polar opposites find the point where their similarities lay.

Heartbroken and hoping for a new start, Abi Howes takes a summer job in rural France at the Château Bellevue. The old château echoes with voices from the past, and soon Abi finds herself drawn to one remarkable woman’s story, a story that could change the course of her summer - and her life. In 1938, Eliane Martin tends beehives in the garden of the beautiful Château Bellevue. In its shadow she meets Mathieu Dubosq and falls in love for the first time, daring to hope that a happy future awaits.

Zane and Skye are misfit teens drawn together by their love of music and their loneliness, both part of Seattle’s grunge scene in the early ’90s. They dream of moving to LA together; Zane’s music career following the trajectory of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder, and Skye drawing Picasso-esque portraits on the Venice Beach boardwalk. When a tragedy violently catapults these best friends to lovers, their bond is forever strengthened and their relationship destroyed. 

Through years of war and devastation, Tatiana and Alexander suffered the worst the twentieth century had to offer. Miraculously reunited in America, they now have a beautiful son, Anthony, the gift of a love strong enough to survive the most terrible upheavals. Though they are still young, the ordeals they endured have changed them-and after living apart in a world laid waste, they must now find a way to live together in postwar America.

When Tess Angel receives a solicitor's letter inviting her to claim her inheritance - the Villa Sirena, perched on a clifftop in Sicily - she is stunned. Her only link to the island is through her mother, Flavia, who left Sicily during World War II and cut all contact with her family. Initially resistant to Tess going back to her roots, Flavia realises the secrets from her past are about to be revealed and decides to try to explain her actions.

When the distressing shadows of war fall across Europe, Olivia Brodie watches the man she loves, Captain Spencer Middleton, lead his men proudly to the front, his final words a promise to return. Left behind among the working-class neighbours she calls family, Olivia clings to hope as the world around her changes forever. Her spirited younger brother, Lachie, eager to prove himself, enlists underage – his letters home filled with bravado and dreams of glory.

Seven years ago, Charlotte Russell's father walked out on her family. Ever since, the task of caring for her bitter mother and sick uncle have fallen heavily on Charlotte's shoulders. If only she had agreed to marry Joe Llewellyn the first time he asked. Unable to leave her family to fend for themselves, Charlotte is constantly delaying her own happiness, and fears that Joe may soon move on. Then, as 1950 begins, Charlotte's father reappears, bringing with him his brood of children from his mistress.

Audrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. It is why she implored her father to teach her at the little airfield back home in Texas. It is why she signed up to train military pilots in Hawaii when the war in Europe began. And it is why she insists she is not interested in any dream-derailing romantic involvements, even with the disarming Lieutenant James Hart, who fast becomes a friend as dear as the women she flies with. Then one fateful day, she gets caught in the air over Pearl Harbour just as the bombs begin to fall, and suddenly, nowhere feels safe.  

No one is more surprised than Meredith when she’s bequeathed a cottage by a great aunt she’d never heard of. She hopes, briefly, that the inheritance could be the answer to her financial problems. But when she arrives in Suffolk, she is shocked to discover a man is already living there. A young gardener, who claims he was also bequeathed half of Butterfly Cottage. As the pair try to unravel their complicated situation, they unearth a decades old mystery involving Clara, the garden, and a stack of letters left unread for over 50 years.

Like half of all the young women living in the Scottish town Clydebankin early 1911, Ellen works at the sewing machine factory. So does her big sister, Bridget, Bridget's fiancé Malcolm, and her new friend Sadie, who has come to work at the factory after the death of her father. For Sadie, the factory is a way to make ends meet, but Ellen has sewing in her veins. She is even making Bridget's wedding dress on her beloved sewing machine. But after the excitement of the wedding dies down, everything changes.

After renowned London fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. She arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business from a quaint...

Read by Miranda Raison (Lessons in Chemistry) Unlocking the past is the key to the future . . . From Lucinda Riley, the international bestselling author of The Seven Sisters series, The Light Behind the Window is a breathtaking historical romance about love, war and, above all, forgiveness...

In 1930's China, the all-male Peking opera was luxurious entertainment for the privileged class—but only children from the poorest families were sent to opera schools to train as actors. Abandoned by his mother—a prostitute who can no longer care for him—Xiao Douzi is brought to an opera school. With seeds of bitterness in his soul, the nine-year-old boy endures hardships and misery to learn and perfect his craft.

Madrid, 1906. Un Maharajá se enamora locamente de una joven bailarina malagueña. La muchacha se llama Anita Delgado. El riquísimo personaje es el monarca de un principado del Punjab. En 1908, Anita Delgado se convierte en la Princesa de Kapurthala. Ésta es la sorprendente narración de la vida de la única Maharaní española en la fascinante India de los Maharajás.

1928. In British-ruled India, headstrong Sita longs to choose her own path, but her only destiny is a good marriage. After a chance meeting with a Crown Prince leads to a match, her family’s status seems secured and she moves into the palace, where peacocks fill the gardens and tapestries adorn the walls. But royal life is far from simple, and her failure to provide an heir makes her position fragile. Soon Sita is on the brink of losing everything, and the only way to save herself could mean betraying her oldest friend …

1968 New York City News about the war might be keeping Patrick up at night—news in general might be keeping Patrick up at night—but he's doing fine. He's sure of it. He gets to spend his days selling books in the gayest neighborhood on the East Coast and his nights merrily sleeping his way...

Lady Irene Wyngate swore she'd never marry, keeping suitors at bay with her caustic tongue. But there's one man she can't scare: Gideon, long-lost heir to the Earl of Radbourne. Kidnapped as a child, Gideon grew up tough on the London streets. And though he's been restored to his family, he's still more at home in gambling dens than stately ballrooms. When matchmaker Francesca Haughston asks Irene to help civilize Gideon for marriage, she agrees—but only reluctantly. After all, he is a true rogue with a dubious past.

A beautifully written tale based on the true-life story of Varian Fry, called "the artists' Schindler," who rescued thousands of Europe's finest creative minds from certain death in WWII. In 2000, Sophie Cass, an ambitious journalist, may have finally found her big break. Convinced a celebrated...

Charity has always lived a charmed life beneath the open skies. Growing up as part of the gypsy community, she has reveled in the freedom of swimming in the rivers, caring for the horses and embracing the ever-changing road. But on the cusp of her sixteenth birthday, that freedom begins to slip away. Her parents expect her to marry, and not for love, but for duty. Then fate brings Luca back into her life - a boy from the travelling circus she has known since childhood.

'A fast-paced, beautifully written, and moving story. Refreshing to read a book set in a different theatre of war. Wartime Shanghai jumped off the page' CLARE FLYNN 'Wow what a stunning read this was … All the moments in this book held me' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Unputdownable read'...