Showing titles in 20th Century

As Britain stands alone against a monstrous enemy, the inhabitants of Pearl Street face hardship and heartbreak with courage and humour. The war touches each of them in a different way: for Annie Poulson, a widow, it means never-ending worry when her twin boys are called up and sent to France; Sheila Reilly's husband, Cal, faces the terror of U-Boat attacks; Eileen Costello is liberated from a bitter, loveless marriage when her husband is sent to Egypt.

London, 1942. Despite the raging war, spirited 18-year-old Nellie Morris lives a quiet life in the tight-knit East End community of Bethnal Green. Her family and friends all tease that she will marry air raid warden Billy, the boy next door who’s always been sweet on her. The arrival of Ray, a handsome American airman stationed nearby, causes Nellie to question everything she thought she knew about her future. Nellie’s newfound happiness is short-lived when a tragic accident occurs during an air raid.

A female codebreaker puts her future and her heart on the line in a stirring novel about love, loyalty, betrayal, and Cold War spy games by the bestselling author of The Secret Stealers. 1947: Adventurous Radcliffe graduate Catherine “Cat” Killeen cancels her wedding and upends a future that...

THE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB AND A SUNDAY TIMES SUMMER READS PICK 2025 A WORLD ON THE BRINK OF WAR. AN AFFAIR ON THE EDGE OF SCANDAL. Summer 1914. A world on the brink of catastrophe. In London, 26-year-old Venetia Stanley – aristocratic, clever, bored, reckless – is...

English girl Sheila Matthews accepts an invitation to holiday in Poland, the country where her father died in mysterious circumstances. When German bombers begin pounding Warsaw, she decides against returning home and is recruited by the Polish underground. Playing a dangerous game as a double agent, Sheila must use all her skill to stay one step ahead of the Gestapo. But soon the Germans begin to suspect her and she flees to the forest, to be reunited with the enigmatic Captain Adam Wisniewski, now a wanted partisan. 

In late March 1944, as Stalin’s forces push into Ukraine, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the wolves—murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans? The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century.

January 1937. Clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to change his life. So when he's offered the chance to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK From the winner of a National Book Award and author of The Good Lord Bird, soon to be a TV series starring Ethan Hawke The year is 1969. In a housing project in south Brooklyn, a shambling old church deacon...

Brought to you by Penguin. September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war's outcome is far from certain. An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest...

Ninety-one year old Ira Levinson is in trouble. Struggling to stay conscious after a car crash, with his mind fading, an image of his beloved, and long-dead, wife Ruth appears. Urging him to hang on, she lovingly recounts the joys and sorrows of their life together - how they met, the dark days...

‘Absorbing’ GUARDIAN ‘Magical’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING ‘Suspenseful’ MAIL ON SUNDAY ‘Wildly inventive’ LIZ MOORE A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK In this dazzling debut novel, a young reclusive coder unearths the story of a lost Shanghai pencil company and a legacy of magic...

The prequel to the million-copy bestseller, A Woman of Substance, where, high on the Yorkshire moors, the story of Blackie O’Neill and Emma Harte begins… Orphaned and alone, 13-year-old Blackie O’Neill must leave County Kerry to find work and put food in his mouth. His only chance of...

"A remarkable novel: chilling, compelling, contained..." The Times "...warrants a permanent place in the growing canon of World War Two literature." Clare McHugh, BBC Culture It is Christmas Eve 1932, and the Kluger family are celebrating at home. Their only daughter Lexa is excited about her...

INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER “A highly original, heart-warming story of an extraordinary friendship.” —Amy Poeppel, Award-Winning author of The Sweet Spot For fans of The Correspondent by Virginia Evans and 84, Charing Cross Road, a bright and comforting novel following the surprising...

Kate Atkinson’s dazzling Life After Life, one of the top selling adult books of 2014, explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. In A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula’s beloved younger...

Amsterdam, May 1943. As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to different concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to...

In Washington, word is received that an elite member of the Nazi High Command is willing to defect and divulge information that will shorten the war. But his defection entails the release of the ultra-top-secret file on the Scarlatti Inheritance - a file whose contents will destroy many of the...

31 dicembre 1941. Sul "Paris-Soir" appare un annuncio: si cercano notizie di una ragazza di quindici anni, il suo nome è Dora Bruder. A denunciarne la scomparsa sono i genitori, ebrei emigrati da tempo in Francia. Quasi cinquant'anni dopo Patrick Modiano si imbatte in quelle poche righe di giornale, in quella richiesta d'aiuto rimasta sospesa. Non sa niente di Dora, ma ne è ugualmente attratto: cerca di ricostruirne la vita, i motivi che l'hanno fatta scappare, cerca di immaginare le sue giornate nel periodo della fuga.

The #1 Bestseller. Ben Hope lives on the edge. A former élite member of the SAS, Ben is tortured by a tragedy from his past and now devotes his life to finding kidnapped children. When Ben is recruited to locate an ancient manuscript which could save a dying child, he embarks on the deadliest quest of his life. The document is alleged to contain the formula for the elixir of life, discovered by the brilliant alchemist Fulcanelli decades before.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'A fine and profoundly intelligent novel, written by an author who balances big ideas with human emotion. Wistful, yearning and wise' ELIZABETH DAY 'Faulks's most poignant love story yet' ANTONY BEEVOR, author of Stalingrad _____________________ 1914: Young Anton...