Showing titles in 20th Century

Guernsey, 2010. After a stroke, an elderly woman shocks her family by speaking perfect French—a language they never knew she possessed. As her granddaughter unravels seventy years of silence, a hidden wartime story emerges... Paris, 1941. After her brother is declared missing in action at Dunkirk, eighteen-year-old Lenny Gallienne vanishes into Churchill’s secret army. In a bookshop on Rue de la Pompe, she poses as a shop girl while encoding intelligence from Nazi headquarters into knitting patterns. Each sweater smuggled to prisoners contains flight paths. Each scarf holds radio frequencies.

Brought to you by Penguin. ‘We shall be forgotten.’ he said. ‘We shall be lost. They will scrub us away like a set of dirty fingerprints on a plastic kettle.’ The crumbling Gothic mansion of Thornwalk, long-term home of the Gilbert family, is being handed over to a chain of luxury...

This program features multicast narration. Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi-run baby factory—a real-life Handmaid's Tale—during World War II. In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss’s life seems idyllic: she works at her...

Brought to you by Penguin. Some houses keep their secrets. This one keeps its dead. The dark, atmospheric Southern gothic ghost story longlisted for Goodreads’ Horror Book of the Year 2024 Louisiana, 1962. The Duchon estate looms over New Orleans, a crumbling relic of Southern charm. Its walls...

Liverpool, 1940. “Where’s George?” Ruth didn’t realise that she had grabbed hold of the other woman’s arms. “Where’s my son?” Journalist Ruth Holt is struggling in the terror of the Blitz when her young son is suddenly snatched away in broad daylight. Soon after, the...

Award-winning narrator Saskia Maarleveld’s captivating character work gives voice to a quiet librarian who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper in this unforgettable World War II tale by the New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Briar Club. Based on a true story. In...

"Mimi, it's me. Nick," he whispered, his Nazi uniform a mockery of the boy who once promised to protect her. She stared through her tears at eyes she'd never forgotten—now belonging to the enemy. When the Nazis invade Paris, the peaceful world Mimi shares with her beloved grandmother Chloe—is shattered forever. In a single, brutal day, police tear through their neighborhood, ripping Jewish families from their homes and destroying lives built over generations.

'I loved Meet the Newmans! . . . I appreciated the subtle feminist twist and the humor. Jennifer is always good but this is one of her best' – JUDY BLUME You've seen the show. Now meet the woman behind the scenes . . . From No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Jennifer Niven, a novel about...

'An instant classic' – Daily Mail The ship was doomed before it ever left port. His fate was sealed before he ever stepped on board. From R. L. Graham, Death on the Lusitania is an immersive WW1 historical novel set aboard the ill-fated ocean liner. Welcome on board the Lusitania’s final...

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini, a bold, revelatory novel about one of the great untold stories of World War I—the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, who broke down gender barriers in the military and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to victory...

Brought to you by Penguin. 1929. Holcombe Hall, Lancashire Holcombe Hall’s enigmatic owner has passed away, and now as the roaring twenties come to an end the upstairs and downstairs residents of Holcombe Hall begin a new era. Parlour maid Florrie Bickerstaff has always endured the quick...

'Kristin Harmel is firmly in the top echelon of WW2 storytellers' HEATHER MORRIS 'A master storyteller' SANTA MONTEFIORE 'The best at sweeping historical drama' KELLY HARMS 'A dazzling diamond of a novel' HAZEL GAYNOR *** Paris, 1942: In the midst of the Nazi Occupation, Annabel Marceau begins...

Paris, Christmas 1933. The Strasbourg express crashes into a local train outside Paris, leaving wreckage and broken bodies strewn on the tracks. On board is Gilles Malroux. In the chaos and confusion, he swaps his identity papers with a stranger, steals a suitcase and vanishes. Gilles' sister...

Berlin, 1944. ‘It is a great honour to have you here, Herr Hitler.’ Lili doesn’t stumble over the lie, her hand steady as she pours champagne. Everything must be perfect, no one can suspect a thing… Lili Rodenberg and her husband Marius run the Edel, Berlin’s most glamorous hotel. For its wealthy guests, it is an escape from the destruction outside, with its elegant piano bar and fine amber brandy. But Lili is Jewish, a secret she is terrified will end in tragedy for her and their beloved little girl.

An unforgettable story, tying together past and present, from the bestselling author of The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris and The Royal Librarian Berlin, 1933. The night skies are burning bright with huge bonfires of banned books. The Nazi party is swelling in number and Berlin is no longer a safe...

'This impeccably researched wartime thriller had me gripped from the opening pages – I loved it.' Eliza Graham 'A nail-biting read from start to finish … a must for WW2 fiction fans' Tessa Harris Holland, 1944: Undercover British agent Nancy Callaghan has been given her toughest case yet. A...

From the author of the Miles Franklin Award shortlisted Storyland, comes a rich, layered and thrilling novel of love, war and friendship, To Sing of War. Longlisted 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize 'Transcends the boundaries of historical fiction' Books+Publishing DECEMBER 1944 In New Guinea, a...

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! 'Scarrow's Berlin is sharply drawn with closely observed detail, a place that reeks of threat and fear - and not just from the Gestapo' Financial Times 'Gripping, with an electric atmosphere and cracking pace' Sun Berlin. 1940. Hitler's rule casts a menacing...

Anna and Ingrid have survived World War II. Now they must live through the Berlin airlifts. Evocative and unforgettable, CHILD OF THE RUINS is set during the Berlin air lifts of 1948 and written by one of the most brilliant writers of historical fiction in the UK. People are disappearing. I...

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.