Historical Family Saga

In this multi-biographical history of a family in India, Shantaben enters an arranged marriage at age 14. Before she can join her husband in Africa, she must serve his family for several years. Arriving in Kenya, Shantaben dreams of having her own family. But she finds no community, no support, and no medical resources. Their first year together claims the life of their child and nearly ends Shantaben’s. Sustained by her culture and faith, she survives.

Beth Cohen wants to make the most of the months she has left with her elderly father, Max. His only request of his daughter is to go through the long-forgotten box of memorabilia from his days as a medic on the western front. Then, among his wartime souvenirs, Beth finds a photograph of her father with an adoring and beautiful stranger - a photograph worth a thousand questions.

Lucy Nolan is the golden girl. The only daughter of local grocers, Sally and Mike Nolan, she's grown up in a home of total love and security. The one thing her heart desires is that Jack Hanson might ask her to marry him, and when he does eventually propose, Lucy is prepared to give up everything to be with him—even though it means leaving her beloved parents to live abroad where Jack has been offered an exciting business opportunity. But then, almost on the eve of the marriage itself, tragedy strikes.

When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well. The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby's high profile romance falls apart, that's exactly what they get.

The novel centers around Iris, the daughter of the beautiful, passionate Anna from a secret love affair with Paul Werner. During the turbulent 1960s, Iris and Theo's fragile marriage begins to falter, while their son, Steve, a student at a midwestern university, comes under the sway of the charismatic and radical son of Paul Werner's niece, Meg.

When newlywed Dolly Magnuson moves to 1950s Pine Rapids, Wisconsin, she discovers that making marriage work is harder than it looks in the pages of the Ladies Home Journal. As she adapts to her new life, her restless imagination is seized by an abandoned Victorian house which, she learns from quilting-circle gossip, belongs to the once prominent Mickelson family.

Cette fresque familiale canadienne fut l'un des plus grands succès de la littérature nord-américaine, dès la parution en 1927 du premier des seize romans, aussi célèbre que Autant en emporte le vent de Margaret Mitchell. En 1863, durant la guerre de Sécession, la famille Whiteoak, qui s'est agrandie avec la naissance de Philippe, invite à Jalna Lucy et Curtis Sinclair, sudistes et esclavagistes, qui vont secrètement organiser depuis le Canada, un front de résistance. De se trouver mêlée peu ou prou aux conspirations de Curtis enchante Adeline.

Neuf années ont passé depuis le mariage de Polly, l'union de Clary et d'Archie et le divorce de Louise. Une nouvelle génération d'enfants a vu le jour, et quand la Duche s'éteint en juin 1956, elle emporte avec elle les derniers vestiges d'un monde révolu. Hugh et Edward, tous deux remariés, doivent faire face aux difficultés financières de l'entreprise familiale ; Louise, désormais mannequin, a une liaison avec un homme marié, tandis que Polly et Clary tentent de trouver un équilibre entre leur foyer et leurs ambitions personnelles.

Mrs Olga Stych, daughter of an immigrant Ukrainian pig farmer, has finally made it to the top of the social pyramid of Tollemarche, a small town in Canada’s Bible Belt. But to get there, she has not only had to see off her most determined rival, she has also had to neglect her son Hank. With enemies outside her home, and a latchkey kid inside—Hank was left to fend for himself—Olga little realises that the moment of her decline is to arrive just when she appears to be at her most triumphant.

Ismay Deagan has one wish in the world - to leave Ireland and join her brother, Bram, in Australia. However, her father has other ideas and orders her to marry their vicious neighbour Rory Flynn, even though she loathes him. But after Rory brutally attacks her Ismay realises she has to escape. So, disguising herself as an impoverished young widow, she sets sail for Australia, hoping to be reunited with her brother. When she meets Adam Treagar on the ship, she finally starts to believe her dreams of future happiness may come true....

Stella is the oldest of three sisters and she's got a long history of being the one to protect and provide for her family. When a dangerous threat sent the Fairfax sisters on a wagon train journey west, Stella knew her best bet was to disguise herself as a man to keep herself and her sisters safe. Collin Mason has secrets of his own. And his family isn't short on drama either, not with his troublemaking twin and an older brother about to get hitched. But he's the only one who sees the real Stella—and that she needs help.

It's 1911, and Greta Goldbaum is forced to move from glittering Vienna to damp England to wed Albert, a distant cousin. The Goldbaum family are one of the wealthiest in the world, with palaces across Europe, but as Jews and perpetual outsiders, they know that strength lies in family. But World War I looms, and even the influential Goldbaums cannot alter its course. For the first time in 200 years, the family will find itself on opposing sides, and Greta will have to choose: the family she's created, or the one she left behind.

At the start of the 20th century, on the edge of the Russian empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. A caution which is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste....

Beginning in 1920 and paralleling Hitler’s rise to power, this compelling story revolves around wealthy Paul Werner and interweaves a myriad of other characters as he quests for ultimate happiness and contentment. You will meet an unforgettable American family as they struggle with birth, death, murder, illicit passion, and great tragedy – and one man who must fight his own war against evil. Belva Plain pulls together the many life-threads entwined with Werner's to form a magnificent tapestry.

The Batleys and the Caldwells owned neighbouring farms on the beautiful, wild Northumbrian coast. But there all similarity ended, and enmity began. For between the two families raged a violent and bitter feud. Into this stormy atmosphere came Linda Metcalfe, an agricultural student, who became involved in the tensions between the two households on her arrival. Employed by Ralph Batley, Linda soon found herself unwittingly a part of the feud, and began to feel a strange admiration for Ralph, who made it painfully clear that he didn't need her on the farm or in his life.

A successful horse breeder and self-proclaimed rake, Harry Lester samples women like wines. But after having his heart trampled upon by someone he actually loved, he has no intention of falling for a woman again, let alone be ensnared by the trap of marriage. Now, with a large inheritance to his name, Harry knows that he'd best start running from London's matchmaking mothers and widows.

When conflict photographer Jackson Swann dies, he leaves behind a conflict of his own making when his three daughters, each born to a different mother, discover that they’re now responsible for the family’s Oregon vineyard - and for a family they didn’t ask for.

It's 1939, and the Brogan family of London's East End are ready to show Hitler what for. But things don't seem so rosy when rationing, evacuation and air raids start to put this larger-than-life family to the test. When a mysterious young man arrives at the Brogans' local parish church, he provides just the dazzling distraction they need - and, for eldest daughter Mattie, the promise of more than she'd ever wished for. But as the pair fall deeper in love, they are drawn into secret dangers, rife on the very London streets they call home.

Liverpool, 1940. When her childhood sweetheart, Johnny, is killed in action, Maxine Grey loses more than her husband - she loses her best friend. Desperate to make a difference in this awful war, Maxine takes a nursing job at London’s St Thomas’ hospital. She takes comfort in the attentions of a handsome surgeon, but Edwin Blake isn’t all he seems. And as the Blitz descends on the capital, Maxine faces more heartache. When she returns to Liverpool, she harbours a secret.

Thomas Savage, a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and a PEN/Faulkner Award nominee, has long been a critically acclaimed author. The New Yorker calls him "a writer of the first order". This starkly elegant story details the lives of Emma Russell Sweringen and her family in the early 1900s. Emma’s daughter Beth secretly gave up a baby girl for adoption many years ago. Now, Beth’s secret life is being unraveled as her daughter comes looking for her long-lost family.