Historical Family Saga

Rita Blackthorn’s heart was barren and hard. In all of her life, she had never truly loved. But she had hated. Beneath the loving gaze of her daughter’s soft green eyes, her heart swelled with dark and dangerous emotions. Young Cathy Blackthorn has never experienced any loving response from her mother. It is her beloved Aunt Margaret, with a heart as big and warm as the summer sky, who has been more of a mother than her own could ever be. And when Cathy’s father brings home a London street urchin, Cathy despairs of ever winning her parents’ love.

Hamburg 1939. Der Krieg hat die Jugendfreunde Kurt und Fanni auseinandergerissen. Kurt, der als Jude mit einem Kindertransport nach England verschickt wurde, wächst nicht in einer fürsorglichen Familie, sondern im Heim auf. Als er im Mai 1940 als "feindlicher Ausländer" interniert werden soll, gelingt es ihm über einige abenteuerliche Umwege der Royal Air Force beizutreten. Er ahnt nicht, dass Fanni zur gleichen Zeit trotz einiger Zweifel dem insgeheim schon länger von ihr verehrten Blankeneser Kinderarzt Otto Casparius näherkommt. Eines Tages soll Kurt an einem Luftangriff auf seine alte Heimat teilnehmen.

Minden 1951: Hanne wächst in bescheidenen Verhältnissen heran. Ihre Mutter Minna sorgt dafür, dass alles in geregelten Bahnen verläuft, sogar ein bisschen Glück scheint endlich wieder möglich. Als Hanne dem smarten, viel älteren Paul Wagner begegnet und sich zum ersten Mal verliebt, nimmt ihr Leben eine Wendung, die für immer alles verändert.

Progressing from the 1960s to the turbulent present, the novel begins on the island of O’ahu and centers on Ana, abandoned by her mother as a child. Raised by her extended family on the “lawless” Wai’anae coast, west of Honolulu, Ana, against all odds, becomes a physician. While tending victims of Hurricane ‘Iniki on the neighboring island of Kaua’i, she meets Nikolai, a Russian filmmaker with a violent and tragic past, who can confront reality only through his unique prism of lies. Yet he is dedicated to recording the ecological horrors in his motherland.

Bella is born into a life of comfort and privilege, with parents who adore her. They encourage her to travel and to speak her mind. But when she falls in love it reveals a long-buried secret at the very centre of her family. The layers of deception lead to tragedy, destroying all she holds so dear. However, change beckons for everyone as the threat of war looms. Bella and all around her must face a new beginning.

July, 1914: In their sunlit Hampshire workshop, Alice Dalton mixes paints for the stained-glass artwork she and Edmund are working on, pausing only to joyfully cradle the soft swell of her stomach. But the looming war threatens her hard-won happiness. A knock at the door announces the arrival of Victor, her estranged brother, returning after six long years in America. But her elation at being reunited is short-lived as she realizes he still hasn’t forgiven her for her part in the heartbreak that sent him abroad.

1931, Cornwall. Lynette Nicholls lost her brother exactly a year ago in a tragic air training accident. When she visits the coastal town where it happened, she begins to doubt everything she's been told about the incident and becomes determined to uncover the truth. Her investigation takes her deep into the community, where she meets Geordie Sargent, the leader of the miner's dispute. When sparks fly between them, and Lynette is drawn into his fight, she risks losing everything.

This is a fact-based novel that is a testament to the love and loyalty of one extraordinary family. Following the highly acclaimed story of the Sokolovskis’ first 70 years in South Africa, From Saratov to San Francisco II begins in Johannesburg the day after the Nationalist Party came to power and ends in the second decade of the 21st century, when democratic South Africa has been devastated by decades of cronyism, corruption, and crime. It encompasses international intrigue, conspiracy, tragedy, and no small amount of personal and professional success.

Sheffield, 1892. Patrick Halliday rules his family with a rod of iron. He’s hard on both his wife and his elder daughter, Flora, but he spoils his youngest, Mary Ellen, because she reminds him of his beloved mother. When Mary Ellen, aged seventeen, finds that she is pregnant, Patrick throws her out of the family home and Flora goes with her. After wandering the Derbyshire countryside for miles, they find shelter on a farm, working for their keep. When Flora must return to her job as a buffer girl in Sheffield’s cutlery trade, she is reunited with her friend, Evelyn Bonsor.

Beautiful Eva Bereton has two close friends: Patsy, whom she looks upon as a sister, and Bill, her childhood sweetheart, now married and living far away. So when a tragic accident turns Eva’s world upside down, Patsy is the only one she can turn to. A hated figure from the past comes to reclaim the farm and business that Eva had always believed belonged to her parents. And not even Bill, still in love with Eva, can stop her being thrown out onto the streets. With no choice but to leave, Eva and Patsy decide to build a new life elsewhere.

1939. The threat of war is looming over Blackpool, but Martha and Trisha are determined not to let it dampen their spirits. With two young evacuees for Martha to take care of, and Trisha's market garden business growing as Britain digs for victory, the friends have their hands full. Both are proud to see their daughters making their own way in the world, even in wartime. Sally has become a ballerina and Bonnie is training to become a doctor. The girls' friendship brings them all happiness and hope. But Martha is troubled by her visions for their daughters' futures.

With the outbreak of War, the fishing fleet is confined to port, bringing hardship to the families and businesses of Fishers Wharf. Ruth Evans awaits the safe return of her father’s last trawler carrying her wayward brother Henry, the future of the family business. But unbeknown to their father, Henry sees war as a chance to break free from the constraints of his privileged background and follow his heart. Much is expected of Ruth. Her marriage to Arthur Marshall will help realise her father’s dream uniting two of the largest trawler companies in Grimsby.

When their father loses their family fortune, and their mother locks herself away, sisters Grace and Clementine are left to raise themselves in a grand London house that is slowly falling apart around them. Each of them is determined to one day restore their fortunes and their family name and make a promise to do just that. Clementine dreams of being a star on stage, a celebrated ballerina who will tour the world, earning fame and fortune. She is adamant she won't put her fate into a man's hands but take charge of it herself. Grace, in contrast, sees security in a good marriage.

When Babby's dad is killed in a senseless bar room brawl it changes their family forever. She is sent away only to return home a few years later, unmarried and pregnant. Her mother is incandescent with rage and with Callum - Babby's sweetheart - nowhere to be found, persuades her daughter to go to a Mother and Baby Home. But does Babby have no option but to give her baby up.

Wales, 1943. Sara Lewis should be heartbroken when her husband doesn't return from war. But he was never the kind husband she hoped for. And now she's stuck with her cruel mother-in-law on the family farm. Sara must do what is best for her young son. So she leaves the farm for the safety of her sister's home. Despite herself, she begins to notice Carlo, an Italian prisoner of war. Longing looks soon turn into a connection neither of them can sever. But fraternization is forbidden. As their love grows, so does the danger all around them.

Blackpool, 1922. Martha and Trisha may have escaped poverty, but their fortunes have yet to turn. Happy on her wedding day, Trisha's new fairy-tale romance soon darkens as her husband, Walter, keeps her at arms length. Between his secrecy, and her mother-in-law's coldness, Trisha feels a stranger in her own home, and lonelier than ever. Meanwhile a spectre from Martha's past threatens the happiness she has found with Joshua and Bonnie. When she is called to help in her past love's hour of need, she must decide whether to risk exposing a secret that could cost her the trust of her daughter.

1916. East London. When sixteen-year-old Clover Cooper's mother, Iris, calls her home from work one day, the last thing Clover expects is to find that her mother has given birth to another baby. After all, Clover's unpleasant father, Sidney, has been in France for longer than nine months. Banned from questions, and bound to secrecy by her beloved mother, Clover leaves her infant brother at a nunnery for safekeeping, despite her heartbreak at parting with him. But when Sidney unexpectedly returns from the Western Front, life at home suddenly feels more dangerous than a battlefield.

In 1946, a young Ruth begins building a new life in Palestine, haunted by the death of her family in Europe and driven by youthful ideals in a land hostile to her presence. Her sister, Shoshana, survives in the Displaced Persons camps of Germany and joins her in Palestine, but dreams of escaping to distant America. Her lovers, Dov and Israel, die in war, and her children try to serve the land Ruth bled for, only to find their own tragic ends or means of escape.

Elegant, opulent, authentisch: Der erste Teil von Katja Maybachs großer historischer Familiengeschichte spielt in einem mondänen Kurort am Vorabend des 1. Weltkriegs. Leicht und sommerlich-träge ziehen 1914 die Tage in einem eleganten Kurort nahe der deutsch-französischen Grenze vorüber: Selbst am Vorabend des 1. Weltkriegs will niemand so recht wahrhaben, was sich in Europa zusammenbraut - auch nicht die Geschwister Franz, Luise und Victoria Laverne, die einmal das mondäne Grandhotel Deutscher Kaiser erben werden.

Hamburg, 1909: Die Adelige Theresa von Eiben muss schon in jungen Jahren einen schweren Verlust ertragen. Ihr Verlobter ist in Berlin tödlich verunglückt. Es war ihr gemeinsamer Traum, ein Musikhaus zu errichten, aber nun ist alles anders. Um die Ländereien der Familie zu retten, soll sie einen Geschäftsmann heiraten, obwohl sich alles in ihr dagegen sträubt. Kurz vor der Hochzeit erhält sie jedoch ein merkwürdiges Paket ohne Absender: Eine wertvolle Geige aus einer Berliner Manufaktur. Theresa erkennt darin ihre Chance, vor der ungewollten Ehe zu fliehen.