Historical Fiction Girl

It’s February 1952 and whilst the nation grieves the death of King George VI, life must go on for The Woolworths Girls. At The Erith Store there is a new temporary Manager and Sarah is getting more than a little concerned by problems he seems to be creating. The whole mess is enough to make her want to resign. Meanwhile, Ruby is extremely worried about her friend Vera, and with illness causing a problem from her past to come flooding back, she knows it’s going to take a lot of strength and willpower to do what needs to be done.

It’s 1975 in Lobito, Angola, where Rosa, Leo, and their children are trapped in their home as militants battle for power. After 13 years Portugal lost the War of Independence. Now civil war rages on. The Carvalho family has given up hope for peace in their beloved homeland.

August 1941: As war sweeps across Britain and millions of men enlist, women must fight the battle on the home front. Fran always thought she would marry her childhood sweetheart and live in Massingham, the beloved pit village she has always called home. But the opening of a munitions factory in the north-east of England presents a new opportunity. Against her father's wishes and with best friends Sarah and Beth by her side, Fran signs up to join the ranks of women at the factory. It's dangerous work, but the friends discover that their lives are only just beginning.

White Waltham, 1943. As Italy surrenders and victory looms on the horizon, Ellie's doing what she does best - flying. And this time, she's rising to the sky in four-engine Halifaxes. Determined to keep doing her bit, Ellie's successes in the airfield mount, but so do tensions with her new beau, Squadron Leader Jack Reynolds. When Ellie and Jack find their dream home, they discover they've bought more than they bargained for. With a cellar full of secrets, Jack and Ellie must stand united in the face of mystery, war and loss

Xerxes, a 90-something survivor of the extinct Brazilian Communist Party, hires an unemployed journalist to write his life story, and most importantly explain his 1935 tragic love affair with comrade Elza Fernandes, code-named The Girl. Elza’s tale is one of the most bizarre true stories in Brazilian history: as a beautiful sixteen year old, she was suspected of betraying the Party and, although the charge could not be proved, was sentenced to death by Luiz Carlos Prestes himself.

The ATA is calling upon its most trusted pilots to deliver precious bombers wherever they're needed. Ellie Simpson, who can fly a Spitfire as well as the boys, is their newest recruit. Giving her all to a job she loves leaves Ellie precious little time for squadron leader Jack Reynolds. And while Ellie is brave enough to take the controls of a Spitfire, it takes a different kind of courage to open her heart to love once again. With her friends and family in constant danger, she realises that their love is strong enough to stand the test of all the hardship the war can throw at them.

1939. After the sudden and tragic loss of her husband, Helen is returning home to her mother’s house in Biggin Hill, Kent - the one place she vowed she’d never go back to again. Alone and not knowing where to turn, Helen finds herself joining the local women’s sewing circle despite being hopeless with a needle and thread. These resourceful women can not only make do and mend clothes, quilts and woolly hats, but their friendship mends something deeper in Helen, too.

The Captured Girl is an enthralling saga that follows Lieutenant Will Raines' crucible of combat and young Morgan O'Connor's struggle for survival after her capture by the Cheyenne. More than four years later, in 1875, when the cavalry attacks her Indian village, she is rescued by Lieutenant Raines. Now 18, she returns to white society with her Cheyenne son at her side. Her struggle for survival has just begun.

Berlin, 1989. As the wall between East and West falls, Miriam Winter cares for her dying father, Henryk. When he cries out for someone named Frieda - and Miriam discovers an Auschwitz tattoo hidden under his watch strap - Henryk’s secret history begins to unravel. Searching for more clues of her father’s past, Miriam finds an inmate uniform from the Ravensbrück women’s camp concealed among her mother’s things. Within its seams are dozens of letters to Henryk written by Frieda.

Jobless with a PhD, Lee Lien returns home to her Chicago suburb from grad school, only to find herself contending with issues she's evaded since college. But when her brother disappears, he leaves behind an object from their mother's Vietnam past that stirs up a forgotten childhood dream: a gold-leaf brooch, abandoned by an American reporter in Saigon back in 1965, that might be an heirloom belonging to Laura Ingalls Wilder.

It is late 1940, and the war feels closer to home than ever for Rose Neville and her staff at the Lyon’s Teashop in Margate. The worry of rationing hangs overhead as the Nippies do their best to provide a happy smile and a hot cup of tea for their customers. When a heavy bombing raid targets the Kent coastline, Lyon’s is badly hit, throwing the future of the cafe into jeopardy. The light in Rose’s life is her dashing fiancé, Capt. Ben Hargreaves, and planning their Christmas Eve wedding.

Flying instructor Ellie Simpson has grown up a tomboy. She's never had an interest in the latest fashions or finding a husband; her only passion is flying her beloved Tiger Moth. But when war is declared, she is no longer be able to do what she loves most - fly.

It is 1937, and Alice, Edith and Marg continue to face hardships every day, growing up on one of the poorest streets in Blackpool. Penniless, their friendship has helped them survive this far, but it'll take more than that to see them through the dark days ahead. Alice is coping with a violent father. Marg is left reeling after a dark secret about her birth comes to light and threatens to destroy the life she knows, and Edith is fighting to protect her alcoholic mother from the shame of their neighbours and keep her brother on the straight and narrow.

Can their friendship survive the darkest days of war? When Abigail arrives for a new start in Bristol in the late 1930s, she knows life won’t be easy - particularly as she is the unmarried mother of three-year-old Emily Grace. But as the war starts to take over the city and threaten their very existence, will Abigail’s new friends, Carrie and Eileen, be enough to keep herself and her daughter safe?

November 14, 1944: I wax a German ace. The next morning, it’s March 10, 1942. Confused? Welcome to my world. I have no idea how this happened or what the hell is going on, other than the fact that the airfield I found belongs to the 2/81, an all-female fighter squadron operating near Marseille, France.

London, 1881. Lily Raynor, owner of the World's End Investigation Bureau, is growing increasingly worried. Work is drying up, finances are tight and she cannot find enough for her sole employee, Felix Wilbraham, to do. So when schoolteacher Georgiana Long arrives, with a worrying tale of runaway pupils, it seems like the answer to her prayers. Disguised as the new Assistant Matron, Lily joins the Shardlowes School staff. But there are undercurrents at Shardlowes, and the shadowy, powerful men who fund the school's less fortunate pupils loom larger as Felix's own investigations unfold.

This Mary Shelley's classic short story, The Invisible Girl, is perfect for the fall season. Henry and Rosina's Gothic love story is a classic.

After losing her beloved fiancé at Ypres in 1917, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Billington faces a lonely future estranged from her upper-class parents due to her association with Charlie Sayers and his working-class family. No longer able to live under her parent’s roof she is taken in by Charlie’s father, escaping the suffocating demands of her parents. Betty soon learns all too well about the realities of life after an accident at the Woolwich Arsenal munitions works.

Life as an ATA pilot is tough, but despite the long hours and danger, Ellie can think of nowhere she'd rather be. Not only does she love flying, but doing important war work, alongside new-found friends, provides a welcome distraction from worrying about loved ones fighting on the front line. Being an ATA girl is definitely exciting but, as Ellie soon finds out, wearing the distinctive blue uniform also means putting her life on the line every time she takes to the skies.

Kate has always found life on Brimbles Farm difficult, but she is struggling more than ever to find time for the bookshop, for her friends - and especially for handsome pilot Leo Kinsella. Naomi has found new friends and purpose through the bookshop and is happier than she's been in a long time - until she finds evidence that her husband is being unfaithful. Alice worries for her fiancé Daniel away fighting in the war and frets over the loss of her financial independence following an injury to her hand.