Historical War Saga

London, 1941. The Blitz. When a Royal Navy memo arrives at head office, requesting female recruits to sign up as motorcycle dispatch riders, delivering highly classified orders across the country, three women jump at the chance to sign up for the most dangerous jobs in London.

Pauline réside désormais à Berlin avec Hans. Et la vie est douce, malgré les zones d'ombre autour du passé de son époux. Mais les rumeurs de la guerre s'amplifient, le régime nazi trouve ses alliés. À la fin du mois d'août 1939, les ressortissants français sont tenus de quitter l'Allemagne.

"Je suis un vieil homme habité par la guerre. Chaque fois que j'ai cru pouvoir m'éloigner d'elle, un événement est survenu qui l'a lancée à mes trousses. Vieux chien hargneux, elle s'accroche à moi et refuse de me lâcher. Mais je ne sens rien de féroce dans sa ténacité. Son grognement est presque un murmure d'amitié. Alors je le caresse. Il ouvre sa gueule et, sans hâte, il me précède. Je le suis. Je sais très bien qu'il me conduit sur le sentier des guerres que nul ne saurait vraiment oublier."

Loyalty to your people. Loyalty to Rome. Only one can remain... Centurion Faustus Valerianus has already proven his bravery and skill, marching alongside Julius Agricola for six gruelling years to conquer the north of Britain. But that was just the beginning... With Agricola back in Rome, Faustus is given a new mission: to journey to Hibernia with exiled Irish prince Tuathal Techtmar and help him reclaim his rightful throne.

December 1941: Evacuated from the threat of German bombs, sisters Amelie and Mireille have grown up under the storm clouds of war. Now they have joined the fight against Hitler, with Amelie training as a nurse to save wounded soldiers, and Mireille enlisted to help the Air Force wage war in the skies over Europe. But as each sister fights for peace, they are still haunted by the memory of their missing sister who was snatched away from them at the beginning of the war.

Fifteen-year-old Kate lives a rarefied life of wealth and privilege in the pre-war Hong Kong expatriate community, but when the Japanese invade she’s interned in squalid Stanley Camp with her parents. Enduring cramped conditions, humiliation, disease, and starvation, Kate befriends seventeen-year-old Charles, who is half Chinese, and they give their hearts to each other under the orchid tree. Meanwhile, forty miles away in Portuguese Macau, thirteen-year-old Sofia’s suspicions are aroused when her father invites a Japanese family to dinner.

Liverpool, 1945. Three women, the strongest of friends, return home, trying to fit back into their old lives after they've been demobbed. They've been thrown together by the war and shared all sorts of good and bad times. Now their old lives seem dull in comparison. But not for long.... Maggie and Nell are both 21 and full of hope and excitement. Iris, on the other hand, is feeling apprehensive about returning to civilian life. At the age of 30, her only wish is to have a baby, but sadly this wish is yet to come true.

England, 1937: After a devastating childhood at Blakely Hall Orphanage, 15-year-old Sandra is released. She finds work as a housemaid, finally able to put her past behind her. But the start of World War Two throws the country into turmoil, and her brother, Alf, is sent away to fight, leaving her completely alone. Germany, 1939: Eleven-year-old Frieda is about to board a ship bound for England with her brother, Kurt. But at the last moment, as Frieda stands on the deck crammed with frightened children, she spots her brother jumping off, back to land.

The year is 878 and Wessex is free from the Vikings.Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, helped Alfred win that victory, but now he is disgusted by Alfred's lack of generosity and repelled by the king's insistent piety. He flees Wessex, going back north to seek revenge for the killing of his foster father and to rescue his stepsister, captured in the same raid. He needs to find his old enemy, Kjartan, a renegade Danish lord who lurks in the formidable stronghold of Dunholm.

Following a humiliating experience involving the man she thought she’d marry, Iris Tredwick signs up to the Wrens in order to escape and - hopefully - find ‘the right sort’ of man to please her mother. After a bumpy start, Iris manages to befriend outspoken Mary and dreamer Sally as they are sent to their first posting - in Orkney. There she meets engineer Rob, whose flirtatious nature both charms and confounds straight-laced Iris. Much more appropriate for her is local doctor Stewart, if only she felt the same spark for him as she does for Rob.

England, 1065: The Saxon kingdom is under threat of invasion at both ends. From the north comes Harald Hardrada of Norway intent on pillage, while across the Channel, Duke William of Normandy is about to enforce his claim to the throne. Between the two lie the villages and townships defended only by part-time armies maintained by the Earls of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, barely united under King Harold Godwineson. It falls to brave and determined young men like Will Riveracre and Selwyn Astenmede to stand firm against whichever marauding invader reaches them first.

The phony war is over and Hitler is beginning his rampage through Europe. But back home Barbara Sinclair has troubles of her own. With her wedding to Spitfire Pilot Alex Everton imminent, Barbara is worried about a secret she is keeping from her new husband – one that could ruin everything. Determined to try and maintain some normality in her life, the wedding goes ahead, but Alex leaves almost immediately to continue fighting the Germans. Barbara fears for his safety and for the moment, her secret must wait. But when bombs fall on Barbara’s new home, the war feels closer than ever.

Now that he has made a name for himself and shown his courage in battle Sven Saxon Sword becomes not only a leader in battle but also a target for others when he fights. Beginning with the Battle of Svolder when hundreds of ships clashed in the sea, the novel takes us through the maelstrom of war. Sweyn Forkbeard has ambitions in the west, where there is a weak Saxon king, Aethelred. Sven Saxon Sword and his foster father are part of the force that battles in Wessex, Cornwall and Kent.

Nazi-occupied Holland, 1944. As soldiers patrol the streets, nursing student Ilse is only just surviving the terrible famine and increasingly violent German occupation. Though exhausted by her demanding work at a hospital far from home, she can’t help but notice Levi, a young man with dark eyes watching the world silently from the abandoned house next door. London, present day. When Anna’s father dies, he leaves her a ticket to Amsterdam, a bent silver sixpence on a delicate silver chain, and a note begging her to complete the journey he was never able to.

Alice Lake has arrived in London from Liverpool to start her training as a District Nurse, but her journey has been far from easy. Her parents think that she should settle down and get married, but she has already had her heart broken once and isn’t about to make the same mistake again. Alice and her best friend, Edith, are based in the East End, but before they’ve even got their smart new uniforms on, war breaks out, and Hitler’s bombs are raining down on London.

En raison du manque de soldats, Hitler appelle sous les drapeaux tous les hommes disponibles. Les criminels, prisonniers politiques et déserteurs sont amnistiés et envoyés au front. Ils sont tous réunis dans un bataillon de marche et ils sont affectés aux missions les plus pénibles. L'obéissance aveugle est ce qu'il y a de plus dur. Bien plus de vingt fois par jour, on leur rappelle, entre malédictions et instructions prussiennes, qu'ils font partie d'un régiment disciplinaire et qu'ils seront les meilleurs soldats du monde.

Martha Owen has not had an easy start in life. Her abusive father dominates the family and she has lost her only friend after a painful falling-out. When her father's reliance on the bottle, and his increasingly violent temper, causes more turmoil for Martha, her mother and her three siblings, as well as World War One causing more strain on the home front, her prospects look bleak. With no money or qualifications to speak of, starting a job at the Potteries feels like a lifeline, but Martha finds herself wanting more than the production line job she works on.

Annie Pearson is working on Emmerdale Farm, while her love, Edward Sugden is at the front line. Lily Dingle has found purpose in joining the ATS, though she may get more than she bargained for. And Meg Warcup, now teaching at the local school, has taken in two children evacuated from Hull. They have adjusted to their new way of life until one day a German plane comes crashing down in the village....and changes everything in the village of Beckindale.

It’s 1943, and the district nurses have two new recruits. As the country ramps up for D-Day, the new nurses are getting to know their patients on their patch in London’s East End. Lily is quite sure of herself and doesn’t believe she has anything new to learn. She’ll find out the hard way that anyone can be made a fool of when she meets a man who promises her everything.

Society heiress Evelyn Brooke-Edwards is a skilled interrogator—her beauty making her a non-threat in the eyes of the prisoners. Farm girl Betty Connors may not be able to type as she claimed, but her crack analytical skills soon find her unearthing covert connections. German ex-pat Judith Stern never expected to find herself listening in to German POWs' whispered conversations, but the Nazis took her father from her, so she will do whatever it takes to help the Allies end this war.