Showing results by publisher "HarperCollins Publishers Limited" in Historical Fiction

After preventing the most devastating terrorist attack in recent history, Jay Qasim is back home in West London. And, despite invitations to go back undercover, all he wants is a quiet life. He’s got a job in a call centre, has blocked MI5’s number and has put his brief career as an undercover jihadist behind him. But the game is far from over. And Jay’s about to learn that - no matter how hard he tries - it’s going to be hard to keep his head down now there’s a price on it.

June 1940. Evacuee twins Connie and Jessie are reminded every day of the differences between a Yorkshire summer and what they had previously known in London’s Bermondsey. Life at Tall Trees vicarage, Harrogate, is full of adventure, with the arrival of a mischievous pony called Milburn who soon sets about showing who’s boss. But Auntie Peggy is bracing herself for bad news - since the birth of their beautiful baby Holly, something has been very wrong between her and husband Bill, and an unexpected visitor soon makes clear exactly what that is....

Shipwrecks are part of life in the remote village of Porthmorvoren, Cornwall. And as the sea washes the bodies of the drowned onto the beach, it also brings treasures: barrels of liquor, exotic fruit, the chance to lift a fine pair of boots from a corpse, maybe even a jewel or two. When, after a fierce storm, Mary Blight rescues a man half dead from the sea, she ignores the whispers of her neighbours and carries him home to nurse better. Gideon Stone is a Methodist minister from Newlyn, a married man.

When Carrie Manning’s father dies, her mother, Esther, is heartbroken. Essie leaves London to convalesce with her good friend Lady Alice, and it is down to Carrie to look after her family and take charge of the shipping company that her father has left behind. But the company is in dire straits, forcing Carrie seek work as a companion to Maria Colville. When Carrie and Maria try to track down Maria’s mother, they have no idea of the secrets that they will discover. Secrets that link the Colvilles, the Mannings and figures from the past who return to England.

I knew she was trouble from the moment I saw her. I felt it as she stood in the doorway that day: disaster. Not just because she was so different, that skin and that hair, as different from me as it’s possible to be. There was something wrong about her. Wrong for us. It was never going to work. Now she is dead and only I am left to love him. She is dead, and it’s all my fault.

Chelsea, 1876: Jimmy Whistler stands on the cusp of fame, ready to astound the London art world with his radical paintings. At his side is Maud Franklin, his muse, lover and occasional pupil, sharing his house, his dazzling social life and his grand hopes for the future. But Jimmy’s rebelliousness comes at a heavy price for them both as he battles a furious patron, challenges an influential and viciously hostile critic and struggles with a dire lack of cash. Before long a fight for survival is being waged through the galleries, the drawing rooms and even the courts - and Maud, Jimmy’s Madame and closest ally, is expected to do her part.

St Saviours children’s home in London’s East End has provided a safe refuge for local children for decades, and Sister Beatrice and her team are as busy as ever. New staff member Jinny is glad to escape the lewd advances of her drunken and slovenly mother’s rotten boyfriends, but can she prove she isn’t a chip off the old block? As ever, the staff are tested when orphaned brother and sister Andy and Beth are brought to the home - they are clearly terrified of something, and Andy refuses to be sent home, but can Sister Beatrice get to the bottom of their story before they are returned to their stepfather?

The things history will do at the bidding of love.... On a warm Sunday afternoon, Nazia and Sharif are preparing for a family barbecue. They are in the house in Sheffield that will do for the rest of their lives. In the garden next door is a retired doctor whose four children have long since left home. When the shadow of death passes over Nazia and Sharif's party, Dr Spinster's actions are going to bring the two families together for decades to come.

Her strength is all she has left.... When Dorothy meets Robbie, she falls for him quickly, and it’s not long before the pair are engaged. But then an unexpected pregnancy puts everything at risk, and Dorothy is left alone - with Robbie nowhere to be seen. Heartbroken, Dorothy picks up the pieces of her life as a working girl in Battersea, helping to support her mother and father. But before long, things start to become difficult. Her father’s health is worsening, money is tight and, worst of all, Robbie hasn’t come back for her.

Previously published as For Better for Worse. A dramatic listen from Sunday Times best seller Pam Weaver, filled with bigamy, scandal and friendships which bring hope in the darkness. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Maureen Lee. July 1948. As Britain recovers from WWII, Annie Royal is looking to the future. Recently married to Henry, and with a baby on the way, she and her new husband are happily settled in the seaside town of Worthing. But a knock at the door brings Annie's world crashing down.

Sunday Times best-selling author Freda Lightfoot is back with a heartwarming story of life after the war. The war is over, and Evie Talbert eagerly awaits the return of her three children from their evacuated homes. But her carefree daughters and son are barely recognisable - their education has been disrupted, the siblings have been split up, and the effect on them has been life-changing. Evie's husband also has problems. Having returned from being in action, he suffers nightmares and fits of rage.

Fresh from their mission against Werewolf U-Boats, Mallory, Miller and Andrea are summoned to Naval HQ and given their new mission: to reconnoitre the Greek island of Kynthos and determine the German development of the lethal and experimental V3 rocket, and destroy any facilities. They're given a rocket expert to accompany them - but can they trust him?

It's Christmas Eve. Flurries of snow fall on the cobbled streets of Whitechapel, and an abandoned baby, swaddled in a blanket, is found on a doorstep in Angel Lane.... Named after the street on which she was found, Angel Winter was blessed to be taken from the harsh streets into a loving home. But fate deals a cruel blow, and she's torn from the only family she has ever known, thrown onto the cobbles of Covent Garden to fend for herself.

A heartwarming story of friendship and family during the first Christmas of World War Two. Autumn 1939 and London prepares to evacuate its young. In Number 5 Jubilee Street, Bermondsey, 10-year-old Connie is determined to show her parents that she's a brave girl and can look after her twin brother, Jessie. She won't cry, not while anyone's watching.

London, 1850. A city of contrasts. Of scientific marvels, poverty, disease and death. When Detective Sergeant Harry Pilgrim (one of London's first police detectives) discovers the corpse of a woman in a Hackney cab, the case seems straightforward - until the only suspect is found murdered in his cell. Pilgrim is hindered in his investigation by his own dark past - a dead son and a missing wife - and also by the well-meaning interference of Charles Dickens, who is serialising Pilgrim's adventures.

England 1819: Thomas Shield, a new master at a school just outside London, is tutor to a young American boy and the boy's sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Drawn to Frant's beautiful, unhappy mother, Thomas becomes caught up in her family's twisted intrigues.

A heart-rending tale of love and tragedy during The Birmingham Blitz. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Annie Groves. For Kathy O'Malley, life has not been easy with her husband, Barry, out of work and with two children to feed. Then when war breaks out in 1939, many of the local men enlist, including Barry, leaving the women to cope as best they can. The years that follow are full of hardship: rationing, nightly air raids, and endless shifts working at the local munitions factory all take their toll on Kathy.

It is the blistering summer of 1929 and Hollywood’s glamorous set appear to have it all. Everybody everywhere is living the Hollywood dream, including the elegant and charming, high-society couple, actor and actress Maximilian and Eleanor Beecham. But beneath the sophistication and glamour their insecure and unhappy marriage is on the brink of divorce and their finances are teetering on a knife’s edge after a series of failed films.

Inspired by her heroine, Isabella Beeton, Delia has made a living writing a series of hugely successful modern household guides, as well as an acerbic domestic advice column. As the book opens, she is not yet 40, but has only a short time to live. She is preoccupied with how to prepare herself and her family for death, from writing exhaustive lists to teaching her young daughters how to make a perfect cup of tea.

A gritty and compelling drama from the best-selling author of The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Sheila Jeffries. Little twin sisters Sarah and Samantha are all alone in the world. When their mother died giving birth to Sarah, she was blamed for the death by her father, and her learning difficulties serve only to make him more angry and violent towards her.