Showing titles in 20th Century

Readers of Robert Harris, Bernard Cornwell and Ken Follett will love this gripping, edge-of-your-seat wartime thriller from bestselling author and historian James Holland. Guaranteed to keep you turning the pages! 'Old-fashioned, testosterone-fuelled escapism and Tanner is a chiselled...

Brought to you by Penguin. A rich, atmospheric WWII thriller from the award-winning author of Moskva and Nightfall Berlin An unlikely spy. July 1940. As Britain braces itself for invasion, ex-Tommy and safecracker Bill O'Hagan is glad to have escaped the battlefield. But when a job goes wrong...

Beautifully read by Indira Varma and poignantly told, Marking Time is the second novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s bestselling family saga The Cazalet Chronicles, set during the onset of World War II. 'Compelling, moving, unputdownable . . . Maybe my favourite books ever' - Marian Keyes...

All Hanna Fischer ever wanted to do was to study physics under the great Albert Einstein. But when, as a teenager in 1919, her life is suddenly turned upside-down, she is catapulted into a new and extraordinary life - as a student, a secretary, a sister and a spy. From racist gangs in Berlin to gangsters in New York City, Nazis in the 1930s and Hitler's inner circle during the Second World War, Hanna will encounter some of history's greatest minds and most terrible moments, all while desperately trying to stay alive.

It is 1942, and with the country still at war, the girls who work for Joe Lyons are praying for their loved ones to return home safely. Happily married, Rose is busy with staffing problems at the teashop with many women taking on war work. Rose dreams of her husband’s return while trying to...

When George Allenby is put in charge of building a lake in the grounds of an imposing Irish manor house, he intends to do the job as swiftly as possible and return to Belfast. Allenby is still wrestling with his time as an officer during the First World War, burdened by the many things he could have done differently.

1940. With the Germans about to enter Paris, Claire Bouchard flees France for England. Two years later she is recruited by the Special Operations Executive and sent back into occupied France to work alongside the Resistance. Working undercover as a teacher in Brittany, Claire accidentally befriends the wife of the German Commandant of Rennes, and the blossoming friendship is about to become a dangerous mission. Claire begins a double life as a Gestapo Commandant’s mistress to retrieve information, but ghosts from her past make the deception more painful than she could have imagined.

At 18, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service.

*BASED ON A TRUE STORY, CONTAINS 50+ PAGES OF EXTRA CONTENT ON THE REAL PEOPLE THE BOOK IS INSPIRED BY* Jersey, 1943. When the German Army invades the tranquil island, librarian Grace La Motée is determined to keep her services running. Ordered to destroy books which threaten the Nazi regime...

Will Christmas bring them happiness or heartache? Don't miss the heartwarming new novel from the author of Secrets for the Three Sisters and The Three Sisters of Victory Walk. ___________________________________ It’s 1942 on Victory Walk in East London, and the Harrison sisters are wishing for...

An unforgettable story, tying together past and present, from the bestselling author of The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris and The Royal Librarian Berlin, 1933. The night skies are burning bright with huge bonfires of banned books. The Nazi party is swelling in number and Berlin is no longer a safe...

From the bestselling author of A PLACE CALLED WINTER comes MOTHER'S BOY, a superb historical novel of Cornwall, class, desire and two world wars. 'One of the joys of Gale's writing is how even the smallest of characters can appear fully formed, due to a charming wickedness alongside deeper...

Following the breakdown of her marriage, Theo has bought a tumbledown cottage on the banks of the river Tamar which divides Cornwall and Devon. The peace and tranquillity of Boatman’s Cottage, nestled by the water, is just what she needs to heal. Yet soon after her arrival, Theo discovers a stash of hidden letters tied with a ribbon, untouched for more than a century. The letters—sent from the battlefields of France during WWI—tell of a young servant from the nearby manor house, Abbotswood, and his love for a woman he was destined to lose.

England, 1941: Life has always been cruel to Ethel. Raised in an orphanage by a merciless mistress, she never knew the meaning of love. And now she has fallen for the one man who is forbidden to her - Karl, a German held captive in the local prisoner-of-war camp. He might be the enemy, but he has her heart. When Ethel discovers she’s pregnant, she is labelled a traitor and shunned by all. The love of her life is torn away from her, but she vows to protect their precious daughter. But the unthinkable happens....

Hitler is dead. A new threat is born . . . The brand new blockbuster from 'the master of the wartime thriller' (FT) Autumn 1945 - Off the east coast of England, a Japanese sub surfaces, unloads its mysterious cargo, then blows itself to pieces. Former spy Professor Tom Wilde is enjoying...

When the love of Tasha’s life, Luca, joins the air force to fight against the evil Nazi invaders, she knows she has to follow her heart—and him—into battle. Headstrong, impulsive and a daredevil, she’s the perfect recruit. Tasha’s sensible older sister, Nadia, plans only to stop Tasha’s madness and bring her home. But a chance encounter puts her in a plane, soaring above the clouds, and she also finds her calling.

Bloomsbury presents The Girls Who Dared to Love by Diney Costeloe, read by Florence Howard. Three girls seem to have the world at their feet in the summer of 1914. But World War 1 is coming and things will change forever - especially for women. Lucinda McFarlane is engaged to be married to...

The marines have seized control of the Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal, but this isn’t the end of their troubles…it’s only the beginning. The Japanese bomb them by day, attack from the forbidding darkness of the jungles by night, and their ships, like hungry sharks, prowl just offshore after the sun goes down. Whoever controls the canal controls the war. The Japanese know this, so they concoct a plan to send men and equipment ashore using fast destroyers—ships that can come by night and leave before the Cactus Airforce or Admiral Fletcher’s carrier planes can stop them.

Mary hears on the radio that the British warship her husband is on has sunk, leaving few survivors. Waiting for daybreak to bring news, Mary escapes into memories of her past. Sincere and engaging - a ‘hot-water bottle’ novel - Mariana by Monica Dickens is full of sharply remembered detail...

The story of the Gunbus. First Lieutenant Bill Harsker and his squadron come up against the deadly Fokker monoplane. While many other squadrons are decimated, the Gunbuses give the fledgling RFC hope. When a new commanding officer takes over the squadron and imposes impossible rules, lives are lost and Bill has to face a court martial. All of the gains they have made are threatened by a martinet. The novel spans the end of 1915 and the start of 1916. It shows the harsh realities of life on the Western Front, in the air and the problems of the civilians back home.