Showing titles in 20th Century

October 1940. When VAD nurse Evie narrowly escapes being killed in an air raid during the London Blitz, it propels her to make a life-changing decision to break free of her troubled and unhappy life. She escapes to the Norfolk countryside to start afresh, with a job at the newly opened Great Plumstead Hall hospital, and a wonderful new home at Rookery House. The community of Great Plumstead welcomes evacuees to the village—mothers and children bombed out of their London homes. Sisters Prue and Thea, along with members of The Mother's Day Club, help the new arrivals settle in.

‘[A] witty, unusual murder mystery’ SUNDAY TIMES A compelling wartime mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime and Foyle's War. SUMMER 1944. The tide of war is turning. The Allies are at the gates of Paris. But the Nazis have one last chance of victory – and its...

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat.

November, 1938. It began in Vienna, after a night of fire and fear. Stella Bled Lawrence made a promise and she kept it. But the job isn't done. Abel Hershmann's cousins, unaware of the danger, are heading to Venice in search of him and the family secret he carried. Stella and her husband, Nicky, follow, intent on warning them. But things don't go to plan.

From autumn 1941 to the first months of 1942, the war continued to affect the lives of the Adams and Somers families. It was not so much the war, however, as a succession of tragic domestic events that brought a sad and lonely little girl called Phoebe into the care of Susie and Sammy Adams, reminding them of the entry of Rosie as a child into the lives of Boots and Emily. Much needed to be done to cure little Phoebe of her sadness, and it proved a difficult time for Susie and Sammy.

1940, England. After a series of run-ins with his superiors, Flying Officer Angus Mackennelly is posted to Squadron 696—the Maverick unit full of misfits and outsiders. Angus has just returned from gunning down enemy aircraft when he is given a shocking top-secret mission. A spy is in their midst, feeding information to the Germans, and Angus is tasked with exposing him. MI6 pin their suspicions on one of the squadron's foreign pilots, but Angus is not convinced. He needs to get closer to the men in his unit to try and unravel their secrets.

Read by Anna Popplewell, known for her role in The Chronicles of Narnia. Richard & Judy Book Club Pick Sunday Times Bestseller Set during London's blitz and filled with warmth, wit and heartbreak, Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce is a wartime story about the power of friendship, the kindness of...

Juin 1940. Les Allemands entrent dans Paris. Partout, le couvre-feu est de rigueur, sauf au grand hôtel Ritz. Avides de découvrir l’art de vivre à la française, les occupants y côtoient l’élite parisienne, tandis que derrière le bar œuvre Frank Meier, le plus grand barman du monde. S’adapter est une question de survie. Frank Meier se révèle habile diplomate, gagne la sympathie des officiers allemands, achète sa tranquillité, mais aussi celle de Luciano, son apprenti, et de l’énigmatique et troublante Blanche Auzello.

1923. Among the ancient honey-coloured walls of the tiny island of Malta, strangers slip into the shadows and anyone can buy a new name. Rosalie Delacroix flees Paris for a dancer’s job in the bohemian clubs deep in its winding streets. A sister with a secret 1944. Running from the brutality of war in France, Florence Baudin faces a new life. But her estranged mother makes a desperate request: to find her vanished sister, who went missing years before.

Hiding in the horror of Warsaw's Jewish Ghetto with his family, scientist Roman Loszynski has a secret: a means of making aerial bombing raids frighteningly accurate. Codenamed Tatra, it could change the course of the war. With British agent Jack Miller now in Switzerland, back in Berlin undercover spy Sophia von Naundorf is determined to escape Germany come what may.

July 1940. With Hitler’s bombs getting closer, WAAF Diane Forsyth is determined to face the oncoming danger and do her duty to support the brave RAF pilots who risk their lives as they take to the skies. And there’s one pilot in particular Di hopes remains safe—Squadron Leader Freddie Hanover. But with a romance between them growing, Di and Freddie know their duty must always come first. How can they dream of a future together whilst this terrible war continues?

Against the backdrop of Auschwitz-Birkenau's ever-present brutality, Felcia tends to the plants needed for one of the Reich's most ambitious experiments—one that could tip the war in favor of the Nazis. When Sabina Kupka discovers the horrifying nature of her father's job at a coal mine run by Nazis, she agrees to work with an increasingly defiant resistance. What starts small but significant soon propels her into a frontline role—dangerous enough to cost her her life if caught.

Abridged edition, narrated by Simon Russell Beale. From the bestselling author of the Shardlake series, C. J. Sansom, comes Winter in Madrid, a standalone historical novel set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. 1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people...

In 1930s Berlin, dark days dawn under Hitler's Third Reich. For nineteen-year-old Sophia Alexander, life will never be the same. The daughter of a respected doctor, Sophia has always believed that her destiny is to look after others, and as the persecution of Jewish families begins, she joins a group of dissidents who are committed to helping them to safety.

D. H. Lawrence is dying. Exiled in the Mediterranean, he dreams of the past. There are the years early in his marriage during the war where his desperation drives him to commit a terrible betrayal. And there is a woman in an Italian courtyard, her chestnut hair red with summer. Scattered and blown by the winds of history, their stories are bound together and brought before the jury. On both sides of the Atlantic, society is asking and continues to ask: is it obscenity - or is it tenderness?

Berlin, 1944. ‘It is a great honour to have you here, Herr Hitler.’ Lili doesn’t stumble over the lie, her hand steady as she pours champagne. Everything must be perfect, no one can suspect a thing… Lili Rodenberg and her husband Marius run the Edel, Berlin’s most glamorous hotel. For its wealthy guests, it is an escape from the destruction outside, with its elegant piano bar and fine amber brandy. But Lili is Jewish, a secret she is terrified will end in tragedy for her and their beloved little girl.

Cambridgeshire – 1942. As a new year begins and the war continues, young Artie Talbot feels trapped. In his heart he longs to fight, like his two brothers, for his king and country but is duty tied to Blackberry Farm. As feelings grow between Artie and Jeanie Salmons, Artie wonders if marriage will help him to finally accept his lot and settle down. Meanwhile, his brother John Talbot must come to terms with the tragic loss of a lost love. Can he overcome his trauma and begin to build a new life for himself and his new born son?

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 peacetime in Cambridge, settling back into teaching and family life. Until a call from senior MI5 boss Lord Templeman brings him out of retirement. A nearby village has been locked down by the military, its residents blighted by a deadly illness. No one is allowed in or out. There are rumours the Nazi machine is still operational, with links to Unit 731, a notorious Japanese biological warfare research laboratory.

The second heartwarming book in the Cornish Girls saga series perfect for fans of Ginny Bell and Elaine Everest 1941. The bombs still fall, but in St. Ives Christmas is finally approaching for the Cornish Girls… It’s 1941, and Christmas is approaching in St. Ives… Shy Lily wishes she could...

Paris, 1940. Shops are being boarded up, Jewish children are loaded onto buses and eighteen-year-old Elise’s heart beats hard as she runs down the cobbled streets under the shadow of swastikas. She hates her father with all her heart: he is working with the Nazis and has forbidden her to be friends with Myriam and Salomé, the Goldman sisters who are closer to her than her own family. Elise will do anything to help the girls she loves as sisters, including sharing her father’s secret business. Every day she creeps out to their apartment, avoiding the cold-eyed soldiers who stalk the streets.