Showing titles in World War I

The Somme, 1916. James Falconer, once a barrow boy on a London market, stands in the trenches, awaiting the command to go over the top. Away from his business empire in London, he is simply a soldier, war the great leveller. But, unlike his men, and unknown to them, deep down, Falconer doesn’t care if he lives or dies. When a face from the past offers James the chance to repair his fractured relationship with his estranged daughter, Leonie, he must decide if he can hold different things dear – and make space in his life for love.

The story is told by a young 'unknown soldier' in the trenches of Flanders during the First World War. Through his eyes we see all the realities of war: under fire, on patrol, waiting in the trenches, at home on leave, and in hospitals and dressing stations. Although there are vividly described incidents which remain in the mind, there is no sense of adventure here, only the feeling of youth betrayed and a deceptively simple indictment of war—of any war—told for a whole generation of victims.

Brought to you by Penguin. The uplifting and moving Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years, a bond formed by a lifetime of memories. Since childhood they have seen each other through life's milestones: stealing vodka from their parents, REM...

A leisurely weekend among the British gentry reveals the cracks in their upper-class society in this "beautifully crafted" historical fiction novel set in pre-WWI England (Washington Post). It is the autumn of 1913. Sir Randolph Nettleby has assembled a brilliant array of guests at his...

Secrets of the Jam Factory Girls is a moving saga novel of friendship set in the heart of pre-WWI London from bestselling author, Mary Wood. Elsie’s worked her way up at Swift’s Jam Factory from the shop floor to the top, and now it’s her time to shine. But when she’s involved in an...

Hope. Glamour. Independence. A new era has begun… ‘A wonderfully absorbing tale of friendship, rich in period detail’ Stylist ***** With the Great War behind them, four friends are ready to live again. Lydia, a society beauty, has everything – wealth, status and a husband who survived...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of the first novel in Pat Barker's acclaimed 'Life Class' trilogy - an unforgettable story of art and war, from one of our greatest writers on war and the human heart From the Booker Prize-winning and Women's Prize-shortlisted...

1915, Chrisp Street Market, East London. While the man she loves is fighting on the frontline for his country, Lily Larkin is up at dawn carrying crates of apples to his market stall. Taking charge of Greg's business while he's away, she's grown from a penniless workhouse orphan into a shrewd tradeswoman. But the market is a man's world, and Lily soon starts attracting unwanted visitors, including Greg's old rival.

Brought to you by Penguin. The Booker Prize-winning final novel in Pat Barker's classic 'Regeneration' trilogy - from the acclaimed author of The Silence of the Girls 1918, the closing months of the war. Army psychiatrist William Rivers is increasingly concerned for the men who have been in his...

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award From the bestselling author of The Piano Tuner, comes Daniel Mason's The Winter Soldier, a story of love and medicine through the devastation of the First World War. Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War One explodes...

In his monumental narrative of the outbreak of the First World War and the ill-fated Russian offensive into East Prussia, Solzhenitsyn has written what Nina Krushcheva, in The Nation, calls "a dramatically new interpretation of Russian history." The assassination of tsarist prime minister Pyotr...

The Jam Factory Girls Fight Back is a moving historical novel of friendship set in the heart of pre-WWI London from bestselling author, Mary Wood. Can they claim what is rightfully theirs? From the moment Len came into their lives, everything changed for Millie and Elsie. Both fell in love with...

A Mother's Sorrow is a heart-rending family drama set around WW1 from bestselling author and Queen of the Saga, Margaret Dickinson. Three young women. Two families united. A bond that can’t be broken . . . Sheffield, 1892. Patrick Halliday rules his family with a rod of iron. He’s hard on...

In June 1916, a young woman named Charlotte Reid is found murdered in a cinema. Harvery Marmion and Joe Keedy are assigned the task of finding the killer who so elusively fled in the dark. Before long, two more victims, of striking similarity but differing backgrounds, are found dead around the city. Meanwhile, miles from home, Marmion’s son Paul prepares for life on the front line as he marches towards the Battle of the Somme.

1915. The Atlantic. The Kaiser U-boats prowl the seas. Only the Royal Navy stands in their way. The relentless threat of German U-boats has forced the Royal Navy to deploy its most secret weapon: heavily armed and cunningly disguised merchant vessels—the Q-ships. Commander Gordon Campbell, a seasoned officer in His Majesty's Navy, commands the Farnborough, a tramp steamer converted into a Q-ship. Under his leadership, the Farnborough becomes a deadly decoy, luring German U-boats into range for a brutal strike.

A wartime legacy. A lost love. A friendship to last a lifetime . . . 'An extraordinary book' Marie Claire A decades old secret . . . When Kat Jourdan discovers a priceless collection of Dior gowns hidden in her grandmother's remote cottage, she delves into the mystery of their origin, determined...

The start of a gripping WWII series by bestselling author Fenella J. Miller A story of courage and sacrifice during Britain's darkest days... As war rages, Barbara Sinclair is desperate to escape her unhappy home life. And with the threat of German bombs ever present, Barbara reluctantly agrees...

From AWARD-WINNING author Liz Harris comes the first unforgettable novel in the sweeping Linford Family Sagas – a story of love, loyalty, and courage in the aftermath of the Great War.💔 💫 Oxfordshire, 1919 The war is over, but its shadows linger. When spirited Lily Brown meets Robert...

Ironbridge, 1911: Childhood sweethearts Jo and Alfie Woodvine couldn't be happier to finally be married with a home of their very own. But when their son, Harry, arrives, Jo finds herself quickly cut off from the world. Though she loves her baby, she hadn't anticipated the confines of motherhood...

It is 1916. The world has gone to war, and young Leo Sercombe, hauling coal aboard the HMS Queen Mary, is a long way from home. The wild, unchanging West Country roads of his boyhood seem very far away from life aboard a battlecruiser. Skimming through those West Country roads on her motorcycle, Lottie Prideaux defies the expectations of her class and sex as she covertly studies to be a vet. In a world torn asunder by war, everything dances in flux: how can the old ways life survive, and how can the future be imagined, in the face of such unimaginable change?