Showing titles in 20th Century

Paris, 1940: As the German soldiers march down the Champs-Élysées, the Bélanger twins know there is no escape – their lives are about to change forever. But while Sophie, a third-year medical student, works long days and nights saving casualties of war at the American hospital, and waits anxiously for news of her fiancé from the front line, her recently widowed twin, Adèle, is determined to enjoy her freedom. Nothing – not the bombs, the curfews or the Nazi officers sidling up to her in nightclubs – can stop her from indulging in the temptations of Parisian society.

The Allies and Fighter Command have gone on the offensive. The French town of Dieppe is selected for the first major assault on the European continent. But Jox McNabb and No.111 Squadron start to feel like they are being lured into a trap. And their new leader is acting unpredictably, making them worried that he can't be trusted.

France, 1919. One year after the guns fell silent across the Western Front, Lieutenant Wilfred Rhodes receives his final classified mission before he can return to Australia. He must end the command of Captain Charles Kingsley, the unhinged radical leader of the Graves Recovery Unit. Still haunted by the loss of his platoon in the Battle of Passchendaele, Rhodes infiltrates Kingsley's unit and works with the war-weary men to exhume the Australian dead.

With harvest approaching, land girl Daphne is busier than ever as she ploughs the fields and tends to the animals with her friends Sal and Charlie. All three girls enjoy the relative peace of Goodwill House…but war is never far away.

March, 1941. World War Two is well underway and the Blitz is taking its toll on Central London with bombs raining down almost every night. Inspector Coburg and his trusted Sergeant Lampson are just recovering from the devastating bomb attack on the Café de Paris when they get a call asking them to go to the disused Lord's Underground station. Once there, they are taken to see the body of a man on the former platform. He's been beaten to death by blows on the back of his head, by what Dr Welbourne believes to have been a cricket bat.

Venice, 1943. How much will she risk to save the ones she loves? Evelina has already lost so much: her sons are away fighting, her husband is dead, and most of her friends have fled the little valley that once felt like home. Her heart breaks in two once more when she receives a desperate handwritten note from her best friend Talia, a devoted Jewish schoolteacher in Venice: Help me.

Paris, 1944. Charlotte Foret is working in a tiny bookstore in Nazi-occupied Paris struggling to stay alive and keep her baby Vivi safe. Every day they live through is a miracle until Vivi becomes gravely ill. In desperation, Charlotte accepts help from an unlikely saviour - and her life is changed forever.

Set during the outbreak of the Second World War, Night over Water is a feat of storytelling from the best-selling master of the historical thriller, Ken Follett. On a bright September morning in 1939, two days after Britain has declared war, a group of privileged but desperate people gather in Southampton to board the largest, most luxurious airliner ever built.

France, 1942. Once, Paulette Leblanc spent her days flirting, shopping, and drawing elegant dresses in her sketchpad. Then German tanks rolled into France, and a reckless romance turned into deep betrayal. Blaming herself for her mother’s arrest by the Gestapo, Paulette is sent away to begin a new life in Paris, working as apprentice to fashion designer Sabine Ballard. But Maison de Ballard is no ordinary fashion house.

1940, London. When Cordelia accepts the post of head librarian in Silver Town Library, her mother is more than a little disapproving. The East End has high levels of poverty and illiteracy, and her mother says it’s no place for a woman of her status. But Cordelia is determined to make a difference in these times of strife, and along with her colleagues, Jane and Mavis, she begins to help the local community, making sure everyone knows what the library can offer them. And maybe even a romance will blossom.

As the Battle of Britain rages, the Castle family are standing their ground at the heart of the community, running Castle's Café. German guns shell Dover and danger lurks around every corner, but despite this, Lily Castle is excited to be starting her nursing career at last. Lily is enjoying her life. She's a good nurse, has a group of friends at the hospital and there is romance on the horizon. That is until her world comes crashing down around her. When she tries to help an injured prisoner of war at the hospital, she ends up implicated in a crime.

Au cœur de l'enfer, une femme se bat pour l'espoir. "Rappelle-toi: notre seule arme, c'est de rester en vie, et pour rester en vie, nous devons aimer, nous devons donner, et, malheureusement, nous devons souffrir." Lorsqu'elle arrive à Auschwitz, sous un ciel bas et gris, Ana est persuadée qu'elle ne survivra pas à l'enfer du camp. Mais elle possède une compétence que les nazis recherchent : elle est sage-femme. Son travail sera de donner naissance aux enfants des autres prisonnières.

Aleen Cust has big dreams. And no one―not her family, society, or the law―will stop her. Born in Ireland in 1868 to an aristocratic English family, Aleen knows she is destined to work with animals, even if her family is appalled by the idea of a woman pursuing a veterinary career. Going against their wishes but with the encouragement of the guardian assigned to her upon her father’s death, Aleen attends the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh, enrolling as A. I. Custance to spare her family the humiliation they fear.

Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.

Rosie Burrows loves being part of the Foyles team, and outwardly, she’s a happy young woman, engaged to the love of her life. But inside, Rosie faces a horrible dilemma. When Alfie enlisted, she promised to wait for him to return from France. And she has waited, quietly preparing for him to come home so they can marry. But for years her letters to him have gone unanswered, and now she doesn’t know where she stands. To keep occupied, Rosie starts volunteering at the local school.

Peace has finally been declared in the Far East, but for those living at Beach View Boarding House, the news brings mixed emotions. Peggy Reilly is devastated that her husband, Jim, will not be coming home for Christmas. And Sarah and Jane, who have lived at Beach View throughout much of the conflict, dread what they will find when they go back to Singapore. Life in Cliffehaven is in a whirlwind of change as the men return from the war and Peggy’s evacuee chicks begin to spread their wings and start new lives in different corners of the world.

Based on true events, a heartbreaking story of love, family, hope, and survival set in post-World War II Italy - crafted with the heart of Orphan Train and Before We Were Yours - about poor children from the south sent to live with families in the north to survive deprivation and the harsh winters.

The year is 1944, and Lieutenant Harry Gilmour is recovering in Beirut from an ill-fated British campaign to seize the Greek Islands. After four years at sea, he is expecting a shore job as his next appointment. Instead, a flash signal from C-in-C Mediterranean arrives: Report to Alexandria and assume command of HM Submarine Saraband. His new command has just arrived there en route to the Indian Ocean and the war against Japan. With a sullen, uncooperative crew, Harry must navigate Japanese convoy routes through the shallow, treacherous waters of the Malay Archipelago.

September, 1942. Jo Hardy, a 22-year-old ferry pilot, is delivering a Spitfire when she has the unnerving experience of someone shooting at her aircraft. A few days later, she hears that another ferry pilot has been killed when her aircraft crashed in the same area of Kent. Although the death has been attributed to ‘pilot error’, Jo is convinced there is a link between the two incidents. Jo takes her suspicions to Maisie Dobbs.

As the Nazi regime crumbles, Hanni hides from her father on the fringes of Berlin. She develops the photographs she took to record the brutality of the camp - the empty food bowls and hungry eyes - and vows to get justice for the innocent people she couldn’t help. But, on the day she plans to deliver these damning photographs to the Allies, Hanni comes face to face with her father again. Reiner Foss is now working with the British forces, his past safely hidden behind a new identity. He will go to deadly lengths to protect his secrets, but Hanni knows she can’t give up her fight.