1944, Hampshire. In the munitions factory they call them the Canary Girls ¿ the chemicals the women have to work with turn their hair yellow. Although her face bears the scars from an explosion at the factory, Rita Brown is getting back on her feet. She has caught the eye of local wide boy Blackie Bristow. But there's a war on and some of the local men are taking advantage of the topsy-turvy world to break more than just hearts. Rita discovers someone at the factory is leaking secrets to the Germans. With D-Day on the horizon, she must work out who she can rely on - and fast.

In the 1840s, a young cowkeeper and his wife arrive in London, England, having walked from coastal Wales with their cattle. They hope to escape poverty, but instead they plunge deeper into it, and the family, ensconced in one of London’s “black holes,” remains mired there for generations. The Cowkeeper’s Wish follows the couple’s descendants in and out of slum housing, bleak workhouses and insane asylums, through tragic deaths, marital strife and war. Nearly a hundred years later, their great-granddaughter finds herself in an altogether different London, in southern Ontario. In The Cowkeeper’s Wish, Kristen den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski trace their ancestors’ path to Canada, using a single family’s saga to give meaningful context to a fascinating period in history—Victorian and then Edwardian England, the First World War and the Depression. Beginning with little more than enthusiasm, a collection of yellowed photographs and a family tree, the sisters scoured archives and old newspapers, tracked down streets, pubs and factories that no longer exist, and searched out secrets buried in crumbling ledgers, building on the fragments that remained of family tales. While this family story is distinct, it is also typical, and so all the more worth telling. As a working-class chronicle stitched into history, The Cowkeeper’s Wish offers a vibrant, absorbing look at the past that will captivate genealogy enthusiasts and readers of history alike.

An enthralling, eventful WW2 saga from the popular writer of the Daisy Lane novels - perfect for fans of Daisy Styles. 1943, Gosport, Hampshire. Pixie Saunders is 19 and employed in the local armaments factory. Not for the first time, her mother has run off with a dodgy-looking bloke, leaving Pixie to pay the rent and fend for herself. Pixie, along with her best friend Rita, Em, the factory overseer, and the rest of the girls are making the most of the war while trying to stay alive. The work is dangerous and the hours long, but in the evenings they take off their overalls and go to the pub or, better still, go dancing. Pixie meets American serviceman Cal and falls in love. But then Cal rejoins his ship. When Pixie falls pregnant, her life changes dramatically. Alone and unable to work, she has to rely on the kindness of friends to help her survive. Happiness seems like a thing of the past. Little does she know that there are plenty of surprises waiting for her - good ones at that. Love may be closer than she thinks.

In 1968, in a small Nottinghamshire country churchyard, an embittered divorcee has a strange encounter with the apparition of a girl who claims to have died in an explosion at a nearby First World War shell-filling factory fifty years before. Unable to dismiss from her mind the girl's desperate plea for help, Dorothy Younger begins her search for further details surrounding the events leading to the girl's death, in the hope of finding the child left orphaned by the blast. Enlisting the help of veteran army officer Tim Mildmay, together they learn of one of the greatest wartime civilian tragedies, which claimed the lives of almost 140 workers. Dorothy and Tim grapple with the mystery of a young woman who apparently died in the explosion, but who was never officially there, and the survival of another who should have been blown to pieces, but was later discovered safely at home. Of those who died in the tragedy, there were no doubt many tales which could have been told of their lives and the events which led to their last, fatal, few moments on earth. Perhaps this is one of them.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, here are 101 little-known and fascinating facts about its history. In this informative, accessible look at World War I, you'll find a complete overview of this critical historical event, its long-standing impact, and little-known facts. Identify the important figures, discover what everyday life was like during wartime, and learn about the inventions and momentous events from the Great War that changed history forever. Whether you’re seeking a basic, academic introduction or looking for interesting new facts to expand your knowledge, you’re sure to find it in 101 Things You Didn’t Know about World War I.

Brimming with deliciously mysterious magic, political intrigue, and a passionate heroine who will do anything to save the ones she loves--this highly anticipated sequel to Bloodleaf, praised as "enchanting, visceral, and twisty" by Laura Sebastian, won't disappoint. Princess Aurelia's life is turned upside down when the kingdom she thought she saved turns to ruin, a loved one is tragically killed in a shipwreck, and her home country refuses to respect her brother's legitimate claim to the throne. With no place left to call her own, Aurelia returns to Greythorne Manor--her best friend's family mansion--only to get swept up in a coup d' tat on the night of her brother's coronation. With everyone turned against her and enemies closing in on all sides, Aurelia has nothing left to lose in a mad fight to protect the only people she has left--her family. But in her darkest moments when all seems grim, will Aurelia find a spark of hope from a love she thought long lost? A read bursting with romance, magic, and ghostly intrigue, Greythorne will not disappoint.

From the establishment of Gloucester as a Roman colonia, a colony of retired military veterans, the city has held a strategic position, being close to the easiest crossing over the River Severn and into Wales. The Romans began building the city's defences, including the city walls and bastions, which were further enhanced by the great warrior Aethelflaed and which would become invaluable in the Siege of Gloucester during the Civil War in 1643. These walls would be destroyed by Charles II as a punishment for the city's role in the conflict. In the twelfth century, Gloucester's first motte and bailey castle were built and used by a number of kings as a garrison to prepare attacks against the Welsh and the Irish. The formation of what would become known as 'The Glorious Glosters', in 1782, led to a number of notable military campaigns, including the battles of Alexandria, Quatre Bras, the Second Boer War, including the Siege of Ladysmith, both World Wars and the Korean War. Christine's book will take you on an historic journey, uncovering on the way the city's military legacy.

Whilst in certain quarters it may be fashionable to suppose that there is no such thing as society historians, they have had no difficulty in finding their subject. The difficulty, rather, is that an outpouring of research and writing is hard for anyone but the specialist to keep up with the literature or grasp the overall picture. In these three volumes, as is the tradition in Cambridge Histories, a team of specialists has assembled the jigsaw of topical monographic research and presented an interpretation of the development of modern British society since 1750, from three perspectives: those of regional communities, the working and living environment, and social institutions. Each volume is self-contained, and each contribution, thematically defined, contains its own chronology of the period under review. Taken as a whole they offer an authoritative and comprehensive view of the manner and method of the shaping of society in the two centuries of unprecedented demographic and economic change.