East London, 1865 Eighteen-year-old Irene Angel lives with her parents in a tiny room above the shop where her mother ekes out a living selling pickles and sauces while her father Billy gambles away their earnings. It is all Irene can do to keep the family together. Billy’s addiction soon leads him into trouble. Despite having been brought up by her father to fear and distrust the police, Irene finds herself forced to collaborate with them to save him from ruin. But Billy’s errant ways finally catch up with him and he is imprisoned in Newgate jail. With her mother away from home, Irene has little choice but to seek help from Inspector Edward Kent – her sworn enemy. Only she can clear her father's name and unite the family once more...

A MOVING, HEARTFELT AND FAMILY DRIVEN SAGA SET IN TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY LONDON FROM THE BESTSELLING SAGA AUTHOR Effie Grey has fallen on hard times since the death of her husband. Forced to live on a narrowboat owned by her tyrannical father-in-law, Jacob, Effie must put aside her own despair in order to protect her brother, Tom, and her young son, Georgie. Life becomes even more unbearable when Jacob hires the villainous Salter and his vile wife Sal to run the barge. When Tom is sent away without a penny, Effie is forced to make a choice to protect her family. Driven by desperation, Effie steals Jacob’s hidden cache of money and flees with her son in search of Tom. No matter what, she will make a home for little Georgie and keep him safe from harm.

When seventeen-year-old Belinda Phillips falls in love with a handsome Anglo-Indian officer, she knows that he is a man she can never hope to marry. When he is reported missing, believed killed in action, Belinda discovers that she is pregnant. Facing disgrace and ruin, she has no option other than to accept an arranged marriage with a middle-aged widower, knowing she must keep the secret of her child's birth for ever. Reluctantly she sends her beloved daughter to a foster mother in Cripplegate, little realising she has entrusted Cassy's care to Biddy Henchard, a woman who runs a notorious baby farm in an area full of poverty and disease. Despite her terrible upbringing, Cassy survives the old woman's cruel neglect. All the while she dreams of a mother she has never known, hoping she will come and save her from her dreadful fate. But when Biddy dies suddenly, ten-year-old Cassy finds herself destitute and with little hope of ever finding the mother she so longs for...

In the quiet of a warm summer's evening, two young mothers are forced to give up their babies. As the years have passed, Kate has grown up knowing only poverty and servitude, whilst Josie's world is one of privilege and luxury. Despite the differences in their circumstances, Kate and Josie have been friends since childhood. But their past binds them together in ways they must never know. Until a chance meeting forces Kate and Josie to confront the truth of that night nearly twenty years before - a truth that turns both worlds upside down and threatens to destroy their friendship forever. . .

Despite her privileged upbringing, Daisy Lennox has always longed to make something of her life. She is drawn to the suffragette movement, but when her father faces ruin they are forced to move to the country and Daisy’s first duty is to her family. Here she becomes engaged to her childhood friend – a union both families have dreamed of. But, on the eve of their wedding, war is declared, and Daisy knows her life will never be the same again...

A classic story from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller Dilly Court. London, 1874 When Lucetta Froy wakes up in a hospital bed, she remembers nothing of the events that brought her to her present state. She's taken home by two rough-speaking individuals who claim to be her brothers. However, as her health improves and her memory returns, she realises she has been kidnapped. The men hope to claim Lucetta's fortune as a ransom, for she is the daughter of a prosperous importer whose ship went down at sea. Her parents tragically drowned but Lucetta survived. Abandoned and destitute, it seems as though the world is against her. But Lucetta's spirit will never be broken, and she soon sets out to reclaim what is rightfully hers. . .

It is April 1939 and unaware that the German war machine is advancing towards the Channel Islands, seventeen-year-old Meg Colivet and her sister are enjoying a holiday in Oxford with their aunt. Here Meg meets charismatic German undergraduate Rayner Weiss and the couple fall passionately in love. But all too soon, Britain is at war with Germany, Guernsey has been occupied and Meg's family home requisitioned by the German army. Meg insists on remaining with her father, determined to help save her beloved island from the ravages of war. And then she finds herself face to face with Rayner - now a German officer - once more and her life is thrown into turmoil as they risk their lives to meet in secret . As the conflict in Europe intensifies, basic provisions become scarce and soon the people Meg loves come under threat. Torn between her love for Rayner and her duty to her family and the island she grew up on, a heartbroken Meg has a terrible choice to make...

A compelling wartime novel of love, loss and remembrance from the bestselling author of The Shopkeeper's Daughter. August 1914. With the approach of war about to bring tragedy and heartache to families all over England, Elsie longs to do her duty for King and country. She heads to London to act as an interpreter for thousands of Belgium refugees. But although she enjoys her work, she longs to do more. And when the opportunity arises she joins the foreign office, travelling to France as an undercover agent. When circumstances force her to return home, she joins the FANYs. And on the battlefields of Europe, she must find the courage to help save lives, each day hoping that one day she’ll be reunited with the man she loves.

The Thames carried him away from her, but would it bring him home...? Twelve-year-old Eliza Bragg has known little in life but the cold, comfortless banks of the Thames. Living above her uncle's chandlery she has grown accustomed to a life of penury and servitude, her only comfort the love and protection of her older brother, Bart. But one day Bart accidentally kills a man and is forced to flee to New Zealand. Alone, barefoot, beaten down and at the mercy of her cruel uncle, Eliza realises that her very survival is at stake...