First World War fiction

Book SynopsisThe touching stories in The Eyes of Asia are narrated through a series of imagined letters penned by four Indian Army soldiers in the blood-drenched battlefields of war-torn Europe and Africa, and makeshift hospitals on England''s coastline, to their loved ones back home in the relative peace of rural British India and the North-West Frontier Province. Kipling brings the experiences of these uneducated Sikh, Hindu and Muslim military men to life, weaving the horrors of a foreign war like no other with acts of kindness arising from cultural encounters with French farmers and British military personnel. Through unofficial access to translations of scores of intercepted Indian Army letters, Kipling gained an intimate understanding of the plight and humanity of men neglected in Western literature after the War. To Kipling, they were unsung heroes whose sacrifices had made a decisive impact on the British war effort.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE VONDEL PRIZE 2017 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 in The Times, Sunday Times and The Economist, and one of the 10 Best Books of 2016 in the New York TimesShortly before his death, Stefan Hertmans'' grandfather Urbain Martien gave his grandson a set of notebooks containing the detailed memories of his life. He grew up in poverty around 1900, the son of a struggling church painter who died young, and went to work in an iron foundry at only 13. Afternoons spent with his father at work on a church fresco were Urbain's heaven; the iron foundry an inferno.During the First World War, Urbain was on the front line confronting the invading Germans, and ever after he is haunted by events he can never forget. The war ends and he marries his great love, Maria Emelia, but she dies tragically in the 1919 flu epidemic. Urbain mourns her bitterly fTrade Review"War and Turpentine is the astonishing result of Hertmans' reckoning with his grandfather's diaries. It is a book that lies at the crossroads of novel, biography, autobiography and history... It seems aching to be called 'Sebaldian', and earns the epithet glowingly... In McKay's lyrical translation, every detail has the heightened luminosity of poetry... War and Turpentine has all the marking of a future classic." -- Neel Mukherjee Guardian "Masterpiece, an accolade often casually bestowed, really does describe this magnificent book... A haunting blend of fact and fiction... Page after page holds you rapt with admiration for both Hertmans' writing and his hero." -- Peter Kemp Sunday Times, Book of the Year "Hertmans writes with an eloquence reminiscent of W.G. Sebald... a masterly book about memory, art, love and war." New York Times 10 Best Books of 2016 "A lovingly reimagined life of an ordinary man whose life was for ever marked by the First World War. Fine prose." The Economist, Book of the Year "Wonderful, full of astonishingly vivid moments of powerful imagery... Hertmans's book is something else again: it has a quietly resonant personal epic quality that dwarfs all around it." -- David Mills Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisIn Greenmantle (1916) Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan''s heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer Scout; John S. Blenkiron, the American determined to fight the Kaiser; and Sandy Arbuthnot, Greenmantle himself, modelled on Lawrence of Arabia. The intrepid four move in disguise through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border toface their enemies: the grotesque Stumm and the evil beauty of Hilda von Einem.

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Book SynopsisDiscover the Workhouse to War trilogy by Kay Brellend: a new saga series set in the Whitechapel Union workhouse in East London, between 1904 and 1916. . . Christmas Eve, 1909. Eleven-year-old Lily Larkin is left to fend for herself in an East London workhouse after her dying mother is taken to an infirmary: her future looks bleak. Once she is separated from her twin brother, Davy, her childhood hopes seem to shatter. But Lily''s fierce spirit - along with her beloved new friends - help her to endure the miserable drudgery of life at South Grove Workhouse and its cruel supervisor, Miss Fox.When a handsome, smartly-dressed gentleman shows up at the workhouse, claiming to be her cousin and with an offer of employment, Lily seizes her chance to escape. But her new job is far from perfect, and her reunion with her brother isn''t what she thought it would be. Still, she relishes her freedom from the workhouse, and, finding herself on the cusp of womanhood, is

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Book SynopsisAn incredible, heart-wrenching sequel to E. Nesbit's Five Children and It, set on the eve of the First World War. The five children have grown up - war will change their lives for ever. Cyril is off to fight, Anthea is at art college, Robert is a Cambridge scholar and Jane is at high school. The Lamb is the grown up age of 11, and he has a little sister, Edith, in tow. The sand fairy has become a creature of stories ... until he suddenly reappears. The siblings are pleased to have something to take their minds off the war, but this time the Psammead is here for a reason, and his magic might have a more serious purpose. Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed, and the two younger children will have seen the Great War from every possible viewpoint - factory-workers, soldiers and sailors, nurses and the people left at home, and the war's impact will be felt right at the heart of their family.

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Book SynopsisIn 1918 the Great War has taken so much from so many and it threatens to take even more still from the Hunters, their friends and their servants.Edward, in a bid to run away from problems at home, decides not to resist conscription and ends up at the Front. Sadie''s hopes for love are unrequited, and Laura has to flee Artemis House when it is shelled and she finds herself in London driving an ambulance. Ethel, the nursery maid, masks her own pain by caring for other people''s children but she must take care not to get too attached.The government has to bring in rationing, and manpower shortages means the conscription age is extended. The Russians have fallen out of the war and a series of terrifying all-out attacks drive the Allies back almost to the Channel, and for the first time England faces the real prospect of defeat. No one can see an end to the war and yet, a small glimmer of hope remains . . .When the Boys Come Home is the fifTrade ReviewAn insightful look at the impact of war on everyday lives * Choice *

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Book SynopsisIn the years of and around the First World War, American poets, fiction writers, and dramatists came to the forefront of the international movement we call Modernism. At the same time a vast amount of non- and anti-Modernist culture was produced, mostly supporting, but also critical of, the US war effort. A History of American Literature and Culture of the First World War explores this fraught cultural moment, teasing out the multiple and intricate relationships between an insurgent Modernism, a still-powerful traditional culture, and a variety of cultural and social forces that interacted with and influenced them. Including genre studies, focused analyses of important wartime movements and groups, and broad historical assessments of the significance of the war as prosecuted by the United States on the world stage, this book presents original essays defining the state of scholarship on the American culture of the First World War.Trade Review'… offers a thorough examination of the cultural impact of a war in which the US's role is sometimes given little prominence … this admirable volume … goes beyond the typical Lost Generation roster of Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. E. Cummings et al.' Alice Kelly, The Times Literary Supplement'Recommended.' T. Bonner Jr., Choice MagazineTable of ContentsIntroduction. America's Great War at one hundred (and counting) Tim Dayton and Mark W. Van Wienen; Part I. Genre and Medium: 1. Poetry: hegemonic vistas Tim Dayton; 2. Fiction: a war remembered Scott D. Emmert; 3. Film: mostly classical Hollywood cinema goes to war and sometimes brings it home Leslie DeBauche; 4. Drama: from literary fantasy to gritty realism Brenda Murphy; 5. Popular music: tin pan alley as national barometer John Roger Paas; 6. Journalism: adventure and reckoning Joe Hayden; 7. Memoirs: negotiating the great war's social memory Ian Andrew Isherwood; 8. Art and illustration: modes of visual persuasion David M. Lubin; Part II. Settings and Subjects: 9. The peace movement: rapid development, women's leadership, regional diversity Kathleen Brown; 10. Americans in France: women writers and international responsibility Jennifer Haytock; 11. German Americans: dual loyalties and poetic adaptations of 'The watch on the Rhine' Lorie Vanchena; 12. The English in America: cultural propaganda and its agents Alisa Miller; 13. Preparedness: Theodore Roosevelt, Leonard Wood, and rookie rhymes Adam Szetela; 14. Propaganda: martialing media Pearl James; 15. Conscientious objectors: conscience, courage, and resistance Scott H. Bennett; 16. Volunteers: ambulance and nursing narratives Hazel Hutchison; 17. African Americans: defining freedom, citizenship, and patriotism Françoise N. Hamlin; 18. In the Midwest: 'Borne back ceaselessly into the past' David Rennie; 19. In the south: three Mississippi writers and the Great War mobilization David A. Davis; 20. Revolution: winning the world, losing the (middle) way Mark W. Van Wienen; 21. Monuments and memorials: memory dissipated Mark Levitch; Part III. Transformations: 22. The nation: forging one, finding many Jonathan Vincent; 23. Free speech: 'clear and present danger' Ernest Freeberg; 24. Labour: from replaceable cogs to corporate citizens Thomas Mackaman; 25. The veteran: parades, bitter homecomings, and fictions of the doughboy's return Steven Trout; 26. The military-industrial complex: practices, precedents, and literary engagements Mark Whalan; 27. The world: race, red-baiting, and the Wilsonian century Alexander Anievas.

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Book SynopsisA little girl is found abandoned on a beach one chilly Monday in October, alone apart from the body of her mother, cold beside her.Rendered completely silent by her traumatic experience, she is given the name Monday by the woman who discovers her and takes her to the Red Cliffs Ragged School - an old, crumbling building perched above the Torquay bay.Her saviour, twenty-two-year old Sarah Sullivan, has also had a tough life. But when she was summoned to help out at Red Cliffs - a haven for poverty-stricken children from the cities - by her godfather Samuel she also found her own second chance within its walls. Now she will do anything to help the mischievous, loveable children there. Especially Monday whose continued silence tears at her heart.But with Samuel''s health failing and his grasping nephew Christian eager to inherit, Red Cliffs is under threat. Sarah needs to fight - the children need her, and surprisingly she find she needs them. Will she beTrade ReviewAn orphaned child is discovered on a beach below the Red Cliffs Ragged School in Torquay and though she is taken in by Sarah Sullivan at Red Cliffs, her new start is threatened when the school faces closure . . . * from the publisher's description *Finlay writes with warmth and feeling, creating the book equivalent of a Sunday night period drama. Poldark can keep Cornwall because Monday's Child will make you fall in love with Devon * Culture Fly *Praise for Linda Finlay * - *Warm and atmospheric, you can practically taste the sea breeze * The Express *Take time out for a page-turner about family mysteries and betrayal * Take-a-Break *A compelling saga . . . with a surprising and emotional ending which weaves together the storylines in a most satisfying way. Strongly recommended and a great read on a Cornish holiday * cjbrownecrimewriter.com *A captivating and emotional novel about a strong woman struggling to find her own way in the world when others wish to see her fail * Winstone Books *I couldn't put it down and found myself finishing it in no time at all. . . The story was full of twists and turns from the onset and throughout . . . I really enjoyed reading this book and I highly recommend that you give it a read * Laurahbookblog *It was full of drama, friendship, excitement and was truly a magical story. . . I definitely will be reading more in the near future * Laurahbookblog *

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2015, Ben Fergusson''s critically acclaimed debut, The Spring of Kasper Meier, was the winner of the Betty Trask Prize 2015 and the HWA 2015 Debut Crown Award. The Other Hoffmann Sister is a gripping, evocative read about two sisters set in pre-WW1 Germany which will appeal to fans of The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry.For Ingrid Hoffmann the story of her sister''s disappearance began in their first weeks in Southwest Africa...Ingrid Hoffmann has always felt responsible for her sister Margarete and when their family moves to German Southwest Africa in 1902, her anxieties only increase. The casual racism that pervades the German community, the strange relationship between her parents and Baron von Ketz, from whom they bought their land, and the tension with the local tribes all culminate in tragedy when Baron von Ketz is savagely murdered. Baroness von Ketz Trade ReviewA fascinating look at racism and snobbery. Broken postwar Germany is superbly drawn and events in Africa are horrific * The Times *Shortlisted for the Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award in 2015, Ben Fergusson was much praised for his first novel, The Spring of Kasper Meier...The Other Hoffmann Sister confirms the talent for atmospheric, morally complex historical fiction that Fergusson showed in his first novel...An engrossing exploration of the ways that secrecy, racism and snobbery take their toll on its finely realised characters' * Sunday Times *In this intricately plotted novel, Ben Fergusson takes a little-known slice of history and fashions it into a gripping love story * Mail on Sunday *The evocative setting and the quick-paced plot takes the reader on a whirlwind tour through South Africa, to Berlin and back again, through war and its aftermath, through aristocracy and the von Ketz's crumbling estate. The novel, written by the award-winning author Ben Fergusson, would appeal to fans of Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent. * 10 Best Book Club Reads, independent.co.uk *[An] atmospheric, morally complex historical novel * Sunday Times Culture 'Must Read' *Taut, subtle, ambitious and engrossing. A gripping story of conflicting loyalties spanning a turbulent and changing world * Imogen Robertson, author of The Paris Winter *A beautiful, compelling read with exquisitely drawn characters. Wonderful * Jason Hewitt, author of Devastation Road *Elegantly crafted and engrossing - Fergusson's The Other Hoffmann Sister is excellent * William Ryan, author of The Constant Soldier *Beguiling, unsettling, and wonderfully atmospheric. A dark expedition across a nightmarish landscape of physical and emotional damage and moral decay * Sarah Waters, praise for The Spring of Kasper Meier *A richly accomplished work with a fascinating central character. And like the best historical novelists, Fergusson combines the ability both to bring the past to life with grippingly immediate vignettes, and use it to illustrate themes such as betrayal, prejudice and the deceptive nature of memory, which remain universal * i *[A] brilliant, unsettling novel . . . With echoes of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, it explores the darker, unpredictable side of human behaviour . . . this is a wonderfully atmospheric read that keeps you guessing. Highly recommended, and perfect for fans of Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent * The Lady *

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Book Synopsis'A powerfully emotive family drama featuring well-drawn and sympathetic characters set against a little known but momentous event in US history, which will strike a chord with those who enjoyed Pat Barker's Regeneration and Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North' WE LOVE THIS BOOKFrom the author of TV BOOK CLUB PICK, TIGER HILLSJim Stonebridge lives a solitary life with his father, a haunted man, on an apple estate in deepest Vermont. The year is 1932 and the grand house, once filled with laughter and parties, now stagnates under the weight of secrets and stories untold.Jim is out fishing in the quietness of the woods one day when he spots a plane banking low over the river. From behind the pilot streams a mass of balloons, held by a woman with rich red hair. Madeleine Scott, a spirited bohemian, bursts into their lives, bringing light and laughter to the estate once more. But with the bittersweet unravelling that love brings come memories. Of a friendship forged on battlefields and a past denied. 'A novel of great ambition and power' THE TIMESTrade Reviewthe emotional and psychological damage of war, and its effects on the men and their families, are sympathetically and sharply dramatised, while some of the writing is lovely. * DAILY MAIL *a book of great ambition and power * THE TIMES *A sweeping novel of guilt, loss and misunderstanding * THE LADY *A powerfully emotive family drama featuring well-drawn and sympathetic characters set against a little known but momentous event in US history, which will strike a chord with those who enjoyed Pat Barker's Regeneration and Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North * We Love This Book *

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Book SynopsisA young recruit. A legendary battle. A cataclysmic war. A baptism by fire...Kelly Maguire knew from a young age that he could accomplish great things. As World War I begins, Kelly enlists in the Royal Navy, hoping to win both the war and glory.But from the barbarous battles of Gallipoli to the nightmarish action of Antwerp, Kelly learns the trials a soldier must face: trials that will forge him into a man. As the epic battle of Jutland approaches, everything is at stake.From acclaimed novelist Max Hennessy comes a gritty naval adventure, full of blood, guts and heroism in the face of danger.

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Book SynopsisIn 1912, Stefan Haase, a Rhodes scholar from Germany studying Theology at Oxford, forms a friendship with fellow student James Millward. Stefan soon meets James’ sister Beth, a young, feisty and agnostic suffragist, and the two are drawn to each other despite their spiritual and intellectual differences. The three are separated by the war ­– James in Flanders as an officer in the trenches, Stefan as pastor to a German regiment and Beth as an auxiliary in France. The bonds that they share will be severely tested as each must face the carnage, cost and upheaval of the war and its aftermath.

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Book SynopsisThis groundbreaking volume offers a historical comparison between the events leading up to World War I and current global tensions related to the economical and political rise of Asia. What are the risks that the desire of the new super power China and great powers like India to be recognized by the West could set off a chain of events resulting in the nightmare of a great power war? Assessing the similarities as well as differences between the build-up of World War I and today, it is argued that we need to understand the driving forces behind the scene of global politics: The conflict between rising, established, and disintegrating powers and the desire of recognition on all sides. Carefully dissecting the current power dynamics in play, the authors hope to contribute to a better understanding of world events in order to ensure that history will not repeat itself.Trade Review"These lively essays, reflecting a wide range of perspectives and approaches, offer both deep insights into the forces and factors that led to war in Europe a century ago, and important lessons for the future of Asia. They draw on extensive historical knowledge and real expertise in contemporary Asian affairs, and engage directly in key policy debates. A major contribution to a vital subject. Strongly recommended! -- Hugh White, author of "The China Choice: Why America Should Share Power" and Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University"The analyses in Lessons from World War I, based on rigorous qualitative research, are powerful as they provide a convincing linkage between the possibility of international war and human and state-level efforts to prevent or avoid it." Key-young Son, Seoul, Global Times (Beijing), 26.7.2015

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Book SynopsisThe dramatic new Ravenscar novel from the international bestselling author of Woman of Substance.Trade Review Praise for Barbara Taylor Bradford: 'Queen of the genre.' Sunday Times ‘Few novelists are as consummate as Barbara Taylor Bradford at keeping the reader turning the page. She is one of the world’s best at spinning yarns.’ Guardian ‘A classic saga of loyalty, secrets, passion and intrigue…if you’ve been suffering withdrawal symptoms from Downton, this is for you’ Daily Mail ‘As romantic and thrilling as the rest’ Independent on Sunday ‘Another great yarn from the ultimate storyteller’ The Sun ‘The storyteller of substance.’ The Times

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Book SynopsisFrom Liverpool’s best-loved author comes a superb novel of loss and grief, love and hope, set on Merseyside in 1920.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK AWARDThe award-winning sequel to E. Nesbit''s Five Children and It. The five children have grown up - war will change their lives for ever.''Magnificent.'' The Times''Outstanding.'' Independent''Deeply moving.'' Guardian''Simply brilliant.'' Daily Mail''One of the best books of the year.'' Sunday Express''The perfect gift both for readers of the original E. Nesbit stories and children coming to the grumpy Psammead for the first time.'' TelegraphCyril is off to fight, Anthea is at art college, Robert is a Cambridge scholar and Jane is at high school. The Lamb is the grown up age of 11, and he has a little sister, Edith, in tow. The sand fairy has become a creature of stories ... until he suddenly reappears. The siblings are pleased to have something to take their minds off the war, but this time the Psammead is here for a reason, and his magic might have a more serious purpose.Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed, and the two younger children will have seen the Great War from every possible viewpoint - factory-workers, soldiers and sailors, nurses and the people left at home, and the war''s impact will be felt right at the heart of their family.

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Book SynopsisA 115-year-old man lays on his deathbed as the 2016 US election results arrive, and revisits his life in this moving story of love, fatherhood, and the American century from Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler...Trade ReviewA stirring portrait of a man and his times... If Butler examines with unashamed seriousness the old chestnut of what it means to be a man, his central conceit adds vital levity, and there's formal invention, too, as he segues seamlessly between the threads of Sam's life without ever losing the reader. A fine novel * Daily Mail *This marvellous novel has just what you want from a fictional centenarian memoir: the art that conceals art, giving meaning to the story while maintaining the illusion of a long life lived in all its messiness * Telegraph *Engaging... A poignant meditation on the circle of life, the wonder we all feel as it slips away * Minneapolis Star Tribune *With two dozen remarkably imaginative and empathic fiction titles to his credit, Butler brings preternatural attunement to the spiraling of the mind and ardently honed artistry to this exceptionally nuanced, tender, funny, tragic, and utterly transfixing portrait of a man reflecting on more than a century's worth of horror and wonder * Booklist (starred review) *Breathtaking... An honest, poignant reckoning of what it means to gaze unblinkingly at our own failings and to find transcendence * Historical Novel Society *

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Book SynopsisCan you leave the past behind and embrace the future? - A brand new series from Tracy Baines. 'A new saga author has arrived. The Women of Fisher’s Wharf is a joy to read' - AnneMarie BrearGreat Grimsby, 1912 Newlywed fisherman Alec Hardy decides to make a fresh start with his young wife Letty and move to the thriving fishing port of Grimsby in search of a brighter future. Letty is from farming stock and knows nothing of the hard life as a fishermen’s wife but is willing to embrace the challenge with Alec. But where Alec goes, so does his widowed mother, Dorcas and she has trouble coming to terms with taking second place in her son’s life. With Alec at sea for weeks on end, the two women clash and Letty seeks escape from her bitter mother-in-law amongst the streets of Fish Dock Wharf. Can Letty help them break free from the shadows of the past or will she be bound by Dorcas’ insistence that they cling to the old ways?Praise for Tracy Baines:‘A saga about ambition, hard work, courage ...and spite’. Rosie ClarkeI highly recommend this book.’ Fenella Miller‘An emotional, entertaining read that had me gripped!’ Sheila Riley'An absorbing saga. I loved it from the very beginning and would highly recommend it...' Elaine Roberts'Terrific - beautifully written. A well-crafted and satisfying story' Maisie Thomas‘A pleasure from start to finish.’ Glenda Young‘an evocative, busy, entertaining read vying with angst, and of course, more than a dollop of tension.’ Margaret Graham, Frost Magazine‘Characterisation is one of the book’s strong points – the individual characters stay in your mind long after you finish the story.’ Barbara Dynes, The Voice‘I just loved this book! Molly Walton

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Book SynopsisA Christopher Marlowe Cobb Thriller It is 1915, and "Kit" Cobb is working undercover in a castle on the Kent coast owned by a suspected British government mole, Sir Albert Stockman. Kit is working with his mother, the beautiful and mercurial spy, Isabel Cobb, who also happens to be a world-famous stage actress. Isabel's offstage role is to keep tabs on Stockman, while Kit tries to figure out his agenda. Following his mother and her escort from the relative safety of Britain into the lion's den of Berlin, Kit must remain in character, even under the very nose of the Kaiser.Trade Reviewhe's [Butler] now fully into his stride -- Philip Burrell * Nudge *The plot has plenty of unexpected turns, and the characters of the main actors are explored in sufficient depth to make them interesting. Coupled with a well-developed historical setting, this is a book with plenty to enjoy -- Chris Roberts * Crime Review UK *Mr. Butler does a terrific job of depicting both the journalist's facility for teasing information from his subjects and the spy's incessant fear of being discovered. There's something almost magical about the way the author re-creates this 1915 milieu -- Tom Nolan * The Wall Street Journal *This is a tale of betrayal, treason, acting, pretending to be someone you're not -- Carole Colbert * Carole's Book Corner *The reader is totally caught up in Cobb's mission and its eventual denouement -- Jennifer Palmer * Promoting Crime Fictiton *

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Book Synopsis‘Everything happens for a reason.’It’s 1972. Raymond Mann is seventeen. He is fearful of life and can’t get off buses. He says his prayers every night and spends too much time in his room.He meets Ernest Gardiner, a gentleman in his seventies who’s become tired of living and misses the days of chivalry and honour. Together they discover a love of sunflowers and stars, and help each other learn to love the world.Ernest recounts his experiences of 1917 war-torn France where he served as a photographer in the trenches … of his first love, Mira, and how his life was saved by his friend Bill, a hardened soldier.But all is not as it seems, and there is one more secret that will change Raymond’s life for ever.Cold Sunflowers is a story of love.All love.But most of all it’s about the love of life and the need to cherish every moment.Cold Sunflowers  

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Book SynopsisIt''s July 1917, and as the sun sets over No-man''s-land so Joseph Reavley''s heart sinks with it. As chaplain he must keep up the men''s morale, butas rumours of mutiny grow stronger he is losing any chance of getting through to them. After the death of an officer, twelve soldiers are arrested, and it falls to Joseph to uncover the truth about their involvement. Joseph''s brother Matthew, of the S.I.S, is also in pursuit of the truth, whilst struggling to come to terms with his part in the Peacemaker''s death. Approached by a Junior Cabinet Minister who is being blackmailed, Matthew learns of a plot to destroy the only men who can bring about lasting peace. As he embarks on an investigation Matthew knows his own life is in danger but thinks it a small price to pay to secure the future of millions of people.Trade ReviewPraise for NO GRAVES AS YET and SHOULDER THE SKY: 'The elegance of the prose and depth of characterisation combine to create a powerful and poignant journey * The Lady *She does a superb job of bringing the grimness and waste to life, in a nice shift of gears from her two 19th-century historical series * Publishers Weekly *With its outstanding cover and bestselling author's writing, this dazzling story is one of sheer brilliance...It's just so, so beautiful * North Wales Chronicle *

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Book SynopsisA heartrending saga of sisters separated by shame from much-loved author Pamela Evans.It''s 1912, and, like all fisher folk in the village of Tideway, the Bow family live a simple life. Edie Bow loves her children dearly: handsome Henry, sensible Bessie, spirited May and little Sam. But one night tragedy strikes, and Henry is lost at sea. And when May falls pregnant out of wedlock, shamed Edie sends her daughter to London for an abortion. Determined to keep her child, May stays on in the city, away from her beloved sister Bessie. Torn apart, the girls must face their own struggles without each other, but through even the darkest night, a light burns strong: the love of a sister...Trade ReviewPraise for Pamela Evans's previous sagas: 'A good traditional romance, and its author has a feeling for the atmosphere of postwar London * Sunday Express *Very readable * Bella *The leading characters are finely drawn...crisp prose...a superb and heartwarming read * Irish Independent *A compelling book * Woman's Realm *Well peopled with warm personalities * Liverpool Post *There's a special kind of warmth that shines through the characters in Evans' novels... An uplifting love story with all the right ingredients * Lancashire Evening Post *This book touched me very, very much. It's lovely * North Wales Chronicle *

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Book SynopsisAfter the devastation of war, a child's love heals everything.Manchester, 1922: Molly Watson has had enough. Engaged for the last three years to a penny-pinching pedant, she finally decides she'd rather be a surplus girl than marry a man she doesn't truly love. Aware of the need to support herself if she is to remain single all her life, she joins a secretarial class to learn new skills, and a whole world opens up to her.When she gets a job at St Anthony's Orphanage, she befriends caretaker Aaron Abrams. But a misunderstanding leaves them at loggerheads, and damages her in the eyes of the children she has come to care so deeply about. Can she recover her reputation, her livelihood, and her budding friendship, before it's too late?The second in a quartet of sagas set during the early 1920s, following three Surplus Girls - those women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, after the deaths of millions of young men, and the new lives they forged for themselves.Trade ReviewA promising start to a new saga set in the years between the wars... An enjoyable read full of good friends and bad characters. * People's Friend on the Surplus Girls *A real page-turner that will tug on your heart strings -- Anna Jacobs on 'The Surplus Girls'Pleasant and engaging * NB Magazine on The Surplus Girls *The best saga I have read. The restricted lives of women in the inter-war period is captured perfectly, with a fresh eye and brilliant story-telling... A pleasure to read. * Frost Magazine *

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Book SynopsisCan Lark take the path of the woman who went before her and learn to follow her heart?Lark is a much-loved forces sweetheart spreading comfort as she sings in the music halls while Scotland’s sons fight in the Great War. But despite her fortune, Lark yearns for a life away from the crowds. She sets out to make a fresh start in the Border country seeking the contentment that has eluded her.Decades earlier, Lark’s great-grandmother, Jane, found herself in the same hills, in unhappy circumstances. Yet the beauty of the land brought peace to her when all hope seemed lost.A poignant and atmospheric multigenerational saga for fans of Val Wood and Tessa Barlcay.Trade ReviewThere are currently no reviews for this title/product

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Book SynopsisCommon Cause provides a nuanced look at the home-front atmosphere that existed in parts of the United States before and during the Great War, exploring themes of patriotism, jingoism, and exclusion. An introduction and explanatory notes by John Maxwell Hamilton and Amy Solomon Whitehead provide context.

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Book SynopsisSeventeen-year-old Riki is worried about school and the future, but mostly about his girlfriend, Gemma, who has suddenly stopped seeing or texting him. But on his way to see her, he's hit by a bus and his life radically changes. Riki wakes up one hundred years earlier in Egypt, in 1915, and finds he's living through his great-great-grandfather's experiences in the Maori Contingent. At the same time that Riki tries to make sense of what's happening and find a way home, we go back in time and read transcripts of interviews Riki's great-great-grandfather gave in 1975 about his experiences in this war and its impact on their family. Gradually we realise the fates of Riki and his great-great-grandfather are intertwined.

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Book SynopsisThe tale of Charles Marden, an apple grower and judge who sets off from his Vancouver Island home on an impulsive journey to Belgium, where his son has died in battle. Marden's mission is to find the exact spot where his son was killed. This is a story of the power of death, the pain of loss, and the possibility of hope in a time of war.Trade ReviewGripping, damning, and transfixing. - Entertainment Weekly ""... possesses a time-bending gravity.... [A] small classic of graceful language and earned emotion."" - San Francisco Chronicle ""... a beautifully written novel of war and the wrenching grief and unanswerable questions it leaves in its wake.... A Century of November is full of precise, startling imagery and elegant, richly poetic description - Wetherell seems genuinely incapable of writing a lazy sentence - and this last section of the novel is as surreal, hypnotic and harrowing as any literature in recent memory. The whole thing, in fact, is a jewel, an unforgettable historical novel that Wetherell has carefully (and artfully) seeded with loads of contemporary resonance."" - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

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Book SynopsisIn this masterpiece of historical fiction by the Nobel Prize-winning Yugoslavian author, a stone bridge in a small Bosnian town bears silent witness to three centuries of conflict.The town of Visegrad was long caught between the warring Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, but its sixteenth-century bridge survived unscathed--until 1914 when tensions in the Balkans triggered the first World War. Spanning generations, nationalities, and creeds, The Bridge on the Drina brilliantly illuminates a succession of lives that swirl around the majestic stone arches. Among them is that of the bridge’s builder, a Serb kidnapped as a boy by the Ottomans; years later, as the empire’s Grand Vezir, he decides to construct a bridge at the spot where he was parted from his mother. A workman named Radisav tries to hinder the construction, with horrific consequences. Later, the beautiful young Fata climbs the bridge’s parapet to escape an arranged marriage, and, later still, an inveterate gambler named Milan risks everything on it in one final game with the devil. With humor and compassion, Ivo Andrić chronicles the ordinary Christians, Jews, and Muslims whose lives are connected by the bridge, in a land that has itself been a bridge between East and West for centuries.Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.

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Book SynopsisA heart-warming novel inspired by real life events, about the brave women during WWI who worked in the historic grounds of London's Kew Gardens.Can the women of Kew keep the gardens alive in the midst of war?London, 1916. England is at war. Desperate to help in whatever way they can, Ivy and Louisa enlist as gardeners at Kew, the Royal Botanic Gardens, taking on the jobs of the men who have gone to fight. Under their care, the gardens begin to flourish and become a safe haven for those seeking solace--but not everyone wants women working at Kew. The pair begin to face challenges on the home front. When a tragedy overseas affects the people closest to them, can the women of Kew pull together to support themselves and their country through the darkest of times?

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Book SynopsisCharles Belfoure is the nationally bestselling author of The Paris Architect. An architect by profession, he graduated from the Pratt Institute and Columbia University, and he taught at Pratt as well as Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. His area of specialty is historic preservation, and he has published several architectural histories, one of which won a Graham Foundation national grant for architectural research. He has been a freelance writer for The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times. He lives in Maryland. For more information, visit www.charlesbelfoure.com.

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Book SynopsisTowards the end of the war as the Germans are in their final retreat in November 1918, a British raiding party stumbles across a strange and eerie scene in a ruined chateau, under fire. Following the strains of a familiar tune, and understandably perplexed as to who would be playing the piano in the midst of shellfire, they discover a German officer lying dead at the keys, next to a beautiful woman in full evening dress, also deceased. But the officer is the spitting image of G B Bretherton, a British officer missing in action…. So follows a tale of mystery and identity, first published in 1930, which is not only an authentic account of conditions at the Front, but also a remarkable thriller, with a highly unusual plot, which won Bretherton comparisons to John Buchan and the best of the espionage writers. John Squire, the influential editor of the London Mercury said ‘of the English war-books, undoubtedly the best is Bretherton.’ The Morning Post thought it ‘one of the best of the English war novels. I do not expect anything much better.’ The Sunday Times pinpointed its dual attraction: it was both ‘a mystery as exciting as a good detective story and an extraordinarily vivid account of trench-warfare’.

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Book SynopsisA platoon of inexperienced British soldiers crosses to France, in excited and nervous anticipation of what is to come; they find themselves at Ypres where the battle-weary Allied troops are dug in, and slaughter surrounds them. With their young, upright officer Freddy Mann, they are soon in the thick of it, burying the dead, experiencing the terror of bombardment, being picked off by snipers, with some unable to cope and refusing to go over the top. We see the action through their eyes, from privates to the senior officers of the wider battalion, with a focus on Freddy Mann’s journey from idealistic officer barely out of school, to battle-hardened cynic, barely hanging on as those around him are cut down, maimed or crack. Freddy suffers a crisis of faith and loses his belief in the war and everything he once stood for; as he wrestles with his conscience he finds that for all ‘always at the end, is Ypres’.Trade ReviewA classic? Certainly this is a highly rewarding work and a valuable addition to any collection of worthwhile Great War 'fiction'. Highly recommended. * Stand to! *

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Book Synopsis‘I never saw the man again, alive or dead. One will say that I saw him only for a moment, that it was misty at the time, and that even I did not recognise the features, covered as they were with grime and stubble. Yet I am sure that the taller of the two ragged civilians I saw in the chalk quarry that misty March morning of 1918 was that Lieutenant Peter Rawley, R. F.A., who the official records stated was killed near Arras the previous autumn.’Behind the Lines is a thriller that follows on from the success of W. F. Morris’s first novel, Bretherton: Khaki or Field-Grey? Morris is again concerned with questions of identity, allegiance, chance, concealment and self-discovery. A subaltern is forced to flee when he accidentally kills an overbearing, taunting fellow officer: appearances are all against him and he does not trust to trench justice. He becomes a fugitive and has to join forces with other deserters, lost soldiers and outlaws in a hand-to-mouth existence in the no man’s land between opposing forces. A series of adventures and disasters ensue, including capture by the Germans and near death by firing squad. Only his own bravery and the devotion of his fiancé can rescue him from his plight.A contemporary commentator noted that ‘in spite of the flood of war books’, Morris was able to achieve ‘a quite different viewpoint from all the others’, and his book was ‘an outstanding success’.

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Book SynopsisSet deep in the mountains of southern France, this charming short novel tells the story of a man from the Cèvennes Mountains called Roux, who refuses to join the army at the outbreak of war in 1914. Instead, he flees and hides in the hills, only returning occasionally to the farm where he left his mother and sisters. The people of the valley condemn his desertion and they hope the police will find his hideout. But as the months and the years go by, and the horrors of the trenches become known, the local people start to understand Roux’s actions. Roux begins to appear in the village more often, helping out and explaining that his decision was taken out of respect for the Bible. His arrest at the end of the War is therefore met with sadness and regret. Chamson explores questions of perception, morality and conscience with a lightness of touch coupled with an atmospheric picture of life in a WWI era rural community.Trade ReviewFor me, Roux is the hero who had the courage to become an outlaw, to oppose the ideas so solidly adhered to by others. He rejected violence only to suffer from the insults of his community… I admire Chamson’s audacity in publishing this advocacy for freedom of choice in the context of the First World War. This is why Roux the Bandit is such an important book – its freedom. * Henri Veyrier, Editor and Bookseller *While Roux the Bandit is a slender work, in its writing, its simplicity of construction and the exposition of the simple philosophy of a conscientious objector and the growing acceptance of his personal philosophy by his fellow villagers is a gem. * Stand to! *

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Book SynopsisPhillip Parotti’s new novel chronicles the fast-paced action of a collection of American submarine chasers as they battle to reduce the German U-Boat menace in the English Channel during the last year of World War I. Lieutenant (junior grade) Ben Snow takes a commission in the United States Naval Reserve, and whips a dissolute crew into fighting shape. They then take their little submarine chaser, SC 65X, out into the English Channel to hunt for German U-boats in the midst of the worst winter in more than fifty years. Their achievements climax with the sinking of a German submarine and taking sixteen of her crew prisoner.When the war ends on 11 November 1918, the chaser crews expect to return home, but their exposure to danger is by no means concluded. Instead, the chasers are tasked with exploding the 70,000 dangerous mines planted in the North Sea Mine Barrage. Having survived the war, will Ben and his crew survive the peace?Trade ReviewIt is a tribute to the author’s narrative skill that he holds the reader’s interest to the very last sentence. * ARGunners.com *

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