Historical Fiction

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016"Chop off my head and hawk it to the highest bidder. I'm the Anatomist's Dream, did you know? That's what they call me." In a small salt-mining town, Philbert is born with a 'taupe', a disfiguring inflammation of the skull. Abandoned by his parents and with only a pet pig for company, he eventually finds refuge in a traveling carnival, Maulwerf's Fair of Wonders, as it makes its annual migration across Germany bringing entertainment to a people beset by famine, repression and revolutionary ferment. Philbert finds a caring family in Herman the Fish Man, Lita the Dancing Dwarf, Frau Fettleheim the Fattest Woman in the World, and an assortment of 'freak show' artists, magicians and entertainers. But when Philbert meets Kwert Tospirologist and Teller of Signs he is persuaded to undergo examination by the renowned physician and craniometrist Dr Ullendorf, both Kwert and Philbert embark on an altogether darker and more perilous journey that will have far-reaching consequences for a whole nation.

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Back in France, the siege of Calais gives Thomas de Hookton the opportunity to excel in combat and to have a group of men under his command. In front of them, he enters French lands, and by chance comes into contact with a young woman who is about to be condemned to the stake for being a heretic, and using the authority that has been conferred upon him saves her at the last moment. Parallel to this plot, the search for the Grail continues to unfold in this next installment of the series.

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Western China, 1196: Yun Cai, a handsome and adored poet in his youth, is now an old man, exiled to his family estates. All that is left to him are regrets of a growing sense of futility and helplessness and the irritations of his feckless son and shrewish daughter-in-law. But the 'poison dragons' of misfortune shatter his orderly existence. First, Yun Cai's village is threatened with destruction by a vicious civil war. His wayward second son, a brutal rebel officer seems determined to ruin his entire family. Meanwhile, Yun Cai struggles to free an old friend, P'ei Ti, from a hellish prison- no easy task when P'ei Ti is the rebels' most valuable hostage and Yun Cai considers himself merely a spent, and increasingly frightened old man. Throughout these ordeals, Yun Cai draws from the glittering memories of his youth, when he journeyed to the capital to study poetry and join the upper ranks of the civil service: how he contended with rivalry and enmity among his fellow students and secured the friendship of P'ei Ti. Above all, he reflects on a great love he won and lost: his love for the beautiful singing girl, Su Lin, for which he paid with his freedom and almost his life.Yun Cai is forced to reconsider all that he is and all that he has ever been in order to determine how to preserve his honour and all that he finds he still cherishes. Only then can summon the wit and courage to confront the warlord General An-Shu and his beautiful but cruel consort, the Lady Ta-Chi.

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This is the story of a street in London's docklands and of the family who lived on it. The street was built in the 1880s, and the Wheelwright family (originally dockers) lived there until its demolition in the 1960s, when it was replaced with tower blocks. As a social document, the book rings with truth, but it is much more than that: its compelling narrative brings the reader right into the life of the Wheelwright family and their neighbours.

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Triumphant on the field of battle, Clisson turns his back on worldly success. He falls in love and marries and Eugenie, but how long will their love survive? The tragic story of Clisson and Eugenie reveals one of history's great leaders to also be an accomplished writer of fiction. Written in an eloquently Romantic style true to its period, the story offers the reader a fascinating insight into how the young Napoleon viewed love, women and military life.

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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.

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Larry Watson's bestselling novel Montana, 1948 was acclaimed as a "work of art" (Susan Petro, San Francisco Chronicle), a prize-winning evocation of a time, a place, and a family. Now Watson returns to Montana, 1948's vast landscape with a stunning prequel that illuminates the Hayden clan's early years and the circumstances that led to the events of Montana, 1948. With the precision of a master storyteller, Watson moves seamlessly among the strong and hard-bitten characters that make up the Hayden family, and in the process opens an evocative window on the very heart of the American West.

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The year is 1453. For more than a thousand years the mighty walls of Constantinople have protected the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the furthest outpost of Christianity. But now endless ranks of Turkish warriors cover the plains before them, their massive cannons trained on the ramparts. It is the most fearsome force the world has ever seen. No European army will help: the last crusaders were cut to pieces by the Turks on the plains of Kosovo. Constantinople is on its own. And treachery is in the air. Three people will struggle to determine the fate of an empire: the young Turkish Sultan, returned from exile and desperate to prove his greatness; a stubborn Byzantine princess, sworn to protect her city; and a mercenary captain with a personal score to settle. But of them, it is the hardened soldier Giovanni Longo who will face the worst choice: just as he prepares to make his final stand, he finds he has something to live for after all.From the intrigues within the Emperor's household to the Sultan's harem and the savage fights on the battlements, Siege is a full-blooded historical adventure novel in the tradition of Warrior of Rome, Pilgrim or Crusade.

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Young Nour is a North African desert tribesman. It is 1909, and as the First World War looms Nour's tribe - the Blue Men - are forced from their lands by French colonial invaders. Spurred on by thirst, hunger, suffering, they seek guidance from a great spiritual leader. The holy man sends them even further from home, on an epic journey northward, in the hope of finding a land in which they can again be free. Decades later, an orphaned descendant of the Blue Men - a girl called Lalla - is living in a shantytown on the coast of Morocco. Lalla has inherited both the pride and the resilience of her tribe - and she will need them, as she makes a bid to escape her forced marriage to a wealthy older man. She flees to Marseilles, where she experiences both the hardships of immigrant life - as a hotel maid - and the material prosperity of those who succeed - when she becomes a successful model. And yet Lalla does not betray the legacy of her ancestors.In these two narratives set in counterpoint, Nobel Prize-winning novelist J. M. G. Le Clézio tells - powerfully and movingly - the story of the 'last free men' and of Europe's colonial legacy - a story of war and exile and of the endurance of the human spirit.

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2011Snowdrops. That's what the Russians call them - the bodies that float up into the light in the thaw. Drunks, most of them, and homeless people who just give up and lie down into the whiteness, and murder victims hidden in the drifts by their killers.Nick has a confession. When he worked as a high-flying British lawyer in Moscow, he was seduced by Masha, an enigmatic woman who led him through her city: the electric nightclubs and intimate dachas, the human kindnesses and state-wide corruption. Yet as Nick fell for Masha, he found that he fell away from himself; he knew that she was dangerous, but life in Russia was addictive, and it was too easy to bury secrets - and corpses - in the winter snows...

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A story of murder and duplicity during the Roman civil war featuring Gordianus the Finder.Caesar and his troops have crossed teh Rubicon and ar marching on Rome. Pompey his rival, is preparing to flee south with his loyal troops, leaving the city unguarded and ungoverned. Before Pompey leaves Rome, however, his cousiin and protege is found dead, garotted in Gordianus's garden. Enraged, Pompey demands that Gordianus discover and name the killer.With one son a trusted aide of Caesar and his son-in-law held as hostage by Pompey, Gordianus faces a personal crisis: he must learn the secrets of the dead man and reveal a murderer to protect his own family from being crushed by the opposing forces that will forever change the Roman world.

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Winner of the 2014 Guyana Prize for Fiction, Johnson's Dictionary is set variously in 18th century London and Demerara in British Guiana. It is a celebration of the skills of the enslaved as organisers, story-tellers, artists and mathematicians, hidden in the main from their white masters and mistresses, that is resonant with an undying human urge for freedom.Galley, gallery, gallimaufry: In a novel set in 18th century London and Demerara (in British Guiana), that might be dreamed or remembered by Manu, a revenant from Dabydeen’s epic poem, “Turner”, we meet slaves, lowly women on the make, lustful overseers, sodomites and pious Jews – characters who have somehow come alive from engravings by Hogarth and others.Hogarth himself turns up as a drunkard official artist in Demerara, from whom the slave Cato steals his skills and discovers a way of remaking his world.The transforming power of words is what enlightens Francis when his kindly (or possibly pederastic) master gifts him a copy of Johnson’s Dictionary, whilst the idiot savant, known as Mmadboy, reveals the uncanny mathematical skills that enable him to beat Adam Smith to the discovery of the laws of capital accumulation – and teach his fellow slaves their true financial worth. From the dens of sexual specialities where the ex-slave Francis conducts a highly popular flagellant mission to cure his clients of their man-love (and preach abolition), to the sugar estates of Demerara, Dabydeen’s novel revels in the connections of Empire, Art, Literature and human desire in ways that are comic, salutary and redemptive.David Dabydeen was born in Guyana in 1957. He is only the second West Indian writer, following VS Naipaul, to be named a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Turner: New and Selected Poems (Cape, 1994) was republished by Peepal Tree in 2002. His 1999 novel A Harlot's Progress was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His other novels include Disappearance (Peepal Tree, 2005) and Molly and the Muslim Stick (2008). He co-edited the Oxford Companion to Black British History (2007), and his documentaries on Guyana have appeared on BBC TV and radio. David is now Professor at the Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick.

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'A storyteller who could teach Scheherazade a thing or two about pace, suspense and imaginative invention'New York TimesTHE REAL MACBETH . . . It is the eleventh century and in the isles of Orkney a young boy is born. He is named Thorfinn, baptized as Macbeth. To the north are the warring Vikings and south lies Alba - the Scottish mainland. Orkney is the prize in between, and an unlikely place from which a young man might launch a bid as ruler of a united Scotland.Yet Thorfinn is unlike other men. He has a warrior's courage and the wiliness of the underdog. By his side stands his wife Groa, as shrewd and valiant as her husband. Together they will navigate the treacherous waters of the new millennium, uniting a divided nation and birthing a legend that will survive a thousand years.Thorfinn Macbeth will be King Hereafter . . .'Stunning' Washington Post

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A GRIPPING AND ULTIMATELY UPLIFTING SAGA SET IN TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY LONDON FROM A WONDERFUL TALENT ...Born into poverty and living under the roof of her violent and abusive brother-in-law, young Kitty Cox dreams of working in a women's dress shop in the West End - a million miles away from the reality of her life as a mud-lark, scavenging on the banks of the Thames. Fate soon intervenes and Kitty finds herself working as a skivvy for Sir Desmond and Lady Arabella Mableton in Mayfair. Bullied by the kitchen maids, Kitty is soon taken under Lady Arabella's wing and for the first time in her life Kitty dares to hope. But Lady 'Bella' has a secret and unable to live with her domineering husband she decides to leave, fighting for custody of their daughter, Leonie. Kitty will do anything for her mistress but her loyalty is severely tested as all their lives are thrown into turmoil and Kitty faces a life of poverty and hardship in the slums of the East End once more ...

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Who is killing monks in a great medieval abbey famed for its library - and why? Brother William of Baskerville is sent to find out, taking with him the assistant who later tells the tale of his investigations. Eco's celebrated story combines elements of detective fiction, metaphysical thriller, post-modernist puzzle and historical novel in one of the few twentieth-century books which can be described as genuinely unique.The Name of the Rose was made into a film in 1986, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

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Using her supreme knowledge of the period, author Annelise Freisenbruch presents the great new heroine of historical fiction, Hortensia, who must navigate the male-dominated courts of law in her quest to uncover a sinister plot to overthrow the Republic. Drawing from historical accounts of the daughter of famed Roman orator Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Freisenbruch delivers an atmospheric, meticulously accurate and fast-paced story that will have readers craving more. Rome, 70BC. Roman high society hums with gossip about the suspicious suicide of a prominent Roman senator and the body of a Vestal Virgin is discovered in the river Tiber. As the authorities turn a blind eye, Hortensia is moved to investigate a trail of murders that appear to lead straight to the dark heart of the Eternal City.

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Set in 1795, "Water Music" is the rambunctious account of two men's wild adventures through the gutters of London and the Scottish Highlands to their unlikely meeting in darkest Africa.

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Text in Arabic. In the name of the Cross, Portuguese fleets head to the Gulf. In the name of Allah, Arabian tribes must resist. Portugal, 1486: Europe is emerging from the Dark Ages, and new lands are being discovered every day. But the East is still unchartered territory. Oblivious to the invasions, massacres and religious fanaticism that characterise the 15th century, a young girl falls in love with a noble Arabian tribal leader. But all eyes are on the Portuguese fleets in the Arabian Gulf, intent on securing the profitable spice trade. Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud weaves a tapestry of momentous historical events with stories of love, honour and nobility, while guiding us around the world of Lisbon, Cairo, Jeddah and Istanbul.

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When Millie's mother abandons her one late afternoon in 1854, fate brings the seven-year-old to Aggie's door - and life will never be the same for either of them.Known locally as 'Raggie Aggie' for her business of trading rags and old clothes, the older woman knows the dangers waiting for such a strikingly pretty girl left alone in their rough area of Newcastle, and sees no other option but to take her in.The unlikely pair soon form an unexpectedly strong bond. But there will be obstacles in their paths - will their friendship survive? Whatever happens, their relationship will change their lives for ever...Catherine Cookson was the original and bestselling saga writer, selling over 100 million copies of her novels. If you like Dilly Court, Katie Flynn or Donna Douglas, you'll love Catherine Cookson.

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Known for the wit of her writing, in her lifetime Catherine Cookson became the UK’s most widely read novelist. When the Cookson Estate discovered the unpublished manuscript of Saint Christopher and the Gravedigger in the attic of her home, they unearthed a gem for Cookson’s many fans. Gravedigger John Gascoigne lives in Downfell Hurst with his wife, Florrie, their three children and his mother, Gran. John is a deep thinker but extremely taciturn—a man of few words and many grunts. Which is why everyone is alarmed when he’s hit on the head by a cricket ball, and it suddenly seems as if the words won’t stop. What’s more, he says he is talking to Saint Christopher—only no one else can see the saint, and they’re beginning to worry John’s not quite right in the head… Mad or not, John has some secrets he’s been keeping. But if he can’t stop talking, they won’t stay secret for long.

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DespuÉs de la batalla de CrÉcy (1346), episodio central de la primera entrega de este ciclo narrativo, Thomas de Hookton es enviado por el rey de nuevo a Inglaterra, donde los escoceses, a peticiÓn de los franceses y aprovechando la merma de las defensas, han invadido el norte del paÍs provocando la que pasarÁ a la historia como la batalla de Neville's Cross y en la que homas se ve envuelto a su pesar. Eso no impide que siga su peregrinaje en busca del Grial, que le llevarÁ de vuelta a su pueblo natal y a Francia, donde asistirÁ a otra batalla memorable: la de La Roche Derrien, en la que Carlos de Blois fue derrotado y hecho prisionero y en la que nuestro protagonista tendrÁ un destacado protagonismo. Bernard Cornwell es considerado el mejor autor de novela histÓrica de aventuras en activo. Es de los pocos autores capaces de situar dos de sus novelas entre las diez mÁs vendidas en el Reino Unido.After the Battle of CrÉcy, the central episode of the first installment of this series, Thomas de Hookton is sent by the king back to England where the Scots, at the request of the French and taking advantage of the decline in defenses, have invaded the north of the country causing what will go down in history as the battle of Neville's Cross and in which Thomas is involved despite himself. That does not prevent him from continuing his pilgrimage in search of the Grail, which will take him back to his hometown and to France, where he will attend another memorable battle: that of La Roche Derrien, in which Charles de Blois was defeated, taken prisoner and in which our protagonist will have a prominent role.

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The young Uhtred, having helped Alfred the Great to turn Wessex into an independent Saxon kingdom, returns to the north with the purpose of finding his stepsister. But along the way he will find a land engulfed in chaos and war, and a Guthred who has gone from being a slave to a pretender to the throne. The gentlemen of the North takes the approach of the series a step further, dedicated above all to the presentation of settings, characters and political conflicts, and in this novel the ability to narrate military actions and describe their consequences, one of the signs of identity by Cornwell, shines higher, in perfectly recreated war-torn settings.

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Gaza Writes Back is a compelling anthology of short stories from fifteen young writers in Gaza, members of a generation that has suffered immensely under Israel’s siege and blockade. Their experiences, especially during and following Israel’s 2008-2009 offensive known as “Operation Cast Lead”, have fundamentally impacted their lives and their writing. Their words take us into the homes and hearts of moms, dads, students, children, and elders striving to live lives of dignity, compassion, and meaning in one of the world’s most embattled communities. Readers will be moved by the struggles big and small that emerge from the well-crafted writing by these young people, and by the hope and courage that radiate from the authors’ biographies.

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Set in Wessex at the time of Alfred the Great, Blood and Destiny is the first in the red-blooded and thrilling Shadow of the Raven series. In it we meet Matthew, a novice monk who joins his brother Edwin in stating his allegiance to Alfred and standing alongside him in the savage battle against the Vikings at Chippenham in which the Saxon army is virtually wiped out. A small band of survivors retreat to hide in the desolate marshes at Athelney. Disillusioned and demoralised the weary soldiers question their ability to take on the mighty Guthrum, leader of the Vikings again but King Alfred is resolute: they can and will win. Blood and Destiny is an epic and sometimes brutal story of triumph over adversity as we witness this critical turning point in English history through Matthew's eyes as Alfred returns to defeat the Vikings and restore his kingdom.

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The proud Republic of Liberia was founded in the nineteenth century with the triumphant return of the freed slaves from America to Africa, yet where men should have stood shoulder to shoulder, they turned on each other instead. Nevertheless, in the midst of turmoil, there is friendship.

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The Poppy Girls is the first title in The Maitland Trilogy, by bestselling author Margaret Dickinson.Even amidst the horror of the trenches, friendship will survive . . .Thwarted in her desire to become a doctor like her brother Robert, Pips Maitland rebels against her mother’s wishes that she settle down and raise children. However, when Robert brings home a friend from medical school, Giles Kendall, it seems perhaps Pips might fall in love with an acceptable suitor after all. But the year is 1914 and the future is uncertain. Hearing that her father’s friend, Dr John Hazelwood, is forming a flying ambulance corps to take to the front lines, Pips is determined to become one of its nurses and asks Alice Dawson, her maid, to go with her. Robert and Giles offer their services as doctors, and Alice’s brother William joins them as a stretcher bearer.Nothing could have prepared them for the horrific sights they encounter. Moving their unit close to the fighting to offer first aid as quickly as possible puts them all in constant danger. But, even amidst the barrage of shelling and gunfire, the unending stream of injured being brought to their post, the love between Pips and Giles survives and blossoms just like the poppies of Flanders fields.Fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin will love The Poppy Girls. Continue the story of the Maitland family with The Brooklands Girls.

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Cosy up with the heartwarming and festive wartime story of a group of women finding joy in troubled times, from the beloved Bomb Girls series'It made me smile and it made me cry' 5***** Reader Review 'An absolute joy to read' Kate Thompson, bestselling author of Secrets of the Homefront Girls'Wonderful writing which brought history alive' 5***** Reader Review _________ In times of trouble, can wishes come true? . . . A factory floor might not be their first choice of a place to spend Christmas but pulling together and making do is exactly where the Bomb Girls shine. Gladys, back from singing for the troops in Europe, quietly takes her place on the cordite line. Her old friends are determined to bring back her spark while they work hard to help their country. But what dark secret lies in Gladys's heart?Will the girls see out another year in a country at war?And, if everyone does their bit, despite the worry, pain and toil, will the Bomb Girls be able to enjoy a wonderful Christmas for all? _________ 'A cracking story with truly endearing characters' Annie Murray, bestselling author of Now the War is Over 'What a page turner' 5***** Reader Review 'Couldn't put this book down' 5***** Reader Review

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If you love Dilly Court, you'll love Sunday Times Bestseller Rosie Goodwin.1884, Nuneaton.Fourteen-year-old Sunday Small has never lived outside the Nuneaton workhouse. The regime is cruel, and if it weren't for Miss Beau - who comes in every week to teach the children their letters - and her young friend Daisy, Sunday's life wouldn't be worth living. And now she's attracted the unwelcome attention of the workhouse master.With no choice but to leave behind everything she knows, Sunday strikes out on her own to make her fortune and to fulfil her promise to come back for Daisy. And, secretly she dreams of finding the long-lost mother who gave her away.But she's about to discover that, try as she might to escape, the brutal world of the workhouse will not let her go without a fight . . .Mothering Sunday is the first book in Rosie Goodwin's Days of the Week Collection. Why not try the rest, The Little Angel, A Mother's Grace, The Blessed Child, A Maiden's Voyage, A Precious Gift and Time to Say Goodbye?

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A hero of the Peninsular War, Lieutenant Alastair MacRory of Gleneidart returns home to Wester Ross to recuperate from a wound he suffered while fighting with the Highland regiments. Highland families are being evicted and sent to Canada. Alastair deserts and throws in his lot with his people.

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The mighty slave army, led by Spartacus, has crushed all before it, scattering the legions of Rome. Now invincible, he marches towards the Alps and freedom.But storm clouds are growing on the horizon. Crassus, the richest man in Rome, has raised an army to rival Spartacus, and there are murmurings of rebellion in Spartacus’ own army.Spartacus, on the brink of glory, must make a crucial decision - to go forward over the Alps to freedom, or back to face the might of Rome and try to break its power forever.'Compulsive, relentless ... vividly recounted in muscular prose' Daily Telegraph'A brutal, blood-spattered novel' BBC History Magazine

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The year is 63BC, and Gordianus the Finder unexpectedly achieves the dream of every Roman - a farm in the Etruscan countryside. Vowinig to leave behind the corruption and intrigue of Rome, he abandons the city, taking his family with him.Gordianus' longtime patron, Cicero, has also achieved the dram of his lifetime - a much coveted consulship, Rome's highest elected office. Urgently, he requests a favour of Gordianus: his help in keeping watch on a radical populist senator, Catilina, suspected of conspiring against the state. Against his will, Gordianus finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a web of deceit, intrigute and murder.

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Richard “Rick” Blayne has a mission. One of the CIA’s top expert on Cambodia, who escaped the country’s fall to the Khmer Rouge and has monitored the ensuing genocide from Thailand ever since, he has been sent to Paris to further the CIA’s plan to infiltrate the Cambodian resistance to the Hanoi-controlled puppet government in Phnom Penh.Arriving in the middle of a Parisian summer, Rick feels out of place and uncertain if he can handle the assignment. Vying factions seek to form a guerrilla force. As he establishes contact with old Cambodian friends on both sides trying to control the resistance, he is drawn into an operation to recruit a Russian diplomat serving in Paris.With the help of a Thai fashion designer serving as an access agent, Rick, under the guidance of Sasha – a seasoned CIA Soviet “head hunter” and deputy chief of Paris station – moves the operation forward at a time of great upheaval and change for the Soviet Union.

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Wonderfully entertaining mystery stories set in the world of the acclaimed ROMA SUB ROSA series. It is the Rome of the Late Republic, and Gordianus the Finder has a knack for finding trouble - and dead bodies. Known to many as the one man in the ancient world who can both keep a secret and uncover one, Gordianus lays bare some of his most intriguing adventures in this new volume in Steven Saylor's highly acclaimed mystery series. In 'Little Caesar and the Pirates', Gordianus must act as a go-between for kidnappers, but he begins to wonder who is really being held hostage; in 'The Alexandrian Cat', a mischievous girl and a tell-tale sneeze reveal an ingenious plot of murder and thievery; and in 'The House of the Vestals', blackmail goes horribly wrong and there is no one to take the blame. The result is an engrossing collection of finely wrought mystery tales with all the suspense and craft that are the trademark of Saylor's work.

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North East India, 1923. On the broiling Night Mail from Calcutta to Jamalpur, a man is shot dead in a first class compartment. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was sleeping in the next compartment along. Was he the intended target? Jim should have known that his secondment to the East Indian Railway, with a roving brief to inspect security arrangements, would not be the working holiday he had hoped for. The country seethes with political and racial tension. Aside from the Jamalpur shooting, someone is placing venomous snakes - including giant king cobras - in the first class compartments of the railway. Jim also has worries on the home front: his daughter has formed a connection with a Maharajah's son, who may in turn have a connection to Jim's incredibly rude colleague, the bristling Major Fisher. Jim must do everything he can to keep his family safe from harm, as he unravels the intrigues that surround him...

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Wartime Friends is a tale of unbreakable bonds in times of strife, by bestselling author of The Poacher's Daughter, Margaret Dickinson.It is 1940s coastal Lincolnshire and Carolyn Holmes is keen to do what she can for the war effort. Raised on the family farm, she is prevented by her mother from going to secretarial college.Phyllis Carter, a widow from the Great War, lives close by with her son, Peter, who works on the farm. Peter and Carolyn are great friends but do not see a future together, although it is the dearest wish of both mothers to see them marry.After their home town is caught in an air raid, Peter decides to volunteer – to the distress of his mother – and Carolyn leaves to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service – the 'women's branch' of the British Army – where she meets Beryl Morley, who will become a lifelong friend.Carolyn and Beryl are posted to Beaumanor Hall as ‘listeners’, the most difficult of signals intelligence gathering, intercepting enemy messages which are then sent to Bletchley Park for deciphering.As the war unfolds and their work becomes even more vital, Carolyn and Beryl’s friendship strengthens and, in the dangerous times that follow, they will both need the support of the other as they face personal troubles of their own and the lives of those they love are put at risk.

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