Second World War fiction

Book SynopsisNew York Timesbestselling author of Orphan #8, Kim van Alkemade returns with a gripping and poignant historical saga in which an unmarried college student who?s given up her baby for adoption helps a Dutch Holocaust survivor search for his lost mother.1960, New York City:College student Rita Klein is a pioneering woman in the new field of computer programming?until she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. At the Hudson Home for Unwed Mothers, social workers pressure her into surrendering her baby for adoption. Rita is struggling to get on with her life when she meets Jacob Nassy, a charming yet troubled man from the Netherlands who is traumatized by his childhood experience of being separated from his mother during the Holocaust. When Rita learns that Hitler?s Final Solution was organized using Hollerith punch-card computers, she sets out to find the answers that will help Jacob heal.1941, The Hague:Cornelia Vogel is working as a punch-card operator at the Ministry of Information when a census of Holland?s population is ordered by the Germans. After the Ministry acquires a Hollerith computer made in America, Cornelia is tasked with translating its instructions from English into Dutch. She seeks help from her fascinating Jewish neighbor, Leah Blom, an unconventional young woman whose mother was born in New York. When Cornelia learns the census is being used to persecute Holland?s Jews, she risks everything to help Leah escape.After Rita uncovers a connection between Cornelia Vogel and Jacob?s mother, long-buried secrets come to light. Will shocking revelations tear them apart, or will learning the truth about the past enable Rita and Jacob to face the future together?Trade Review"Powerful and haunting, Counting Lost Stars is historical fiction at its finest. Brilliantly connecting two time lines, Van Alkemade explores a little-known aspect of Nazi depravity in using techonology to further its murderous aims, a technology that computer programmer Rita Klein years later will ultimately turn to redemptive and life-changing use. Counting Lost Stars offers moments of connection and reconnection that will leave the reader breathless, and a much-needed portrayal of humanity at its finest, and most selfless, to inspire us all." — Natalie Jenner, Internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls "Two separate, poignant love stories that evolve into extraordinary tales of sacrifice and survival, heartbreak and hope. Written by a master storyteller through gorgeous prose. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!" — Genevieve Graham, USA Today Bestselling Author of The Forgotten Home Child A page turner that kept me staying up late and rising early to find out what happened next, this is a cautionary tale of the dangers of data collection in the hands of a despotic government that thrives on hate and divisiveness. The novel is a call to us to reconsider the scope and implication of our running headlong into every technological advance as the narrative subtly reminds us of the possible repercussions of these new capabilities. Kim van Alkemade is a masterful storyteller in the best sense of the word. — Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, author of A Woman of Endurance and Daughters of the Stone I loved this book. — Armando Lucas Correa, author of The Night Travelers “Orphan #8 peers unflinchingly into a little-known chapter of America’s history, an orphanage where innocent children are experimented upon in the name of science. With rare honesty and emotional courage, Kim van Alkemade tackles some of the largest ethical questions of our time. Yet the sense of moral outrage that permeates this novel is tempered by an understanding that all our paths are a complicated series of missteps. Orphan # 8 will leave you breathless, eager to turn each page, until you reach its dramatic and utterly beautiful ending.” — Dolen Perkins Valdez, author of Balm on Orphan #8 “Kim van Alkemade has moxie. In her provocative novel, family is saturated with betrayal, care is interrupted by ambition and desire, and the past is intimately explored, invoking the abandoned child in all of us. Orphan # 8 brims with complicated passions and pitch-perfect historical details. A riveting, memorable debut.” — Catherine Zobal Dent, author of Unfinished Stories of Girls on Orphan #8

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Book Synopsis''Exceptionally good...a master storyteller'' Allan Massie, Scotsman''Both an absorbing wartime thriller and a thoroughly convincing study of grief'' Sunday TimesIn 1943, when Grace and Leo Waterhouse married in Australia, they were part of a young generation ready to sacrifice themselves to win the war, while being confident they would survive.Sixty years on, as Grace recounts what happened to her doomed hero, she can say what she suspected then: that for many men, bravery is its own end. The tale she tells is one of great love, lost innocence, a charismatic but unstable Irish commander, dashing undercover missions against the Japanese in Singapore, and - in her eyes - reckless, foolhardy exploits. As fresh details continue to emerge, Grace is forced to keep revising her picture of what happened to Leo and his fellow commandoes - until she learns about the final piece in the jigsaw, and an ultimate betrayal. As absorbing aTrade Review'Touching and gripping until the very last page' * John Harding, Daily Mail *'Exceptionally good...the work of a master storyteller' * Allan Massie, Scotsman *'A compelling and deeply persuasive meditation on the moral ambiguities of heroism...a page turner of a thriller as well as an affecting (and very sexy) love story, ingeniously constructed, carefully weighted...a novel of beauty and faith' * Joseph O'Connor, Irish Times *'Any new work by this master of moral complexity is a matter for rejoicing. He looks into the heart of the human condition with a piercing intelligence that few can match' * David Robson, Sunday Telegraph *'A subtle examination of heroism... the elegance and economy of this novel are dazzling...This clever, compelling novel asks some uncomfortable questions' * Penelope Lively, Guardian *'A poignant and touching novel...wonderfully written' * Angela Cooke, Daily Express *'Both an absorbing wartime thriller and a thoroughly convincing study of grief * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisGlorious and moving World War II saga following the battles, loves and struggles of four performers who put aside their careers to do their bit in the war against GermanyTrade Review'A compelling story' * Publishing News on WE'LL MEET AGAIN *'A gripping and touching novel.' * Good Book Guide on NEVER SAY GOODBYE *'Green's book is a delightful and heady mix of romantic ingredients - spies, high-kicking dancers, forbidden love and friendship in the face of death. Who could ask for anything more?' * Lancashire Evening Post *'An unforgettable saga of love and loss in wartime' * Good Book Guide *

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Book SynopsisFergusson has already won two awards for this gripping and atmospheric debut, a thriller set amid the rubble of a defeated Berlin in 1945...Original and highly accomplished'' Sunday TimesShortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2015Berlin, 1946. Everything is in short supply. Including the truth.The war is over, but Berlin is a desolate sea of rubble. There is a shortage of everything: food, clothing, tobacco. The local population is scrabbling to get by. Kasper Meier is one of these Germans, and his solution is to trade on the black market to feed himself and his elderly father. He can find anything that people need, for the right price. When a young woman, Eva, arrives at Kasper''s door seeking the whereabouts of a British pilot, he feels a reluctant sympathy for her but won''t interfere in military affairs. But Eva knows Kasper has secrets, and she''ll use them to get what she wants. Trade ReviewBeguiling, unsettling, and wonderfully atmospheric. A dark expedition across a nightmarish landscape of physical and emotional damage and moral decay * Sarah Waters *The finest thing in the novel is the imaginative recreation of time and place, the bombed and ruined city over which the past hangs darkly, where no possible future can yet be envisaged . . . A decidedly accomplished first novel . . . where the keenness of observation and the rhythms of the prose call Graham Greene to mind -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *Similarly intelligent is Ben Fergusson's The Spring of Kasper Meier . . . the real coup here is the evocation of a minatory, crazy-quilt 1940s Berlin * Independent *A truly outstanding work of fiction that will, I hope enter into the canon of English literature. It takes the known tragedies of the Second World War and extends them into what was, for most of the judges, an unknown arena: Berlin in the immediate aftermath of war, when the city was in ruins and the rubble gangs foraged for survival. The reality of it, the horror, was visceral and yet told with an immense and compassionate beauty. It's a masterpiece. To have written it as a first novel is an exceptional achievement * Manda Scott *Fergusson has already won two awards for this gripping and atmospheric debut, a thriller set amid the rubble of a defeated Berlin in 1945...What follows is original and highly accomplished * Sunday Times *The plot is tight, but it's the unflinching depiction of a desperate world in post-war Berlin, conveyed in beautiful prose, that makes this thriller so powerful * Sunday Mirror *A superbly atmospheric novel with a thrilling suspenseful storyline running through it. Amid the rubble of post-war Berlin, characters scrabble to survive and to rebuild shattered lives. Damage is on view everywhere - devastated buildings, people damaged physically, psychologically and emotionally, legal and social structures in ruins . . . Ben Fergusson's grittily evocative novel, historically knowledgeable and piercing in its scrutiny of morally ambiguous characters, political murkiness and a world quivering with suspicion and jeopardy, impressively recalls Graham Greene's The Third Man -- Peter KempFergusson's debut portrays the desperation of Berlin and its people at a time when a murder could go unnoticed. The plot grows more gripping as the reader navigates its surprising twists and turns * Sunday Express *A formidable first novel - I loved it -- Tania Findlay * Sun *A powerful evocation of shattered lives trying to reconnect - and a heartbreaking story of the pain of compassion -- Jake Arnott, bestselling author of The Long FirmA gripping mystery set in a surreal and terrifying post-war Berlin where nothing is quite what it seems. I loved it -- William Ryan, author of The Korolev Mysteries seriesA moody-blue, grimly atmospheric novel exploring amorality and survival in a frightening, unsettling, post-war city -- Michèle RobertsWhat I loved about this book were two things above all: firstly, a moment in time and place - devastated post-war Berlin - in which things were done that one knew nothing about, and were shocking. Secondly, he brought Kasper and Eva and the others' experience to pungent physical life with his sensual description of sight, sound, and above all smell. It was real on the page. A great achievement and a tremendous debut -- Tim Pears, author of In The Light of MorningA hauntingly evocative tale of post-war Berlin and the heartbreak and mysteries war leaves in its wake -- Mike GayleIf reviews are any guide to the quality of crime novels (and one fervently hopes they are) then Ben Fergusson must have been pleased about the notices that his novel The Spring of Kasper Meier received; notices that marked him out as a writer of genuine accomplishment * Good Book Guide *Fergusson has already won two awards for this gripping and atmospheric debut, a thriller set amid the rubble of a defeated Berlin in 1945...What follows is original and highly accomplished' * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir comes an unforgettable novel of a BBC-sponsored wartime cooking competition and the four women who enter for a chance to better their lives.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY GOOD HOUSEKEEPING • “This story had me so hooked, I literally couldn’t put it down.”—NPRTwo years into World War II, Britain is feeling her losses: The Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is holding a cooking contest—and the grand prize is a job as the program’s first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the competition would present a crucial chance to change their lives. For a young widow, it’s a chance to pay off her husband’s debts and keep a roof over h

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the CWA/Ian Fleming Award, The Interrogator is a masterful spy story set in the darkest days of the Second World War. The Enigma Code has been broken - but what if German High Command can read our naval signals, too? For all readers of John le Carre and Robert Harris - ''Terrific... Robert Harris had better watch out'' Daily Mail. Spring, 1941. The armies of the Reich are masters of Europe. Britain stands alone, dependent on her battered navy for survival, while Hitler''s submarines - his ''grey wolves'' - prey on the Atlantic convoys that are the country''s only lifeline.Lieutenant Douglas Lindsay is amongst just a handful of men picked up when his ship is torpedoed. Unable to free himself from the memories of that night at sea, he becomes an interrogator with naval intelligence, questioning captured U-Boat crews. He is convinced the Germans have broken British naval codes, but he''s a lone voice, a damaged outsider, and his superiors beTrade Review'Andrew Williams's debut novel The Interrogator has a flair, grasp of detail, and strong characterisation that reminds me uncannily of Robert Harris's best-seller Enigma, and there's no higher praise . . . This is a terrific first novel. Harris had better watch out' * Daily Mail *'One of the most gripping books I have read for some time' * The Times *'The tensions within the intelligence community simmer excitingly ... his dialogue is energetic, and he is armed with a real passion for these events. Events are never absurd or melodramatic, and the characters are damaged, driven and fallible ... this is gripping stuff. Williams has put his knowledge to work, and any reader will emerge from this debut entertained and half-amazed at a terrific, mostly untold story' * Bill Greenwell, Independent *'Andrew Williams' The Interrogator is an exciting, pacy Second World War novel with a clever twist...' * Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph *'Introduces tension by lingering on the rough justice meted out by German prisoners of war' * Herald *'This atmospheric first novel makes good use of different viewpoints ... maintaining the excitement and sense of mystery even though the reader knows how the story must end' * Morning Star *'Not only is this a gripping thriller ... but (it) is confidently researched and cheekily written enough to include a cameo role for that real life Naval Intelligence officer of the day, a certain Ian Fleming.' * Shots *'An excellent job...this 375-page hardback provides one of the best reads I have enjoyed for a long time. Worth every penny' * Dover Express & Folkestone Herald *'An interesting slant on the war hero... this is a first-rate debut, highly recommended' * Bookseller *A 'ripping yarn' * Adelaide Advertiser (Australia) *'This is a terrific first novel with the best description I have ever read of the noise of the explosion that occurred when HMS Loyalty, on which I was serving, was torpedoed on 22nd August, 1944' * Driffield Leader *'A gripping thriller ... confidently researched and cheekily written' * Deadly Pleasures *The action in this story moves along at a good pace, and the dialogue and characters are believable * Nautical Magazine *'An interesting slant on the war hero ... this is a first rate debut, highly recommended' * Bookseller *'A gripping thriller ... confidently researched and cheekily written' * Deadly Pleasures *"Utterly convincing...atmospheric...He keeps this book involving, suspenseful and fascinating to the end, and it is a remarkable first novel" Review * Crime Time and Blogspot/ Michael Carlson *"Utterly convincing...atmospheric...He keeps this book involving, suspenseful and fascinating to the end, and it is a remarkable first novel" * Crime Time and Blogspot/Michael Carlson * 'An interesting slant on the war hero ... this is a first rate debut, highly recommended' - * Bookseller *'A gripping thriller ... confidently researched and cheekily written' * Deadly Pleasures *'This complex and well-written book offers a fascinating insight into a little-explored area of the conduct of war' * Lincolnshire Echo *Pride of place for the best debut of the year goes to Andrew Williams for his World War II thriller......it evokes the war-time world of code-breaking and naval intelligenc ewith exceptional flair.... For a first novel, this is a stand out performance, and marks Williams out as a star of the future...' * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisAs World War Two enters its final year, Ruth Bentley feels life has dealt her more than her fair share of blows. She''s lost her home in a bomb attack, and with her husband in the army, her daughters evacuated to Wales, and her mother killed and father injured in the attack, Ruth is left to face the devastation alone. But she finds comfort in the camaraderie of the Civil Defence office where she works and in her friendship with Lucy, a clippie on the buses. Lucy''s husband is at sea, and the two women dream of the day when they''ll be reunited with their loved ones. But as victory approaches, Ruth finds that the legacy of war is more powerful than even she had imagined...Trade Review'Dee Williams knows her London setting thoroughly and recreates it convinvingly with a few deft words. [The novel is] written with flair and assurance' Historical Novels Review (Issue 18) * Historical Novels Review *

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Book SynopsisAfter working in the media sector for many years, Lauren Chater turned her passion for reading and research into a professional pursuit. The Lace Weaver was her debut, and her most recent novel is The Winter Dress. She is currently completing her Masters of Cultural Heritage through Deakin University in Victoria, Australia.

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Book SynopsisSecrets will be uncovered . . .''I was absolutely gripped . . . the atmospheric setting of Greyfriars intertwined with the grim reality of the war camps of Singapore was inspirational.'' Linda Finlay''A thought-provoking and atmospheric read.'' Evie GraceAn epic, sweeping drama about a family with secrets and a house shrouded in mystery, Greyfriars House is perfect for fans of Rachel Hore, Kate Morton, Kate Riordan and Tracey Rees. On a remote Scottish island sits Greyfriars House1939Nine-year-old Olivia Friel is delighted to be spending the summer at Greyfriars House, a place where her parents, their family and friends are always happy. But this year thTrade ReviewI was absolutely gripped . . . the atmospheric setting of Greyfriars intertwined with the grim reality of the war camps of Singapore was inspirational. -- Linda Finlay * author of The Flower Seller *A thought-provoking and atmospheric read. I loved the gradual unfolding of the family's secrets and descriptions of the mysterious Greyfriars House. -- Evie Grace * author or The Maids of Kent trilogy *An epic tale of one woman's determination to follow her dreams * People's Friend on The Shipbuilder's Daughter *A powerful tale of love and loss . . . a great, insightful read * Novelicious on We Shall Remember *Touching and thought-provoking * Lancaster Guardian on We Shall Remember *

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Book Synopsis As the war comes to an end, can the East End Angels keep the home fires burning? Meet The East End Angels, the newest members of Station Seventy-Five''s ambulance crew . . .Frankie''s fiance, a doctor, is away looking after the troops in Europe - will he return safely home?Winnie has a happy secret - but can she carry on at Station Seventy-Five when she''s going to have a baby?Bella is intrigued by her new friend, a Polish airman.As the war ends and victory is in sight, what next for the girls of Station Seventy-Five?The fourth and final instalment in the acclaimed East End Angels series, following Bella, Winnie and Frankie and their lives as members of Station Seventy-Five''s ambulance crew. Perfect for fans of Sheila Newberry and Katie Flynn.Readers love the East End Angels series . . . ''Wonderfully written by one very tal

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Book SynopsisTHE BRAND NEW SAGA SERIES BY ROSIE HENDRY - meet the Women on the Home Front . . . Winner of the 2022 Romantic Novelist Association, Romantic Saga Award Will friendship and motherhood keep the Women on the Home Front safe from war?Norfolk, 1939When the residents of Great Plumstead, a small and charming community in Norfolk, offer to open their homes to evacuees from London, they''re expecting to care for children. So when a train carrying expectant mothers pulls into the station, the town must come together to accommodate their unexpected new arrivals . . .Sisters Prue and Thea welcome the mothers with open arms, while others fear their peaceful community will be disrupted. But all pregnant Marianne seeks is a fresh start for herself and her unborn child. Though she knows that is only possible as long as her new neighbours don''t discover the tru

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Book SynopsisHISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH - THE TIMESOne night in autumn 1944, a gunshot echoes through the alleyways of a small town in occupied Poland. An S.S. officer is shot dead by a young Polish Jew, Margarita Ejzenstain. In retaliation, his commander orders the execution of thirty-seven Poles - one for every year of the dead man''s life. First hidden by a German couple, Margarita must then flee the brutal advance of the Soviet army with her new-born baby. So begins a thrilling panorama of intermingled destinies and events that reverberate from that single act of defiance. KINGDOM OF TWILIGHT follows the lives of Jewish refugees and a German family resettled from Bukovina, as well as a former S.S. officer, chronicling the geographical and psychological dislocation generated by war. A quest for identity and truth takes them from Displaced Persons camps to Lübeck, Berlin, Tel Aviv and New York, as they try to make sense of a changed world, Trade ReviewA novel about the aftermath of the war, the tribulations of uneasy peace and the violent birth of Israel . . . KINGDOM OF TWILIGHT is powerful and original -- Antonia Senior * The Times *Uhly skilfully unrolls an epic canvas yet rarely loses sight of the individual details that bring his characters to life -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *A gripping, thoroughly researched novel . . . Steven Uhly's Kingdom of Twilight should be at the centre of literary debate * Süddeutsche Zeitung *One of the most important and powerful novels of recent German literature * Deutschlandradio Kultur *

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Book SynopsisFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost comes a sweeping and achingly romantic story of the course of fate, the meaning of family and the power of love. . . Italy, 1946The son of a count and the daughter of a tailor belong to opposing worlds. But when they set eyes on each other, an undeniable spark ignites a passionate relationship. Until shifts in political power force them to commit what the other believes is a betrayal, and their bright future together is shattered.New York, 2017Cassandra and Luca are in love. Although neither fits the other''s family, they have always felt like a perfect match. Then Luca, an artist, convinces his grandfather and Cass''s grandmother to pose for a painting, past and present collide to reveal a secret that changes everything . . .***Readers have fallen in love with this story . . .''What a BEAUTIFUL story! Jill Santopolo has totally outdone herse

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Book SynopsisThe first thing I remember being said of me with any consistency was that I was intelligent - and I recognized even then that it was a comment leveled at me with as much disapproval as admiration. Still, I never tried to hide or suppress my mind as some girls do, and thank god, because that would have been the beginning of the end.From childhood, Katherine knows she is different, and that her parents are not who they seem to be. But in becoming a mathematician, she faces the most human of problems - who is she? What is the cost of love, and what is the cost of ambition? On her quest to conquer the Riemann Hypothesis, the greatest unsolved mathematical problem of her time, she turns to a theorem with a mysterious history that holds both the lock and key to her identity, and to secrets long buried during World War II. Forced to confront some of the biggest events of the twentieth century and rethink everything she knows of herself, Katherine strives to tTrade ReviewKatherine, the narrator of this unusual novel, is an eminent American-Chinese academic fixated on the Holy Grail of mathematics...Chung is smart enough to keep the mathematics to a minimum and concentrate on the human elements in her story: a young woman's battle for acceptance in a male-dominated world; her misadventures in love; and her torturous journey to track down her real parents in Germany * Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction *An elegantly constructed puzzle of a novel...what had seemed to be a Hidden Figures-style female-genius-in-a-male-world narrative turns into a thrilling back-to-my-roots mystery * DailyTelegraph *The 10th muse, in Chung's world, is the one who got away to pursue her own interests and develop her own mind...In young Katherine's love of science and maths, and her yearning for more connection with her mother, there are strong overtones of Jenny Offill's wonderful debut Last Things...A most memorable heroine, a sympathetic, mesmerising voice who tells a deceptively simple story centred on identity and a never-ending quest for knowledge and truth * Irish Times *A truly spellbinding read * Woman & Home, December Book of the Month *Ambitious, insightful and distinctive, Chung's latest novel is a beautiful exploration of the human condition . . . a spellbinding read * Woman's Own *A complex family history, elegant equations, romance and a heroine who refuses to be sidelined in the male-dominated world of mathematics makes this deft novel an engrossing, emotional read...There are betrayals closer to home, too, jeopardising Katherine's career, as love, ambition and intellectual endeavour come into conflict in this smart, satisfying book * Sunday Express *Katherine looks back at her life in mathematics, a career shaped by her particular time and circumstances in post-war America and Europe. A position that nevertheless speaks all too clearly to our own place and time today. Catherine Chung is brilliant at showing us the forces which either block or encourage Katherine's career * Glasgow Herald *Not only is the writing dazzling, this intelligent novel about a woman ahead of her time is also a proper page-turner * Good Housekeeping *Enthralling * Psychologies *Cleanly feminist-flavoured novel that contains stories within stories in ways that seem to push at the workings of the universe itself * Metro *A unique and refreshing read * Candis *[An] affecting tale . . . pleasingly well-crafted * Daily Mail *The reader's blood boils along with Katherine's. As she fights for recognition, she also embarks on an investigation into her own confused origins...Page-turner, philosophical investigation and statement of intent, The Tenth Muse is an entertaining and provocative contribution to the era of #MeToo * Big Issue *Katherine is determined to be taken seriously. Here, the novel is most trenchant: in railing against the sexism for so long ingrained in academia...There is no dearth of short-changed women in history - in science or in general. The Tenth Muse is keenly aware of how easily the past can be rewritten, achievements and lives subtracted...A panegyric to women who blaze their own paths, and tell their own stories * New Scientist *A RECOMMENDED BOOK FROM:Los Angeles Times * USA Today * O, the Oprah Magazine * Buzzfeed * The Rumpus * Entertainment Weekly * Elle * BBC * Christian Science Monitor * Electric Literature * The Millions * LitHub * Publishers Weekly * Kirkus * Refinery29 * Thrillist * BookBub * Nylon * Bustle * GoodreadsThe cliché that boys are better at math collapses before the diamond-hard mind of a grad student whose relentless attempt to prove a legendary hypothesis exposes a deeper algorithm about herself....Chung spins her captivating novel from stories of actual women who, in her words, "posed as schoolboys, married tutors, and moved across continents, all to study and excel at mathematics * O, the Oprah Magazine *A page-turning intellectual thriller, a family romance, an alternative history of twentieth-century math - I couldn't put it down * Elif Batuman *The Tenth Muse is as ambitious and intriguing as the complex math problems Katherine, the protagonist of this remarkable novel, aims to solve. In this novel -the scope of which is staggering - Chung has crafted a story that is moving, elegant and richly written. Her prose, as it unfolds, becomes an elusive equation readers will yearn to solve * Roxane Gay *Ambitious, mesmerizing, and immersive, The Tenth Muse gives us a character we'd follow anywhere, and journeys well worth following her on. This novel dazzles * Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers *Catherine Chung has written a deft, spellbinding emotional puzzle-box of a book, rich and intricately layered. The Tenth Muse slowly, carefully builds to turn your every expectation on its head, and reading it feels like a glimpse of what mathematics might be in the eyes of its ablest practitioners--both secret and sublime * Téa Obreht *The Tenth Muse is a must-read. This beautiful, captivating novel has it all: A riveting family secret; a heroine ahead of her time; and a brilliant historical narrative that sheds light on the way we live now * J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Saints for All Occasions *A sweeping tale of betrayal, legacy, brilliant women and WWII * USA Today *Two great enigmas form the center of this elegant novel, in which a brilliant mathematician attempts to solve the impenetrable Riemann hypothesis and learn the truth of her family history. Katherine is the daughter of an American G.I. and a Chinese immigrant who disappears when Katherine is a girl. During her childhood, in the nineteen-fifties, in Michigan, her intelligence and mixed heritage alienate many people, and lead her to wonder 'in each situation whether this time it was my femaleness or my Asianness or the combination of both that branded me different'...In the novel's portrait of her perseverance, it pays moving homage to all the 'unhailed, unnamed' women in history whose talents were dismissed * New Yorker *The Tenth Muse centers on Katherine, an aspiring mathematician whose studies take her deep into her family history, and a legacy of genius and empowerment which probes compelling questions about her identity * Entertainment Weekly *Need a metaphor for the unassailable tangle of the self? The Riemann Hypothesis, one of the great unsolved mathematical problems, does nicely in this novel. About 50 years ago, mathematician Katherine was attempting to unpick its knot, and at the same time deal with revelations about her own family heritage * Elle *Can a mathematician also be an accomplished storyteller? The answer is an emphatic yes.... Elegant and absorbing fiction....Her work radiates a love of the subject....Her real subject, beyond the magic of storytelling, is the problem of identity, as shaped by gender, ethnicity, history and choice * Chicago Tribune *Reading The Tenth Muse is like setting out on a boat for a short trip and finding the way back barred by waves that grow taller and taller. And then the boat itself turns out to be a riddle; a paper boat, each leaf bound to the other with equations of fearsome beauty. Arresting in scope and its treatment of time, its prose at turns crystalline and richly balletic, this story pulls puzzle from puzzle--human, historical, and all too contemporary * Helen Oyeyemi, author of Gingerbread *Catherine Chung's first book, Forgotten Country, cut my heart open; I want to read The Tenth Muse right now * R.O. Kwon *Chung masterfully subverts our expectations... Endlessly thrilling. An exquisite story of legacy, selfhood, survival, and integrity... The Tenth Muse is an inspiring tour de force of STEAM proportions: a riveting intersection of mathematics and art * The Rumpus *Chung's impressive, poignant second novel explores the intersections between of intellectual and familial legacies...Chung persuasively interweaves myths and legends with the real-world stories of lesser-known women mathematicians and of WWII on both the European and Asian fronts. The legacy that Katherine inherits may defy the kinds of elegant proofs to which mathematicians aspire, but Chung's novel boldly illustrates that truth and beauty can reside even amid the messiest solutions * Publishers Weekly, starred review *A powerful and virtuosically researched story about the mysteries of the head and the heart * Kirkus, starred review *Chung uses the history and language of mathematics in The Tenth Muse to explore how the past is inextricably tied to the present. Her writing has a beautiful clarity, and the novel has an epic feel, sweeping between decades and continents without ever losing sight of the human lives at stake. This is a timely story about a woman searching for her identity in an inhospitable environment and emerging scarred but triumphant * BookPage (starred review) *In this powerful historical novel, a female mathematician recounts the personal and professional challenges of finding her way in a male-dominated field * Shelf Awareness (starred review) *Katherine looks back at her life in mathematics, a career shaped by her particular time and circumstances in post-warAmerica and Europe. A position that nevertheless speaks all too clearly to our own place and time today. Catherine Chung is brilliant at showing us the forces which either block or encourage Katherine's career * Herald *If you like puzzles, then this mesmerising novel has them all: human, historical and gloriously mathematical. It charts the life of a woman who seeks to conquer the Riemann hypothesis, a quest that could reveal the truth about her own identity and hidden deeds from the Second World War * The Herald *On discovering that the woman who raised her isn't really her mother, young mathematician Katherine begins lookingfor other things that don't quite add up, from unsolved formulas to sexism at her university, MIT. Written in sparse yetlyrical prose, this is an elegantly constructed puzzle of a novel * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisNumber One bestseller Maureen Lee''s first novel of the hugely popular Pearl Street series.''With her talent for storytelling, queen of saga-writing Maureen Lee weaves intrigue, love and warmth into every page''My WeeklyAs Britain stands alone against a monstrous enemy, the inhabitants of Pearl Street, in Liverpool, face hardship and heartbreak with courage and humour.The war touches each of them in a different way: for Annie Poulson, a widow, it means never-ending worry when her twin boys are called up and sent to France; Sheila Reilly''s husband, Cal, faces the terror of U-Boat attacks; Eileen Costello is liberated from a bitter, loveless marriage when her husband is sent to Egypt and she goes to work in a munitions factory - and falls in love. And Jessica Fleming, down on her luck, is forced to return to the street she''d hoped never to see again.Trade ReviewMaureen Lee is one of those hugely talented authors who writes great women for women readers. Her books don't just have one heroine, they have several * DAILY RECORD *With her talent for storytelling, queen of saga-writing Maureen Lee weaves intrigue, love and warmth into every page * MY WEEKLY *

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Book SynopsisA Washington Post and Oprah Best Book of the Year. An epic, thrilling and poignant novel split between Europe and America, war and peace, the past and the present, told through the unlikely passage of a dazzling peacock pendant.Trade ReviewAn ambitious, perceptive novel * Guardian *Ayelet Waldman's new novel, Love and Treasure, places the Hungarian Gold Train at the heart of a multigenerational tale largely set in Salzburg in 1945 and in Budapest, both in the present and in 1913. Crucial to its plot is an enameled pendant, intricately worked in the design of a peacock, unusually colored in purple, white and green. Waldman skillfully interweaves this striking and enigmatic object - a symbol, as the book progresses, of fatal bad luck - into an ambitious sweep of history, setting the loss of millions of human lives against the pendant's own poignant, improbable survival. Waldman sustains her multiple plot lines with breathless confidence and descriptive panache, fashioning complex personalities caught up in an inexorable series of events. * New York Times *By allowing the narrative frames of the novel to interweave different stories and historical tales, Waldman creates a rich tapestry of detail which is both beautiful and heart-wrenching. At times funny, constantly compassionate, Love and Treasure forces you to look at the true value of objects and the worth of a life. A wonderful and extremely precious book. * Press Association *Complex and thoughtful, moving and carefully researched, this is a novel to love and treasure. * Philippa Gregory *stunningly imaginative * Daily Express *Love & Treasure is something of a treasure trove of a novel. Where the opening chapters evoke the nightmare of Europe in the aftermath of World War II with the hallucinatory vividness of Anselm Kiefer's disturbing canvases, the concluding chapters, set decades before, are a bittersweet evocation of thwarted personal destinies that yet yield to something like cultural triumph. Ayelet Waldman is not afraid to create characters for whom we feel an urgency of emotion, and she does not resolve what is unresolvable in this ambitious, absorbing and poignantly moving work of fiction. * Joyce Carol Oates *One is quickly caught up in Love and Treasure with its shifting tones and voices - at times a document, a thriller, a love story, a search - telescoping time backwards and forwards to vividly depict a story found in the preludes and then the after-effects of the Holocaust. Waldman gives us remarkable characters in a time of complex and surprising politics. * Michael Ondaatje *Love & Treasure is like the treasure train it chases: fast-paced, bound by a fierce mission, full of bright secrets and racingly, relentlessly moving. * Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) *Waldman is a wonderfully imaginative writer . . . absorbing . . . As with the painting in Susan Vreeland's Girl in Hyacinth Blue and the manuscript in Geraldine Brooks's People of the Book the link between these separate stories in Love and Treasure is a pendant decorated with the picture of a peacock. In Waldman's exceedingly clever treatment, this piece of jewelry is not intrinsically valuable; it accrues value only as it passes from one unlikely hand to another, demonstrating the curious and tragic ways that history binds us together. . . a tense and romantic story that never seems polemical or overdetermined. . . a marvelous panorama of early 20th-century attitudes about women . . . Moving. -- Ron Charles * Washington Post *In Ayelet Waldman's thoughtful, expansive Love and Treasure, American soldiers occupying Austria after World War II discover an immense freight train full of personal effects pillaged from Hungarian Jews... Absorbing... The pendant's crooked passage across the century serves as a connecting device, holding the book's elegantly balanced parts together like the wire in a Calder mobile. In the end, Love and Treasure is less concerned with belongings than with belonging - with the Jewish people's ongoing hunt for community and homeland, and what one character calls 'a sense of loyalty and identity.' Those things, once stolen, are much harder to get back. -- Sam Sacks * Wall Street Journal *What ethics govern the custodians of property that can never be returned? How do the personal and the political intertwine in the wake of historical tragedy? These questions permeate the novel... Charming... The failings of the characters imbues them with a fuller and more complex humanity... the book's best moments explore subtle ambiguities... the human stories behind the looted objects flicker into life. -- Nick Romeo * Boston Globe *In her 12th book, Love & Treasure, Ayelet Waldman ambitiously takes on the monumental atrocities of the Holocaust - and much more... the author does an excellent job of constructing a cohesive and engaging narrative... the three main female characters - Ilona, Natalie and Nina - are headstrong women brimming with passion, regrets and ideals. With her essays and Twitter presence, Waldman herself is no stranger to strong opinions, and her fictional trio of women embodies a similar tenor of strength and belief... In this novel, Waldman reaches thoughtfully into an epic sweep of complex issues related to identity, home, dislocation and feminism, and illuminates her ideas through the critical junctures of the journeys of both the pendant and the painting. In the end, as readers, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to covet and what it means to love. -- S. Kirk Walsh * San Francisco Gate *Like a set of Russian nesting dolls, Ayelet Waldman's historically resonant new novel offers stories within stories, spanning a century of European wars and social movements, (mostly) ill-starred relationships, and the ambiguous aftermath of these upheavals... Something of a page-turner, Love and Treasure dares to throw readers off balance and keep them searching for resolution to dangling plot threads... In its epilogue, Love and Treasure gives us a taste of what we've been craving - not a final plot twist, but rather a sense of both the solidity and mutability of the novel's primary symbol, the peacock pendant. The pendant evokes not simply "a remnant of regret" for doomed love, but a "complicated legacy of memory and forgetting." Like the diary of Anne Frank, or the pile of shoes without owners in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, it stands for nothing less than the loss of an entire world. * Chicago Tribune *Well, Ms. Waldman, you can really write, and write brilliantly... The story moves seamlessly from 2013 in Maine, to March 1938, when Hitler invaded Austria, to 1945, and back to 2013 in Budapest and Israel, unfolding against the backdrop of monumental historical events... It would be a mistake to call Love and Treasure a Holocaust novel, although it is that, too. More than anything, this is a tale of hope, the unbreakable spirit of a people and the transformative power of love. * Huffington Post *If the riveting history around which Ayelet Waldman's new novel is weaved doesn't draw you in, the characters that infuse it certainly will. Vividly crafted and full of intriguing complexity, Waldam's characters breathe life into a story of art, war, stolen treasures, forgotten crimes and star-crossed love... Skillfully crafted and told from multiple perspectives within a narrative that telescopes through time, Love and Treasure tells a captivating story about treasure lost and found and calls us to reevaluate what it is that we treasure most. * Bustle.com *Indeed the joy of this novel isn't just in the all-encompassing story; it's not just in the history that the world as a whole should not only know but also acknowledge. It's not even just in the encyclopaedic coverage that weaves knowledge seamlessly into a flowing narration. The joy of this novel is that we get all of this in a single volume making it well worth a read * Bookbag.co.uk *A powerful love story... With changing voices and a story that spans 100 years, Love and Treasure gives us the loves of characters before and after the Holocaust, and shows how love can endure - despite the horror and complexity of conflict. * Irish Tatler *absorbing... a compelling meditation on love, missed connections and the pull of history on the present... well-written and entertaining throughout. * USA Today *Ambitious... The eternal human struggle for self-determination and dignity pulses throughout. * People *Love and Treasure, the new novel by Ayelet Waldman, couldn't be more timely... Waldman builds her narrative, which moves between three distinct stories and time periods, around one of the most notorious cases of property theft in WWII... It is a story ripe for retelling... Love and Treasure offers not just one romance, but two - one tragic, one comic... Drawing on what was clearly extensive research, Waldman brings to life the world of the Central European Jewish haute bourgeoisie, reveling in its textures, exposing its hypocrisies, and cheering on the incipient feminism that Nina represents... [A] fantasia on historical themes. * Tablet magazine *Classic perfection... heartwarming and inspiring... interesting and educational, informing the reader about little-known segments of history through the eyes of well-drawn, credible, and sympathetic characters. The narrative progresses in a quiet, steady suspense of human drama without any melodramatic action. One never knows what turning the page will bring. Highly recommended. * New York Journal of Books *Divorced, unemployed, and listless, Natalie Stein goes on a wild-goose chase to find the rightful heir of a WWII relic... This screams big-screen adaptation: Natalie Portman as Natalie Stein, perhaps? * Marie Claire *Waldman's novel skips continents and generations, telling a multi-layered and well-constructed story. * Christian Science Monitor *Inspired by the true story of World War II's Hungarian Gold Train, the tale set in present-day New York centers on a woman uncovering the truth about what her grandfather did as an American soldier in the war. . . [For] fans of The Goldfinch, treasure hunts and the work of Waldman's husband, Michael Chabon. * The Hollywood Reporter *This lush, multigenerational tale... traces the path of a single pendant.... Inventively told from multiple perspectives, Waldman's latest is a seductive reflection on just how complicated the idea of 'home' is - and why it is worth more than treasure. * Publishers Weekly *Waldman assuredly moves her novel in unexpected directions. At times a love story, and sometimes even a thriller, Love and Treasure reads like a document of the Holocaust, while also delving into the art world and embarking on an exploration of suffrage and the plight of women in the early twentieth century. Love and Treasure most successfully investigates what it means to be human. Waldman's somewhat playful take on Freudian analysis via Dr Zobel's couch is a delight to read, often disturbing and sometimes downright scary. There are no off-notes in this unpredictable and remarkable novel. * Readings *Ms. Waldman opens an intriguing topic here about the repatriation of art lost or stolen during wars or oppressive political regimes, and she presents a fresh perspective. Amitai, whose cynicism melts when he falls in love with Natalie, is my favorite character in a novel filled with good ones. His reaction to the Holocaust, like Jack's, changes as the novel gets deeper. After he engages a tour with a professor of Holocaust Studies in order to learn more about the objects he'll soon be buying, Amitai voices what many readers will find a disturbing viewpoint. The whirlwind tour of Auschwitz, Treblinka and other death camps infuriates him, but not for the predictable reason. Instead he wonders, what "was the point of elevating the history of Jewish calamity to such fetishistic heights? Wasn't it a kind of idolatry?" These are questions you won't often hear asked in America, but they're important in light of this country's relationship to Israel. However, that's not why you should read Love and Treasure. Read it because it's a wonderful book, filled with energy and wit, its tragedies leavened with love and insight. * Pittsburgh Post Gazette *It's an absorbing, ambitious novel which manages to combine two love stories with the pace of a thriller while throwing light on an aspect of the Holocaust unusual in fiction." * A Life In Books *

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Book SynopsisA dramatic and fascinating novel based on a notorious breakout by Japanese prisoners from an Australian POW camp in 1944, encapsulating the impact of war on ordinary lives.Trade ReviewKeneally skilfully weighs broad cultural questions against the concerns of the soldiers and community . . . In a supremely dramatic ending, it is impossible to guess the fate of any of the characters. * Mail on Sunday *His writing is remarkably evocative, whether he is describing everyday occurrences or characters . . . we gain an insight into the minds of the Japanese so even if we don't empathise with their desire for a glorious death, we can comprehend it. * Independent on Sunday *A story very suited to Keneally's talent for letting his imagination play on real-life events. The narrative is gripping, slow-moving but absorbing for the first half and more of the novel, then fast-moving, exciting and appalling. * Scotsman *Keneally's fine novel gives us insight into how, over time (as in Australia itself), imprisonment, even brutal imprisonment, can evolve into something worthy of the human race. * The Times *Readers wondering whether there is anything new to be said about the world wars of the twentieth century can pick up one of Keneally's books for a renewed sense of how it felt to live through those terrifying times . . . [he] makes the reader sympathise with the mindset of the prisoners, having rooted out yet another unfamiliar and powerful example of the madness of war. * Sunday Express *Shame and the Captives suggests that Keneally's late period is as rich as any other in his fifty-year career . . . Keneally's elegant classicism miniaturises grand narratives - here the war in the Pacific - without sacrificing subtlety . . . Shame and the Captives is sobering, horrifying, humane and even strangely uplifting. * Literary Review *A tremendously accomplished novel, rich in character, detail and incident. It is the work of a master novelist * Sunday Business Post, Ireland *As he states in his introduction: "Fiction has always tried to tell the truth by telling lies." On the evidence of this book, and at seventy-eight years of age, Keneally remains one of the most compelling liars on the planet. * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA dramatic and fascinating novel based on a notorious breakout by Japanese prisoners from an Australian POW camp in 1944, encapsulating the impact of war on ordinary lives.Trade ReviewHis steamroller energy, his incredible facility as a teller of tales, is undiminished . . . A tremendously accomplished novel, rich in character, detail and incident. It is the work of a master novelist -- Kevin Power * Sunday Business Post (Ireland) *Keneally's gift, and his blessing to the many hundreds of characters he has created, is always to find the extraordinary within the ordinary. -- Peter Pierce * The Australian *

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Book SynopsisPam Evans'' family saga brings post-war London vividly to life as, amid rationing and food shortages, a young girl finds a passion for growing her own vegetables.It is 1945 and April Green and her cousin Heather wonder if the war will ever end. Then tragedy strikes when the local pub in Chiswick takes a direct hit. April and her brother do all they can to help their grieving mother and, by tending her father''s allotment, April discovers a passion for growing vegetables.Meanwhile, Winnie Benson is facing the fact that her husband may never walk again and, until their son, George, returns from the Merchant Navy, Winnie must run their greengrocer''s on her own. Once the war is over and George is home, things start to improve but rationing remains in force and April''s supply of home-grown vegetables couldn''t be more welcome. And, before long, George can''t help wishing he was the apple of her eye...Trade Review'An unforgettable tale of life during the war' - Our Time'A touching novel' - Daily Express'Nostalgia, heartbreak, danger and war: all the ingredients of an engrossing novel' - Bolton News'There's a special kind of warmth that shines through the characters' - Lancashire Evening Post'This book touched me very, very much. It's lovely' - North Wales Chronicle

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Book SynopsisWorld War II has begun. As war rages, and the evacuation of Dunkirk approaches, the women of south London have their own battles to fight. Helen Carey''s LONDON ROAD is a compelling novel perfect for fans of Lilian Harry, Kate Thompson and Annie Murray. September 1939As the nation braces itself for war, the residents of Lavender Road are dealing with troubles of their own.With her husband in jail, Joyce Carter is never sure where her family''s next meal will come from. And her troublesome daughter, Jen, isn''t helping matters by refusing to work until she achieves her dream of becoming an actress.Pam Nelson is struggling to deny the distance growing between her and her husband - which isn''t helped by her secret attraction to their handsome new lodger. And unfortunately Pam isn''t the only one to fall for his seductive charm...As the threat of a German invasion looms, the lives of the women on this south London street are about tTrade Review'Written with a lightness of touch, an emotional integrity and an historical accuracy which has brought her respect from critics and readers alike' -- Louis de Bernières'Sparkling storytelling!' * Evening Standard *'One of the best books I've read in a long time. I laughed and cried and didn't want it to end' -- A Goodreads Member

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE BETTY TRASK AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWNLONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST NOVEL PRIZESarah Day''s MUSSOLINI''S ISLAND is a novel of sexuality and desire, of hidden passions and the secrets we keep locked within us. Based on the true story of the rounding up of a group of Sicilian gay men in 1939, this book is sure to appeal to readers of the Elena Ferrante novels, Anthony Doerr''s ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE or Virginia Baily''s EARLY ONE MORNING.''A fascinating debut...the setting and characters are strong and the story is written with verve. Day is a talent to watch'' - The Times Francesco has a memory of his father from early childhood, a night when life for his family changed. From that night, he has vowed to protect his mother and to follow the words of his father: Non mollare. Never give up.As Francesco is herded into a camp on the island of San Domino, he reaTrade ReviewA fascinating debut...the setting and characters are strong and the story is written with verve. Day is a talent to watch * The Times *Startling. A compassionate and clear-eyed debut which illuminates a grim chamber of 20th century history -- Patrick Gale, author of A PLACE CALLED WINTER[An] impressive debut... Day handles her neatly structured plot with great dexterity as she nudges her readers, one revelation at a time, towards the truth about what has happened and about Francesco's hidden history * Sunday Times *Sarah Day's debut novel is striking: a fascinating evocation of a cruel time in Italian history -- Amanda CraigA beautiful and sadly relevant story of desire, oppression and defiance. I loved this book -- Anna Mazzola, author of THE UNSEEINGStunning... a wonderful haunting evocation of this forgotten and neglected story of war -- Mary ChamberlainA thoroughly absorbing and moving novel, one that convincingly illuminates a strange and largely forgotten aspect of life in Fascist Italy -- Andrew GreigBased on a true story, this is a haunting fictional account of oppression, survival and resilience and a powerful portrayal of sexuality and war * Attitude Magazine *Day's style reminds me of Somerset Maugham - the book is sexy, scary, enraging and beautiful - with a murder mystery at the centre that will keep you guessing * The Pool *A genuine standout amongst literary debuts. This complex, brave and powerful novel, both tender and hard-hitting, features fine writing and a transporting sense of place -- Isabel Costello * The Literary Sofa *A complex, tender psychological love story, combined with a murder mystery that will keep you guessing * The Reith Lectures, Radio 4 *

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Book SynopsisPam Evans'' heartwarming London saga, DANCE YOUR TROUBLES AWAY, is set during the Second World War and is sure to appeal to fans of Katie Flynn and Cathy Sharp.When Polly Pritchard learns that her husband has been killed in action, she brings up their young daughter Emmie alone. To make ends meet she gets a job at the Cherry Ballroom in West London and it is here that she meets James, a Canadian airman, and they fall in love. But then Polly''s husband turns up, very much alive...Life is even harder for Polly after the war; James has gone; her husband is involved in a criminal gang; and their daughter suffers from an illness that leaves her deaf. But Polly''s spirit remains strong and with courage and determination she find the happiness she and her daughter deserve.Trade ReviewPraise for Pam Evans' well-loved family sagas: 'A touching novel' * Daily Express *An unforgettable tale of life during the war * Our Time *Nostalgia, heartbreak, danger and war: all the ingredients of an engrossing novel * Bolton News *There's a special kind of warmth that shines through the characters * Lancashire Evening Post *This book touched me very, very much. It's lovely * North Wales Chronicle *

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Book SynopsisWhen all seems lost, will her mother''s legacy keep her safe?Praise for Anne Baker''s Merseyside sagas: ''A stirring tale of romance and passion, poverty and ambition'' Liverpool EchoAimee Kendrick is no stranger to heartache. Having lost her father during the Great War and her mother, a famous French impressionist painter, in a tragic accident, Aimee is brought up by her troubled grandparents on the banks of the river Mersey. She works hard at her art lessons and is encouraged to believe she has inherited her mother''s gift, but it is her childhood friend and fellow student Frankie Hopkins who shows greater talent. When Frankie joins the Kendrick''s textile mill to work on new fabric designs, Aimee begs her grandfather to teach her how to run the business. Working together, Aimee and Frankie become much more than friends but then they find themselves involved in family problems and it is impossible to know what the future holds.Trade ReviewPraise for Anne Baker's gripping Merseyside sagas: 'A stirring tale of romance and passion, poverty and ambition - Liverpool EchoA heartwarming saga - Woman s WeeklyBaker's understanding and compassion for very human dilemmas makes her one of romantic fiction's most popular authors - Lancashire Evening PostTruly compelling...rich in language and descriptive prose - Newcastle Upon Tyne Evening ChronicleWith characters who are strong, warm and sincere, this is a joy to read - Coventry Evening Telegraph

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Book SynopsisDelving deeper into the weird world of Konflikt ''47, this supplement presents a range of new material for the game, including: - New units: Options for troops and technology that can be added to the armies presented in the rulebook. - Special characters: Field the best of the best, elite men and women who may single-handedly be the crucial element between victory and defeat. - New background: The history of the world of Konflikt ''47 is detailed in more depth. - New rules: All-new means of waging war, including material previously published online.

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Book SynopsisThe Battle of France saw German forces sweep across the Low Countries and towards Paris, crushing Allied resistance in just six weeks. From Fall Gelb and the British withdrawal from Dunkirk to the decisive Fall Rot, this new supplement for Bolt Action allows players to take command of the bitter fighting for France, and to refight the key battles of this campaign. Linked scenarios and new rules, troop types, and Theater Selectors offer plenty of options for novice and veteran players alike.

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Book SynopsisFrom an author who lived through - and served in - the conflict, a brilliant novel set in an English village at a turning point of the Second World War.Trade ReviewThese fabulous, often funny stories have the authentic, freewheeling atmosphere of a time when all bets were off. * Daily Mail *A wonderful read, packed with incident, colour and detail. * Telegraph *The book captures the anxieties, heightened emotion and community spirit that marked this epoch-defining chapter in the nation's long and colourful history. * Yorkshire Post *There Was a Time vividly evokes life in a Lincolnshire village in 1940. Elegantly written and with beautifully-drawn characters, this absorbing story, amusing and poignant by turns, tells of the impact of the last War on a small, close-knit community. -- Gervase PhinnHe writes beautifully - poignantly and with humour. * Telegraph & Argus *White depicts unique, worried, caring individuals who it is not difficult to warm to and who are memorable. * Lincolnshire Life *A tender evocation of a unique period in history * Sunday Mirror *

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Book SynopsisA dramatic family saga set in the East End of 1958, with a spirited heroine determined to fulfill her dreams of becoming a dancer - and put her brother's killers away for good.Trade ReviewUnbridled passions run riot * Daily Mail *She brings the East End to life * Barbara Windsor *Sizzles with passion * Guardian on WILD HOPS *A rich, vivid, three-dimensional, gutsy and sexy narrative which has you turning the pages into the early hours * Eastern Daily Press on WILD HOPS *

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Book SynopsisA gripping family saga from Sally Worboyes, author of Wild Hops and Docker's Daughter.Trade ReviewSizzles with passion * Guardian on WILD HOPS *A rich, vivid, three-dimensional, gutsy and sexy narrative which has you turning the pages into the early hours * Eastern Daily Press on WILD HOPS *Unbridled passions run riot * Daily Mail *She brings the East End to life -- Barbara Windsor

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Book SynopsisA heartbreaking wartime saga from Sally Worboyes, author of Down Stepney Way and At the Mile End Gate.Trade ReviewUnbridled passions run riot * Daily Mail *She brings the East End to life -- Barbara WindsorA rich, vivid, three-dimensional, gutsy and sexy narrative which has you turning the pages into the early hours * Eastern Daily Press on WILD HOPS *Sizzles with passion * Guardian on WILD HOPS *

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Book Synopsis‘A heartbreaking portrait of an ordinary family shattered by a war they didn’t want’ The Times They've wrecked the world, these men, and still they're not done. They'd take the sky if they could. Germany, 1945, and the bombs are falling. In Heidenfeld, Etta and her husband Josef roam an empty nest: their eldest son Max is fighting on the frontlines, while fifteen-year-old Georg has swapped books for guns at a Nürnberg school for the Hitler Youth. At home, news of the war provokes daily doses of fear as the planes grow closer, taking one city after the next. When Max is unexpectedly discharged, Etta is relieved to have her eldest home and safe. But soon after he arrives, it’s clear that the boy who left is not the same returned. With Georg a hundred miles away and a husband confronting his own difficult feelings toward patriotic duty, Etta alone must gather the pieces of a splintering family, determined to hold them together in the face of an uncertain future.Trade ReviewBinder was born in Germany herself and evokes great sympathy for Etta and her painfully fractured family, while opening up unusual angles on the terrible conflict. Written in purposefully even prose that is nonetheless harrowing, it’s an intimate tragedy that’s all the more powerful for refusing the ending we fervently hope for * Daily Mail *A moving tale of a family destroyed by war . . . Inspired by her family's history, Binder unfolds a harrowing tale in limpid, expressive prose * Sunday Times *Binder’s debut explores familiar territory from a fresh perspective. The result is an engrossing novel peopled by believable and sympathetic characters * Mail on Sunday *Achingly beautiful . . . Binder's work is subtle and compassionate yet also clear and devastating in its depiction of a nation - and its people - suffocating under the weight of an insidious and inhuman ideology, one that ultimately devastates those who believe its illusions. Enduringly relevant * The Advertiser *Eloquent, and painfully human * Irish Examiner *An empathic portrayal of the human cost of war . . . Binder's etched prose, her unwillingness to whitewash complicty, and the focus on Etta, a mother trying to hold her family together as madness and horror descend, offers a genuinely tragic vision * Sydney Morning Herald *Heartwarming and exciting . . . This book, along with movies such as Hitler’s SS, A Portrait of Evil, and JoJo Rabbit, explain how the strands of hatred reached out and entrapped whole families in a web of evil * Jerusalem Post *The novel has an unfussy, understated feel - reflected in Binder's calm prose - that belies its powerful impact. It's alternately subtle and striking, quiet and then, suddenly, deafeningly loud * Country and Town House *A Time to Love and a Time to Die by Erich Maria Remarque has always been one of my favourite books, and Reunion by Fred Uhlman I consider a masterpiece, so it was with great pleasure that I read The Vanishing Sky, which told the same story from a completely different angle -- Jeffrey ArcherIn her intimate and epic debut novel, L. Annette Binder lifts the lid on one family’s darkest story to offer vital insight into daily life under the last days of the Third Reich. The Vanishing Sky is a heartrending and blazingly lucid depiction of Nazi Germany as not a simple monolith of evil but as an oppressive, fanatical political regime that was encountered, accommodated, rejected, and survived by ordinary people, people just like you and me -- Miriam Toews, author of 'Women Talking'L. Annette Binder’s The Vanishing Sky is so fiercely imagined, so wondrously conjured, that what you hold not only pulls you into its history but into a world of pure yearning, determination, struggle and hope. This is a story – in all its rich layers – that dazzles, breaks your heart, clutches you and gets you back up again. I’m grateful to have experienced it, and grateful to Binder for the gift she has given us -- Paul Yoon, author of 'The Mountain'L. Annette Binder is a stunningly talented writer. Her stories are the stories of outsiders, gripping and heartfelt, heightened with hidden undertones of the surreal. It is this tension that makes the worlds she creates so vibrant, and allows her readers to see so deeply into these characters' souls -- Hannah Tinti, author of 'The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley'The challenge in humanising the Western world’s most tortured history proves no match for Binder’s intellect, compassion, and unflinching gaze; one gets the feeling this writer, in the stunning precision of her painterly details, would prove virtuosic with any material she was handed to use. A hugely ambitious novel whose consummate, patient artistry is moving beyond measure -- Matthew Thomas, New York Times-bestselling author of 'We Are Not Ourselves'L. Annette Binder arrives with worlds of empathy and strange surprise -- Praise for 'Rise', Ron Carlson, author of 'Return to Oakpine'Oustanding . . . A must read if you are fan of WWII historical fiction * The Portugal News *

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Book SynopsisA fast-unfolding, untold tale of deception, betrayal and romance leading to a tense life-or-death climax in occupied France. The strange brigadier who hardly speaks... Leo, his feisty pilot daughter... Labrador, the vengeful Pole... Henry Dunning-Green, Leo's boring suitor... Adrian Russell, the treacherous master spy... ... All linked by SOE Somerville, the top secret Second World War finishing school for spies on England's south coast, and its local community: A melting pot of intrigue and counter-intrigue. This is the first fictional treatment of life at the famous Special Operations Executive 'finishing school' for spies, SOE Beaulieu in the New Forest (renamed SOE Somerville). It's also the first fully realised fictional portrait of master spy and traitor Kim Philby (renamed Adrian Russell) who lectured at SOE Beaulieu. Many of the events actually took place.Trade ReviewA novel for anyone who loves the New Forest. Andrew Duncan captures its beauty, history and sense of magic. - Dan Snow; Thrilling wartime adventure and a sensitive story of relationships. - Lizanne Lost in a Good Book; This tale of deception, betrayal and romance links a feisty ATA pilot, her boring boyfriend, an enigmatic Pole hellbent on vengeance and a treacherous master spy. The action starts in the bucolic New Forest and unfolds between the SOE school for spies, the skies above southern England and occupied Normandy. The life and death climax will have you on the edge of your seat. The author's mother was an ATA pilot and he captures the ATA life very well. - Maidenhead Heritage Centre/ATA Museum

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Book SynopsisTwo wonderfully evocative short novels from the author of There Was A Time - surely the last novel about the Second World War to have been written by someone who served in it.Innocence is paired here with a complementary story, A Morse Code Set, first published in 1964 and available recently only as an eBook.In A Morse Code Set, set in Manchester in 1939, a boy finds his world turned upside down by the outbreak of war. When his own father is called up by the Army and Freddy accepts an offer from the father of one of his friends to repair his beloved morse code set, the youngster sets in motion a potentially tragic turn of events.In Innocence, young Tony grapples with the consequences of his father leaving his family, and a growing awareness of his own sexuality. The narrative brilliantly conjures a place and time - a Yorkshire village in the 1960s - and is yet quite universal, a story of family, community and heartbreak, of growing up and growing away.Trade ReviewA wonderful read * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023'A book like a blade of light, searching out and illuminating the darkest corners of history . . . It's vivid, unputdownable, alive, and written with unerring artfulness and subtlety.' Neel MukherjeeGunnar Kampen grows up in Iceland during the Second World War in a household fiercely opposed to Hitler and Nazism. At nineteen he seems set for a conventional, dutiful life. And yet in the spring of 1958, he founds a covert, anti-Semitic nationalist party, a cause that will take him on a clandestine mission to England from which he never returns. Inspired by one of the ringleaders of a little-known neo-Nazi group that was formed in Iceland in the 1950s, Sjón's portrait of an ardent fascist is as thought-provoking as it is disturbing. As this taut and fascinating novel suggests, the seeds of extremism can be hard to detect - and the ideology of the far-right remains dangerously potent.Trade ReviewSjón's policy of omission-of drama, psychology, violence, grandeur of any kind-results in a delicious tension. He tempts us to expect so much of the novel, and though he never provides the relief of clean culminations, he manages to keep the reader wanting. * Asymptote Journal *A slim forensic novel to strike a chill. * Saga *Sjón's prose is appropriately sharp and precise, illuminating the murky corners of his topic. -- Pippa Bailey * New Statesman *This is a landscape proper to a child's imagination, dreamlike but solid, with all the pronounced lucidity and wild agency that objects and colors assume . . . Sjón makes us think again about what empathy can - and frequently enough simply can't - achieve. -- Erica Banks * 4Columns *Like Iceland itself, Sjón's books are simultaneously tiny and huge, weird and normal, ancient and modern. Reading them feels like listening to that story of the beached whale: a wild invention that is actually a straight-faced confession. His books dance - with light, quick steps, never breaking eye contact - all over the line between the mythic and the mundane. -- Sam Anderson * New York Times *What Sjón leaves out of his work is as powerful as what he puts in. His fiction never seems to break into a sweat, yet it takes you a long, long way. * David Mitchell *The chapters move like the prose equivalent of flip-book images, quick and evocative . . . Sjón's story, based on research into a real-life band of Icelandic neo-Nazis, dovetails nicely with current preoccupations about the resurgence of fascism . . . By tarrying for a while with the everyday - the ultimate site of real politics - Sjón gets at how endlessly interesting it can be, and how much it can contain and conceal. -- Peter C. Baker * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisOUT NOW: the second volume in the bestselling, exhilarating WWII treasure-hunt thriller series for fans of Dan Brown*** RATED 5 STARS BY REAL READERS *** November 1941. Germany is about to win the war. Only one thing still separates the Nazis from a certain victory: they must find the three remaining all-powerful swastikas and reunite them with a fourth that is safely hidden away in Himmler's mountain stronghold. Churchill has no choice but to mobilize his best man, double agent Tristan Marcas, and employ the most risky techniques to beat them to it. It all comes to a showdown at a ball in Venice...

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Book SynopsisFreedom worth fighting for. Love worth waiting for.'The French House is a beautifully wrought exploration of love of all kinds. It's utterly gorgeous, convincingly written and completely captivating. Make sure you read it'MY WEEKLY'I was gripped from the start by the characters and the setting. A wonderful read'RUTH DRUART'A raw and honest love story, filled with a wealth of historical detail. The French House is a powerful depiction of the brutal intricacies of island relationships and loyalties in a time of war' FIONA VALPY'Deeply involving . . . A fantastic debut by a gifted storyteller' JILL MANSELL'A story of fraught secrets and tested loyalties . . . I found this beautifully told tale hard to put down' ANITA FRANK'Heart-wrenching . . . A truly special novel' LOUISE FEIN'Accomplished and atmospheric . . . I really enjoyed this uncliched yet deeply moving love story'TRACY REES'A vividly written, refreshingly different World War Two love story, with a central character I adored. Just brilliant!'GILL PAUL'Such an emotionally gripping novel portraying how love can be betrayed yet still endure' SUZANNE GOLDRING'I have been swept away by Jacquie Bloese's gorgeous writing, completely transported into the rich, atmospheric, and incredibly moving pages of The French House. . . this is an absolutely stunning, beautifully original novel'JENNY ASHCROFT'The writing is incredibly strong . . . a compelling read with a highly satisfactory ending'GUERNSEY PRESS***In Nazi-occupied Guernsey, the wrong decision can destroy a life... Left profoundly deaf after an accident, Émile is no stranger to isolation - or heartbreak. Now, as Nazi planes loom over Guernsey, he senses life is about to change forever.Trapped in a tense, fearful marriage, Isabelle doesn't know what has become of Émile and the future she hoped for. But when she glimpses him from the window of the French House, their lives collide once more. Leutnant Schreiber is more comfortable wielding a paintbrush than a pistol. But he has little choice in the role he is forced to play in the occupying forces - or in his own forbidden desires. As their paths entwine, loyalties are blurred and dangerous secrets forged. But on an island under occupation, courage can have deadly consequences...Lyrical, moving and compelling, this is a novel about wanting to hear and learning to listen - to the truths of our own hearts. Perfect for lovers of The Nightingale, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and All the Light We Cannot See.'A wonderful story, powerfully written with beautiful characters'JAMES KENT, director of Testament of Youth'A brilliantly moving historical novel' - 2020 Caledonian Novel Award panelTrade ReviewA brilliantly moving historical novel * 2020 Caledonian Novel Award *A raw and honest love story, filled with a wealth of historical detail. The French House is a powerful depiction of the brutal intricacies of island relationships and loyalties in a time of war -- FIONA VALPY, bestselling author of THE DRESSMAKER'S SECRETDeeply involving . . . A fantastic debut by a gifted storyteller -- JILL MANSELL, Sunday Times bestselling authorA story of fraught secrets and tested loyalties . . . I found this beautifully told tale hard to put down -- ANITA FRANK, author of The ReturnHeart-wrenching . . . A truly special novel -- LOUISE FEIN, author of People Like UsA vividly written, refreshingly different World War Two love story, with a central character I adored. Just brilliant! -- GILL PAUL, author of The Collector's DaughterA wonderful story, powerfully written with beautiful characters -- JAMES KENT, director of Testament of YouthIn the way that the astonishing All the Light we Cannot See takes you into the world of a young blind girl during the occupation of France, so we are transported into the experiences of profoundly deaf Emile, during the occupation of Guernsey. The writing is lyrical, melancholy and breathtaking. Life under the Nazi jackboot is subtly explored, but the blistering love story between Emile and Isabelle leaves a longer lasting impression. Beautiful, utterly absorbing and memorable. -- Kate Thompson, author of THE LITTLE WARTIME LIBRARYI was gripped from the start by the characters and the setting. A wonderful read -- Ruth Druart, author of WHILE PARIS SLEPT

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Book SynopsisWhen a modern woman inherits a Parisian apartment undisturbed since WWII, she discovers that it may hold the key to unraveling her cold great-grandmother's secret life -- a past of sacrifice during a mission to protect those she loved.1940, ParisAs the heiress to a wealthy Parisian family, Lise Allard grows up immensely privileged, but barely knowing her absentee parents. Instead, she finds her own sense of family among a close circle of friends. Yet when war breaks out and Paris is occupied, she sees her friends taken away one by one. Heartbroken, Lise vows that she will do whatever it takes to help defeat the Germans.2017, ParisWhen Aurelia Leclaire's great-grandmother passes away, the last thing Aurelia expects to inherit is a tiny Paris apartment untouched for over half of a century. But even more shocking is the massive collection of priceless jewelry and fine art secreted inside. When she discovers an unknown painting cherished by Lise, she realizes that it may be the key to unlocking her great-grandmother's story.Art appraiser Gabriel Seymour is contacted by a woman who claims to have found a painting by his great-great-grandfather. While unearthing its story, Gabriel and Aurelia discover a hidden cache of weapons, encrypted letters, and faded passport photos revealing intertwining family connections and betrayals from the past.

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