Search results for ""Author Dee Williams""

A heartrending story of family tragedy, Land Girls and lost love from bestselling author Dee Williams.When Babs Scott loses her beloved parents in an air raid, she finds herself homeless and alone in Rotherhithe. The Land Army offers her an escape and, despite the backbreaking toil, Babs loves the peaceful green fields and the fresh, clean air of Sussex. But when her new RAF sweetheart Pete dies on his return to the skies, Babs is grief-stricken once more. After the war and back in her home town, a foolish mistake changes Babs' life for ever. Has she lost her one chance for happiness?

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Born into terrible poverty, Millie Ash's hopes for a better life are threatened by a fatal accident in Dee Williams' heartrending new sagaMillie Ash, born into terrible poverty in the backstreets of the East End, has always wanted to better herself. She gets her chance when she lands a position as a lady's companion, her charge the disabled daughter of a well-to-do London family. Millie adores her work, and even starts to develop feelings for the son of the house. But years later a tragic accident causes Millie to lose her job and, along with it, the life she so loved. As she goes from job to job, working variously as a typist, factory worker and nurse, will she ever find happiness, and love, again?

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It's 1942 and Dorothy Taylor, now eighteen, dreams of distant lands far from the grey backstreets of Rotherhithe where she has spent all her life. As the war rages on, excitement comes in the form of the Americans posted in London. Although Dolly is engaged to Tony, a boy from her street who has been called up, she can't help but fall in love with Joe, a dashing American GI who eventually asks her to marry him. But America is not all she imagined it would be, and she's shocked by the cool welcome Joe's mother gives her. As she struggles to make friends and understand the man she's married, Dorothy begins to realise that she made a terrible mistake when she walked away from Tony, and wonders if he even remembers the innocent young girl who broke his heart. Only when she returns to Rotherhithe can she find out if there is still a chance of happiness for the two of them.

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It's 1921 and eighteen-year-old Daisy May and her little sister Mary-Jane, who is six, are orphaned. Times are tough and, to support her sister, Daisy has to work hard as a dancer in a nightclub, getting home late and hardly seeing Mary-Jane. One night a fire starts and Mary-Jane is alone in the house. The night's events lead to the sisters being split up and Daisy May begins to fear that she will never see Mary-Jane again...

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Polly Perkins and her older brother Sid have never really liked each other and when, in a fit of spite, he flicks a fishbone at her and accidentally blinds her in one eye, it seems to Polly that he has blighted her entire future. But life carries on in 1930s Rotherhithe and Polly, like the other tenants of Penn's Place, is soon caught up in its daily struggles: battling to keep treasured possessions from being sold at the pawn shop, to hold her own in the rows which rage through her warring family, and to find herself a job. In the latter she succeeds and, having started as a tea girl at Bloom's Fashions, to her delight is offered a job in the office. There her friendship with the prosperous Bloom family grows, in particular with Sarah and her handsome brother David, whose lifestyle in Putney is so different from her own.Meanwhile in Rotherhithe Polly finds herself being courted ever more insistently by Ron, Sid's best friend and, Polly sometimes suspects, his partner in crime. When in frustration he points out that, disfigured by her accident, Polly is lucky to get any suitors at all, she decides, reluctantly, to accept his proposal of marriage. But, as the country finds itself in the grip of war, it becomes clear that Sid - and her husband Ron - have jeopardised Polly's future once more.

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As 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...

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Living in their two-up-two-down in Rotherhithe in 1938, Eileen and Ronald Wells lead a happy and settled existence with their three daughters, all of whom have jobs, boyfriends and promising lives ahead of them. But soon the storm clouds of war engulf Europe and they suddenly find their idyllic family life thrown into chaos. Throughout the country young people hasten to join up, and Eileen watches anxiously as her two older girls do the same, one in the air force and one in the land army, while the youngest goes into a factory. With her family scattered and the war getting worse by the day, Eileen throws herself into the community, always on hand to help friends and neighbours when tragedy strikes, while savouring any rare moments of celebration.

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Hannah Miller is a young girl who has had to grow up fast. Since the death of her parents she has taken responsibility for her sister Alice, determined to provide her with the love and stability they've both been denied. But when a violent incident with their bullying guardian finds the girls cold and hungry on the teeming streets of East London, Hannah realises she is out of her depth. She has little option but to accept the help of the strange old woman Maudie whose ramshackle home at the end of Rotherhithe's bustling Hope Street, Hannah soon realises, is a den of young thieves.Alice loves their new life, the companionship of the lively household and the gruff affection of the enigmatice, warm-hearted Maudie. But despite the fact that she is growing increasingly fond of Jack, one of the most long-standing of Maudie's brood, Hannah can never be happy living outside the law. As she battles for respectability, Hannah begins to see she is creating an ever-widening rift between herself and those she loves most dearly - one of whom, as the Great War approaches, might be taken from her for good ...

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Identical twins Lily and Rose Flowers aren't from a rich family, but they lead a comfortable life in 1920s Rotherhithe with their mum and dad. The twins are the apple of their parents' eye, and each other's best friend - they always know what the other is thinking. Feisty Rose has a more rebellious nature than her sister, but it's never before interfered with their closeness.However, Rose's secret dissatisfaction with her humdrum lifestyle reaches a head when she meets the rich and handsome Rodger. To the shock of the Flowers family, she elopes with him to Gretna Green. Once Rose has the money and glamour she's always craved, nothing will persuade her to contact her family again; not even her father's death.And then, in the wake of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, everything changes. With her charmed life in shreds and with no one left to turn to, Rose is determined to build bridges those she has hurt the most. But can forgiveness be sought so easily - and can she ever truly escape her troubled past?

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It's late 1935, and Sue Reed is living with her parents in Rotherhithe, next door to her best friend Jane. Sue enjoys her day job, working for wealthy car dealer Fred Hunt, but her main love is dancing, and in the evenings she and Jane are always to be found at the local dance hall. When one memorable night the band brings in a devastatingly handsome new singer, Cy Taylor, Sue can't help falling for him and he invites her to visit him in his hotel room. But reality hits hard after the dance when Cy moves on. Just when she thinks life couldn't be worse, tragedy strikes. Will Sue ever find the love and happiness she craves?

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When Ruby's father returns, shell-shocked, from the front lines of the Great War, the young girl realises that things will never be the same again. Forced to leave school and help her mother wash clothes, Ruby closes the door on her childhood. When she takes a job at the local laundry, Ruby enjoys the friendship of the other women there, but there's also bitchiness and jealousy amongst the workers. At home there's growing tension with the live-in landlord as Ruby grows into an attractive woman, but not the kind who's willing to use her charms to win favours. Ruby's heart belongs to one man only, a local boy she's known all her life, but there are many battles to be fought before they start a life together...

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It's 1935 and Maggie Ross loves her life amongst the stallholders in Kelvin Market where her husband Tony has a bric-a-brac stall and where she lives, with her young family, above Mr Goldman's bespoke tailors. But when one fine Spring day her husband disappears into thin air her world collapses.Maggie has no way of knowing where he husband went nor why he left her so suddenly - especially when she's got a new baby on the way. What she can tell is who her real friends are as she struggles to bring her children up alone. There's outspoken, golden-hearted Winnie, her fellow stallholder whose cheerful chatter hides a sad past, and cheeky Eve whom she's known since they were girls. And there's also Inspector Matthews, the policeman sent to investigate her husband's disappearance;a man who, to the Kelvin Market staffholders, is on the wrong side of the law, a man to whom Maggie is increasingly drawn.

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Ellie Walsh lives in a battlefield. Her out-of-work father, selfish sisters and violent, bitter mother, Ruby , are constantly fighting - and Ellie is always caught in the crossfire. So when a charming customer, Leonard Kent, comes into the local tearoom where she is a waitress, she is flattered by his attention. And when he reveals he plays the piano in a West End club by night, she is thrilled by the glamorous life she imagines him leading - so far removed from the grind of poverty-stricken Rotherhithe.But though she is increasingly attracted to Leonard, Ellie has secretly never forgotten Terry Andrews, who lives on the other side of Elmleigh Square to her. But Terry has made it clear he is not interested in her and, in any case, Ruby Walsh hates Terry's mother and would never permit a relationship between Terry and her daughter. Events, though, soon take an extraordinary turn, destroying the flimsy foundations on which Ellie has built her world. It is up to her, and her alone, to decide on the direction of her future ...

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When her friend and business partner Edwin Brown dies it seems as if Katherine Carter's own world has ended. Not only has her closest companion been taken from her, she's also lost the successful restaurant they built up together, as well as the comfortable home they shared with her young son. Now all this has been snatched away, for Edwin has left no will and his lecherous brother Gerald presumes he's inherited Katherine along with the house.With little money but full of determination Katherine escapes Gerald's violent advances and takes lodgings in Rotherhithe, with her cook's sister Milly. Despite its poverty, Docklands London is full of hope and friendship and, in helping her new neighbours through their difficulties, Katherine finally begins to tackle her troubled past. But even as she rebuilds her life around the pie-and-mash shop where she works, a terrible shadow is hanging over the country. And little does anyone know the horrors 1914 will unleash ...

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Even if she feels life is passing her by as she serves behind the counter in her father's Rotherhithe grocer's shop, Annie Rogers knows she is lucky to have a secure home and a loving family - unlike her friend Lil, whose father is a violent drunk. Knowing how hard Lil's life is, Annie willingly helps her out, lending her dresses and make-up and, when Annie is asked out on a smart date by the landlord's son Peter Barrett, suggesting Lil come along to make up a foursome.But it is a shock when Lil gets on famously with Peter's swanky friend Julian whilst Annie feels much less sure of the smooth Peter. Soon Lil is busy earning money from pub singing spots set up for her by Julian, and Annie, no longer needed by her friend, feels more isolated than ever. It is then that she notices shy Will Hobbs from Fisher's engineering works. Before long Annie and Will are engaged, with plans for a home of their own in Surrey. But a dreadful accident at Fisher's and the looming shadow of World War II mean that life for Annie of Albert Mews is not so predictable - or secure - as she once thought it was ...

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When a naive encounter at a Coronation party leaves sixteen-year-old Janet Slater pregnant there's no question in her scandalised parents' mind of her keeping the baby. Bundled off to a home for unmarried mothers in South London, Janet is about to face the hardest moment of her sheltered life alone. Forced to give her tiny daughter up for adoption, Janet promises her that one day, come what may, she'll find her... In the years that follow it seems, however hard Janet tries, it is a promise that will be impossible to keep. Nonetheless, she builds her life around her secret and Paula, her lost daughter, is never far from her thoughts. And one day, her searching pays off - the road to their longed-for reunion seems clear. But then a new shadow falls across the fragile happiness of both their lives...

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Though she is still grieving the death of her mother, nineteen-year-old Sally Fuller has little choice but to carry on with the everyday business of life in 1930s Rotherhithe, caring for her father and young brother and sister, spending as much time with her boyfriend Pete as he can spare from his moneymaking schemes. But at the back of her mind she feels a nagging dissatisfaction - her matter-of-fact relationship with Pete, for instance, bears little resemblance to the romances of her movie-star idols, or even to the colourful liaisons of some of her more adventurous friends. And what about her more modest hopes for marriage and a baby of her own? Once again, Pete shows little interest. As war grows closer, Sally sees she must focus her mind on keeping those she loves safe and put her own selfish longings behind her. But war changes things ...

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As a little girl, brought up in an orphanage, Caroline Parker had always been told that Dept Ford was the place her disgraced mother had come from. So when years later her husband dies, leaving her penniless and with three young children to support, Caroline's first thought is to head for the place she has envisaged as home: Dept Ford. But to her horror, she finds that Dept Ford is not the country village she'd imagined, but in the middle of London, a huge, teeming city the likes of which she's never seen.Luckily a kindly passer-by takes pity on her weary children and puts them on the tram to a place where she might find lodgings which, as it turns out, is in Rotherhithe, not Deptford. And so it is Culver Road that becomes her true home, where Carrie - as her neighbours call her - and her family, helped out by the irrepressible Flo and her soft-hearted docker husband Alf, find themselves battling through times both good and bad. And it is in Culver Road that Carrie meets Jim, the enigmatic sailor who is to change her life ...

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Pam King can't understand why her gran, Ivy, has forbidden her to see Robbie Bennetti. Robbie's a lovely lad, much less dangerous than Lu Cappa, who's always giving her the eye when he's out in his ice-cream van. Pam has to ask her best friend Jill to cover for her while she's out with Robbie.When Ivy finds out Pam's been lying, she makes sure the relationship with Robbie is over for good. Then Jill falls in love, and it's loneliness that makes Pam accept a date with Lu Cappa. Before she knows it, they're married.Even then, Pam knows Lu's still jealous of Robbie. And she can't help wondering what Lu's up to when he's out with his shifty brother. When Robbie comes back into their lives, it could be the last straw. One thing's for sure: until everyone starts to tell the truth, there will be as many sorrows as smiles in Pam's marriage ...

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