A Tapestry of True Tales from Then and Now This collection of nine short stories comes from best-selling historical fiction author Clare Flynn. There are five historical tales – four based on stories from her own family history and one a tragic tale from eighteenth century Sussex. Clare has also branched out into contemporary fiction with four intriguing stories – modern morality tales, set in England, Paris, the USA and an island in the Indian Ocean.Beautifully crafted, vividly brought to life on the page these quirky stories give an insight into human nature at its best – and its worst.
A gripping tale of love, sacrifice and determination in the aftermath of the First World War. He was broken in the trenches... She was broken by her husband... He is trapped by his inheritance... She is trapped by her past Martha Walters is the impoverished widow of an abusive man. Christopher (Kit) Shipley is the reluctant heir to a substantial family fortune. They never intended to fall in love, but sometimes the wrong person turns out to be the right one – until a terrible secret threatens to tear Martha and Kit apart forever. From an English country house to the jungles of Borneo, The Gamekeeper’s Wife, is sure to keep you up reading all night.
Lose yourself in this heartbreaking page-turner about the everyday bravery of ordinary people during wartime. 1940 Liverpool. Not long married, Hannah and Will Kidd are forced apart by the war. Merchant seaman Will faces the threat of German U-boats as his convoy carries vital food, raw materials and munitions from North America to war-torn Britain. Hannah lives in constant fear for his safety. When Will brings his Italian friend Paolo Tornabene home to meet Hannah, Hannah’s seventeen-year-old sister Judith falls head-over-heels in love. Their love is put to the test when Mussolini declares war on Britain. Judith’s sweetheart is now classed as an enemy alien. Each sister wants only to be with the man she loves but, as the war progresses, the dangers Will faces at sea escalate. With Paolo now a prisoner, tensions between the sisters boil over. A From heavily blitzed World War 2 Liverpool to the terrors of the North Atlantic and the scorched plains of Australia, Sisters at War will bring tears to your eyes and joy to your heart. Topics : World War 2, Liverpool, Australia, the Liverpool Blitz, British war on the home front, the Battle of the Atlantic, England in WW2, the British merchant navy in WW2, Catholicism, Wrens, submarines, U-boats, war at sea, shipwrecks, torpedo attacks, bombings, Italians in WW2, Italian civilians sent to POW camps, the Arandora Star, the Dunera, Dunera Boys, Victoria internment camps, Tatura, New South Wales, Western Approaches, Winston Churchill, Royal Navy, death at sea, marriage, love story, romantic fiction, historical fiction, historical romance, historical novel, twentieth century love story, 20th century romance, sailor's wife, WVS, women in second world war, love, strong heroine, sisters, family strife, sisterly love, sisterly jealousy, saga, romantic family saga, romantic suspense, romance books, historical books, historical novel, wartime fiction, war, air raids, Nazi Germany, Hitler, Dunkirk, life in the Blitz, family life, marital tensions, illegitimate child, unexpected pregnancy, falling in love, coping with bereavement, emigration, life in Australia, book set in Liverpool, the Pier Head, the Mersey, Birkenhead, A Greater World, Storms Gather Between Us, Perfect for fans of Ann Bennett, Lucinda Riley, Dinah Jefferies, Victoria Hislop, Marius Gabriel, Tracy Chevalier, Fiona Valpy, Deborah Swift, Jenny Ashcroft, Petra Durst-Benning, Nicola Cornick, Janet MacLeod Trotter, Jean Grainger, Marion Kummerow, Kate Furnivall, Kristin Hannah. Sharon Maas, Anna Jacobs, Helen Carey, Catherine Hokin, Sarah Lark, Tania Crosse, Rhys Bowen, Angela Petch, Hazel Gaynor, Jean Fullerton, Katie Flynn, Maureen Lee, Helen Forrester, Nadine Dorries, Elizabeth Murphy, Pam Howes, Lyn Andrews, Ann Baker, Ruth Hamilton, Annie Groves
An epic drama of war and its impact on ordinary people – not only while it's happening, but for the years to follow. These three full-length novels follow the fortunes of Jim Armstrong, a young Canadian soldier in the Second World War, and those of the women he who impact his life. Gwen, a British housewife, afraid to confront her feelings, Joan and Ethel, two young women Jim meets in an English pub, and Alice, his sister-in-law and the woman who broke his heart. From a small seaside town in the firing line of the Luftwaffe, to the British army base at Aldershot, through the plains and mountains of Italy to the rolling farmlands of Ontario, Canada, the three Canadians novels – The Chalky Sea, The Alien Corn and The Frozen River - and their characters will grip you and keep you turning the pages all night.
Three strong women make their way in 1950s Canada English hairdresser, Ethel, alone after the deaths of her family and her wartime fiancé. Widow and single mother, Alice, bringing up two daughters, receives an unexpected inheritance that will transform her life. War bride, Joan, now mother to four small children. All brought together in a rural Canadian town where they each try to build a future – often in spite of the men in their lives. Each woman has a different idea of happiness. Will any or all of them achieve it? The final novel in The Canadians series after The Chalky Sea and The Alien Corn. Grab your copy now and lose yourself in the lives and loves of these women.
The characters in these short stories all have a connection with the fictional town of Menninger, ND, created in the novel The Song Is Ended (2011). Facing adversity, moral conflicts, or just the challenges of living, the characters must find their way in an imperfect world.
The Beauty of the Dead (Jonathan Cape, 1940) featuring fifteen stories, was released to critical acclaim. Pamela Hansford Johnson wrote in John O'London's Weekly that "all have that delicate luminosity by which visions are seen more clearly than in the bright sunlight." 'Old' is a snapshot of an elderly man – no longer appreciated or respected by his children and extended family – during a Sunday tea. He finds a companion in his seven-year-old grand-niece, making animal shapes out of biscuits and eventually falling into a "mesmeric peace" as she brushes his hair. There is a glimpse of Bates's childhood experiences in 'Quartette', written through the eyes of a music director. The story accounts the attraction between two of the singers which the director worries is breaking up the group, yet on their last song he can feel "the passionate quality of their singing transcending the small hot room and the small bewildered minds". Bates had much personal knowledge of choirs and singing through his father, who was a choir director. 'The Bridge' is narrated by a twenty-two-year-old woman while she and her older sister vie for the attention of the same man. The Spectator praised it as "a masterly short story...courageously conceived... thick with symbolism, it is a triumphant display of control." For the first time, this collection features the comic bonus story 'Obadiah'. After a tough, poverty-stricken childhood, Obadiah's scheme to make his fortune begins with a pig. He wanted neither children nor romance, but a partner in business, so when he meets a widow with similar values, he wins her over in what becomes a comic sketch of a bickering couple – a rare and brilliant piece of caricature in Bates's canon. Published in the New Clarion (1933), and not republished since.
