From rural rags to brief riches & back to ruin this is a moving saga of hard work bad luck & finally hope for a familys future. Gloria Sullivan cant quite believe where she has ended up. Growing up with no money worries she fell head over heels in love with the handsome hardworking Irishman employed by her father. They were the golden couple
- until the Wall Street crash when everything was lost. Finally she agreed to start again in London with husband Joe & their small son. World War Two was raging & Joe laboured on the docks by day & fighting fires by night. He was a hero
- but one dreadful fire left him terribly injured. Once more Gloria resolved to leave everything behind & to take Joe home to his family farm in Ireland his only hope of recovery. Gloria now dutifully nurses her husband but she cant settle in the countryside. Then a nearby American base begins recruiting civilians. Gloria tells everyone its her chance to do her bit
- but will she be tempted to do much more?


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When Eloise Cribb receives the news that her husband's ship has been lost at sea she wonders how she is ever going to manage. With two young children the rent overdue & almost nothing to live on she has no alternative but to turn to his estranged family for help. She sets off on the long & arduous journey to Yorkshire but is met with hostility & soon realises she has little choice but to return to London. Virtually destitute & desperate Eloise is faced with her worst nightmare: she must either go to the workhouse or abandon her children at the Foundling Hospital. But she is determined to keep them safe & under her protective wing at all costs... ...

Taken in by her grandparents to ease the pressure on her poverty-stricken family Katie Benfield knows she's one of the lucky ones. Even so she dreams of a better life & of pursuing a nursing career. Despite many hardships Katie achieves her goal but tragedy strikes Winton Colliery & both her grandfather & Katie's childhood sweetheart Billy are killed in a mining accident. Shocked & distraught Katie finds herself vulnerable to the advances of the owner of the mine Matthew Hamilton a married man who wastes no time in taking advantage of her. Thrown out by her grandmother her reputation & career in tatters Katie finds herself facing a home for unmarried mothers. Only Matthew Hamilton offers her a way to keep her baby but only if she forgoes her principles & becomes his mistress... ...

Gosport 1941. Fourteen-year-old Vera has led a sheltered life with her overbearing religious mother & older sister. But her world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Lovell family on her street. Vera quickly befriends the daughter Angela an impulsive worldly young woman who opens Vera's eyes to what she has been missing. But Vera unaware of the effect she has on men invites the unwanted attention of Angela's father with devastating consequences. Outraged at the news that her teenage daughter is pregnant Vera's mother sends her to a home for wayward girls. After giving birth to a baby boy Vera manages to escape the brutality of the institution only to end up homeless. Alone & struggling to make ends meet Vera is determined to give her son a better life
- at any cost. But just as their fortunes seem to change for the better everything Vera has worked for is threatened... June Hampson brings heartbreak warmth & humour to this compelling tale of family tragedy & a young mother's fight for her son.
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Gosport 1941. Fourteen-year-old Vera has led a sheltered life with her overbearing religious mother & older sister. But her world is turned upside down with the arrival of the Lovell family on her street. Vera quickly befriends the daughter Angela an impulsive worldly young woman who opens Vera's eyes to what she has been missing. But Vera unaware of the effect she has on men invites the unwanted attention of Angela's father with devastating consequences. Outraged at the news that her teenage daughter is pregnant Vera's mother sends her to a home for wayward girls. After giving birth to a baby boy Vera manages to escape the brutality of the institution only to end up homeless. Alone & struggling to make ends meet Vera is determined to give her son a better life
- at any cost. But just as their fortunes seem to change for the better everything Vera has worked for is threatened...
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THE FOURTH PATRICK MELROSE NOVEL The once illustrious once wealthy Melroses are in peril. Caught up in the wreckage of broken promises child-rearing adultery & assisted suicide Patrick finds his wife Mary consumed by motherhood his mother in thrall to a New Age foundation & his young son Robert understanding far more than he should. But even as the family struggles against the pull of its ever-present past a new generation brings a new tenderness & the possibility of change. ...

When Hetty Huggins made a promise to her dying mother that she would look after her younger sister & brothers little did she know how difficult this would be. But despite the threat of being turned out onto the streets by the unscrupulous tallyman & the never-ending struggle just to exist Hetty is determined her family will never starve or want for a roof over their heads. Longing for something better out of life than the daily grind of making matchboxes for a pittance she dreams of setting up her own business. With the help of friends she sells hot potatoes on the streets & things begin to look up for them all. But when the tallyman comes calling they are faced once more with a future full of hardship & despair.. . ...

You can't choose your family! When Sally & her family have to move back to Candle Lane to look after her grandmother the cracks in their family soon begin to show. Another compelling family drama from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lost Angel & Nobody's Girl. CRUEL When her beloved Gran has a stroke Sally & her family move back home in order to look after her. But Sadie's illness has made the wise woman they once knew bigoted & bad-tempered. Sadie is testing everyone's patience including Sally's mum Ruth & her husband Arthur. CALLOUS Their problems are nothing compared with Tommy the little ruffian next door. With an absentee father & an alcoholic mother Tommy has a hard life. However Ruth sees the good in him & takes him under her wing but his unpredictable & violent mother has other ideas. CRISIS Meanwhile the stress of living cheek-by-jowl with Sally's family is starting to push Arthur away. As cracks in their marriage begin to appear both Sally & Arthur must work out where their priorities lie before it's too late! Another compelling family drama from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lost Angel & Nobody's Girl. ...

When seventeen-year-old Belinda Phillips falls in love with a handsome Anglo-Indian officer she knows that he is a man she can never hope to marry. When he is reported missing believed killed in action Belinda discovers that she is pregnant. Facing disgrace & ruin she has no option other than to accept an arranged marriage with a middle-aged widower knowing she must keep the secret of her child's birth for ever. Reluctantly she sends her beloved daughter to a foster mother in Cripplegate little realising she has entrusted Cassy's care to Biddy Henchard a woman who runs a notorious baby farm in an area full of poverty & disease. Despite her terrible upbringing Cassy survives the old woman's cruel neglect. All the while she dreams of a mother she has never known hoping she will come & save her from her dreadful fate. But when Biddy dies suddenly ten-year-old Cassy finds herself destitute & with little hope of ever finding the mother she so longs for... ...

Phoebe Giamatti lives with her boisterous Italian family in the heart of London's East End. Phoebe's father was killed in gang warfare & she & her family share a deep hatred for the Paxman brothers
- whose lawless ways strike terror into the whole community. Despite her English mother's feckless ways Phoebe is fiercely protective of Annie. Then just as the family are about to go to Italy for the winter Phoebe discovers Annie is in trouble
- & the Paxmans are involved. Phoebe is determined not to betray her mother's trust & giving up her own chance of happiness she stays behind to care for her. But when Phoebe & Annie are forced to leave London & Annie falls dangerously ill Phoebe has little choice but to turn to the man she holds responsible for all her family's troubles...

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