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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When the truth lies buried in the past... Finding herself pregnant Julia Winter is forced to leave home rather than bring shame on her family. Reduced to living in the slums of Liverpool she eventually finds work in a respectable hotel where Eunice Hawkins the manager's wife is also expecting. For a while Julia dares to hope for a better life for herself & her unborn child. But soon tragedy strikes
- Julia's baby is stillborn at the same time as Eunice gives birth to a healthy baby girl Amanda. Although heartbroken at the death of her own baby Julia helps to look after Amanda. However Paul & Eunice Hawkins hide a secret too terrible to reveal & it is only after their untimely deaths & teenage Amanda's sudden disappearance that Julia finds out the truth. & just when she might have a chance of happiness at last she is faced with the hardest decision of all...
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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. ...

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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Yvonne Collinson Heath will never forget the telephone call that changed her life for ever. On 23 March 2002 her eldest son James
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Since the untimely death of her husband young mother Effie Grey has been forced to live on a narrowboat owned by her tyrannical father-in-law Jacob. In spite of her own despair she is determined to protect her brother Tom & her baby son Georgie from Jacob's bullying ways
- for she is all they have in the world. But when Jacob hires villainous Salter & his vile wife Sal to run the barge Effie's life becomes even more unbearable & Tom is sent packing without a penny to his name. Forced to live on deck with little to shelter her & Georgie from the elements tormented by the Salters Effie is driven to desperation. & stealing Jacob's hidden cache of money she escapes with her son. As she begins her frantic search for Tom Effie vows that whatever happens she will make a home for little Georgie & keep him safe from harm.
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