Showing results for "Girl" in City Life

The Orphanage Girls is a gritty and moving historical saga set in London’s East End, from the bestselling author of The Jam Factory Girls, Mary Wood. Children deserve a family to call their own . . . Ruth dares to dream of another life – far away from the horrors within the walls of Bethnal...

When Amelia Spencer finds herself unmarried, pregnant, and cast out by society, she flees to the Bryant & May match factory, searching for her estranged sister, Sadie. Desperate for a fresh start, Amelia takes work at Bryant & May and dares to dream of a better life for herself and her son. When the shadows of Amelia's past return with a vengeance - and a killer begins stalking the women of Whitechapel - Amelia must fight to protect her child and the life she's struggled to claim, before everything she's fought for is destroyed.

In the bustling heart of London’s East End, Maisie, Amanda and Bethan work long hours at the uniform factory. The pay is poor, the shifts relentless and the bombs fall far too close for comfort ­– but these three women refuse to give in to despair. For when not at the factory, the girls spend their days on the markets of Petticoat Lane, trying to source material in order to make dresses ­– doing their best to bring any small amount of joy in these troubled times. When a chance encounter leads them to a bundle of parachute silk, they decide to think bigger.

Can two friends find hope in hard times? Ruby and Grace have grown up in the poorest slums of Hull. Friends since early childhood, they have supported each other in bad times and good. But their families are bound together by more than friendship, and secrets from the past threaten to make their...

When Libby Nicholls arrives in London, broken-hearted and with her life in tatters, the first person she meets on the bus is elderly pensioner Frank. He tells her about the time in 1962 he met a girl on the number 88 bus with beautiful red hair just like her own. They made plans for a date, but Frank lost the ticket with her number written on it. For the past sixty years, he's ridden the same bus trying to find her. Libby is inspired by the story and, with the help of an unlikely companion, she makes it her mission to continue Frank's search.

Life-long friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate are following in the footsteps of their families, working at the Clarks shoe factory. But when Britain declares war on Germany, the Somerset village of Street is shaken to its core. The Clarks factory is at the heart of life in the village, but the Clark family are Quakers and pacifists. Before long, there are fierce debates amongst the workers and tensions between those who oppose the war and those who believe the village men should go to fight.

Phoebe Spencer left home a long time ago, desperate to get away from her mother's emotional manipulation. She knows her life is better away from her family, but she can’t help feeling she’s simply running away from her problems… Then Phoebe hears that her younger sister Lucy has disappeared, leaving behind her four-year old daughter, Darcy. Phoebe's certain Lucy will be back soon - she'd never leave Darcy alone - and then Phoebe can get on with her life again.

Loretta Chambers has spent her life working at her father’s boatyard down at the docks. She’s tried hard to keep the business afloat, but with the railways taking trade away every day, Lorrie fears for the worst. The arrival of handsome Italian, Matteo Falcone brings a brief glimmer of hope and a yearning inside Lorrie for another life, away from the filthy grime of the dockside.

A new series from bestselling author Kate Thompson. 'Kate Thompson's wartime novels always strike a chord and Secrets of the Homefront Girls is no exception. You can almost smell the Yardley violets drifting over the factory as the girls live lives complicated by the trials and tribulations of...

Can two very different women put aside their differences to save the bookstore they love? The Japanese bestseller that kicked off a seven-book series - adapted for TV and 200,000 copies sold Riko Nishioka is assistant manager of the flagship Pegasus bookstore in Kichijoji. After working her way...

Verity Lockwood despises life at Far View House, where her father and mill owner, Jebediah Lockwood, drowns his fortune—and his wits—in drink. With debts mounting, whispers spread—how much longer can Lockwood’s Mill survive? The dark and dirty mills of Yorkshire are no place for a gently bred young woman, but when Verity learns that her father’s ruin threatens not only her home but the livelihoods of the workers who depend on it, she refuses to stand idly by.

When new mother Bridget catches her train home from London, she witnesses something terrible: a young girl is taken from the platform, right before her eyes. But no one is reported missing, and with Bridget the only witness, she is written off as an attention seeker. Nobody believes her - not even her own husband. But Bridget knows what she saw and becomes consumed with finding the little girl. Only she can save the child’s life...but could delving into the mystery cost Bridget her own?

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro is the French phenomenon by Christine Féret-Fleury ready to charm book-lovers everywhere, for fans of The Little Paris Bookshop and The Elegance of the Hedgehog. When Juliette takes the métro to her loathed office job each morning, her only escape is in books...

Librarian and history enthusiast Jess Yates has hit rock bottom. With her ex behind bars for fraud, Jess needs to lay low – easier said than done with a celebrity sister. But Tavy has her uses. Her latest TV project involves renovating Fortune Hall, and she needs a house sitter while she’s jetting around the world. The opportunity is too good to miss, especially when Jess discovers that Fortune Hall has links to the infamous Nell Gwyn. Slowly the house begins to reveal its mysteries, and secrets that have laid buried for centuries can no longer be ignored.

Housewife Nancy never dreamed that she’d end up in Vickers steelworks factory, but when husband Bert is called up to serve, she needs to put food on the table for her two young children. Betty’s sweetheart, William, has joined the RAF Reserves, so she can’t sit around and do nothing - even if it means giving up her ambitions to study law at night school. Young Patty is relishing the excitement the war brings. But this shop-girl is going to have to grow up quickly, especially now she’s undertaking such back-breaking and dangerous work in the factory.

England, 1940. Only given two days leave after barely escaping Nazi troops in Paris, Lily Baker visits her fiancé’s family and is dismayed to learn he’s still missing in action. And going from an exciting overseas telephonist post to a routine office assignment leaves her bored… until the Blitz begins. Joining the Air Raid Protection service, Lily’s perilous new role puts her on the chaotic frontlines of deadly shelling and scared crowds turning hostile. But despite her heroism, she is plagued by guilt when she starts feeling attracted to a fellow A.R.P. member.

Brown Girls dives deep into the lives of a group of young women of colour growing up in Queens, New York. Here, streets echo with many languages, subways rumble above dollar stores and the briny scent of the ocean wafts in from Rockaway Beach. Here, girls like Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique, and many others, struggle to reconcile their immigrant backgrounds with the American culture they come of age in. Here, they become friends for life. Or so they vow.

One Girl Began entwines the stories of three women, separated by history but connected by the same building. For Ellen in 1909, it is a box factory where she finds work and a transformative circle of friendship when her family fall on hard times. For Frances in 1984, it is a derelict ruin, where she joins a group of squatters and is drawn into a coercive relationship. And for Amanda in 2020, it is a gentrified conversion, where she finds herself trapped in a tiny flat and grappling with new motherhood as the pandemic looms into view.

1938, England. When Lily Baker's mother finds a way for them to leave their run down part of town, and finally esape her aggressive father, Lily is feeling positive about a fresh start at a new life. While her mother will be a housekeeper, Lily has a chance to work in a factory, though she has even bigger dreams - and the tenacity to achieve them. But Lily’s father isn’t going to let go that easily, and she lives in fear of him ruining everything – the life she is building for herself. Will Lily and her mother find the strength to begin all over again?

New York City, 1921. The war is over, the twenties are roaring, but in the depths of the city that never sleeps, Dorothy Parker is struggling to make her mark in a man’s world. She’s penniless, she’s unemployed and her marriage is on the rocks when she starts a bridge group with three extraordinary women—but will they be able to save her from herself? When tragedy strikes, and everything Dorothy holds dear is threatened, it’s up to Peggy, Winifred and Jane to help her confront the truth before it’s too late. Because the stakes may be life or death.