Showing titles in World War I

Have you ever wondered why the “war to end all wars” left an entire generation physically alive but spiritually shattered? All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is one of the most powerful and unflinching portrayals of war ever written, revealing the true human cost behind the battlefield. Through the eyes of Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier, readers are drawn into the brutal reality of trench warfare during World War I.

In 1895, a Northumbrian island welcomes two new residents. Clara and Jimmy are born on the same night, to families poles apart. Clara is an islander through and through; content to live among the rhythms and barren beauty of Holy Island. Jimmy's future is set in stone; fishing with the father he despises on the family boat. When tragedy forces them from their island and each other, they join the herring season in a bid to survive. Jimmy strikes out for Seahouses, where he joins a Scots herring crew.

Belinda Layton is a surplus girl. One of the many women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, with the death of her beloved fiancé, Ben. After four years of mourning, she finally feels ready to face whatever her future holds without him. But Ben's family can't countenance her putting him to rest, while all her own family care about is getting hold of her meagre factory wages. When Belinda joins a secretarial class to try to better herself, little does she imagine that it will open up a whole new world to her.

It is the beginning of the Somme Offensive and thousands of British and French soldiers are about to assault the German lines. The RFC comes of age as they sweep the German Fokkers from the skies. Providing a protective umbrella over the Somme they ensure that the offensive does not fail. When the Germans retaliate with their new and deadly Albatros fighters the pendulum swings in favour of the Germans and Bill and 41 Squadron find themselves with their backs to the walls as they fight a superior aircraft in the skies of northern France.

London, 1969: The Kray twins, the nemeses of Charles Holborne, barrister, are finally convicted of multiple murders and sent away for the longest prison terms ever imposed by a British court. But with London in the grip of a housing crisis and unscrupulous landlords hiking rents, there are new ruthless enforcers terrorizing destitute East Enders. When a tenant dies during a violent altercation with bailiffs, Charles is instructed to represent the businessmen charged with conspiracy to murder.

The Battle of Arras is about to begin and the new German fighters will rule the skies in what will become Bloody April when the Royal Flying Corps begin to lose pilots and crews in huge numbers. 41 Squadron become the one hope on the Arras front and Bill, Gordy and Ted have to fight for their lives against the new Albatros and Baron Manfred Von Richthofen. The novel moves between the war in France and the home front to give a graphic snapshot of the war in the Spring of 1917.

In February, 1922, at the western-most entrance to Victoria Station in Manchester, a massive plaque was unveiled. Beneath a vast tiled map showing the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway network, a series of seven bronze panels recorded the names of the men of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War - a total of 1,460 names. In March, 1940, a group of women of varying ages and backgrounds stands in front of the memorial, ready to do its bit in this new World War.... 

A major BBC Radio 4 drama series following the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War I Meticulously based on unit war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each of these 42 episodes of Tommies traces one real day at war, exactly 100 years ago. We follow the fortunes of Mickey...

In a snowbound London, danger races down the tracks—can Becky and Flynn derail disaster before it’s too late? December 1915. Becky lies silent in a coma, framed for treason, while Flynn is caught in a treacherous web of spies and lies. With Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes unable to intervene, the stakes have never been graver. The enemy is relentless, and the battle has never been more personal.

1918. The Great War is over, and Clara Carter has boarded a train bound for Cornwall - to meet a family that would once have been hers. But they must never discover her secret... 2020. Caroline has spent years trying to uncover the lies buried in her family history. And once she arrives in Cornwall, the truth finally seems to be in reach. Except with storm clouds gathering on the horizon, Caroline soon learns that some secrets are best left hidden....

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of An Italian Girl in Brooklyn comes a captivating new novel of enduring love and devastating secrets, based on a true story. 'Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore' JOJO MOYES Rupert promised he was going to come back. All Florence had to do was...

The Wronged Daughter by Mary Wood is an emotional and moving novel that reunites old friends and heals old wounds. Mags has never forgotten the friendship she forged with Flora and Ella, two fellow nurses she served with at the beginning of World War I. Haunted by what she experienced during...

Ulysses depicts a world that is as fully conceived and vibrant as anything in Homer or Shakespeare. It has been delighting and puzzling readers since it was first published on Joyce's 40th birthday in 1922. And here, Professor Heffernan maps the brilliance, passion, humanity, and humor of Joyce's modern Odyssey in these 24 lectures that finally make a beguiling literary masterpiece accessible for anyone willing to give it a chance.

Brought to you by Penguin. Consisting of four novels - Some Do Not..., No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up and The Last Post - Parade's End is the story of Christopher Tietjens and his progress from the secure world of Edwardian England into the First World War and beyond. Both a portrait of a...

The Jam Factory Girls Fight Back is a moving historical novel of friendship set in the heart of pre-WWI London from bestselling author, Mary Wood. Can they claim what is rightfully theirs? From the moment Len came into their lives, everything changed for Millie and Elsie. Both fell in love with...

Staffordshire, 1911. Money is in short supply for Ginnie Jones’ family, and she is sent to Haddon Workhouse. When she meets Clara and Sam, she hopes that she has made friends for life...until tragedy strikes. Three years later, Ginnie finds work as a mouldrunner at the Potteries, but never stops thinking about her friends. When Sam and Ginnie are reunited, their bond is as strong as ever, until Sam is sent to fight in the war. Can Ginnie find the joy that she’s never had?

The War had left him a shattered man, but its toll was not nearly so great as losing the love of his life. Few understand Elliot’s anguish at losing Nadine. He came back from the War a shattered and lonely man. But his return to the Eliot family refuge on England’s Hampshire coast is...

It is a June day in London in 1923, and the lovely Clarissa Dalloway is having a party. Whom will she see? Her friend Peter, back from India, who has never really stopped loving her? What about Sally, with whom Clarissa had her life’s happiest moment? Meanwhile, the shell-shocked Septimus Smith is struggling with his life on the same London day.

A leisurely weekend among the British gentry reveals the cracks in their upper-class society in this "beautifully crafted" historical fiction novel set in pre-WWI England (Washington Post). It is the autumn of 1913. Sir Randolph Nettleby has assembled a brilliant array of guests at his...

As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong 21-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage. When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden.