Showing titles in 20th Century

In A Presumption of Death, Jill Paton Walsh tells how World War II changed the lives of Peter, Harriet and their growing family. The story opens in 1940. Harriet Vane - now Lady Peter Wimsey - has taken her children to safety in the country. But the war has followed them: glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalise the villagers; the blackout makes the nighttime lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London.

Autumn 1945 - Off the east coast of England, a Japanese sub surfaces, unloads its mysterious cargo, then blows itself to pieces. Former spy Professor Tom Wilde is enjoying peacetime in Cambridge, settling back into teaching and family life. Until a call from senior MI5 boss Lord Templeman brings him out of retirement. A nearby village has been locked down by the military, its residents blighted by a deadly illness. No one is allowed in or out. There are rumours the Nazi machine is still operational, with links to Unit 731, a notorious Japanese biological warfare research laboratory.

Brought to you by Penguin. Peter and Paul, the two sons of German businessman Harald Winter, are bonded together by a childhood trauma. But as they grow up the brothers also grow apart. When the shadow of the Third Reich falls they become divided by war and their differing ideals - only to meet...

Series 1-5 of the groundbreaking BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during World War One First heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before the broadcast date, and each follows one character’s day...

Jackdaws by Ken Follett is an irresistible novel of the French Resistance, love, courage and revenge set in the Second World War, read by Emilia Fox, who expertly brings the story to life. A Failed Mission Two weeks before D-Day, the French Resistance try to destroy a telephone exchange vital to...

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....

As the Battle of Britain rages, the Castle family are standing their ground at the heart of the community, running Castle's Café. German guns shell Dover and danger lurks around every corner, but despite this, Lily Castle is excited to be starting her nursing career at last. Lily is enjoying her life. She's a good nurse, has a group of friends at the hospital and there is romance on the horizon. That is until her world comes crashing down around her. When she tries to help an injured prisoner of war at the hospital, she ends up implicated in a crime.

London, 1923. Cyril Black is finally out of prison. Rather than going home to his wife and son, he visits his mistress only to find that she's given birth to his daughter - and wants nothing to do with her. His wife, Florrie, reluctantly agrees to take them in. But there's no love in her heart...

'Superbly plotted...pure escapism and utterly joyful' JOANNA CANNON 'Vivid and entertaining, and powered by such a wonderfully dry wit' THE TIMES 'An excellent mystery...superbly rendered' GUARDIAN 'A beautifully woven debut full of escalating secrets...hugely enjoyable' AJ PEARCE 'An...

Brought to you by Penguin. In the early morning hours of 6 November 1943, SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler receives the coded message he has been waiting for "The Eagle has landed." It was to become known as the most daring enemy mission of the entire war: Operation Eagle, Himmler's audacious...

From the top-ten bestselling author of One Snowy Night, Rita Bradshaw, comes The Storm Child, a sweeping family saga set during the run up to WW2 in the north-east of England. It’s mid-winter, and in the throes of a fierce blizzard Elsie Redfern and her husband discover an unknown girl in...

Series 11-15 of the major BBC Radio 4 drama charting life on the home front during the First World War – plus special extended episode Home Front: A Fragile Peace First heard on radio between 4 August 2014 and 9 November 2018, each episode of Home Front is set exactly one hundred years before...

This rip-roaring, high-octane wartime thriller from bestselling author and historian James Holland will keep you on the edge of your seat from first to last. Perfect for fans of Robert Harris, Bernard Cornwell and Ken Follett. 'Has all the pace of the previous three, and is bang on form' --...

Brought to you by Penguin. The gripping and atmospheric new thriller from the award-winning, million-copy-bestselling author. THE CLOSER YOU GET, THE FURTHER YOU HAVE TO FALL . . . Munich, 1936. All eyes are on the Bavarian capital for the upcoming Olympic Games. As athletes fight for gold and...

Paris, 1943. The scent of fresh baguettes hangs in the air as Coralie unbolts the door to her bakery with trembling fingers. She must get out of the city. Hiding her precious leather recipe book inside her coat, she promises never to let the secret locations of the people she worked tirelessly to save fall into German hands… Present day. Raven is unhappy about being shipped off to the other side of the country for the summer to stay with the mysterious French grandmother she barely knows.

Brought to you by Penguin. NOW A SMASH HIT AMAZON PRIME TV STARRING SAM CLAFLIN, RILEY KEOUGH AND CAMILA MORRONE THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO and the bestselling MALIBU RISING 'I LOVE it . . . I can't remember the last time I...

From the globally best-selling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiancé and her brother and regarded by society as a ‘surplus woman’ unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity.

Britain, March, 1944. After a desperate aerial battle over Somerset, a German bomber goes down in flames. When Joan discovers the Luftwaffe pilot hiding in her barn, her first instinct is to turn him in – against her better judgment, she offers him shelter instead. As they work side by side in the fields, a forbidden love begins to flourish. As the walls close in on their unlikely affair, Dieter and Joan's lives become fraught with danger, until passion and patriotism finally collide.

A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK 'As heart-wrenching as it is achingly beautiful' Sadeqa Johnson, author of The House of Eve 'Heartbreaking and life affirming' Adrienne Brodeur, author of Little Monsters 'Courage, friendship, loyalty, hardship, love – this novel has everything' Mary Beth Keane...

July 1947. Britain is still gripped by rationing, even as the excitement of Princess Elizabeth’s engagement sweeps the nation. In the Woolworths’ canteen, Freda is still dreaming of meeting her own Prince Charming. So far she’s been unlucky in love. When she has an accident on her...