Freda Lightfoot
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Series
Language
English
Description
As the Great War looms, a single mother works to open her own business while weathering hardships in this saga by The Girl from Poor House Lane.
After giving birth to her daughter, Kate O'Connor finds herself back in Poor House Lane with some momentous decisions to make.
Faced with the opportunity to move out of the slums, she invests her unexpected fortune in a new shoe factory to challenge Eliot Tyson's monopoly over the workforce, regardless...
2) Ruby McBride
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Sent to an orphanage by a terminally ill mother and later forced into a marriage at sixteen, a young woman vows to reunite her family in this moving saga.
Where there's a rulebook, there's a rebel . . .
Ruby McBride has always been on the wrong side of authority. The grand opening of the Manchester Ship Canal is set to be a day of unfettered festivity for Ruby and her younger sister and brother. Even Queen Victoria will be in attendance.
But...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
In this Depression-era tale of love and endurance, a young woman must decide how much she'll sacrifice to protect her family.
Dolly Tomkins has always known what it is to live hand to mouth. In the mean streets of a Salford struggling under the mantle of the Great Depression, the only one making a decent living is the talleyman.
Though Nifty Jack has a money bag where his heart should be, Dolly's mam is in hock up to her ears and in dire need...
4) Candy Kisses
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
In this thrilling saga set in 1950s Manchester, new love and old rivalries cross paths in a sumptuous sweet shop.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone dotes on Aunty Dot, as much as they do on her homemade sweets. The plump, smiling woman has provided a loving home for many a troubled child over the years, and Lizzie Pringle is no exception.
Lizzie would do anything for her foster mother-even take on local sweet manufacturer and...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Following World War I, an English wife and mother faces a battle of her own, struggling to keep her family together in this moving saga.
The Great War is over, and Kate is ready to welcome back Eliot with open arms. But her husband is a changed man. Kate has become used to her independence, and Eliot's return creates tensions both at work and at home, particularly with Kate's son, Callum.
It tears Kate apart to see such strife between the two men...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
The new girl working at an elegant hat stall stirs up trouble in this enthralling saga of secrecy and sisterhood set in 1950s Manchester.
When Patsy talks her way into a job on the Champion Street Market millinery stall, the Higginson sisters get more than they bargained for.
Riddled with insecurities, Patsy's impudence wins her new enemies as well as friends and her determination to solve the riddle of her own past starts to unravel secrets...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
A waitress worries she's fallen for her brother's killer in this moving saga of second chances and forbidden love set in 1950s Manchester.
Folk are just emerging from the shadow of WWII, and money is still tight. So the vibrant market of Champion Street is a source of many a tempting bargain-as well as all the local gossip.
Dena loves her Saturday job at Belle Garside's market café, and her ready smile makes her a universal favourite. She is...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
In this emotional saga set around 1950s Manchester hair salon, a mother's revelation throws a young woman's world into darkness.
It's a rainy day on Champion Street as Harriet attends the funeral of her beloved father. But then her grandmother drops a bombshell on her out of nowhere, and she can hardly take in the words for shock and grief.
Joyce, the woman she has always called Mam, isn't really her mother. After all this time, it at least explains...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
When World War II brings danger to Manchester, a young woman sent to stay with her criminal uncle must find courage in this saga.
Jess Delaney has always longed for independence. But when the Blitz reaches Manchester, she is locked in the cellar by her feckless mother, Lizzie. As bombs rain down from a sky turned blood red with flame, Jess waits for Lizzie to return.
But fortunes are fickle, and soon Jess finds herself packed off to live with...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
In this gripping saga set around a flower stall in 1950s Manchester, a new romance gives a young gossip something to talk about.
Working on their busy flower stall in Champion Street Market, Lynda and her mother, Betty, have lots of opportunities to observe their customers and speculate about their lives.
Sam regularly buys bouquets for his wife, Judy, so why does she always look so worn out and miserable? Then there's Leo, who comes every week...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
In this gripping saga, a single mother in 1905 northern England wants to give her son a better life but she's unprepared for the consequences.
The slums of Poor House Lane are no place to bring up a child, and Kate O'Connor struggles to make ends meet when her beloved husband is killed, leaving her a single mother with a baby to support on the meagre hand-outs she gleans from charity. So when the childless Tysons, owners of Kendal's shoe factory,...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Working at a women's clinic in 1920s England alienates a young woman from her family and endangers so much more in this emotional saga.
Isabella Ashton has always been her father's favourite, but when she gets involved with the new Birth Control Movement, he is scandalised. A decade has elapsed since the end of the Great War and running a family planning clinic in Salford is challenging but rewarding work.
Bella is grateful for the help of Violet...
13) Wishing Water
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Will her desire for love have disastrous consequences?
Lissa Turner has everything a girl could wish for. She's beautiful, intelligent and has a wonderful family in the beautiful Lake District. Despite her good fortune though, Lissa is not happy. Her real mother abandoned her as a baby and her feelings of confusion and vulnerability have persisted.
As soon as she is old enough she takes up a job in Carreckwater, a lively village in the heart of...
Author
Language
English
Description
Sunday Times bestselling author Freda Lightfoot is back with a heartwarming story of life after the war.
She must keep her family together...
The war is over and Evie Talbert eagerly awaits the return of her three children from their evacuated homes. But her carefree daughters and son are barely recognisable - their education has been disrupted, the siblings split up, and the effect on them has been life-changing. Her son has developed serious behavioural...
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Series
Language
English
Description
Against the backdrop of the theatre, a real life drama plays out...
After fleeing from a marriage arranged by her ambitious mother, Katherine throws herself into an acting career, but a scandal threatens to wreck everything she has worked for.
Charlotte believes she can have any man she wants, and she wants Archie — no matter who is standing in her way.
Esme is in love with the life and vibrancy of the theatre, and the contrast to the life of...
16) Luckpenny Land
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Series
Language
English
Description
Can she overcome her family's doubts to achieve her dream?
Meg Turner has a hard life. She lives on a lonely farm in the Lake District and her only company is her bully of a father and her brother, who resents her. They want to keep her at home, but Meg is desperate for more.
She finds comfort in her best friend, Kath, and Lanky Lawson, who is more of a father figure to her than her own. Her true source of hope though, is Lanky's son, Jack, who...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
An old secret is about to be uncovered...
Daisy is devastated when her lover, Percy, abandons her. All alone, Daisy is forced by her own mother to give up her baby son for adoption — shortly before she throws Daisy out. War is imminent, and Daisy is evacuated to the Lake District, where she eventually tracks down her black-sheep aunt, Florrie. Together they set up a guest house, and when Daisy meets and falls in love with a young airman, Harry,...
18) Lakeland Lily
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Series
Language
English
Description
When tragedy strikes, she must find a new path...
Lily Thorpe is spirited, ambitious and desperate to escape the poverty of her Lake District home, and marry her secret sweetheart Dick Rawlins. But tragedy strikes and Dick is killed in a boating accident caused by the wealthy and arrogant Clermont-Read family. Lily is forced to reassess her future, and she embarks on a quest for revenge and marries Bertie Clermont-Read.
The young couple are rejected...
19) Lady of Passion
Author
Language
English
Description
Experience a "surprisingly moving" tale of love, ambition, and heartbreak in this historical romance based on the life of Mary Robinson (Historical Novel Society). Bright, talented, and well-educated, young Mary Robinson aspires to be an actress, but her mother has other plans. Married off to a man that gambles away their money and is constantly unfaithful, Mary turns to the stage to support herself. It is there that she draws the attention of one...
Author
Language
English
Description
Brenda Stuart returns to her late husband's home devastated by his loss only to find herself accused of bestowing favours upon the Germans. Life has been difficult for her over the war, having been held in an internment camp in France simply because of her nationality. Thankful that her son at least was safe in the care of his grandmother, she now finds that she has lost him too, and her life is in turmoil.
Prue, her beloved sister-in-law, is also...