Showing results by author "Mary Nichols" in All Categories

Julie Monday enjoys a rare moment of happiness when at the age of eight she visits the Essex seaside and meets eleven-year-old Harry Walker. Ten years later, they meet again. Fated to be together, they marry just before the outbreak of the Second World War. But it’s now 1939, Harry has enlisted, and Julie must face the blitz alone with their son. Travelling back from work one day, Julie is caught in the chaos of a direct hit.

London, 1940. Sheila Phipps is orphaned after a devastating air raid claims her family and her home. She is evacuated to Bletchley to live with her aunt Constance, where she forms an unlikely friendship with Prudence Le Strange, who is working in the code breaking unit at Bletchley. As their friendship grows stronger, the war subjects Sheila and Prue to fresh tragedies as, one by one, those they love are called away to distant battlefields, only to join the growing ranks of the missing, the captured and the dead.

November 1920. Russia may have endured the Revolution, but a brutal war still rages. Distant relatives of the Romanovs, the Kirilov family is closer to danger than most. When tragedy strikes, four-year-old Lydia is separated from her family. Struck by the child's plight, the diplomat Sir Edward Stoneleigh brings her to England, where she grows up well-educated, wealthy and surrounded by a loving family.

Summer, 1939. The de Lacey family believe they are ready for the changes the war will bring. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, is due to return home from her grandparents’ farm in France and is expected to marry Captain Max Coburn. But when Grandpère suffers a stroke, her future is changed. Instead of returning home, Elizabeth chooses to stay and help her grandparents. Max is also stationed in France – but will the war threaten to separate them for ever? Meanwhile, in the village of Nayton, Lucy Storey dutifully cares for her father the stationmaster.

Barbara Bosgrove is looking forward to the annual Harvest Ball. Her widowed father will be her escort, but it is not long before George Kennett seeks her out for a dance. George vows to win Barbara’s hand in marriage and begins a slow and steady courtship. Little by little, Barbara is won over. Worn down by several years of marriage to the unfaithful George, Barbara feels she has lost all the vitality of her youth. But her old friend Simon is not prepared to let Barbara lose sight of the woman she really is.

When Lady Helen Hardingham’s parents say she will never find a better husband than Richard, she agrees to marry him. But all too soon Richard returns to war, and Helen begins to wonder just who she has married. Then she meets Oliver Donovan. As the war continues, Oliver has to return to his regiment – and is never seen again. But Helen is left with more than just her memories: she is with child. Twenty years later and a second war is ravaging Europe.

1939, Warsaw, Poland: Pilot Jan Grabowski receives orders that take him to the heart of the escalating conflict. He leaves behind his wife, Rulka, who sees Poland overcome by the Nazis. In constant danger and amid cruel reprisals, she joins the Resistance. Norfolk: Louise Fairhurst's war is very different. Evacuated with her class of 10-year-olds from London she finds herself acting mother as well as teacher to the children.

Miss Charlotte Cartwright has never forgotten Roland Temple's rejection of her hand in marriage. And she's not about to forgive either - even if Roland, the new Earl of Amerleigh, is now older, wiser and ten times as handsome. Roland has returned home from the wars to find much has changed - including his tempestuous neighbour. He's soon determined to right the wrongs of the past - and this time the hoyden will be his bride!

June 1944: Since her father's stroke, Jean has been trying to run her parents' farm almost single-handedly and is in desperate need of help. Karl, a German prisoner of war, turns out to be just what she needs. Fraternisation with prisoners is forbidden, but as the weeks pass, Jean and Karl become closer - much to the dismay of Jean's family and Karl's compatriots. Can their love have a future when it seems every hand is against them?

A woman worth fighting for! Dr Simon Redfern has risked his heart - and his reputation - over a woman once before. So when he meets Kate Meredith, who is helping a ragged child, he's shocked to find himself longing to make the warm-hearted young widow his wife... Despite family disapproval, Kate volunteers to work at Simon's children's home, and her growing feelings for him throw her into confusion...