Showing results by author "Sheila Everett" in All Categories

A warmhearted and nostalgic festive family saga. Will Tilly finally find a family to call her own? As Christmas grows nearer, Tilly, a young maid, is sent away from her home in London to care for a sick child in an old cottage on the Isle of Sheppey, and she little imagines how her life will change.... Having settled in with her new family, Tilly dares to believe that the happiness she's longed for could be hers at last and that she might finally be free from the secrets of her past.

Number five Kitchener Avenue heralds the start of a new life for the Hope family. For pregnant Miriam, it is a warm, safe environment to bring up her child. For her sister, 14-year-old Barbara, it means independence...and boys. And for Fred, it means the security he craves for his young family. In the lead up to Christmas, the Hopes settle in, and start to make happy memories in their new home. But World War II is round the corner, and this carefree life can't last.

Wales, 1883: Young Ruth Owen, a talented musician with a scholarship to a prestigious music school, has a sparkling career ahead of her. But after a run-in with her mysterious tutor, she flees to London, leaving everything and everyone behind. Fourteen years later, Ruth, now married with two children, finds herself struggling for money and a place to live. Left with no other option, they decide to return to Wales and live on a canal boat. Life on the canals may seem idyllic, but what troubles await her return? And can the past ever truly be forgotten?

Sunny grew in the mother and baby home on Grove Lane, London. The daughter of a wartime nurse and a Polish pilot, she was abandoned by her mother shortly after her birth and taken in by Nan, the warm and gentle proprietor of the home. Never having known her parents, Sunny has always felt like she doesn't quite fit in, but now, at 16 years old, she is ready to find her place in the world. Heading out to start her first job, she finally feels she has some idea of who she wants to be. As 1950s post-war London is changing at a rapid pace, so is Sunny.

Poplar, 1890. Hester Stainsby grew up in Poplar, in London's East End. Living with her father, Fred, her younger twin siblings, Harry and Polly, and self-centred Granny Garter, Hester toils day and night in the laundry room of Poplar Hospital to help put food on the family table. But when Fred is badly injured in an accident at the East India Docks, Hester finds herself the sole breadwinner, with the weight of the world on her shoulders. So as to make a better life for herself and her family, Hester trains to be a nurse and throws herself into her work.

August 1914. Twelve-year-old Mattie and her little sister, Evie, lead an idyllic life in the Suffolk countryside, playing in the meadows and picking watercress in the streams. Living with their family in Plough Cottage, little do they know that this perfect childhood will soon come to an end with the start of the First World War. As the years pass the girls go on to live very different lives. Mattie travels from Suffolk to Plymouth and then to Canada and America, whilst Evie remains in England and pursues her career.

When her family is torn apart, can she find her place in the world? Emma is growing up in the beautiful Norfolk countryside with her family. Life seems idyllic, but little does she know things are about to change. Soon she finds her family split. Her younger siblings are destined for the workhouse whilst Emma takes a job as a cook in a wealthy London household. Then she meets a dashing young fireman. As Emma marries and her family grows, so does her happiness. Until tragedy strikes. Will Emma turn her life around once again?

1934. Following the death of her mother, 12-year-old Tess Rainbow takes on the responsibility of caring for her family. When a plane crash-lands near their home on Romney Marsh, she meets the charming Moray Tann, a young pilot from Scotland, who turns out to be the son of one of her father's rivals. Once nursed back to health, Moray returns to his duties—but not without leaving a mark on Tess' heart.