Here’s another selection of sagas that might find their way onto your bookcase this winter. Lovely stories with winter settings and a Christmas flavour in each of them.
A Precious Gift by Rosie Goodwin
Nuneaton 1911
The latest book in the Days of the Week series – Friday’s Child is Loving and Giving.
Holly Farthing has lived with her widowed mother and overbearing grandfather since she was a small child. When she reaches eighteen her Grandfather tries to marry her off to a widower twice her age. When she refuses he withdraws all support and she flees to London with her maid Ivy, her only friend.
Once there, Holly searches for the father she’s never met and begins nurse training in the local hospital. There she meets the dashing Doctor Parkin and falls in love. When he proposes, Holly finally feels she will at last find the happiness she craves -until she discovers some shocking news that means they can never be together.
Heartbroken, she throws herself into supporting the war effort and heads to France, volunteering on the front line.
Encompassing the turbulence of the suffragette movement and the Great War, Rosie Goodwin’s fans will not be disappointed.
Published by Zaffre Hardback £12.99
A Winter Hope by Sheila Newberry
Life is looking good for the Hope family as they move into Number Five Kitchener Avenue in 1932. Fred’s wife, Miriam is expecting their first child and Fred has a secure job as a civil servant. Her sister Doreen 14, has a job at Woolies and welcomes the move along with her new sense of independence. But war is on the horizon and these happy carefree days can’t last.
A window on the world of the Hope family as they and they neighbours adjust to turbulent times.
A warm, cosy read, perfect for the long winter nights.
Zaffre Paperback £7.99. Also available in eBook
A Woman’s War by S Block
Great Paxford, November 1940
If you’re a fan of the TV series Home Fires and wondered what happened after the last episode you’ll find out here.
All the familiar characters appear as life in Great Paxford moves on.
As enemy planes bombard the North West of England, the members of the WI fight harder than ever to do their bit.
Teresa Lucas her reshaped her life to become the perfect wife but the arrival of a new guest threatens all she holds dear.
Laura Campbell is grieving her father. Can she find the confidence to embrace a new future?
Pat Simms plans to escape her difficult life with Bob at the end of the war but when things change at home she begins to question everything she thought she knew.
And farmer, Steph Farrow wonders whether she can live with what she has done.
Zaffre Paperback £6.99. Also available in eBook