Historical War Saga

Bella is born into a life of comfort and privilege, with parents who adore her. They encourage her to travel and to speak her mind. But when she falls in love it reveals a long-buried secret at the very centre of her family. The layers of deception lead to tragedy, destroying all she holds so dear. However, change beckons for everyone as the threat of war looms. Bella and all around her must face a new beginning.

It’s 1854. In the East, tension between North and South pulled the country apart, with a weak President helpless to stop it and Secretary of War Jefferson Davis following his own agenda. But in the West, a different threat arose. A new generation of Apache leaders were taking over, who would no longer talk peace with the White Eyes. Instead they would fight with the courage, daring, and brilliance that was the Apache pride.

Russia, 1917. Petrograd is on the eve of revolution. For Countess Sophia Orlova, the city of her childhood—the only home she has ever known—has become her deadly enemy. The mob are ready to get rid of anyone connected to the old regime, including Sophia. When rebels threaten to shoot Sophia and her husband, they are saved by Nikolai, a fervent supporter of the revolution. Determined to help Nikolai’s cause, Sophia sets up a hospital wing in the house, nursing injured victims by his side.

East London, 1940. At the outbreak of war, hopeless romantic Prue Carmichael and her sister must leave their rural parish behind when their father is posted to a church in Stepney. To Prue, the blitz-ravaged streets of London seem an unlikely place for love to bloom – until a chance encounter throws rakish engineer Jack Quinn into her path. But as their connection deepens, his troubled past begins to emerge, and Prue realises Jack has secrets to hide.

Kent, 1953. The Woolworths Erith store, a beloved cornerstone of the community, faces closure if the December turnover fails to increase. And, as if store manager Betty Billington doesn't have enough on her plate, personnel shortages and a troublesome new employee add to the strife. With Christmas on the horizon, Betty and her staff must strive to find solutions to improve business and keep the store running – from special events for late-night customers to a festive group trip into central London.

Severine Kassel is asked by the Louvre in 1963 to aid the British Museum with curating its antique jewellery, her speciality. Her London colleagues find her distant and mysterious, her cool beauty the topic of conversations around its quiet halls. No one could imagine that she is a desperately damaged woman, hiding her trauma behind her chic French image. It is only when some dramatic Byzantine pearls are loaned to the museum that Severine's poise is dashed and the tightly controlled life she's built around herself is shattered....

After a devastating injury, Petra is rescued by a woman and her family deep in the bayous of Southern Louisiana...not far from her home. If only she could remember that. But even as she struggles with memory loss, a more significant threat looms. A danger that no member of the pack could have ever dreamed of existing. When vigilantes from the ‘old country’ set their sights on destroying all the American alphas, men begin turning up dead in every state from New York to West Virginia, and the killings stretch ever south towards the walls of Heureuse. It doesn’t take long for the wolves ...

War rages, but the women and children of Liverpool’s Dr Barnardo’s Home cannot give up hope.... Liverpool, 1943. Yorkshire is the place Lana has always called home, but it’s now filled with painful memories of her fiancé, Dickie, who was killed at sea. When she accepts the challenging position of headmistress at a school in Liverpool, she hopes a new beginning will help to mend her broken heart.

It's the most wonderful time of the year - and the East End Angels are working hard to keep Londoners safe. Frankie is trying to keep everything together. She can count on the support of the East End Angels, even in the face of family trouble. Winnie's husband is putting himself at risk every day in the bomb disposal unit. Bella's friendship with Winnie's brother, James, is getting closer all the time. Christmas on the Home Front is a hard time with loved ones far away - but the women of the Auxiliary Ambulance service are making do and mending.

With London still in the grip of war, Cordelia, Mavis, and Jane find themselves facing a new challenge. Determined to make a difference, the librarians band together to organise rent strikes, standing up against dirty landlords and unfair practices. Meanwhile, with the arrival of American GIs in the East End, Cordelia is presented with a temptation too irresistible to bear. Should she follow her head or her heart – stay faithful to her beloved Robert fighting abroad, or enjoy the brief respite from the constant air raids and destruction?

Yugoslavia, 1941. Yugoslavia - hitherto neutral - finds itself at war with Germany as the pro-Nazi government is overthrown and replaced by a pro-Allied administration. The staff at the British Embassy make hasty plans to leave the country, but one of the military attachés, Captain Tony Davis, is separated from his comrades. Together with a motley crew of refugees, Davis escapes into the mountains of the west and begins a breathtaking series of adventures as he encounters the remnants of the Serbian army, the dreaded Ustase terrorists and, eventually, the Partisans.

Brussels, April 1915. A beautiful young woman finds herself on the run from the enemy. Also being pursued is Ned Scott, a British army major who has been badly injured. The pair find themselves at a hospital run by the famous Edith Cavell, who agrees to treat the major while offering them both refuge and a false identity - she names the young girl Anna.

1944. With deadly doodlebugs terrorising London, Bessie Rushbrook agrees to give shelter to eight-year-old evacuee Marigold in her home. But, the little girl is no stranger, and Bessie must honour the promise she gave to Marigold's mother and not reveal her connection to the child. Marigold's arrival stirs up Bessie's memories from the past when the world was at war the first time. She is forced to face her actions from those days and question the secret that she's long kept hidden. When Grace is injured in London, Bessie makes the heart-wrenching decision to confess her secret.

Vowing to honour her dead father's memory, 23-year-old Wanda throws herself into the Polish resistance, risking her life to transport ammunition for the uprising against the Nazis. But a clandestine meeting with an informant reveals a shocking twist. The man before her is the very soldier who took her father's life. Claiming to be a double agent, the informant sparks doubt, forcing Wanda to make a life-altering decision: trust the man she hates most in the world or jeopardize her network's crucial mission.

Housewife Nancy never dreamed that she’d end up in Vickers steelworks factory, but when husband Bert is called up to serve, she needs to put food on the table for her two young children. Betty’s sweetheart, William, has joined the RAF Reserves, so she can’t sit around and do nothing - even if it means giving up her ambitions to study law at night school. Young Patty is relishing the excitement the war brings. But this shop-girl is going to have to grow up quickly, especially now she’s undertaking such back-breaking and dangerous work in the factory.

Über die Kostbarkeit der Bücher. Dichter Nebel wogt durch die Gassen der Bücherstadt Leipzig, 1933, als das Böse die Macht ergreift. Hier entspinnt sich die tragische Liebe des Buchbinders Jakob Steinfeld zu einer rätselhaften jungen Frau. Juli hat ein Buch geschrieben, das sie einzig ihm anvertrauen will. Doch bald darauf verschwindet sie spurlos. Fast vierzig Jahre später ist auch Jakobs Sohn Robert den Büchern verfallen.

Liverpool, World War II. Monica Eustace and Joan McDonald met as next-door-neighbours living in Mersey View in Liverpool. Their friendship is a close as ever, though they're married now, and sharing Monica's grand house on the other side of the city. But war clouds are gathering, casting a shadow over the happy future they dream of with their young husbands. Meanwhile, in London, Joan's half-sister Bella is overwhelmed with the glitz and glamour of the city while she's training as a singer - but will she forget her friends back home?

March, 1941. After Flo Butterworth loses everything in Manchester's Christmas Blitz, she decides to leave the area and join the Women's Land Army. Putting the past firmly behind her, she arrives at Rookery House in Norfolk hoping for a new start and a chance to do the gardening work she loves. The grip of war has intensified and growing more food is vital to keep the nation going. Thea buys an extra field to grow crops, and in the village, her sister Prue leads members of The Mother's Day Club and Women's Institute as they take on a derelict allotment.

Morgan Becket became one of Ainsley Becket’s family of orphans when her sailor father buttoned his pants and got up from the bed of her prostitute mother, who later sold her to Ainsley. The price, a single gold coin and a bottle of gin. To please Ainsley, the fairly volatile Morgan travels to London to acquire some Town Bronze and enjoy a Season. Setting the exotically beautiful, high-spirited Morgan Becket loose on the London marriage mart is a gamble that can end either in triumph or complete disaster, as Morgan believes she can never be better than the circumstances of her birth, and ...

In a remote Newfoundland outpost at the onset of the Second World War, the young Catholic Wish Furey meets the passionate, independent 16-year-old Protestant Sadie Parsons. They begin an intense affair that is cut short as prejudice and mistrust drive Wish away, into the British Army and the war. At home in Newfoundland, Sadie turns her back on her family and moves to St. John's to wait for Wish - until she receives word that he is dead. Fifty years later, Sadie returns to Newfoundland to scatter her American husband's ashes and to face her past.