If you don’t learn from history . . .You’re destined to repeat itNot without you, she’d said. And I’d let her down…Hollywood, 1961: when beautiful, much-loved movie star Eve Noel vanishes at the height of her fame, no-one knows where, much less why.Fifty years later, another young British actress, Sophie Leigh, lives in Eve’s house high in the Hollywood Hills. Eve Noel was her inspiration and Sophie, disenchanted with her life in LA, finds herself becoming increasingly obsessed with the mystery of her idol's disappearance. And the more she finds out, the more she realises Eve’s life is linked with her own.As Eve’s tragic past and the present start to collide, Sophie needs to unravel the truth to save them both – but is she already too late? Becoming increasingly entangled in Eve’s world, Sophie must decide whose life she is really living . . .
Robbed in Iran and imprisoned for over 100 days for suspected espionage, this is the true story of one woman's shocking ordeal in the country she called home.The morning of 30 December 2006 began routinely for Haleh Esfandiari. The Iranian-American academic was due to return home to the United States after visiting her ailing mother in Tehran. She got into a taxi to the airport, and was driven by the driver who she always used when in Iran. Fifteen minutes later, Haleh was robbed at knife point by three men, who threatened to kill her. Her baggage, two passports and identification cards were all stolen.Without her documentation, Haleh was unable to leave Iran. What appeared to be an ordinary theft was almost certainly a stage-managed robbery by agents of Iran's Intelligence Ministry, conducted to keep Haleh in the country. This was the beginning of her eight-month Iranian saga – starting with endless hours of interrogation, intimidation and threat, and ending with her release from prison after over 100 days in solitary confinement.Revealing, gripping and, at times, alarming, Haleh Esfandiari's ordeal acts as a microcosm of Iran's difficulties in dealing with the outside world and the modernity that the country only half-embraces.
Romantic Association Novelist's
Indulge yourself…With over forty stories to choose from, this fabulous collection has something for everyone – from bittersweet holiday flings to emotional family weepies; from fun chick-lit tales to Regency romances – Loves Me, Loves Me Not is a true celebration of the very best in romantic fiction.Read all-new stories from the bestselling authors of today and discover the bestselling authors of tomorrow.
A heartrending tale of love and tragedy during The Birmingham Blitz. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Annie Groves.For Kathy O’Malley, life has not been easy with her husband, Barry, out of work and with two children to feed. Then when war breaks out in 1939, many of the local men enlist, including Barry, leaving the women to cope as best they can.The years that follow are full of hardship: rationing, nightly air raids and endless shifts working at the local munitions factory all take their toll on Kathy who longs to feel the strong arms of her husband around her once more.When she meets Doug, a handsome American GI, she is drawn immediately drawn to him but determined to honour her marriage vows. But after she receives a telegram informing that her husband is missing, presumed dead, she makes a decision that will have consequences, not just for herself, but for the lives of all those she loves too…
Following the fortunes of some of the much-loved characters from her bestseller ‘The Journey’, Josephine Cox’s powerful novel spans continents, decades and generations of one family.Like a ghost from the past, she walked along the platform towards them…It has been over twenty years since Vicky Maitland set foot on English soil. Twenty years since she left Liverpool with her three children, bound for a new life in America, leaving her beloved husband Barney behind.But this long journey home is the hardest of all. She is here in search of the truth, afraid of what she may find. Why did Barney turn against his family so suddenly, so cruelly? Only her old friend Lucy Baker knows what happened. And Lucy promised Barney she would never tell his secret. Is it time she broke her silence and explained the events of so long ago?
Rags-to-riches saga set in LancashireHUNTER’S MOON tells the story of Alice Rimmer, a rebellious child brought up in a Salford orphanage, who discovers her true identity. She tracks down and plans revenge upon the remaining members of her rich, privileged family, and thus begins her involvement with the troubled household. She learns the hard way that money can’t buy happiness nor a sense of self-worth, and every act undertaken in spite causes even more trouble…
The dead hand of a long-defeated Nazi Third Reich reaches out to Portugal, London and Marrakech in Deighton’s second novel, featuring the same anonymous narrator and milieu of The IPCRESS File, but finds Dawlish now head of the secret British Intelligence unit, WOOC(P).The Ipcress File was a debut sensation. Here in the second Secret File, Horse under Water, skin-diving, drug trafficking and blackmail all feature in a curious story in which the dead hand of a long-defeated Hitler-Germany reaches out to Portugal, London and Marrakech, and to all the neo-Nazis of today's Europe.The detail is frightening but unfaultable; the story as up to date as ever it was. The un-named hero of The Ipcress File the same: insolent, fallible, capricious – in other words, human. But he must draw on all his abilities, good and bad, when plunged into a story of murder, betrayal and greed every bit as murky as the waters off the coast of Portugal, where the answers lie buried.
Home for Christmas is a tale of four very different young women thrown together by war. Finding freedom and independence – as well as love, passion and heartbreak – for the very first time, a unique bond is formed as the hostilities take their toll on Britain.It's September 1940 and the German blitz on London has just begun. The four young girls who live at No. 13 Article Row live under its constant threat. But life must go on…Tilly and Sally both work at Barts Hospital where they witness the cruelty of war first-hand.Agnes volunteers to work extra hours at her underground station to help with the nightly influx of people seeking safety from the bombs.Dulcie, with her broken ankle, tries to make peace with her mother, following the news of the death of her sister Enid. But her grief-stricken mother doesn't want to know.Sally returns to her painful past in Liverpool. But it's not seeing the man she once loved, nor her father and ex-best friend's child that hurt most…As Christmas approaches, the arrival of the handsome young American Drew, ignites new life in the heart Tilly thought was broken.As the bombs continue to rain down on a frosty London, perilous challenges lay around every corner. And all anyone wants this year is to be home for Christmas.
What are the 50 key events you need to understand to grasp British history?If you could choose the 50 things that define British history, events of significance not only in themselves, but in their importance to wider themes running through our past, what would they be? Hugh Williams has made that selection, and the result is a fascinating overview of Britain’s past.He refines British history into a series of key themes that represent a crucial strand in our history, and pinpoints the seminal events within those strands – Roots, from the Roman invasion to Britain’s entry into the Common Market; Fight, Fight and Fight Again, from the Battle of Agincourt to the Falklands War; The Pursuit of Liberty, from the Magna Carta through the Glorious Revolution to the foundation of the NHS; Home and Abroad, from Sir Francis Drake and Clive of India to the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush; and All Change, from Chaucer and the English language to the invention of the web.With great clarity, simplicity and a zest for the marvellous stories that underpin many of these events, Hugh Williams explains the linkage between each one and its importance in the progress of British history as a whole. Along the way, he has some fascinating tales to tell, making this a highly enjoyable read as well as a perceptive insight into our shared past, and vital for anyone who wants quickly and enjoyably to grasp the essential facts about Britain’s history.
The stunning saga from the bestselling author of Child of the Mersey and Only a Mother Knows. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn.A stirring, heartrending story of love, passion, duty and family, set in the early years of the 1900s as the First World War looms.After the tragic death of her mother, beautiful, headstrong Ellie Pride must forge her own way in the world. Having made a deathbed promise to her mother to forsake passion for stability and social status, Ellie rejects the advances of local craftsman Gideon Walker, despite her deep attraction to him. With her grieving father struggling to cope, Ellie is exiled to live with her aunt and uncle. Her mother hoped Ellie would be able to escape her humble roots forever. But despite the so-called luxury, Ellie is left frightened and alone.Her uncle quickly reveals a terrifying cruelty that forces her into a loveless marriage in order to escape him. Struggling to support her weak husband against his penny-pinching father, Ellie never forgets her love for Gideon. Their paths are destined to cross again and again.But when events take a tragic turn, Ellie needs all her pride and strength to overcome hardship, and to triumph.