Alfred, the great king, is said to be dying. Rivals for his succession are poised to tear the kingdom apart. The country Alfred has worked thirty years to build is about to disintegrate. Uhtred, the King?s warrior, Viking born but Saxon bred, wants more than anything else to go and fight to reclaim his stolen Northumbrian inheritance. But he knows that if he deserts the King?s cause, Alfred?s dream - and indeed the very future of the English nation...

The year is 1539 and the court of Henry VIII is increasingly fearful at the moods of the ageing sick king. With only a baby in the cradle for an heir, Henry has to take another wife and the dangerous prize of the crown of England is won by Anne of Cleves. She has her own good reasons for agreeing to marry a man old enough to be her father, in a country where to her both language and habits are foreign. Although fascinated by the glamour of her new...

The Praetorian Guard have proclaimed Claudius Emperor, but his position is precarious. To secure power, Claudius' freedmen must manufacture a quick victory for their new Emperor. They call on Vespasian to retrieve the Eagle of the Seventeenth, lost in Germania nearly 40 years before.

She must keep her family together? The war is over and Evie Talbert eagerly awaits the return of her three children from their evacuated homes. But her carefree daughters and son are barely recognisable - their education has been disrupted, the siblings split up, and the effect on them has been life-changing. Her son has developed serious behavioural problems and with her daughters, there?s jealousy and a nervous disorder that cannot be explained?Evie?s...

As the bombs drop, can Marlow?s Department Store offer Lily Collins a different life?1941: with men being drafted to fight, Lily Collins? secures a job as a junior on sales within the hallowed halls of town department store Marlow?s, whose large plate-glass windows filled with glossy, expensive goods have fascinated her since childhood. The day she starts work is the first time she?s ever set foot through the doors.As bombs drop and shortages intensify,...

In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders: Doctor Kathleen Lynn, on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over three days, these women change each other's...

Isabella Carrington has been brought up in a life of privilege in London. Her life seems perfect, until her father suddenly announces bankruptcy. To save Isabella from destitution he sends her to stay with family she has never met, far away on a violet farm deep in Devon.Isabella is horrified to find her uncle expects her to work for her keep, packing up the flowers and selling them in the nearby market. However she soon discovers that life on a violet...

The debut novel from global star Millie Bobby Brown Love blooms in the darkest days... London, 1942. Despite the raging war, spirited 18-year-old Nellie Morris lives a quiet life in the tight-knit East End community of Bethnal Green. Her family and friends all tease that she will marry air raid warden Billy, the boy next door who's always been sweet on her. The arrival of Ray, a handsome American airman stationed nearby, causes Nellie to question...

Summer 1779: a British force of fewer than 1,000 Scottish infantry were sent to build a garrison in the state of Maine. But Massachusetts was determined to expel the British, and they sent a fleet to 'captivate, kill and destroy' the enemy. Told from both sides of the battle, this story features real figures from history. Originally published: Lond