Historical Fiction

Her country needs her. But her heart is elsewhere.

After fleeing German-occupied Paris, Alix is back in her home in Belgrade, hoping to finally reunite with her parents. But while Alix has been fighting her own battles with the Resistance, her parents have too fled with King Peter to ensure his safety. As Alix decides to find her parents with her father's deputy steward, Drago, they are derailed and forced to reside in the Serbian country home.

But all is not lost when Alix finds Nikola in the city - the man her father said she was to marry before war broke out. She finds she has more in common with him than ever expected, and together with Drago they join a new Resistance.

But Alix hasn't forgotten about Steve, the handsome American pilot she fell in love with back in France, whom she last heard was harmed in battle. When a chance meeting brings Alix and Steve face to face once again, she must decide where her heart truly is...

Fans of Suzanne Kelman and Fiona Valpy will love this captivating, globe-trotting, deeply rich historical fiction set in World War Two.

Readers are loving A Call to Service:

'Absolutely brilliant. Ellen Lark is unforgettable' Emilia Hart, author of Weyward
'Vivid. Eloquent. Offers insight as well as delight' Guardian

Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell.

Ellen knows immediately what Bell really wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell's student in a technique called Visible Speech. As he instructed her in speaking, Bell also confided in her about his dream of producing a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent to the telephone, which is being challenged by rivals.

But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain, and cut Ellen off from a community in which she had come to feel truly at home. It is a story no one around Ellen seems to want to hear - but there may never be a more important time for her to tell it.

She must fight to keep her new freedom

The Great War is over at long last, and with it comes an inheritance that will free Serena Fleming from her bullying father. She can finally lead the life she has always wanted. But little does she know how far her father will go to prevent her leaving home.

Meanwhile, Marcus Graye returns from the war, injured, to find his elderly aunt and a worn-out old house in his sole care. He’s content with his lot, despite daily stresses, but when he saves Serena from a kidnapping, things will never be the same again…

Together, can they forge a brighter future? And can Serena at last get the new start she’s always wished for?

A gritty and exciting wartime saga from the bestselling and much-loved Anna Jacobs. This inspirational saga is perfect for fans of Sheila Riley, Betty Firth and Katie Flynn.

The battle for England is over. The fight for Wulfbury has just begun.

AD 1066. Cerdic is a prisoner of war. Captured after the Battle of Hastings, his fate is in the hands of the victorious Norman count Cynric, who is in no mood to feed and look after worthless Englishmen as the army moves inland. His survival depends on his ability to convince them of his value.

Cerdic's sole bargaining chip is his lordship of Wulfbury, a small stronghold in Northumberia, following the deaths of his father, its earl, and elder brother in the invasions. If he can entice them with the lure of this fiefdom, he may yet survive.

But the fortress is held by a ferocious band of Vikings, who will not give it up without a fight. Will Cerdic be able to convince the Norman knights to let him live, or will his fate be the same as so many other Englishmen lying on the battlefield of Senlac Ridge?

'The Britons are like the red kite and hunt what they can... but we are the Empire's eagles that take what we want.'

It has been twelve years since Faustus Valerianus first arrived in Britain, a centurion in the conquering Roman army. Many battles have been won, many allegiances gained. But those victories hide a more complex truth.

In West Britain, the powerful Silures led by King Loarn plot their rebellion, fighting back against the now diminished strength of their Roman occupiers. Faustus, whose mother was born to this tribe, finds himself trapped between loyalty to the army and compassion for his mother's people.

With a fragile peace on a knife edge, the smallest spark could incite chaos. And a sudden, terrible tragedy that rocks Faustus and his family, fracturing the relationship between him and his sister Silvia, promises to be that very moment.

With a great, final conflict on the horizon, and with Silvia potentially the key to it all, Faustus must not only come to terms with the realities of his position, as soldier and head of the family, but lay the demons that haunt him to rest if he is to ever achieve his own peace.

But what peace is even possible, for a bird of prey?

A beautifully presented Ancient Roman epic of familial strife, ruthless battles and fierce love, perfect for fans of Manda Scott, Rosemary Sutcliff and Bernard Cornwell.

When you play a double game, if you lose... you die.Tasked by General Napoleon Bonaparte with effecting a perilous entry into the fortress convent of Valletta, Lieutenant Vanderville sides with a renegade Maltese desperate to end the oppressive rule of the Knights of St John. When his companion is lost, the mission goes from bad to worse as he discovers treachery and murder are stalking the agents he is supposed to be meeting, his only allies. Caught between the feuding knights, the machinations of the Grand Master and his foes in the Holy Office, Vanderville begins to feel hopelessly unable to find the killer without the sage guidance of his mentor, Felix Gracchus. Will he live to regret his rash decision to part company? A riotous whodunnit set during the heights of Napoleon's European conquest, for fans of Steven Saylor and S. J. Parris.

Who was the man that would become Caesar's lieutenant, Brutus' rival, Cleopatra's lover, and Octavian's enemy?

When his stepfather is executed for his involvement in the Catilinarian conspiracy, Mark Antony and his family are disgraced. His adolescence is marked by scandal and mischief, his love affairs are fleeting, and yet, his ambition is vast.

Antony's path to prosperity leads him to an education in Athens, a campaign for a seat in the Senate, and a position of military command. Undeterred by his baptism of fire on the battlefields of Judaea and Egypt, he climbs the ranks to become the right hand man of Rome's most famous general, Julius Caesar.

The first of an epic new four book series, Caesar's Soldier brings to life the world of one of history's greatest warriors and romantics, as he becomes an integral part of the Roman Republic in its moment of glory and crisis. Perfect for fans of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell.

Two brothers founded Rome. Will two brothers tear it apart?

AD 193. After a year of brutal civil war, Rome is settled under Septimius Severus and his aspirations for a new dynasty of emperors.

Severus's sons, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - better known as Caracalla - and the younger brother, Geta, promise a stable future; a clear line of succession to steer Rome into the future.

A promise that might be hard to deliver upon.

With two brothers, there are two possible heirs, and Severus's close friend Plautianus has his own ideas about the succession, favouring Geta over Caracalla. Though the pair are still children, the Praetorian Prefect sows in young Geta's mind seeds of superiority, resentment and bitterness against his older brother.

As these seeds take root, the relationship between the pair grows strained, and their parents desperately attempt to reconcile the feuding siblings before it is too late.

Are the brothers able to set their differences aside, or will Rome see the blood of a fratricide?

The masterful final novel in the Damned Emperors series by S.J.A. Turney, perfect for fans of Harry Sidebottom and Conn Iggulden.

Enemies at every turn in this medieval mystery thriller perfect for fans of D. V. Bishop and S. J. Parris. Florence, 1342. A city on the brink of chaos.

Restored to favour at court, King's Messenger Simon Merrivale accompanies an English delegation to Florence, the powerful centre of European finance, to negotiate a loan to offset King Edward III's chronic debt.

A top secret plot, one to decide the fate of European control.

But the delegation has another purpose: to set up an Englishman, Henry Stapledon, Bishop of Dorchester, as an anti-pope in Rome. If they can succeed, they will undermine the papacy and strike a hammer blow to French support across Europe.

But one devastating betrayal will shatter their hopes.

When disaster strikes, Merrivale finds himself alone, isolated and with a dozen different factions out for his blood. With no way to go but forward, he must plunge back into the seething torrent of Florence's cutthroat streets, and dangers greater than any he has ever faced before, if he is to survive.

'In Blackmore's striking fictional retelling of this true history, Costanza refuses to accept a fate as nothing more than a victim of male exploitation' SUNDAY TIMES

Rome, 1636: In the scorched city of Rome, the cobbled streets hum with gossip and sin... Costanza Piccolomini is a respectable young wife - until she meets Gianlorenzo Bernini, the famed sculptor and star of Roman society, whose jet-black gaze matches his dark temper. From the second they set eyes upon each other, a fatal attraction is born.

Their secret love burns with a passion that consumes them. But with every stolen kiss and illicit tryst, Costanza's reputation is at stake. Meanwhile, Bernini has a dangerous desire: he wants to make Costanza immortal. He vows to possess her not just in body and soul, but also in marble.

When Bernini unveils his sculpture of Costanza, she is exposed as his lover, marking the undoing of their affair - and the beginning of a scandal which will rock Roman society. For Bernini would rather destroy Costanza than let her go.

Betrayed. Abandoned. Banished. This was meant to be the end of Costanza's story. But Costanza is no ordinary woman: from the ashes, she will rise...

History calls her a Muse. Temptress. Fallen woman. This is her story. Based on a true story, Costanza brings to life a feminist icon who has been written out of history. Perfect for fans of The Marriage Portrait and The Miniaturist

Can she save the hotel... and her reputation?

Helen Bygrove is managing the hotel, now that her husband has been conscripted. Against all expectations, Helen and her team are doing marvellously, despite the shortages brought by war. Even the exacting Lady Blackmore agrees. But then the calm is shattered when poison pen letters are sent to prominent townsfolk and Helen finds herself the target of a police investigation. Is someone trying to ruin Helen, and the Beach Hotel? And can she rely on the handsome but taciturn Inspector Toshack to help her? When her husband, Douglas, is invalided out of the war he is determined to take back control of the hotel and things go from bad to worse.

How can she ever escape his bullying? Is she a fool to hope that she may have a second chance at love?

A captivating, emotional and uplifting saga set in World War One - fans of Elaine Everest and Ginny Bell will love this!

'There was a history in this house, secrets he hadn't even got close to scratching the surface of...'

Something peculiar is going on at The Lloyd Estate.

The enormous house and its vast grounds are rarely seen by outsiders. Only Audrey Lloyd - the cantankerous elderly owner and only daughter to the famed movie mogul who built the mansion - knows of the suffocating darkness that has settled on the place.

Property developers have come to Audrey over the decades. Countless times they have been rebuffed. Now, she agrees to sell to ambitious broker Terri Nicholls. But Terri has to trade something of her own in return.

Detective Don Vernon is on the brink of retirement. Instead, he is about to be caught in a web of lies; one which Audrey has been spinning for decades.

Can those who cross the threshold make it out again intact?

A scintillating tale of revenge, cruelty and the many forms of wickedness, Directions for Dark Things is perfect for fans of Catriona Ward and Simone St. James.

A deadly French ship stalks the waves. Hazzard must sink her at all costs...

The eagerly anticipated fourth novel in the William John Hazzard series.

Late 1799. Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power in a coup in Paris as an Ottoman army of 80,000 descends upon Egypt. Abandoned in the desert, French general Kléber wants to get his beleaguered soldiers home, their only hope a rescue fleet led by the mighty 74-gun Généreux.

For William John Hazzard and the marines of 9 Company, the order is clear: find her and sink her.

Beset by spies from Constantinople to Sicily, Hazzard races after the Généreux and the desperate French convoy with De la Vega and the Volpone - and breaks the heart of Lady Hamilton, as he brings Nelson out to give battle once again.

From brutal combat at sea to the streets of Palermo and the flaming ruins of Heliopolis, this is the epic fourth chapter in the saga of Hazzard's Egypt. Perfect for fans of Julian Stockwin, Bernard Cornwell and C.S. Forester.

Can she hide the secret that could ruin her reputation?

After becoming pregnant out of wedlock, Kathy feared for her future - until her mother agreed to raise the baby as her own.

While Kathy causes consternation for her family, everything changes after she meets handsome RAF pilot, Alisdair. They grow close, but when their relationship is threatened, Kathy runs away from heartbreak by joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

Kathy's new life in Yorkshire is a world away from the Glasgow tenement she grew up in, but she finds friendship with women who know nothing of her past, and spends her evenings at dances with charming soldiers.

But despite being surrounded by new faces, Kathy can't get Alisdair, nor her secret child, out of her mind...

A romantic and gritty World War Two Scottish saga that fans of Rosie Meddon and Rowena Summers will adore.

She will keep her head held high, no matter what...

Polly Pride's life is falling apart. Her husband has lost his job, there's no money coming in, and she has two young mouths to feed.

With the prospect of poverty looming over her, and her husband wallowing in apathy, Polly takes control. She sells everything they own and buys a rickety old handcart. Polly piles it high with second-hand rugs and spends hours hawking her wares around Manchester's cobbled streets.

But her determination to persevere will be tested to its limits, as she juggles her work, the pressures of her young family, and her husband's wounded pride. Will her life fall apart completely - especially when tragedy strikes - or can she keep it together?

A compelling story of a woman making her way in a man's world, perfect for fans of Sheila Riley, Maggie Ford and Rosie Harris.

'Without the networks of the French Resistance, the invasion would not have been possible' Major General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force

Days after France fell in June 1940, Charles de Gaulle appointed André Dewavrin to create, from scratch, the Free French Intelligence Service.

Recruiting agents among the sailors, farmers, painters, housewives and children of Occupied France, he managed cells of spies across the country, and focused their attention on one goal: preparing for the Allied invasion of France, even at the risk of torture and death.

Hitler's fortifications along the European coastline - known as the Atlantic Wall - were their target. Gun battery locations, troop movements, and more... All this information was funnelled back to the Allies by a network of brave individuals, creating a living map that became essential to the planning of D-Day, and the selection of Normandy as the invasion point.

Using a wealth of material both published and unpublished, including interviews with Dewavrin and de Gaulle himself, Collier has produced an authentic record of one of the most remarkable episodes of the Second World War; a human story of a group of ordinary people whose faith paved the way for Eisenhower's great sweep across Europe. Perfect for readers of Antony Beevor and Max Hastings.

Haven Ambrose, a trailblazing nautical archaeologist, has come to the sun-soaked village of Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. But Haven is hoping to find more than old artefacts beneath the azure waters; she is secretly on a quest to locate a trove of priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. Upon Haven’s arrival, strange maelstroms and misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it nature or something more sinister at work?

As Haven searches for her father’s sunken treasure, she begins to unearth a centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery and one woman’s quest to save her lover and her village by using the legendary art of stregheria, a magical ability to harness the ocean. Could this magic be behind Positano’s latest calamities? Haven must unravel the Amalfi Curse before the region is destroyed forever...

Against the dazzling backdrop of the Amalfi Coast, this bewitching novel shimmers with mystery, romance and the untamed magic of the sea.

February 1944. Six months since Nazi forces occupied Rome.

Inside the beleaguered city, the Contessa Giovanna Landini is a member of the band of Escape Line activists known as ‘The Choir’. Their mission is to smuggle refugees to safety and help Allied soldiers, all under the nose of Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann.

During a ferocious morning air raid a mysterious parachutist lands in Rome and disappears into the backstreets. Is he an ally or an imposter? His fate will come to put the whole Escape Line at risk.

Meanwhile, Hauptmann’s attention has landed on the Contessa. As his fascination grows, she is pulled into a dangerous game with him – one where the consequences could be lethal.


'As thrilling, beautiful and sensational a novel as you'll read this year or any year' Donal Ryan, Sunday Times

'Vivid and moving' Guardian

‘A stellar piece of storytelling’ Daily Mail

'Not just a wartime thriller, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures' New York Times

'Excellent...rings so emotionally true and clear... The writing has the energy and tension of a thriller, yet the language is rich, visual and beautiful' Sunday Independent

'Thrilling, terrifying and entertaining in equal measure' Liz Nugent, Number One Bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond

She is determined to live the life she wants...

Cassandra Trent does not like being told what to do. So when she is forced to leave behind her beloved Bardsley and join her aunt in London, she is furious. She wants nothing to do with polite society and useless noblemen.

But Cassandra finds some comfort in the friendship she forms with her kind and gentle cousin, Susannah Berrinden. Despite being destined to marry Simeon Giffard, a charming and - more importantly - wealthy young man, Susannah has other ideas...

And it seems Simeon does too. He has eyes only for Cassandra - but winning her over might prove to be a near impossible task.

A heartwarming historical saga perfect for fans of Elisabeth McNeill, Rosie Goodwin and Gloria Cook.

It's the perfect place to hide the truth...

Vivacia Williams is strong, independent and lives in a beautiful community. She's trying to make the best of a bad situation since her husband walked out on her.

Then, she finds two lost children. They have no home, no parents, and suddenly Vivacia has the one thing she's been missing.

Vivacia will go to any length to keep the children but there are no secrets in the gated community of Wolf's Pit, and when a body is found, all of the residents are under scrutiny. With everyone pointing fingers, how far will Vivacia go to keep her secrets and realise her dream?

A tense and gripping psychological thriller. Perfect for fans of Catherine Cooper and Caroline Mitchell.

Two kingdoms clash in one of the greatest battles of the Hundred Years War.

September 1356. Martin Kemp and his troop of archers ride with the Black Prince's army as it burns and plunders its way across France. When they find all the bridges across the Loire are destroyed, however, their hopes of uniting with the Duke of Lancaster's army are dashed, and a hasty retreat is the order of the day.

But a French army is closing in fast and Kemp's old foe, Sir Geoffroi de Chargny, rides with it, now honoured with the duty of bearing the Oriflamme: the sacred war banner of France.

Cut off, outnumbered and running out of supplies, the weary English realise their only hope is to risk everything on a pitched battle, and hope the tricks they used ten years earlier at Crécy will pay off a second time, in a field just a few miles outside of Poitiers...

A climactic moment in history expertly told by a master of the genre, perfect for fans of Christian Cameron and David Gilman.

Orphaned young, H is sent to live with her doting aunt in London. H’s life is a happy one until her lecherous cousin robs her of her innocence, and the plague takes away the city and the people she loves. H is cast out – friendless, pregnant and destitute – into the rapidly emptying streets of London under quarantine.
Forced to fend for herself, she is determined to gain back the life she lost. H will face a villain out for revenge, find love in the most unexpected places, and overcome a betrayal that she never could have foreseen. Weathering it all, can H charm, or scheme, her way to the life of freedom and independence that she longs for?

WWI, a Canadian nurse searches for her brother believed dead in the trenches. January 1918. Laura Iven has been discharged from her nurse duties and sent back to Halifax. Now home, she receives word of her brother's death on the fields of Passchendaele. Believing he is still alive, Laura returns to France as a volunteer near the front line of battle.

Some secrets echo through time

Emily Emerson has recently lost her job and is looking for a new purpose in life. When a mysterious parcel comes her way, she's intrigued. Inside is a painting of a beautiful woman standing at the edge of a sugarcane field, and attached is a note: 'He never stopped loving her ...'

Emily recognises the young woman as her much-missed and beloved grandmother, but where was she, and who sent the painting? As Emily delves further, she uncovers a trail leading to a pivotal moment in twentieth-century American history, and a link with the portrait that reveals long-buried family secrets that ripple through the ages.

An unforgettable and sweeping story of love and survival against the odds.

From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Harmel, a beautifully repackaged and updated edition of WHEN WE MEET AGAIN which has been refreshed by the author including a new author's note.

A band of mercenaries fight deadly enemies and solve ancient riddles to plunder the tomb of Egypt’s robber pharaoh in this break-neck historical adventure-thriller.

701 BCE. Assyria lays siege to Jerusalem, last stronghold of the Judeans.

In an audacious raid, a band of Kushite mercenaries―the Desert Mice―help force the Assyrians back from the gates of Jerusalem. But when a greedy general cheats them of their payment, the mercenaries must turn to plundering the dead: a fabled tyrant and his long-lost tomb.

In crossing an ancient pharaoh, the mercenaries will befoul themselves in an Egyptian power struggle and draw the gaze of a wrathful foreign king. Pursued by scheming nobles and a malevolent torturer, the Desert Mice set sail down the Nile―toward the Valley of the Kings.

With what this poor woman had been through the sight of her crying tore at my heartstrings. What if something should happen to her; who would care for her little baby? To conceal the fear and terror in my heart I left her, trying to put up a cheerful front. But no one could conceal from her the ominous import of the dark spots that had appeared on her chest.

The Doctor of Hiroshimais the extraordinary true story of Dr Michihiko Hachiya, whose hospital was less than a mile from the centre of the atomic bomb that hit on that warm August day. In immense shock and pain, he and his wife Yaeko dragged themselves to the devastated hospital building and what colleagues they could find.

In time, they begin to heal, and start to treat the impossible numbers of patients - a small girl covered in burns, an elderly man with pneumonia, a young boy and his little sister looking for their parents. They also began to investigate the strange unexplainable symptoms afflicting his patients - things he never dreamed he would see...

Told simply and poignantly in Dr Hachiya's own words, The Doctor of Hiroshima is a unique and deeply moving human story of survival about a small, committed band of hospital staff in the face of unthinkable destruction and loss.