In the genteel squares of late-Victorian Brighton, Ellen and Reynold Harper — twins, companions, colleagues – ply their trade as portrait photographers. But at the golden hour, the models arrive to pose for the lucrative — and illicit — photographs that really keep the Harpers’ business afloat. This is the other, shadowy world of the […]
The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor
London 1671, and the damage caused by the Great Fire still overshadows the capital. The disfigured body of a man is unearthed in the ruins of the old almshouse, forcing architect Cat Hakesby to stop restoration work. It is clear he has been murdered, and Whitehall secretary James Marwood is ordered to investigate. When the […]
Ritual of Fire by DV Bishop
Florence in the summer of 1538. A night patrol finds a wealthy merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main square. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way. Does this new killing mean […]
A Time to Live by Vanessa de Haan
1918: Freddie was destined for a different life, determined to make his fortune in the plantations of Ceylon. But just as the great war comes to an end, the eldest brother and heir to Coombe Hall, Edward, doesn’t return. Torn between duty and freedom, Freddie must now sacrifice his own dreams to keep the estate […]
The Hidden Years by Rachel Hore
When talented musician Gray Robinson persuades Belle to abandon her university studies and follow him to Silverwood, home to an artistic community on the Cornish coast, Belle happily agrees even though they’ve only just met. She knows she is falling in love, and the thought of spending a carefree summer with Gray is all she […]
The Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson
Jersey, 1943, and, in what was once a warm and neighbourly community, German soldiers now patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule on the people of the island. Grace La Mottée, the island’s only librarian, is ordered to destroy books which threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along […]
The Shadow Network by Deborah Swift
England, 1942. Having fled Germany after her father was captured by the Nazis, Lilli Bergen is desperate to do something pro-active for the Allies. So when she’s approached by the Political Warfare Executive, Lilli jumps at the chance. She’s recruited as a singer for a radio station broadcasting propaganda to German soldiers – a shadow […]
The Artist’s Wife by Clare Flynn
July, 1914, and in their sunlit Hampshire workshop, Alice Dalton mixes paints for the stained-glass artwork she and Edmund are working on, pausing only to joyfully cradle the soft swell of her stomach. But the looming war threatens her hard-won happiness. A knock at the door announces the arrival of Victor, her estranged brother, returning […]