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Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth
by Gitta SerenyFrom 1942 Speer was the second most powerful man in the Reich and Hitler’s right-hand man. Gitta Sereny, through twelve years of research and through many conversations with Speer, his friends and colleagues, reveals how Speer came to terms with his own acts and failures to act, his progress from moral extinction to moral self-education and the question of his real culpability in the Nazi crimes.
Dear Mrs Bird: Cosy up with this heartwarming and heartbreaking novel set in wartime London (The Wartime Chronicles #1)
by AJ PearceRichard & Judy Book Club Pick --- Sunday Times BestsellerSet during London's blitz and filled with warmth, wit and heartbreak, Dear Mrs Bird is a wartime story about the power of friendship, the kindness of strangers and the courage of ordinary people.London, 1941. Amid the falling bombs Emmeline Lake dreams of becoming a fearless Lady War Correspondent. Unfortunately, Emmy instead finds herself employed as a typist for the terrifying Henrietta Bird, the renowned agony aunt at Woman’s Friend magazine. Mrs Bird refuses to read, let alone answer, letters containing any form of Unpleasantness, and definitely not letters from the women the war has left lovelorn, grief-stricken or conflicted.But the thought of these desperate women waiting for an answer becomes impossible for Emmy to ignore. She decides she simply must help and secretly starts to write back – after all, what harm could that possibly do?'The most uplifting, lovely book about courage, friendship, love' – Marian Keyes'Utterly charming and helplessly funny' – Jenny Colgan'A proper comfort read' – India Knight
Yours Cheerfully: an inspirational story of wartime friendship from the author of Dear Mrs Bird (The Wartime Chronicles #2)
by AJ PearceComforting, charming and hilarious, Yours Cheerfully is the tonic we've all been waiting for, from AJ Pearce, the beloved author of Dear Mrs Bird.‘Loved. Every. Word.' - Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in ChemistryLondon, September 1941. For plucky, determined Emmy Lake, working at Woman’s Friend magazine has become everything she dreamed, especially since the departure of the magazine’s formidable editor, Henrietta Bird. Now Emmy really can get on and Do Her Bit.When the Ministry of Information calls on Woman’s Friend to help recruit female supporters to the war effort, Emmy is thrilled, but soon she and best friend Bunty meet a young woman who shows them the real challenges that women war workers face. Suddenly Emmy must tackle a life-changing dilemma: should she carry out her duty or stand by her friends?'Absolutely lovely!' – Marian Keyes'Buoyant . . . a tonic in testing times' – Mail on Sunday'A brilliant follow up to Dear Mrs Bird' – Clare Mackintosh'Full of wit, friendship and the uplifting knowledge that when people come together, great changes can be made' – Katie Fforde
The Image of a Drawn Sword
by Jocelyn BrookeThe calm of Reynard Langrish’s quietly predictable life is shattered when, on a night of rain-swept storm, a stranger – a young soldier called Captain Archer - appears at his remote Kentish cottage. He takes Langrish to an ancient hill fort and introduces him to the men under his command, all of whom share a mysterious tattoo – two snakes entwined around a drawn sword – and are engaged in preparations to defend against a nameless menace, referred to only as ‘the Emergency’.As the dreamlike narrative rapidly accelerates into Kafkaesque nightmare, Langrish is drawn into a world where illusion, paranoia, and reality unite with lethal consequences, and disorienting shifts of time and perception culminate in a terrifying moment of pure horror.Originally published in 1950, The Image of a Drawn Sword is steeped in the themes and images that occupy much of Brooke’s writing – the relentlessness of time, suppressed homosexuality, condemned love, self-hatred, and futility; and, above all, an England that was both real and uniquely his own, a mystical, half-known natural world.‘In its way not inferior to Kafka . . . [it has] a haunting, sinister quality’ – Anthony Powell‘Seldom have naturalism and fantasy been more strangely merged’ – Elizabeth Bowen‘He is subtle as the devil’ – John Betjeman‘The skill and intensity of the writing made peculiarly haunting this cry of complaint on behalf of a bewildered Man’ – Pamela Hansford Johnson, Daily Telegraph
1939: A People's History
by Frederick Taylor‘In 1939: A People's History, Frederick Taylor has done us a great service in making the personal stories of what it was actually like to live through the most crucial year of the twentieth century vivid, compelling and salutary.’ - Roland Philipps, author of A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald MacleanIn the autumn of 1938, Europe believed in the promise of peace. Still reeling from the ravages of the Great War, its people were desperate to rebuild their lives in a newly safe and stable era. But only a year later, the fateful decisions of just a few men had again led Europe to war, a war that would have a profound and lasting impact on millions of innocent people. From the bestselling historian Frederick Taylor, 1939: A People's History draws on original British and German sources, including recorded interviews, as well as contemporary diaries, memoirs and newspapers. Its narrative focuses on the day-to-day experiences of the men and women in both countries trapped in this disastrous chain of events and not, as is so often the case, the elite. Their voices, concerns and experiences lend a uniquely intimate flavour to this often surprising account, revealing a marked disconnect between government and people; few ordinary citizens in either Britain or Germany wanted war. Precisely for that reason, 1939: A People's History is also an interrogation of our capacity to go to war again. In today’s Europe, an onset of uncertainty, a looming fear of radical populism and a revelatory schism are dangerously reminiscent of the perils of the autumn of 1938. It is both a vivid and richly peopled narrative of Europe’s slide into the horrors of war, a war that nobody wanted, and, in many ways, a warning; an opportunity for us to learn from our history and a reminder that we must never take peace for granted.
Some Sunny Day: A nurse. A soldier. A wartime love story.
by Madge Lambert Robert BlairA moving true story of love on the front lines.It was July 1944 when Madge stepped onto a troopship that was to carry her thousands of miles away from home. Only twenty years old and not long qualified as a nurse, she had signed up to serve in the Burma Campaign. She would be based on the Indian border, near the frontline where a fierce battle was raging between Allied forces and the Japanese.As Madge arrived in Chittagong, she wondered how she would adapt to the ever present danger of invasion and to life in a military hospital. She spent long, exhausting hours nursing the badly-injured young soldiers in her care, but found strength in her friendship with the other nurses. And then, one day, she met Captain Basil Lambert . . . Could their fragile, new found romance survive the terrifying final months of war? Heart-warming and poignant, Some Sunny Day by Madge Lambert is a story of courage, sacrifice and the power of true love.
Westover
by Richmal CromptonWhen Julia Gideon is widowed during the Second World War with five children to look after, she is left to manage Westover House with insufficient means for its upkeep. Urged by her solicitor brother to downsize and turn the family home into flats, she reluctantly agrees. However, as her new tenants move in it soon becomes clear that the manor house cannot contain the fiery personalities that are now living under its roof . . .From the hard up Godfrey and his wife Cynthia, who must share a flat with his brother Hubert and the uncouth Trixie; to Julia’s elderly aunts, Letitia and Lucy, who aspire to very different lives in their old age; and the faux-French Mrs Pollock whose overbearing presence in her daughter Ann-Marie’s life is protective to the point of suffocation – life is anything but simple at Westover. As heated relationships simmer away and family feuds break through to the surface, Richmal Crompton’s Westover is a keenly observed study of what happens when domestic life doesn’t run so smoothly . . .
The Dam Busters (Pan 70th Anniversary #1)
by Paul BrickhillA special edition of The Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill reissued with a bright retro design to celebrate Pan’s 70th anniversary. On 17 May 1943, nearly 350 million tons of water crashed into the valleys of the Ruhr when the Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron breached the giant Moehne and Eder Dams with colossal ‘blockbuster’ bombs. The Dam Busters tells the story of the raid and the squadron of fearless airmen who carried it through. Again and again, the crews of 617 Squadron Bomber Command used their flying skills, their tremendous courage and Barnes Wallis’ highly accurate bouncing bombs to deal devastating blows to Nazi Germany.One of the most daring true stories to emerge from the Second World War, Paul Brickhill’s The Dam Busters inspired the famous 1955 film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd.
I Spy: My Life in MI5
by Tom Marcus'One of the most successful MI5 undercover surveillance officers of his time.' - Sun'The brutal truth about the war against terror. Fast-paced and gripping.' - Ant Middleton The explosive book from ex-MI5 surveillance officer Tom Marcus takes the reader on a non-stop, adrenalin-fuelled ride as he hunts down those who would do our country harm. Tom spent years working covertly to stop those who want to do us harm. In his bestselling memoir Soldier Spy, he told how he was recruited and described some of his top-secret operations. In I Spy, he takes us deeper undercover as he puts his life on the line once more.I Spy plunges the reader straight into the action as Tom and his team race to prevent terrorists from causing carnage on our streets and outsmart Russian agents, blocking a daring plot that threatens the security of the nation. Relying on their quick wits, training and courage, the extraordinary men and women of MI5 are under intense pressure every day. Not everyone is suited for the work, and Tom shows how the incredibly tough challenges he faced growing up gave him the mental strength and skills to survive in a dangerous world.Gritty and eye-opening, this is a unique insight into a hidden war and the sacrifices made by those who fight it. You will never take your safety for granted again.
The New Men (Strangers and Brothers #6)
by C. P. SnowWinner of 1954 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction.As the Second World War draws to a close, Lewis Eliot becomes entangled in the ethics and practicalities of nuclear warfare, in the sixth novel of C. P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers sequence.His scientist brother, Martin, and brilliant Cambridge fellow, Walter Luke, are researching atomic fission and trying to develop a war-winning bomb. Around them civil servants are jostling for position, ageing politicians are trying to stay relevant, and the military are pressuring for results. And all the time they must wrestle with reconciling the advancement of science with the creation of a weapon they hope will never be used.A quiet portrait of ordinary, fallible human beings caught up in the most terrifying research of all time, The New Men is told with a simplicity and measure and lack of sensationalism that singles Snow out from his contemporaries. A meticulous study of the public issues and private problems of post-war Britain, C. P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers sequence is a towering achievement that stands alongside Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time as one of the great romans-fleuves of the twentieth century.Praise for the Strangers and Brothers sequence“Together, the sequence presents a vivid portrait of British academic, political and public life. Snow was that rare thing, a scientist and novelist.” Jeffrey Archer, Guardian“Balzacian masterpieces of the age” Philip Hensher, Telegraph“Through [the Strangers and Brothers sequence] as in no other work in our time we have explored the inner life of the new classless class that is the 20th century Establishment” New York Times“A very considerable achievement … It brings into the novel themes and locales never seen before (except perhaps in Trollope).” Anthony Burgess
Homecomings (Strangers and Brothers #7)
by C. P. SnowThe personal life of Lewis Eliot, the central figure and narrator of C. P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers, takes centre stage in this moving account of his wartime years.The suicide of Lewis’s desperately vulnerable wife, Sheila, ends a marriage fraught with difficulty and pain and shakes his world to the foundations. As Britain enters the Second World War he is swept up into the civil service, and meets Margaret Davidson, a woman who may offer him emotional redemption – but who is already married.With its exceptionally sensitive and insightful exploration of the human condition, Homecomings demonstrates C. P. Snow’s masterly insight into character, whether in the home or along the corridors of power.A meticulous study of the public issues and private problems of post-war Britain, C. P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers sequence is a towering achievement that stands alongside Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time as one of the great romans-fleuves of the twentieth century.Praise for the Strangers and Brothers sequence“Together, the sequence presents a vivid portrait of British academic, political and public life. Snow was that rare thing, a scientist and novelist.” Jeffrey Archer, Guardian“Balzacian masterpieces of the age” Philip Hensher, Telegraph“Through [the Strangers and Brothers sequence] as in no other work in our time we have explored the inner life of the new classless class that is the 20th century Establishment” New York Times“A very considerable achievement … It brings into the novel themes and locales never seen before (except perhaps in Trollope).” Anthony Burgess
No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege
by Adam Jowett'Fiercely immersive. Truly heroic.' Tom Marcus, bestselling author of Soldier Spy'Vivid and brilliantly written: a pulsating account of the battle for Musa Qala, the Rorke's Drift of our times.’ Martin Bell, OBE, war reporterIn Helmand province in July 2006, Major Adam Jowett was given command of Easy Company, a hastily assembled and under-strength unit of Paras and Royal Irish rangers. Their mission was to hold the District Centre of Musa Qala at any cost. Easy Company found themselves in a ramshackle compound, cut off and heavily outnumbered by the Taliban in the town.In No Way Out, Adam evokes the heat and chaos of battle as the Taliban hit Easy Company with wave after wave of brutal attack. He describes what it was like to have responsibility for the lives of his men as they fought back heroically over twenty-one days and nights of relentless, nerve-shredding combat. Finally, as they came down to their last rounds and death stared Easy Company in the face, the siege took an extraordinary turn . . .Powerful, highly-charged and moving, No Way Out is Adam’s tribute to the men of Easy Company who paid a heavy price for serving their country.
Escaping Hitler: Stories Of Courage And Endurance On The Freedom Trails
by Monty Halls‘I was on a train, and a German soldier began shouting at me and poking me in the ribs with his machine gun. I just thought that was it, the game was up . . .’Downed airman Bob Frost faced danger at every turn as he was smuggled out of France and over the Pyrenees. Prisoner of war Len Harley went on the run in Italy, surviving months in hiding and then a hazardous climb over the Abruzzo mountains with German troops hot on his heels. These are just some of the stories told in heart-stopping detail as Monty Halls takes us along the freedom trails out of occupied Europe, from the immense French escape lines to lesser-known routes in Italy and Slovenia. Escaping Hitler features spies and traitors, extraordinary heroism from those who ran the escape routes and offered shelter to escapees, and great feats of endurance. The SAS in Operation Galia fought for forty days behind enemy lines in Italy and then, exhausted and pursued by the enemy, exfiltrated across the Apennine mountains. And in Slovenia Australian POW Ralph Churches and British Les Laws orchestrated the largest successful Allied escape of the entire war.Mixing new research, interviews with survivors and his own experience of walking the trails, Monty brings the past to life in this dramatic and gripping slice of military history.
In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918–1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust
by Jeffrey VeidlingerIn riveting prose, In the Midst of Civilized Europe repositions the pogroms as a defining moment of the twentieth century.Between 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine and Poland by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. In hundreds of separate incidents, ordinary people robbed their Jewish neighbors with impunity, burned down their houses, ripped apart their Torah scrolls, sexually assaulted them, and killed them. Largely forgotten today, these pogroms – ethnic riots – dominated headlines and international affairs in their time. Aid workers warned that six million Jews were in danger of complete extermination. Twenty years later, these dire predictions would come true.Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials, including thousands of newly discovered witness testimonies, trial records, and official orders, acclaimed historian Jeffrey Veidlinger shows for the first time how this wave of genocidal violence created the conditions for the Holocaust. Through stories of survivors, perpetrators, aid workers, and governmental officials, he explains how so many different groups of people came to the same conclusion: that killing Jews was an acceptable response to their various problems.
Eight Days at Yalta: How Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin Shaped the Post-War World
by Diana PrestonMeticulously researched and vividly written, Eight Days at Yalta is a remarkable work of intense historical drama.In the last winter of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin arrived in the Crimean resort of Yalta. Over eight days of bargaining, bombast and intermittent bonhomie they decided on the conduct of the final stages of the war against Germany, on how a defeated and occupied Germany should be governed, on the constitution of the nascent United Nations and on spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Greece.Only three months later, less than a week after the German surrender, Roosevelt was dead and Churchill was writing to the new President, Harry S. Truman, of ‘an iron curtain’ that was now ‘drawn down upon [the Soviets’] front’. Diana Preston chronicles eight days that created the post-war world, revealing Roosevelt’s determination to bring about the dissolution of the British Empire and Churchill’s conviction that he and the dying President would run rings round the Soviet premier. But Stalin monitored everything they said and made only paper concessions, while his territorial ambitions would soon result in the imposition of Communism throughout Eastern Europe.
The Whicharts
by Noel StreatfeildYoung, naive and too kind for her own good, Rose falls for a young Brigadier with a colourful history. Soon after their fling ends he drops a baby off on her doorstep begging her to raise it for his latest mistress.Tender hearted Rosie nurtures the baby into a sophisticated young woman called Marmie – alongside two other baby girls dropped off by the Brigadier – Daisy, a natural born dancer, and Tania who aspires to be a mechanic. But raising three growing girls on very little money after the war is an impossible task, so the girls find a way to earn their keep through a life on the stage.Revealing the toil a dancer goes through backstage and the friendship and love needed to survive it, The Whicharts is an exceptional inter-war novel from Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild.
Shepherdess of Sheep
by Noel StreatfeildVibrant and vivacious, Sarah Onion takes it upon herself to find employment when she is orphaned at nineteen. She becomes an integral part of Charles and Ruth Lane’s household as governess to their four small children, but at what cost? The First World War soon unleashes calamity on the whole family. Charles enlists in the army and is sent to France, Ruth’s heart disease gets increasingly worse, their youngest daughter becomes increasingly difficult to deal with and all the while Sarah is falling in love.Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild plunges her reader into tragedy after tragedy but always keeps a light at the end of the tunnel in her wartime family novel, A Shepherdess of Sheep.
Caroline England
by Noel StreatfeildBorn into a very traditional family, Caroline Torry’s childhood is ruled by patriarchy and propriety. She grows up in the gorgeous Milton Manor which has belonged to her family for generations, but the pressure to produce a male heir gradually becomes too much for her mother . . .Despite her troubled upbringing, fifteen years later Caroline has a husband and children of her own. She’s grown into a caring mother and a devoted wife determined to give her family everything that was stripped from her own childhood. But when World War One breaks out things don’t quite go to plan . . .Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild navigates through three stages of Caroline’s life with expert skill and finesse in her wartime novel, Caroline England.
The Winter is Past
by Noel StreatfeildPicture a gorgeous English country house, surrounded by manicured lawns and sprawling oak trees. This is Levet, where the Laurence family have lived since the 18th century.Once full of children and excitement, the only Laurences left at Levet now are former actress Sara and her very upper class mother-in-law Lydia. That is until the Second World War erupts and Mrs. Vilder arrives with her three children after being evacuated from their home . . .Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild fills Levet with authentic families facing undeniable tragedy in this heart-warming wartime novel, The Winter is Past.
I Ordered a Table for Six
by Noel StreatfeildAdela Framley seems to be a perfect citizen. She’s a proud mother, she runs a charity for homes which have been bombed and wants to hold a dinner party in aid of the charity’s patron, Gardiner Penrose. But are there dark motives behind her good actions?Adela invites a curious mixture of friends and family to a fancy restaurant nearby and over the course of the dinner party we move between each guest’s daily troubles and anxieties . . . until a catastrophic event puts an end to their soiree.Carnegie Award winning author Noel Streatfeild takes us on a thought-provoking tour of tragedy and family life in wartime London in her poignant novel, I Ordered a Table for Six.
Myra Carrol
by Noel StreatfeildMyra Carrol has it all – beauty, kindness and a loving marriage. One afternoon she is searching through her barn for objects which could be of help in the Second World War, when she comes across an old picture of herself . . .She is immediately transported back to the carefree days of her childhood. Raised to be a strong woman by her governess Connie, Myra’s honesty, confidence and angelically beautiful face gave her the best start in life . . . until her father’s death takes her to boarding school.Through nostalgic flashbacks we learn about the events that shaped Myra’s life in this heart-warming family wartime novel by Carnegie Medal winning author, Noel Streatfeild.
Grass in Piccadilly
by Noel StreatfeildOnce fashionable and plush with flowers, post-war Mayfair has lost its dazzling charm. But that didn’t stop Charlotte Nettel and her husband Sir John from swapping life in the quiet northern countryside to convert their roomy Mayfair townhouse into flats.Their tenants come in all shapes and sizes – from pregnant couple Jack and Jenny to German migrants Paula and Heinrich – and they provide a constant stream of both entertainment and anxiety. But it’s Charlotte’s stepdaughter Penny, a disillusioned young women born into the uneasy interwar world, who proves to be the most difficult and scandalous tenant . . .Flashing between the lives of each tenant Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild gives us a kaleidoscopic view of post-war London in her ingenious novel, Grass in Piccadilly. For fans of Muriel Spark’s A Far Cry From Kensington.
Mothering Sunday
by Noel StreatfeildSeventy-year-old widowed Anna Caldwell likes to be alone, happy to potter around her garden chatting to her friend Miss Poe. However, the bliss of Anna’s peaceful lifestyle causes her five children much dismay.Jane, the eldest and most organised, gathers her siblings together to visit Anna on Mothering Sunday. Henry the politician, Margaret the doctor and the youngest, Felicity, all agree to attend with their partners . . . but that leaves Tony, the shadow on the family’s respectable past.Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild pieces together a startling image of the post-war British family in her novel Mothering Sunday.
Aunt Clara
by Noel StreatfeildSixty-two-year-old Clara leads a virtuous life. She spends all her time helping others and she always puts her friends and family first. It’s a shame that nobody, including her four siblings and their myriad of children, ever stops to say thank you and appreciate all she does.. . . until wealthy Uncle Simon comes into her life. Like Clara, Simon never married, never had children and he lived alone – the two understood each other like no one else in the family could. So when Uncle Simon dies, and leaves very specific wishes to Clara in his will, the path of her life changes in ways she could never imagined.Thrown into the world of circuses, greyhound-racing and dubious house-property, Aunt Clara encounters bizarre incidents and an unlikely love story in this enchanting novel from Carnegie Medal winning author, Noel Streatfeild.
It Pays to Be Good
by Noel StreatfeildFlossie Elk was an astonishingly beautiful baby. But whilst her mother Fanny encouraged Flossie to use the power of those dazzling looks, her greengrocer father George stood by the belief that “Beauty is a lure of Satan.”When the First World War breaks out and George joins the army, Fanny sends her daughter to dance academy where Flossie’s beauty can shine like it’s never been able to before. Not before long Flossie is given a starring role on stage, but with less than honourable intentions . . .Carnegie Award winning author Noel Streatfeild explores the dark side of the backstage world, which she knows all too well from her own life, in this witty and enchanting wartime novel, It Pays to be Good.