Showing results by author "Katie Flynn" in All Categories

Living on the edge of the beautiful Norfolk Broads with her father, the only ripple in Tess Delamere's calm life is the disturbing dream about her dead mother which haunts her. She yearns to know more, but the arrival of a new stepmother heralds the end of Tess' hopes that her father might divulge the past. As she grows up, Tess slowly starts to put together the pieces herself. But the outbreak of war brings tragedy and upheaval, changing Tess' priorities....

Liverpool, 1938. It’s Christmas in the Courts, and single mother Rosheen Clarke and her mischievous twin daughters, April and May, have no idea of the cataclysmic events which will soon overtake them. When war is declared, April and May are evacuated to the countryside, and Rosheen joins the WAAF, where she befriends fellow Liverpudlian Cassie Valentine. While Rosheen worries about what trouble the twins will cause next, Cassie is fighting her love for her childhood friend, Andy.

Lizzie is an orphan living with her aunt Annie, uncle Perce and two boy cousins within a stone's throw of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Lizzie loves her aunt but is hated by her uncle. She makes friends with Geoff Gardiner, another orphan, and is teaching him to swim in the Scaldy when Clem Gilligan rescues the pair of them from drowning. Clem works on the canal boat, The Liverpool Rose, with Jake Pridmore and his wife, plying between the great cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Lizzie's situation at home starts to worsen and eventually she is forced to flee. Her first instinct is to make for the canal, but finding Clem is not so easy....

Is love just an illusion? To the outside, Clare has everything: a beautiful home, a devoted husband and daughter, and plenty of money. But she is bored. Her husband Clive spends most of the year abroad - but what does he do after work hours? And her daughter Sally claims to spend all her time with horses and homework - but what about boys? Lonely, thwarted and unfulfilled - and against Clive's wishes - Clare takes a job managing a café.

Claudia Muldoon and her sister, Jenny, live with their parents and their gran in her house in Blodwen Street. Both parents have good jobs and the family assume they are settled for life, but then Grandpa Muldoon has a seizure and begs his son to return to Ireland. In Ireland the Muldoons flourish and the girls love the freedom of their new life, though as they grow up, disadvantages become clear. Claudia has to find work, so both sisters return to Liverpool and to their old pal Danny, who welcomes them back with delight.

Nell Whitaker is 15 when war breaks out and her mother sends her to live with her Auntie Kath in a remote farmhouse on Anglesey. At first Nell hates it, but her friendship with Bryn, who works on the farm whilst waiting for his call-up papers, helps a lot. So when he leaves to join his ship, Nell is counting the days to his return. But her heart is broken when news reaches her that Bryn’s ship has been bombed and he has been drowned. Determined to bury her grief in hard work, Nell finds herself growing closer to Auntie Kath.

It is the autumn of 1945 and identical twins Joy and Gillian Lawrence are on their way home to Liverpool, having been evacuated to Devonshire five years earlier. Their mother has been killed in the blitz but the girls hope that with their beloved father’s help they will be able to manage. All goes well until there is a terrible accident and Joy loses her sight. At first she is bitter and resentful whilst Gillian is racked with guilt.

Dana and Caitlin meet on the ferry from Ireland, both in search of new lives in Liverpool, having left their secrets behind in Ireland. But Dana is ambitious, and when the opportunity comes to own their own tearoom she persuades her friend to join her. No one is willing to rent property to a couple of girls, so when Caitlin’s new man-friend says he’ll back them, they are delighted. Soon the tearoom is thriving.

Amy Logan’s family are poor but proud. They scrape a living by shrimping for the big Liverpool fish market, which Amy hates. It’s only because her beloved - and strict - mother rules her with a rod of iron that she mucks in. But Isobel Logan dies in childbirth, and Amy and her brothers start to run wild. Matters aren’t helped when her father marries Suzie Keagan from down the street. Until now, Suzie has managed to conceal a dislike for housekeeping, and she forces Amy to slave at chores. Desperate to escape, Amy leaves home to take her first job.

It is 1900, and Adeline Warburton and Arnold Haslington have fallen deeply in love. But though both are from wealthy families, their social status is too far apart for their families to approve of the match. And when Arnold marries another, Adeline’s reaction is immediate and altogether unexpected, as she travels to make a new life in China. But although they are separated by thousands of miles, the consequences of their youthful passion continue to haunt them and their children - Addy’s daughter, Nala, and Arnold’s son, Philip. As the years pass and the children grow, violent forces are set to bring them together, unaware of the secrets from the past that bind them.

Val Neyler, driving an ambulance through the blazing heart of London, is in an impossible position, for the man she loves is a fighter pilot with the Luftwaffe. And Jenny, whose husband, Simon, is flying Spitfires, finds herself working as a landgirl on a Devon farm. Cara, by contrast, develops her social life, and Maude, in the WAAF, falls in love with two men at once.... And Tina, matriarch of the family, loves them all, scolds them all, and tries to understand the new generation growing up in the troubled times of war.

Leaving Liverpool behind, Libby Andrews embarks on a transformative journey to London with her newfound friend Suzy. Amidst the bustling city streets, they find Libby's parents' cherished stall on Petticoat Lane has been taken over and run into the ground by Libby's conniving uncle. Libby is determined to reclaim what rightfully belongs to her and with Suzy's support, she is able to bring the stall back to the way it used to be. But when they unravel a long-held family secret, unearthing the truth about her mother's past, will it shatter the bright future that lies ahead for Libby?

Kay Duffield's fiancé is about to leave the country, and her own duty with the WAAF is imminent when she becomes a bride. The precious few days she spends with her new husband are quickly forgotten once she starts work as a balloon operator. There she makes friends with shy Emily Bevan, who has left her parents' hill farm in Wales for the first time; down-to-earth Biddy Bachelor, fresh from the horrors of the Liverpool bombing; and spirited Jo Stewart, the rebel among them, whose disregard for authority looks set to land them all in trouble. The girls stay friends through good times and bad, through romantic encounters and, ultimately, tragedy.

Tammy and her mother, Grace, are desperate to escape Tammy’s violent bully of a father. But when an unforeseen tragedy strikes, mother and daughter must flee Scotland in the dead of night. To survive the severest of penalties, they leave behind everything they know and love – including one another. Under new identities, Tammy and Grace must start afresh. Tammy joins the services and there she meets a dashing officer who begins to break her guard down. But can the course of love ever run smooth with Tammy unable to reveal her true self?

1939. Eve Armstrong is being evacuated to Devon. As the train pulls out of London, she takes a last look at the crowded platform, the shabbily dressed evacuees, and a rude little boy sticking his tongue out. At first, Eve is happier than ever at Drake's Farm. It's a different world that invites fresh starts, and so when Eve runs into the boy from the station, Johnny Durrell, they call a truce and soon become firm friends. The war might be a distant reality, but the arrival of Connie Hale makes every day a battle.

When Dot McCann, playing with her pals, decides to hide in Butcher Rathbone's almost empty dustbin, she overhears a conversation which could send one man to prison and the other to the gallows - and suddenly finds herself in possession of stolen goods. Dot lives with her aunt and uncle, abandoned after her parents died. She feels very alone until she meets up with Corky, who has run away from a London orphanage. They join forces with Emma, whose jeweller's shop has been burgled, and Nick, a young reporter who is investigating the crime.

It is 1931, and once again Europe is heading towards disaster. Life must go on however, and a new generation of the Neyler family are making their way in this turbulent world. Louis Rose, the self-confessed black sheep of the family, returns to England for his father's funeral and is greeted with more bad news: he has lost his mistress to his young nephew.

Jimmy Trewin and his little sister are devastated by their mother's death and horrified to find themselves entrusted to the care of a hated neighbour, Mrs Huxtable. They hope their father will rescue them when his ship comes into port but this does not happen. When Cyril Huxtable accuses them of theft and threatens a terrible revenge, they decide to leave Liverpool and try to find their mother's family in Wales.

Dympna Byrne lives a simple life with her family on the Connemara coast. She adores her father Micheál, and does her best to help her family by working hard and expecting little. But beneath the surface there are hidden secrets. Dympna’s mother idolises her clever eldest son, yet her attitude to Dympna is puzzling. So when her family find themselves in desperate need of money, it is Dympna who crosses the water to Liverpool to seek a better life.

Liverpool, 1940. When war comes to Britain, Jessica Wilson and her friend Ruby seize the opportunity to leave behind the orphanage they grew up in and start new lives in the NAAFI. With only forged papers as identification, the girls expect to be turned away but are delighted with an offer of work. For the first time in their lives they experience real independence, and it isn't long before they're spending their evenings enjoying the delights of Liverpool.