Sometimes it is so difficult to restrict myself to just ten books due to be released in the following month. There are so many great looking books to choose from. I finally settled on the following ten, and I am sure you will agree, they do look exciting.
Happy Reading!
Flickers of Light in a Nazi Darkness by Lisa Waller Rogers
Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, marking the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship. As the tide of Nazism grew, so did anti-Jewish decrees which stripped away the rights of German Jews.
In May 1940, the Germans invaded and occupied the neutral country of the Netherlands. Little by little the Nazis took away the rights of the Dutch Jews and the only place they were safe was in their homes, until they weren’t. In 1942, Nazis conducted raids to deport them to labor and concentration camps. But not every Jew was caught. Thanks to the heroic action of Dutch resistance workers, at great risk to themselves, Dutch resistance workers hid Jews from the Nazis, and sought to keep them safe and fed through the long years of WWII. Not all of these efforts bore success, many Dutch workers were imprisoned and executed by the Nazis. Flickers of Light in a Nazi Darkness brings the story of some of these “Flickers of Light” resistance workers to life.
The Secret Keeper by Anstey Harris
Olivia thought there would be years ahead—time to persuade Lizzie to come home. But when she discovers her husband is dying, everything changes. Suddenly, time is very short.
For Lizzie to reunite with her parents, Olivia will have to face the truth of her choices, of the secrets she’s been hiding for years. She knows it is time. Time to bring the two halves of herself back together. But if she does, will those she loves forgive her? Or is it already too late?
An incredibly moving story that will stay in your heart, about the secrets we keep to protect those we love and how to find peace when time is running out.
The Storyteller of Krakow by Carly Schabowski
It takes courage to tell your story…
Kraków, 1994. When an elderly woman named Lena meets a young girl, the child is carrying a toy bear, who she has named Wojtek. She quietly tells Lena it’s named after a bear who was famous in the second world war. This is a name Lena hasn’t heard in many years. And so she begins her story…
Kraków, 1940. When Lena was young, she loved to tell stories – about the places she would go, the battles she would fight, the great loves she might have – imagining herself the heroine in every tale. But when the Soviet forces invade her town, and take her to a Siberian gulag, leaving her with no family, no home, no strength to fight… her dreams feel further away than ever.
Until the Soviets change sides in the war, and Lena finds herself being rescued, and on an unexpected journey – one that runs in parallel with a tame bear named Wojtek. As their journey takes them across the Middle East, to Africa, and finally to war-torn Italy, she realized there might be a chance for her to live the life she always told stories about – fighting the hated Nazis.
But there is one thing missing… a great love. Lena knows she doesn’t need saving by a man. But when Wojtek the bear leads her to an injured stranger, she realises perhaps it’s not her who needs rescue. The only problem is that the man she’s led to is a German soldier, on the other side of the war from her…
Can love conquer all in wartime? Don’t miss this unforgettable story!
All Yours by Pippa Nixon
The last time games designer Fox saw Robyn was the morning after their amazing night together. He didn't even get her last name. But as a single dad to two boys, he's never had time for anything but his work and his family.
So when flame-haired Robyn shows up on his doorstep as his new live-in nanny, Fox is stunned. The connection burns just as bright, but they agree to keep it professional.
The longer they live under one roof, the harder it is to keep their promise. And where Robyn's concerned, Fox is playing for keeps . . .
Loyalty and Lies on Dressmakers' Alley by Rosie Clarke
London’s East End 1927
Yvonne White is content as head seamstress at Miss Susie, raising her beloved son alone and determined to keep the past behind her. So when John’s father suddenly reappears after years of silence, demanding a place in his son’s life, Yvonne’s hard-won peace is shattered.
Polly Blake spends her days exhausted by endless work and family responsibilities, caring for her invalid father and three younger brothers while her carefree twin, Patsy, falls in with dangerous company. Polly longs for happiness of her own, but trouble is never far away.
Meanwhile, Lady Diane’s dazzling fashion designs have made Miss Susie the toast of London. Yet as she accompanies the ailing Lord Henry to Italy, jealousy and uncertainty threaten everything she holds dear.
With fear spreading through London’s East End as a killer stalks the shadows, the women of Dressmaker’s Alley must face secrets, heartbreak, and unexpected surprises before their lives change forever.
Things are looking brighter on Dressmaker’s Alley, but there are always those who want to cause trouble…
The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch by Laura Jensen Walker
At seventy, the sharp-tongued recluse prefers to keep company with her own routines. But when a life-altering diagnosis leaves her worried she’ll never be missed, she decides it’s finally time to do something to leave her mark: something no one will ever forget.
Clutching her mother’s ashes and the book of her heart, Primrose hops on a plane, bound for Hay-on-Wye, the legendary Welsh “Town of Books.” Unfortunately, her literary pilgrimage just won’t follow the plot. After an accident derails her trip, she finds herself staying awhile with estranged family. But she senses a kindred spirit in the niece she’s getting to know, who uncannily understands the world much the same as Primrose herself does.
As rolling green hills and book-lined streets frame an unexpected season of discovery, what began as an unwelcome detour becomes something more profound. For the first time in her life, Primrose begins to glimpse the beauty―and courage―of true human connection.
A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall by Flora Dunn
To top it all, Sahara’s closest friend, Guy Tillingford, is losing his calm. In the run-up to the opening gala ball, Tin Tub Productions are filming a documentary about his crumbling country mansion, Tillingford Hall. Although he’s thrilled to be a first-time dad, his fiancée Alice’s due date is worryingly close to the big night.When Tin Tub ask Sahara to be a presenter, she’s reluctant to step back into the spotlight – until she learns she’ll be working with her old friend, popular TV historian Dr Tom Pemberton. With Tom’s reassurance, she takes a chance on a new career.
Since his wife Vittoria died, Tom has been juggling single parenthood with TV stardom. His eleven-year-old son Cory has retreated into video games, while his fifteen-year-old daughter Xanthe, an exceptional violinist, struggles with sudden fame.
Who better to help Tom navigate these challenges than Sahara?
But when she receives unexpected news about her health, will it bring them closer – or push them apart?
And with Alice’s due date so close to the ball, who will have the first dance?
Dreadnought by Robin Bennett
On a remote Yorkshire headland known as Dreadnought, seven-year-old Cass Delaval begins to glimpse figures and fragments tied to a past that refuses to stay buried.
As the world edges toward conflict, Cass is drawn into a family mystery stretching back to the Second World War: a missing boy, a hidden weapon, and a family secret.
Because whatever has lain dormant on Dreadnought goes deep into our past … and it isn’t finished with us yet.
Dreadnought is a story of loyalty and hope, where the courage of one small girl may be our last defence.
The Translator by Annabelle Marx
1936, London. Edie Adler slips into the back pew of a memorial service for her dearest friend, Vee Saunders – presumed dead, her body never found. As politicians murmur condolences to Vee’s powerful husband, Edie sits with a fury she can barely contain. She knows things about this marriage no one in the room would dare speak aloud. And she refuses to believe that Vee is gone. She closes her eyes and she’s back in the warm Mediterranean water – the salt on her skin, Vee’s hands keeping her afloat, that voice in her ear: don’t worry, I won’t let you sink…
1918, Malta. Edie, an officer in the newly formed Wrens, arrives on the sun-drenched island expecting cyphers, duty and discipline. What she doesn’t expect is Vee – a whip-smart nurse singing in the bathtub with a cigarette in one hand and a gin in the other. Vee teaches her to swim in secret coves, leads her astray in the basement bars of Valletta, and the two women forge a bond that will shape the rest of their lives.
As they take different paths – Edie to a small flat in Hampstead, swimming in the Ladies’ Pond each morning, long days as a social worker in the London slums – they stay bound by letters. Vee’s are vivid, full of mischief, then slowly, they darken. And then they stop. Two years of silence. Until a parcel arrives from Paris – three detective novels, all in French, no sender, no note – and Edie’s world shifts on its axis.
The Secret Garden Murders by J.R. Ellis
When a woman is found strangled in the locked garden of historic Bishop Hewick Hall in Yorkshire, DCI Jim Oldroyd needs to solve a seemingly impossible murder. The only door was bolted from the inside and the kitchen garden walls are too high to climb. If no one could enter or leave, how did the killer commit the crime and escape?
As Oldroyd and his team investigate the victim’s past, they discover Clarissa Morden wasn’t the kind elderly woman she appeared. Instead, she was a ruthless blackmailer who kept coded records of her neighbours’ darkest secrets. Her list included a local cabinet maker, the Bishop Hewick Hall manager and even her next-door neighbour―suddenly it seems as if half the village has a motive for murder.
When a second body is discovered in the local river, it seems this quiet corner of Yorkshire may never be the same again. Can Oldroyd unlock the secret of the impossible locked garden murder and find the culprit? Or will the killer strike again in this tranquil village to keep their secrets hidden…
