When war breaks out, friendship will see them through ‘A heart-warming story perfect for saga lovers’, Nancy Revell,Sunday Times bestselling author of The Shipyard Girls series

As the war rages on, can they be there for each other? Spring 1940 After getting through their first winter at war, including Christmas Day apart from loved ones, Nancy, Betty and Patty are determined to continue to support one another as well as finding new ways to contribute to the war effort. Everyone is trying to do their bit on the Home Front to help however they can. Nancy is knitting for the armed forces to keep her from worrying about her husband Bert who is serving in France. Meanwhile Patty is fretting about a loved one closer to home as sweetheart and fellow steel worker Archive signs up as a local defence volunteer while Betty is rolling up her sleeves and digging for victory in the veg patch she's started with her landlady. The war might be raging on, but as long as the Steel Girls rally around each other, can there still be hope this spring?

Three girls all turn up for work, the day war is declared... Dotty has never known a life outside of the orphanage where she grew up, let alone love. Lucy is the sole carer of her little sister, now that her brother has gone to war. Annabelle has led a life of privilege but everyone has to pinch the pennies at the moment. Adjusting to life on the shop-floor at Coventry's only department store is hard enough, but then the bombs begin to fall... As the devastating effects of war come to bear on the three women, their bond deepens. One thing's for certain, the girls are going to need each other. Praise for Rosie Goodwin: 'Goodwin excels in writing about relationships, the hardships of life, the ties of family and the joys of love and friendship.' Lancashire Evening Post 'Rosie is a talented storyteller.' Dee Williams

With the country at war, can they come together this winter? 'A heart-warming story perfect for saga lovers', Nancy Revell,Sunday Times bestselling author of The Shipyard Girls series The second book in The Steel Girls series, following Betty, Nancy and Patty as they keep the foundry fires burning undertaking dangerous work in Sheffield's steelworks and do their bit for the war effort.

A new series from bestselling author Kate Thompson. 'Kate Thompson's wartime novels always strike a chord and Secrets of the Homefront Girls is no exception. You can almost smell the Yardley violets drifting over the factory as the girls live lives complicated by the trials and tribulations of war' My Weekly 'Kate Thompson's put the lives of women working in the Yardley factory during the Blitz at the heart of her latest novel' Woman's Hour Stratford, 1939. Britain may be at war, but on the home front keeping up morale and keeping up appearances go hand in hand. For the young women working on the lipstick production line at Yardley's cosmetics factory, it's business as usual. Headstrong Renee Gunn is the queen of the lipstick belt - although her cheeky attitude means she's often in trouble. When Esther, an Austrian refugee, arrives at Yardley's, it's Renee who takes her under her wing and teaches her to be a true cockney. But outside of the factory, things are more complicated. Lily, Renee's older sister, has suddenly returned home after six years away, and is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile Esther is finding life in England more difficult than expected, and it's not long before Renee finds herself in trouble, with nowhere to turn. In the face of the Blitz, the Yardley girls are bound together by friendship and loyalty - but could the secrets they are hiding be the biggest danger of all? 'A compelling saga set around the tenacious women of the East End' Daisy Styles 'Kate Thompson is a skillful and humane storyteller who lights up the sooty face of the old East End with tales full of drama and human interest.' Annie Murray

True stories of love and loss during WWII, from the tough Northern women who kept the foundry fires burning. When war broke out, the young women of Sheffield had their carefree lives turned upside down. With their sweethearts being sent away to fight, they had no choice but to step into the men's shoes and become the backbone of the city's steel industry. Through hard toil and companionship, they vowed to keep the foundry fires burning and ensured that soldiers had the weapons, planes and ships needed to secure victory over Hitler. When the men returned from the front in 1945, many of these women tragically found themselves discarded 'like yesterday's fish and chip wrappers'. But decades later, a grassroots campaign spearheaded by the elderly Women of Steel finally brought their remarkable story to light. Women of Steel is the last chance to hear these unsung heroines' voices, as they share first-hand how a group of plucky young women rallied together to win the war for Britain.

“Stunning photographs” and firsthand accounts propel a book that “brings together the memories of more than 200 child survivors of the Blitz” (Daily Mail). It was not just the upheaval caused by evacuation and the blitzes that changed a generation’s childhood, it was how war pervaded every aspect of life. From dodging bombs by bicycle and patrolling the parish with the vicar’s WWI pistol, to post air raid naps in school and being carried out of the rubble as the family’s sole survivor, children experienced life in the war zone that was Britain. This reality, the reality of a life spent growing up during the Second World War, is best told through the eyes of the children who experienced it firsthand. Children in the Second World War unites the memories of over two hundred child veterans to tell the tragic and the remarkable stories of life, and of youth, during the war. Each veteran gives a unique insight into a childhood that was unlike any that came before or after. This book poignantly illustrates the presence of death and perseverance in the lives of children through this tumultuous period. Each account enlightens and touches the reader, shedding light on what it was really like on the home front during the Second World War.