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When the stars went to war: Hollywood and World War II
By Roy Hoopes. 1994
Tells the stories of the roles that Hollywood stars played during World War II, both on and off the screen.…
While many stayed home and worked or had affairs with the spouses of those who went off to war, many others contributed actively to the war effort. Some, like Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda, enlisted and fought. Some, like Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, and Groucho Marx, raised money. Others, like Marlene Dietrich, Mickey Rooney, and Bob Hope, put their lives at risk by entertaining troopsWhen I tell you Stella Fortuna was a special girl, I hope you aren't thinking small-town special. Other people would…
underestimate Stella Fortuna during her long life, and not one of them didn't end up regretting it.*******************A sprawling 20th century saga of a young woman with a fire inside her which cannot be put out, for fans of Elena Ferrante, Captain Correlli's Mandolin, All the Light We Cannot See and Brooklyn.By turns a family saga, a ghost story, and a coming-of cranky-old-age tale, Juliet Grames's THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA lays bare the costs of migration and patriarchal values, but also of the love and devotion that can sustain a family through generations.The book tells the story of Stella Fortuna, born into rural poverty in a mountainside Calabrian village in the early 20th century. After being abandoned by their father, who had left to seek his fortune in L'America, Stella grew up with her beloved mother Assunta, her brother Giuseppe and her sister Tina. Tough, vivacious, and fiercely loyal, the sisters were always inseparable, going on to support each other through immigration, marriage, children, loss - and the seven (or eight, depending how you count them) near-death experiences Stella suffered throughout her life.Beginning in their childhood with the time she was burned by frying oil ("the eggplant attack"), Assunta became convinced that her eldest daughter was cursed, a victim of the Evil Eye or a malevolent ghost. But after Stella woke up from 'The Accident', an eighth brush with death which robbed her of a large portion of her memories, it was Tina who she refused to speak to. Now, despite living across the street from each other, the sisters have not spoken in thirty years. Determined to solve the mystery of this falling out, it's up to the family historian to unravel the life and deaths of Stella Fortuna, to connect the inexplicable dots in her dramatic story, and to suggest, finally, redemption of the battle-scarred and misunderstood woman who has lived her life with a fire inside her which could not be put out.'A compulsive, huge-hearted novel about family, home and how women move through the world; you don't read this book, you live it.' Erin Kelly, author of He Said / She Said(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedVarina
By Charles Frazier. 2018
The new novel from the number one bestselling author of Cold Mountain - a stunning portrait of the devastation left…
by the American Civil War, as seen through the eyes of a woman who played a part at the heart of it.With her marriage prospects ruined in the wake of her father's financial decline, teenage Varina Howell decides her best option is to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects a life of security as a Mississippi landowner. When he instead pursues a career in politics and is appointed President of the Confederacy, it puts Varina at the white-hot centre of one of the darkest moments in American history - culpable regardless of her intentions.As the Confederacy prepares to surrender and she finds herself friendless and alone, Varina and her children escape Richmond. With her marriage in tatters and the country divided, they travel south, now fugitives with 'bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit'.(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedSecrets of the Homefront Girls
By Kate Thompson. 2019
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 HourStratford, 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(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedParanoid: The new gripping crime thriller from the bestselling author
By Lisa Jackson. 2019
'Shiveringly good suspense!' Lisa GardnerTHE BRAND NEW NOVEL FROM LISA JACKSONTwenty years ago, Rachel Gaston accidentally shot and killed her…
brother in a teenage game that went horribly wrong.Today, Rachel is trying to put the guilt of what happened behind her. But her horrifying dreams about that night continue to stalk her. As the anniversary of her brother's death nears, Rachel feels her imagination playing tricks, convincing her that objects in her house have moved. That there's a hint of unfamiliar cologne in the air. That someone is tailing her car. Watching her home.Rachel has never known the truth about that night. But as connections surface between a new string of murders and Luke's death, she realises there's no escaping the past, and the truth may be darker than her worst fears . . . A fast-paced psychological thriller for fans of Lisa Gardner and Karen Rose, with Lisa Jackson's trademark mix of dark secrets and stunning twists.Bad Day at the Vulture Club (Baby Ganesh Agency #5)
By Vaseem Khan. 2019
In the gripping new Baby Ganesh Agency novel, Inspector Chopra and his elephant sidekick investigate the death of one of…
Mumbai's wealthiest citizens, a murder with ramifications for its poorest. The Parsees are among the oldest, most secretive and most influential communities in the city: respected, envied and sometimes feared. When prominent industrialist Cyrus Zorabian is murdered on holy ground, his body dumped inside a Tower of Silence—where the Parsee dead are consumed by vultures—the police dismiss it as a random killing. But his daughter is unconvinced.Chopra, uneasy at entering this world of power and privilege, is soon plagued by doubts about the case. But murder is murder. And in Mumbai, wealth and corruption go in hand in hand, inextricably linking the lives of both high and low… (P) 2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd