Orion Lights Out Liverpool Ли Маурин

Liverpool 1915. Martha Rossi lives in a tenement with her husband and their five children. Despite working all the hours she can, the family don't have much to get by on. When Martha's fourteen-year-old son, Joe, proudly enlists to fight for his country just to earn his mother an extra shilling, Martha is horrified. She realises the government is turning a blind eye to the scores of young boys who are joining the army. Despite her pleas and protests, Joe is dispatched to France • Unbeknownst to them all, Joe's act of selfless heroism will have huge implications for Martha and all the family. As the dreaded telegrams begin to arrive from the front in France, mothers' hearts are broken across the country. Spurred on by grief of her own, Martha Rossi begins a quest that will take her right to the doors of No

Three Liverpool families - the Flowers, the Baileys and the McDowds - all very different, yet inextricably linked. Beginning in post-war Liverpool, Lime Street Blues is a powerfully compelling saga which follows their lives, loves and ambitions • In the 1960s Liverpool, and the glamorous world of music, is the place to be. So, when Sean, Lachlan and Max form The Merseysiders and Jeannie and Rita become part of The Flower Girls, they put their hearts and souls into their performances and achieve success beyond their wildest dreams • The greatest star of all is Sean McDowd, adored by women everywhere, yet unable to get his first love out of his mind. But Jeannie Flowers has married Lachlan and no-one is prepared for the deceits and betrayals that lie ahead

Two families - and their secrets . . . A superb Liverpool saga from bestselling author Maureen Lee • In Liverpool, on a stormy September night in 1920, two women from very different backgrounds give birth to daughters in the same house. Enemies at first, they later become friends when separate troubles unite them. But friendship between their daughters, Cara and Sybil, is a different matter • Nineteen years later, at the beginning of the Second World War, Cara and Sybil find themselves thrown together when they enlist and are both stationed in Malta. It is a time of live-changing repercussions for them both while, back home in Liverpool, the bombs rain down on a defiant city

Two years of war have taken a terrible toll on Pearl Street, Liverpool. German bombs have reduced some houses to rubble and most of the inhabitants have lost friends and family. While sisters Eileen and Sheila share the anxious burden of absent husbands, the conflict for others brings excitement and freedom. Kitty Quigley, stuck at home for years with an invalid father, is forced to register for war work and is delighted to become an auxiliary nurse. And Jessica Fleming, struggling to earn a living, finds herself and her friend Rita increasingly drawn to the glamour and excitement of the Yanks • Maureen Lee once again confirms her talent as a wonderful storyteller, weaving together the lives of a Liverpool community in the Second World War

1944. It is spring, late morning, when Flora's life changes for ever. She is standing on a platform in the Swiss mountains, watching as a cattle train draws near. From within the wooden trucks she can hear human voices - groaning, pleading and desperate • Horrified, she begins to run alongside the train, frantically trying to help. But as the train picks up speed, a filthy bundle of rags is thrust through the slats and into her arms - 'Take him. His name is Simon.' • Flora stands on the platform, a baby boy cradled against her. And although everything looks exactly as it had done moments before, nothing will ever be the same again

Liverpool, 1937. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Jessica endures her husband's petty cruelty for the sake of her two young children. Her only escape is the local cinema, where she can lose herself for an hour or two in the glamour and passion of the silver screen. But when she is offered a glass of champagne in a Liverpool hotel - and with it, the thrill of her own romance - her quiet life is shattered forever • When her husband uncovers the truth, he is ruthless in his revenge. Left without a home, and separated from her beloved children, Jessica is alone and desperate • But as the storms of war begin to gather, there are others in even greater need. Attempting to help a friend and her children escape from France, Jessica finds herself stranded in Paris under German occupation

Eileen is worried about the growing distance between herself and her RAF husband since he was seriously injured. Why does Nick find every excuse to stay in London on his weekends off, not returning to his loving wife and gorgeous little boy in Liverpool? • Lena Newton has longed for a baby of her own but, with her husband posted overseas with the Navy, it's looking unlikely. Lena's lonely days are brightened by visits to the cinema with her neighbour, Mr Ransome, until a familiar face returns to Pearl Street • Since she discovered her American lover was already married, Kitty has hidden away, too ashamed to return to Pearl Street in disgrace with her baby. Finally facing her fears - and her old friends and neighbours - Kitty learns that life has one more surprise in store for her

Liverpool, 1945. Three women, firm friends, return home from the war and try to fit back into their old lives after they've been demobbed. They've been thrown together by the war, and have shared all sorts of good and bad times. Now their old lives seem dull in comparison. But not for long • The younger women, Maggie and Nell, are both twenty-one and are full of hope and excitement; Iris, on the other hand, is feeling apprehensive about returning to civilian life. At the age of thirty, her only wish in life is to have a baby, but sadly this wish has yet to come true • When one of the women falls pregnant, there begins a dramatic sequence of events so far-reaching that the three friends' lives will become more intricately interwoven than they could ever have imagined

September 1940 - the cruellest year of war for Britain's civilians as the Luftwaffe mercilessly blitz their cities. In Pearl Street, near to Liverpool's vital docks, families struggle to cope as best they can • A nasty surprise for ever-cheerful dressmaker Brenda Mahon and flighty Sean's love for little Alice show how life goes on even when it appears to be falling apart. Yet while Eileen Costello tries to hide her ruined hopes of happiness with Nick and do her best by the husband she hoped had gone for ever, Ruth Singerman returns having escaped from Austria. Even the joy of seeing her father again cannot make up for the loss of her children

A sweeping Liverpool saga following the fortunes of one woman from the 1940s to the 1990s, by the ever-popular, award-winning author • Annie Harrison has a difficult childhood, and she eventually goes to live in the Grand Hotel with a rich schoolfriend • Marriage follows and when her husband dies, she throws herself into providing for her children. Starting with a market stall, she discovers a talent for designing clothes that develops into a successful business • But there comes a time amid the success when Annie feel she can no longer go on. Then a chance meeting leads to events she has no control over, and at last she finds the happiness that has previously eluded her

A brilliantly compelling Liverpool saga following the lives of two women - three generations apart • Millie Cameron is not at all pleased when she finds herself obliged to sort through the belongings of her aunt Flo who recently died. She hardly knew her aunt and besides, she has her own career to think about. But when she arrives at Flo's basement flat, Millie's interest is awakened • As she sorts through her aunt's collection of photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings, she finds herself embarking on a journey - a journey to a past which includes a lost lover and a secret child • Picking through the tangled web of Flo's life, Millie makes the startling discovery that all the threads lead to herself

Calling all petrolheads, Lights Out, Full Throttle is the riotously funny tour through the best, worst and downright outrageous of F1 • Johnny and Damon have become the one constant for passionate British F1 fans in a rapidly changing landscape. They have earned cult status as commentators and pundits, with viewers loving their unerring dedication to the sport's greatness • From Monaco to Silverstone - discussing Johnny's crowdsurfing and Bernie's burger bar, the genius of Adrian Newey and Colin Chapman, what it's like to have an out-of-body experience while driving a car in the pouring rain at 200 mph, and the future of the sport in the wake of a tumultuous year - Johnny and Damon assess the good, the bad and the ugly of the F1 enthusiast's paradise