Download or read book The Bells of Bournville Green written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continuing the saga begun in Annie Murray’s Chocolate Girls, and set in 1960s Birmingham, The Bells of Bournville Green is a story of families whose lives are entwined, of belonging and loss . . . and of a young woman’s search for transforming love. Pretty seventeen-year-old Greta has never known a stable family life. With no father, and loathing her mother Ruby’s latest boyfriend, Greta finds life hard at home and is happiest at work with her friends at the Cadbury factory in Birmingham, where she is popular with the boys. Life takes a turn for the worse when her missing vixen of a sister Marleen turns up during the freezing winter of 1962. Greta soon decides that her only way out is marriage, but all too soon she discovers that life with her old classmate Trevor is not a ticket to freedom and happiness. She finds herself on the streets, pregnant and homeless . . . She is taken in by her mother’s old friends, Edie and Anatoli Gruschov. In Anatoli, Greta finds the father she has never had. Kindly Edie loves to mother people and is desperately missing her son David and his family, who have settled in Israel. But the love and security of this haven is soon shattered by appalling tragedy, which affects all the chocolate girls and their children and changes life forever . . . The next novel in Annie Murray's gritty family saga is Secrets of the Chocolate Girls

Download or read book Chocolate Girls written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Annie Murray’s bestselling Chocolate Girls, three very different women work together at Cadbury’s Bournville factory, where their lives become entwined by war and work – and a child called David. Edie marries young to escape her unhappy family home. Widowed at nineteen, and having lost her child from the marriage, she faces the war grieving and lonely. Then one night during the Blitz, an infant mysteriously abandoned during the bombing is handed into her care . . . Ruby, meanwhile, doesn’t want to be left behind in the wedding stakes, and settles for marriage with Frank. Finally there’s Janet, kind-hearted and susceptible to male charm, who is hurt desperately by an affair with a married man. David, the child who steals Edie’s heart as she brings him up through a time none of them will ever forget, is the love of all their lives. And when David is old enough to wonder who he really is, he leads Edie through struggle and heartache to a life and love she would never have dreamed of . . . Chocolate Girls is followed by the captivating sequel, The Bells of Bournville Green.

Download or read book Secrets of the Chocolate Girls written by Annie Murray and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2022-07-12 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: September 1940, Birmingham. While her husband and daughter work at the Cadbury’s Bournville factory, Ann Gilby has her hands full at home with her youngest child Martin and her other daughter, Sheila, newly returned home with baby Elaine. With Sheila’s husband away doing his bit in the RAF, Ann knows she should be grateful to have all her children safe under one roof. But as bombs fall ever-closer to her Birmingham home, she can’t help but fear for their uncertain future. Part of her yearns for the carefree days of her youth when she also worked the line at Cadburys, filling trays of chocolate shells. But mostly Ann tries not to think of the past at all, since that would mean she would have to confront her oldest secret – one she’s kept since the last war, and that could easily rip her family apart . . . From the bestselling author of Chocolate Girls and The Bells of Bournville Green comes another gritty family saga about love, war and chocolate . . .

Download or read book My Daughter My Mother written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1984 two young mothers meet at a toddler group in Birmingham. As their friendship grows, they share with each other the difficulties and secrets in their lives: Joanne, a sweet, shy girl, is increasingly afraid of her husband. The lively, promising man she married has become hostile and violent and she is too ashamed to tell anyone. When her mother, Margaret is suddenly rushed into hospital, the bewildered family find that there are things about their mother of which they had no idea. Margaret was evacuated from Birmingham as a child and has spent years avoiding the pain of her childhood - but finds that you can't run from the past forever. Sooky, kind and good-natured, has already been through one disastrous marriage and is back at home living with her parents. But being 'disgraced' is not easy. Her mother, Meena, refuses to speak to Sooky. At first her silence seems like a punishment, but Sooky gradually realizes it contains emotions which are far more complicated and that her mother may need her help. Meena has spent twenty years trying to fit in with life in Birmingham, and to deal with the conflicts within her between east and west, old ways and new. My Daughter, My Mother by bestselling saga author Annie Murray, is the story of two young women discovering the heartbreak of their mothers' lives, and of how mothers create daughters - and learn from them.

Download or read book Birmingham Rose written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-03-25 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heartfelt Birmingham saga, Birmingham Rose is Annie Murray's debut novel and was a Sunday Times bestseller. Life is bleak for Rose Lucas, a spirited, intelligent girl, born into a large family in the slums of pre-war Birmingham. But her friendship with Diana, daughter of a vicar from middle-class Moseley, gives her hope. She learns to aspire to a different kind of existence, vowing never to become a child-bearing drudge like her mother. Life, however, never follows the way of dreams. After a childhood marked by tragedy, Rose eventually finds and loses the love for which she has striven so hard. From Italy, where she has travelled during the Second World War, she is forced to return to Birmingham and an unhappy marriage, her hopes and illusions shattered. But Rose will not be defeated and she, too, is determined to rise once again above the devastation of her life . . .

Download or read book Pack Up Your Troubles written by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles and published by Sphere. This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brand new series, perfect for fans of DOWNTON ABBEY, from the author of the hugely successful MORLAND DYNASTY novels . . . 1919: The war is over, but peace is yet to come. As men are demobbed, women must give up positions that gave them freedom. Edward is given an important job at the Peace Conference in Paris, but it means more lonely months away from Beattie and his hoped-for reconciliation. Fred's unit is sent to the Rhine, and Cook feels a guilty relief that her uprooting has been postponed. Laura's friend Ransley volunteers for a further six months, and rather than go home, Laura finds a new outlet: conducting guided tours of the battlefields. In England there are strikes and unrest, hardship and widespread unemployment, and everywhere the sight of the wounded to remind the nation of what it has paid for peace. But as the first, difficult year post-war comes to an end, there are great changes afoot for the Hunter household, wonderful surprises, and the promise of a new start. Pack Up Your Troubles is the sixth and final book in the War at Home series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the much-loved Morland Dynasty novels. Set against the real events of 1919, at home and on the front, this concludes the vivid and rich family drama featuring the Hunter family and their servants.

Download or read book Kate Olivia written by Annie Murray and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Birmingham Blitz written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-05-13 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unmissable and much-loved favourite, Birmingham Blitz by Annie Murray is the tale of everyday courage and determination in wartime Britain. August 1939. Genie Watkins, a Birmingham kid, would love to have a proper happy family like her Italian friend, Teresa. But Genie hasn't reckoned with the outbreak of war, her already rocky family being split up and the strangely liberating effect it all has on her mother . . . Under Birmingham skies darkened by blackout Genie shares her fears and hopes with Teresa, keeps her spirits up with her nan and glamorous auntie Lil, and tries to hold her family together. And amid it all, she discovers love . . .

Download or read book Sisters of Gold written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2018-02-08 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sisters of Gold is an emotional and heart-warming story with a richly imagined Birmingham setting, from Annie Murray, author of The Doorstep Child. Sisters Margaret and Annie lost their mother years ago, they long for her every day. Their protective and devout father keeps the girls close. But he can’t protect them all the time . . . When a scandal rocks this family unit to their core, the girls are forced to leave their home under a shadow of secrecy. The girls arrive in the Birmingham’s famous jewellery quarter one stifling August evening to stay with their uncle, goldsmith Ebenezer Watts. Annie takes up work at a nearby factory, but it’s not the work that interests her. Her kind and soft nature, means that her attention is drawn to the immediate need of her impoverished colleagues and the wretched lives they lead. Meanwhile, Ebenezer employs Margaret as a chain maker. When Margaret meets silversmith Philipp Tallis, she is drawn to him instantly. Margaret is forced closer to this mysterious man in the cramped workshop, as they create objects of beauty. But what is it the Sisters of Gold are hiding? Even though they’ve escaped their past once, it can’t stay hidden forever . . .

Download or read book War Babies written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-04-09 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rachel Booker has a difficult start in life. When her father dies, deep in gambling debt, her mother must harden herself to make ends meet, but becomes so hard she has little room left for affection or warmth. Mother and daughter work at the open market in Birmingham, selling second-hand clothes or whatever they can find just to put a little food on the table. But the market has a silver lining: it's there that Rachel makes her first childhood friend, Danny. As they grow older, the friendship grows into something more and their innocent romance gives Rachel the care and comfort she's always craved. But at just sixteen, as World War II breaks out, Rachel falls pregnant. They marry in haste but it isn't long before Danny is called up. Left on the home front with a new baby and little else, Rachel must scrape by with the other residents of Sparkbrook. But if Danny ever makes it home, will he be the same boy she loved so fiercely? And if Rachel can sustain the family until then, will she end up as hard-hearted as her own mother? Annie Murray's War Babies is a moving and insightful novel about hardships on the home front and how the war changed everybody it touched . . .

Download or read book Birmingham Friends written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-03-18 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A remarkable, stirring novel, Birmingham Friends perfectly captures the complicated intimacy of female relationships. Anna has always been exceptionally close to her mother, Kate and as a child, was captivated by the stories her mother would tell of her childhood in Birmingham with her best friend, Olivia. Olivia and Kate seemed to have a magical friendship. But when Kate dies, she leaves her daughter a final story, one that this time tells the whole truth of her life with Olivia Kemp. As Anna reads, she is shocked to discover how little she really knew about the mother she felt so close to. With Kate's words of caution ringing in her head, she goes in search of the one woman who can answer urgent questions about her mother's life, and about her own . . . *Birmingham Friends was originally published as Kate and Olivia*

Download or read book The Silversmith s Daughter written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Courage, passion, ambition and tragedy under the storm clouds of war from the top ten bestselling author. It is 1915 and Daisy Tallis, headstrong, impassioned and a talented young silversmith, is desperate to make her parents proud. The family business is at the very heart of Birmingham’s jewellery quarter community. Daisy, having studied at the city’s celebrated School of Jewellery and Silversmithing, is now skilled enough to be a teacher. It is at the school that she meets her father’s notorious rival, James Carson. Although he’s a married man, Daisy finds herself dangerously drawn to his flattery. As war tightens its grip on the country, the jewellery quarter is thrown into turmoil as the men are forced to decide who will enlist. When tragedy strikes, can Daisy and her mother find what it takes to hold both the business and the family together? ‘Full of drama, love and compassion’ Take a Break ‘A tale of passion and empathy that will keep you hooked’ Woman’s Own

Download or read book Meet Me Under the Clock written by Annie Murray and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1940: as war closes in and the bombs fall, on the Homefront, two sisters must find their place in a new world of 'men's' work, in which a telegraph can break your heart and nothing in the future is certain. Growing up in Birmingham, Sylvia and Audrey Whitehouse were always like chalk and cheese. As young women, while Sylvia dreams of her forthcoming life married to fiancé Ian. Audrey can't bear the thought of being tied down by marriage and children. Instead she jumps at the career opportunities the WAAF throws her way. Joining the ranks at RAF Cardington, she finds these new freedoms come with confusion and irresistible temptations. When she goes too far in one careless moment, the consequences will ripple through the whole Whitehouse family. Meanwhile, Sylvia has come round to the idea of war work and, doing her bit, becomes a railway porter, much to Ian's dismay. Fetching and carrying are just not feminine, not like Sylvia's new friend Kitty, who is as sweet and pretty as can be. But Kitty's innocent, girlish nature hides a far darker secret that no one could guess... As the pressures of rationing, bombing raids and sleepless nights grow, the two sisters must decide what they really want from life and if they're brave enough to fight for it. A heartbreaking yet inspiring novel, perfect for fans of Margaret Dickinson and Katie Flynn.

Download or read book Now The War Is Over written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-04-07 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now the War is Over is a moving story of post-war hardship and the struggles of a reunited family, featuring characters from Annie Murray's bestselling War Babies. The Second World War has finally come to a close. Birmingham is welcoming home its menfolk, and a new chapter is beginning in Rachel Booker's life. Her husband has returned, and the family that struggled for survival throughout the uncertain war years is now together. But family life settles into a routine and Rachel, unsatisfied, starts to yearn for more' Melly, Rachel's eldest daughter, is a child of the war. She grew up in the bombed-out streets of Birmingham and has never known anything other than the hungry ration years and supporting her mother and younger brother Tommy. But times are changing and Melly now has a fresh future ahead of her. She's determined to make the most of life and her greatest wish is to become a nurse. As the gloom of the 1940s passes by and the promise of the 1950s dawns, a whole new world of opportunity opens up to Rachel and Melly - but with this come new challenges and tough choices. They will each have to decide whether their loyalties still lie with the family and friends they clung to throughout the war years or if it's time to move on . . .

Download or read book The Doorstep Child written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tale of hardship and survival, set between Birmingham and Canada across the 1950s, 60s and 70s, The Doorstep Child is a heart-rending story from the bestselling author of the Chocolate Girls series, Annie Murray. From a tender age little Evie struggled . . . Evie spent her early years left outside on the step. With a drunk for a father and a neglectful mother, all little Evie has ever craved is a safe home and a normal existence. Her young eyes had seen so much, but this never tainted her spirit. If it wasn't for her best friend Gary, and friendly dog called Whisky, Evie might never have made it to the sixteenth birthday. At sixteen she meets Ken, a sweet brown-eyed boy, not much older than she is. Perhaps her fortunes have changed? But no sooner does she give over her heart, she is betrayed, not for the first time in her young life . . . Will Evie ever find the love and warmth she's always craved? Praise for Annie Murray: 'Annie Murray’s superbly drawn characters will live with you long after you have finished reading' – Margaret Dickinson, author of Secrets at Bletchley Park 'An emotional story that captivates completely' – The People's Friend 'A gripping read, full of drama, love and compassion' – Take a Break

Download or read book Family of Women written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2006 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Features a story of one family - and of the joys, struggles and changes in women's lives. 1950 - seven year old Carol Martin lies encased in an iron lung, struck down by the killer disease, polio. Distraught at her side, her mother, Violet, wonders if this is her punishment - for Carol is the love child who should not have been born...

Download or read book Black Country Orphan written by Annie Murray and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black Country Orphan is a moving story of the courage and strength of women, by the Sunday Times bestselling author Annie Murray. The early 1900s: Cradley Heath, a town in the Black Country near Birmingham and centre of the world’s chain-making trade. Lucy Butler, a young girl crippled by a cruel accident, lives with her two brothers and widowed mother, a chain-maker barely making ends meet. When tragedy strikes, the Butler family is separated and Lucy is taken in by Bertha Hipkiss, another impoverished chain maker, struggling to look after her own family. Lucy, while feeling the loss of her own family, relies on the company of Bertha’s two sons, charming Clem and straight-laced John. Though clever at school, Lucy knows she must leave and earn her keep, working many hours in the backyard forge. The five women toiling side by side, inevitably have their own friendships and squabbles. But they’re united in their hatred of loathsome middleman Seth Dawson, who treats the women with contempt, and keeps their pay punishingly low. But by the 1910s, there is a movement stirring, as across the country workers begin unionising for their rights. For Lucy, Bertha and the women of Cradley Heath, the promise of a better life seems almost too much to hope for – and the fight may end up costing them everything . . .