Sub-titled 'The True Story of a Young Nurse in Wartime London'. In 1938, 18 year old Phyllis Ellsworth packs her bags, says goodbye to her anxious parents, and sets off from her quiet seaside home for Hackney Hospital in London's bustling East End. There she is to fulfil her dream to train as a nurse. At first it is a whirlwind of hard work, new friends and plenty of mischief, but just ten months later Britain declares war on Germany and life at the hospital is transformed. Phyll's days become an endless cycle of air-raid sirens, injured servicemen, and civilians anxiously waiting for news of loved ones. When she falls for a handsome young soldier, Phyll's work provides the only distraction from worrying about his safety. A true story of coming of age in terrible times, the blossoming of first romance, a life-long love affair and a young woman whose eagerness to do good in the world brought her suddenly face to face with death and drama in all its many guises. Published in Phyll's 95th year she lived to record the events of 75 years earlier recalling names, places and key events vividly, and the experience of fear and the sheer courage of a generation we are now losing. 325pp, paperback.

The long-awaited prequel to Elizabeth Chadwick's bestselling and beloved first novel 'The Wild Hunt'. The Welsh Borders, 1069. When Ashdyke Manor is attacked, Lady Christen is forced to witness her husband's murder and the pillaging of her lands at the hands of brutal Norman invaders. It seems the pain is finally over when Miles Le Gallois, Lord of Milnham-on-Wye calls off the attack, but he has Christen's brother under armed guard and a deal to offer - her brother's freedom for her hand in marriage. Christen finds herself hastily married to the enemy side, with the bride's brother swearing vengeance on her new husband. Miles and Christen's precarious union invites enemies from all sides, and when Miles is summoned for a lengthy campaign by the King, Christen is left to watch his lands. In the midst of war, two enemies must somehow learn to trust one another if they are to survive. Packed with action, emotion, politics and passion, Elizabeth Chadwick is an excellent chronicler of royal intrigue and an author who makes history come gloriously alive. 290pp, map.

The epic story of history's most extraordinary evacuation, and one of the most famous episodes of the Second World War, this book is about the miracle on the beaches that saved a nation. In May 1940, British and Allied troops on mainland Europe were in a perilous situation - cut off and surrounded, they faced complete annihilation. It would be a devastating blow, handing Europe to the Nazis. But over a few frantic days the greatest evacuation in history managed to salvage hope, saving the army and hundreds of thousands of soldiers' lives. It was a pivotal and defining moment in the war, one Winston Churchill described as a 'miracle' in his 'We shall fight them on the beaches' speech. Best selling author John Harris describes in vivid detail how the evacuation developed on a day-by-day basis and destroys more than one myth associated with Dunkirk. Packed with authentic atmospheric and first-hand recollections, the desperate lifting of the weary British Expeditionary Force is seen in its tragic but spirited entirety, an epic of courage and confusion without parallel. First published in 1980 and here is facsimile reprint with quite large print. 267pp, paperback.

With novelistic flair, investigative journalist Simon Parkin shines a light on Operation Raspberry and these unsung heroines in this riveting true story of war at sea. Sub-titled 'The Secret Game that Revolutionised the War' here is a gripping narrative that shines fresh light on an important and little known facet of the war against the German U-boats. In his splendid new history of the war in the Atlantic, Parkin's book rips along at full sail and is full of personality and personalities. He celebrates the ingenuity of a British naval 'reject' and the accomplishments of the formerly faceless women never officially rewarded for their contribution to the Allied defeat of Germany. 1941 and the Battle of the Atlantic is a disaster. Thousands of supply ships ferrying vital food and fuel from North America to Britain are being torpedoed by German U-boats. Britain is only weeks away from starvation and with that, crushing defeat. In the first week of 1942 a group of unlikely heroes, a retired naval captain and a clutch of brilliant young women, gather to form a secret strategy unit. On the top floor of a bomb-bruised HQ in Liverpool, the Western Approaches Tactical Unit spends days and nights designing and playing war games in an effort to crack the U-boat tactics. As the U-boat wolf packs continue to prey upon the supply ships, the Wrens race against time to save Britain. With 16 pages of photos, index and notes, 307pp in paperback.

New 2021 glamorous hardback dedicated to a friend of ours in the publishing trade, Sheila Crowley. Top crime writers like Lee Child and Karin Slaughter have described the book as 'Hypnotically good' and 'Propulsive'. The atmosphere on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in Business Class, and the world is watching the landmark journey. Flight attendant Mina is trying to focus on the passengers instead of her troubled five year old daughter back at home or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage, but soon after the plane takes off, she receives a chilling anonymous note. Someone wants to make sure the plane never reaches its destination and they are demanding her cooperation - and they know exactly how to get it. It's 20 hours to landing. Anything can happen in 20 hours. You can save hundreds of lives or the one that matters most. 'Taking the locked room mystery to a new, white-knuckle extreme, this is electrifying.' 389pp.

'A sinister, fast paced gothic tale' - Caitlin Davies. Here is a spellbinding story of obsession, the lure of fame and the power of illusion. It is 1851. When Lily Bell is sold by her father to a 'Professor of Ghosts' to settle a bad debt, she dreams of finding fame on the London stage, but Erasmus Salt wants Lily not as an actress but as his very own ghost - the heart of his elaborate illusion for those desperate for a glimpse of the spirit world. Obsessed with perfection, Erasmus goes to extreme lengths to ensure his illusion is realistic. When Lily comes across her own obituary in the paper, and then her headstone in the cemetery, she realises that she is trapped, her own parents think she is dead, and that her fate is soon to become even darker. A beautifully evoked, sensory world and a macabre tale of dark obsessions and deadly ambitions. 362pp.

After being banished to the countryside for creating even more mayhem than usual, the Bastable children vow to mend their ways. They establish 'The Society of the Wouldbegoods' and their first rule is: 'Every member is to be as good as possible'. But sometimes it's just not possible to be good, no matter how hard you try. A collection that will be coveted by children and adults alike, this is a title curated by Virago Press as one of the best in children's literature, timeless tales with beautiful covers to share across the generations. By the author of The Railway Children and Five Children and It. 301pp, paperback.

One of the most wrenching and scandalous love stories in all of literary biography, the author finely details the last productive years of Ernest Hemingway in a kaleidoscopic succession of relationships, passions, trips, editorial disputes, drinking binges and his contradictory nature set against the backdrop of northeast Italy. It is the remarkable story of his love affair with the city of Venice and the muse he found there. In the autumn of 1948, Hemingway was approaching the age of 50 and had not published a novel in nearly a decade. He travelled for the first time to Venice and there met and fell in love with a striking young woman named Adriana Ivancich. What followed was a platonic love affair. He continued to visit her in Venice and she in turn came to Cuba while he wrote 'The Old Man and the Sea'. This illuminating story examines the cost to a young woman of her relationship with a literary celebrity, and takes an intimate look at the fractured heart and changing art of Hemingway's secret desires, successes and depressive obstacles. 348pp in illustrated paperback.

"I never wanted to be a big star. I just wanted to be the biggest at what I do! Powerful, unstoppable, heavy - when that word still meant something good!" - Meat Loaf, as told to Mick Wall. Everything in the story of Meat Loaf is big. From the place he was born (Texas); to the family he was born into (his father weighed 22 stone, his uncle weighed over 40 stone, while Meat Loaf himself weighed 17 stone before he was even in his teens); to the sound he made (a colossal collision between Richard Wagner, Phil Spector and Bruce Springsteen); and of course the records he sold - nearly 50 million in Britain and America alone. From a tumultuous childhood with an alcoholic father to the relentless abusive bullying he endured, nobody could have predicted Meat Loaf's meteoric rise to fame. But when the messianic rock opera Bat Out of Hell was released in 1977, it became one of the biggest albums of all time, selling over 45 million copies worldwide to date. Its release marked the start of a rollercoaster ride of incredible highs and seemingly career-ending lows. By the 80s, Meat Loaf was battling with drug and alcohol addiction and escalating money problems. But just when it seemed like it was all over, the astonishing success of Bat Out of Hell II and the mega-hit 'I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)' marked an extraordinary new wave of success. Now, Mick Wall will bring this extraordinary story up to date, drawing on the hours he spent with Meat Loaf, both in interviews and on tour, as well as offering up a unique insight from those who have known him best. Softback, 310pp, colour photos.

A thrilling adventure book by a man who can not only row but can write about near-death experiences and the equipment failures, battling extreme fatigue, frightening storms and an ocean the consistency of liquid cement. Crossing the North Pacific in an open rowing boat was one of the world's last great firsts, and, on his third attempt at this most challenging of all open-ocean rowing feats, Mick Dawson was determined to make it. Storms, fatigue, intense hunger and lack of water are just a few of the challenges that he and fellow rower Chris Martin overcame during a back-breaking voyage of over six months. Finally on 13th November after 189 days, 10 hours and 55 minutes of rowing around the clock, facing the destruction of their small boat and near-certain death every mile of the way, they finally reached the iconic span of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. It is a nail-biting true story of man versus nature. Former Royal Marine Commando Dawson takes on first the Atlantic and ultimately the North Pacific as he details how he and Chris propelled their fragile craft, stroke by stroke, for thousands of miles overcoming failure, personal tragedy and everything that nature could throw at them along the way. 'The Kuroshio, or Black Current, is a huge, powerful stream of warm water that sweeps up from the Philippines and flows past the coast of Japan... It's a magic carpet ride for an ocean rowing boat, as it can move at up to 7 knots in places... That gives you crucial miles between you and the early-season typhoons and storms...' 275pp, softback.