Julia Barrie

It's 1922 and the Depression is just beginning to rear its head in Britain, but Ruby Morgan is about to marry her childhood sweetheart and nothing can mar her happiness. Or so she thinks. An unimaginable betrayal by those she loves causes her to flee her home and family one snowy night. Crushed and heartbroken, Ruby vows that despite the odds stacked against her she will not only survive, but one day will show the ones she left behind that she's succeeded...

Back in London after a gruelling operation in Paris, Liz Carlyle has been posted to MI5's counter-espionage desk. Her bosses hope the new position will give her some breathing space, but they haven't counted on the fallout from Putin's incursions into the Ukraine. Discovering that an elusive Russian spy has entered the UK, Liz needs to track him down before he completes his fatal mission - and plunges Britain back into the fraught days of the Cold...

After escaping London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine plans to spend her days doing as little as possible in her beautiful home in Devon. But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to withdraw when her new best friend, George, is unfairly expelled from school. Justine begs the head teacher to reconsider, only to be told that nobody's been expelled - there is, and was, no George. Then the anonymous calls start: a stranger, making...

On the cobbled streets of Bradford in 1931, Lily Briggs does all she can to keep trouble at bay for herself and her family. She works hard at Calvert Mill to make ends meet and take care of her parents and younger siblings. Saturday nights at the dance hall and dressmaking with her two best friends keep Lily upbeat, and now there's a blossoming romance with childhood friend Harry Bainbridge to put an extra spring in her step, too. But then a run of...

Alice Lee, middle-aged and unmarried, is the only volunteer when the minister asks his congregation to help young Zebediah Bailey. Zeb is in prison for a ghastly crime, and the townspeople would rather forget than forgive this local lad who lost his way. Alice dutifully writes to him every week, sending him sweets from her shop: Alice Lee's Confectionary. She won't admit she's lonely, but since her parents deaths, making and selling sweets has become...

Christie Chapman is a single mum who spends her days commuting to her secretarial job in London and looking after her teenage son, Finn. It's not an easy life but Christie finds comfort in her love of crafting, and spends her spare time working on her beautiful creations. She makes intricately designed cards and personalised gifts and it's not long before opportunity comes knocking. Christie can see a future full of hope for her and Finn - and if...

North East England, 1906. Emma's arrival in Tow Law Town from New England after the death of her father offers Mick Castle a lifeline. His days are spent running the Black Diamond pub, but his marriage to Isabel is increasingly troubled and his daughter Connie is running wild. As Emma opens an academy, she sets herself up in competition with the local school, provoking a savage response from the community. But she will not be deterred - even when...

It's the summer of 1933 and Alice Eveleigh has arrived at Fiercombe Manor in disgrace. Hiding her shame in this isolated house concealed within a Gloucestershire valley in the care of housekeeper, Mrs Jelphs, Alice soon begins to sense that something isn't quite right within the walls of this beautiful manor - for one thing she is being watched. There are secrets at Fiercombe that those who remain there are determined to keep. Tragedy haunts the empty...

East Berlin, 1975. A teenage girl's body at the foot of the Wall. The Stasi say she was shot while escaping - but from the West. Oberleutnant Karin Muller, in the People's Police, suspects otherwise. But in East Germany, there is nothing more dangerous than asking questions. Especially when the answers lead very close to home.

1936, Chalfont Hall, Dorset: As the dressmaker puts the last pins in her dress, thirteen-year-old Kit is wondering why she has to go through the charade of seeing her sister Lily presented at Court. With her waves of auburn hair and her piercing green eyes, Kit knows that her sister's place on the social scene is guaranteed regardless of her dress, and as the door to a life of parties and eligible young men opens for Lily, Kit must make do with tiptoeing...