Antonia Beamish

Two orphans must battle heartache and despair in the latest novel from the bestselling author of An Orphans Courage and The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. Jonny has had a bad start in life and has been taken in by a neighbour after the death of his mother. Small for his age, he is prey to a band of local thugs so joins the boxing club and learns to defend himself. When a violent altercation ends in tragedy, Jonny runs away and meets a homeless young...

She was Pym to friends. Miss Pym in her diaries. Sandra in seduction mode. Pymska at her most sophisticated. English novelist Barbara Pym's career was defined, in many senses, by rejection. Her first novel 'Some Tame Gazelle' was turned down by every publisher she sent it out in 1935, finally published only fifteen years later. Though she picked up a publisher from there and received modest praise, the publishing industry grew restless and her sales...

A heart-breaking and compelling new book set in a Victorian workhouse from the author of The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. When Lucy and her brother, Joshua, are orphaned, it falls to Joshua to provide for them both, but he is barely into his teens and in his naivety, falls prey to bad influences and drink. Lucy is desperate to avoid the workhouse, but when Joshua loses their meagre savings they are thrown out onto the street and, in dire poverty,...

A heartbreaking story of one child's courage. Ella has never known love. Left as a baby outside the workhouse, Ella has only ever been treated with unkindness; especially from the hateful guardians of the workhouse, who hold the fate of the inmates in their cruel hands. When she is sold as a scullery maid to a new home, Ella hopes for a better life. But her hopes are dashed as she struggles to do all the work heaped on her thin shoulders by her brutish...

The compelling new book from the author of The Girl in the Ragged Shawl and The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. Danny gets a terrible start in life and runs away from his drunken father when he thrashes him to within an inch of his life. But life on the streets is no better and he falls into the clutches of evil men, finding that being big and strong for his age is no protection from the people who want to do him harm. Help comes in the form of Constable...

Why do you love your child? Is it because they're a straight A student, a talented footballer? Or is it simply because they're yours? Sarah and Phil love both their children, James and Lauren. The couple have the same hopes and aspirations as any parent. But their expectations are shattered when they discover that their perfect baby daughter has been born with a flaw; a tiny, but life-changing glitch that is destined to shape her future, and theirs,...

1987. One morning Tania Mills, fifteen years old, kisses her mother, walks out her front door and disappears. 2014. DS Sarah Collins has moved on from investigating police officers. When a new lead comes in for Tania's case Collins is asked to investigate. PC Lizzie Griffiths, the subject of Collins' last investigation, is back on the job and working at a domestic violence unit. Her boss says her team should be called Murder Prevention: as that is...

It was a wedding invitation that changed everything for Floriana. If she hadn't been so distracted at the thought of having to witness the one true love of her life get married, she would have seen the car coming and there would have been no need for elderly spinster Esme Silcox and local property developer Adam Strong to rush to her aid. If she hadn't met them she would never have had the courage to agree to attend Seb's wedding in Lake Como. For...

Eight-year-old Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children's festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift - that she is potentially a saviour. While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel is...

At Black Rabbit Hall nothing much ever happens - time seems to move slower at this idyllic holiday home in Cornwall. Until the worst thing happens and for the Alton children time feels like it's stopped altogether. As they run wild, lost in grief and confusion, an outsider, Caroline Shawcross, and her dark, angry son Lucian enter their lives, changing them forever. In the present day, Lorna Smith is searching for her perfect wedding venue and is inexplicably...