Author:Maggie Hope
As bombs begin to fall, her strength will be tested...
A newly qualified nurse, Theda Wearmouth is delighted to gain a place at Newcastle Hospital. But the onset of war brings tragedy when her young soldier boyfriend is killed in action before he can make good on his promise to marry her.
Broken-hearted, Theda finds herself re-assigned to a special unit of the hospital dealing with German prisoners of war. Her duty is clear. But will she be able to cope with nursing the very men her fiancé died fighting...?
A gritty family saga from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Miner’s Girl and An Orphan’s Secret
Watch out Catherine Cookson
—— Northern EchoPraise for Jenny Holmes
—— :Vibrant and heart-warming, Jenny Holmes makes Chapel Street come alive.
—— Sunday Express on The Shop Girls of Chapel StreetGritty and uplifting, it's a tale of triumph over adversity
—— Choice on The Mill Girls of Albion LaneThe story is full of drama, love, heartbreak, friendship and in some parts comedy . . . It's full of twists and turns and is a real page turner
—— LaurahbookblogA riveting read is just what this is in more ways than one.
—— The Northern EchoA real insight into how it was for these women in a Sunderland major ship building yard ... The foundation book of a series. Which I shall be reading as each one is written. Loved it.
—— 5* Real Reader ReviewThe Waterway Girls gives an insightful glimpse into the invaluable aid women provided for their country
—— Culture Fly
Another great story from this author. She can certainly immerse you in her way of telling a story
In Toibin's careful hands, the story of Clytemnestra, who avenges her daughter after her husband Agamemnon sacrifices her to secure safe passage from Troy, is told with such a vivid grasp of the emotional pulse that even those who know the story well will be transfixed.
—— Claire Allfree , Daily MailWhat is truly miraculous, though, is how Tóibín has made us sympathize with people who do terrible, unthinkable things
—— Boston GlobeA dramatic, intimate chronicle of a family implosion set in unsettling times
—— Publishers' WeeklyIf there is a more brilliant writer than Tóibín working today, I don't know who that would be
—— Karen Joy FowlerThis is a novel about the way the members of a family keep secrets from one another, tell lies and make mistakes.. .
—— Literary ReviewTóibín's retelling is governed by compassion and responsibility, and focuses on the horrors that led Clytemnestra to her terrible vengeance. Her sympathetic first-person narrative makes even murder, for a moment, seem reasonable (...) Tóibín's prose is precise and unadorned, the novel's moments of violence told with brutal simplicity. But its greatest achievement is as a page-turner. In a tale that has ended the same way for thousands of years, Tóibín makes us hope for a different outcome
—— The Economist[An] intense, thought-provoking and original novel . . . Toibin's book transforms this ancient story into a lyrical, melancholy meditation on closeted desire, which implicitly comments on the aftermath of the Irish Troubles'
—— Emily Wilson , TLSGraphic, vicious, beautiful retelling of ancient myths.... Ultimately the book is a stark, timeless and brilliantly rendered tale of power in a world, as ever, riven by conflict.
—— 'I' NewspaperIn a novel describing one of the Western world's oldest legends, in which the gods are conspicuous by their absence, Tóibín achieves a paradoxical richness of characterisation and a humanisation of the mythological, marking House Of Names as the superbly realised work of an author at the top of his game.
—— Daily ExpressA spellbinding adaptation of the Clytemnestra myth, House of Names considers the Mycenaen queen in all her guises: grieving mother, seductress, ruthless leader - and victim of the ultimate betrayal.
—— VogueA haunting story, largely because Tóibín tells it in spare, resonant prose...
—— Lucy Hughes-Hallett , New StatesmanA Greek House of Cards... Just like Heaney at the end of his Mycenae lookout, Toibin's novel augurs an era of renewal that comes directly from the cessation of hostilities.
—— Fiona Macintosh , Irish TimesThe book's mastery of pacing and tone affirm the writer as one of our finest at work today.
—— John Boland , Irish IndependentA daring, and triumphant return, to the Oresteia... bleakly beautiful twilight of the Gods.
—— Boyd Tonkin , The Arts DeskIt couldn't have been done better
—— ScotsmanA visceral reworking of Oresteia
—— ObserverThe escalation of violence and desire for revenge has deliberate echoes of the Irish Troubles
—— Observer Books of the Year