Lilian Harry – författare

The second novel in the April Grove series, following the lives of working-class families during the Second World War.It is 1940, and the neighbours in April Grove are close knit, patriotic and proud - but the onset of the Blitz tests their loyalties and courage as never before. Betty Chapman meets a devastatingly attractive man in the Land Army, who upsets all her settled ideas; Olive Harker, just married, must now decide whether to risk motherhood; and Nancy Baxter offers comfort to lonely serviceman while her son runs wild... Their stories are played out against the backdrop of a great seaport at war: the horror of the air raid sirens, the naval dockyards buzzing with activity and the overwhelming desire to survive the city's darkest hour...

A delightfully warm novel about the rebuilding of lives in Plymouth and Portsmouth after the Second World War.The War is over at last and in Plymouth and Portsmouth, two of Britain's greatest seaports, and the task of rebuilding must begin. But it is not only streets, businesses and homes that have been laid waste. Lives, too, have been devastated. Marriages have been disrupted, family life shattered, and now the inhabitants must find their own way back to normality - if they can remember what that is.Lucy Pengelly is just one woman whose life has been torn apart by the war. What will happen when her husband returns from the POW camp in the Far East? And what of the growing friendship between Lucy and her friend David, who played such an important part in their lives during the Blitz?

A novel of love, separation, infidelity and indecision set in the 1950s and 1960sClare and Kathy are young, inexperienced and very much in love with their men. But being 'married to the Navy' is harder than either of them imagined. With a husband at sea and a new baby to consider, Clare finds herself coping with motherhood alone, and when Martyn returns he is unsure how to deal with his wife's new-found independence. As for Kathy, newly engaged to Brian, temptations come her way which are impossible to ignore. Even when all their lives seem to be settling into some sort of routine, it seems that their troubles are only just beginning...

Continuing the powerful Second World War saga about the lives, hopes and fears of the families in April Grove.May 1941 - and the people of April Grove, Portsmouth are beginning to feel the war will never end. Families are being torn apart, not only by the separations and loss of war, but by more unexpected frictions, as wives and daughters play new and independent roles and children are forced to grow up too fast. Betty faces conflict at home over the man that she loves; Carol is desperate to escape her carping mother; and Micky nearly brings tragedy to them all. Yet as the war irredeemably changes their lives, the families of April Grove learn to endure - and even to keep smiling through.

A vivid wartime saga of colour and authenticity capturing both the harshness and the warmth of life during the dark days of the Second World War.Dan Hodges is devastated when his wife Nora dies during the early days of the war. Working long hours in a Portsmouth shipyard, how is he to look after his two sons, Gordon and Sammy? Then Gordon, something of a tearaway, is sent to an approved school, which leaves young Sammy alone in the house until neighbours in April Grove intervene and Sammy is evacuated to Bridge End, a village near Southampton. Ruth Purslow, a young childless widow, takes him in, her compassion aroused by his plight. Slowly, as they grow closer, Ruth begins to dread the time when Sammy must return to Portsmouth...

The first in the Corner House series, set in a Lyons Corner House in London on the brink of the Second World War.When cousins Jo and Phyl decide to become Lyons Corner House waitresses, or 'Nippies', as they are known for their speedy service, they have no idea how their lives are about to change. They are whisked from family life in Woolwich to digs in London; they are transported from a factory and a grocer's shop to the wonderful dining rooms of Lyons, Marble Arch, and they swap their old overalls for the smart uniforms of the Corner House girls. Jo and Phyl settle in and make friends with both waitresses and customers. There are boyfriends, lovers and fiancés, friendship and romance, but as the Second World War becomes increasingly imminent, the future of these men and women seems more and more uncertain.

Set in a Lyon's Corner House in London, this is the second novel in the series set against the backdrop of the Second World War which began with CORNER HOUSE GIRLS.'The Corner House was making a good job of New Year's Eve, despite the bad weather, the blackout, the looming threat of rationing...The Nippies were dashing to and fro with their big silver trays and the war seemed suddenly far away.' So begins 1940 for the Nippies at the Lyons Corner House at Marble Arch. But despite putting on a cheerful face for the customers, the war is taking its toll on all the waitresses: for Maggie, married just a few hours and then parted from her husband; for Jo and Phyl, anxiously waiting for news from their fiancés; for Etty, and the constant jibes she faces about her background; and even for Irene, who begins a new friendship which is not all it appears to be...

Set in a Lyons Corner House in London, this is the third compelling novel in the series set against the backdrop of the Second World War.The war is progressing for the Nippies, the girls who work at the Lyons Corner House in Marble Arch. With the air raids, rationing and blackouts, life no longer has the carefree attitude it used to have. But new pain and pleasure await as everyone decides what effort they can make towards victory. Jo yearns for Nick, but the burns he sustained when he was shot down are life-changing and need the new procedure of plastic surgery. Will their marriage ever go ahead? And does Jo want it to? She loses herself in her new role as lumberjill, one of the women hewing timber for the war effort. Meanwhile, Phyl has been selected, along with some other trusted Nippies, for secret work. Far from family and friends, she works with munitions and tries to forget her desire to be a Wren. Her husband is far away but she never loses faith that one day they will be reunited...

A powerful and evocative saga - the sequel to A GIRL CALLED THURSDAY.When Thursday Tilford returns to Haslar Hospital after two years serving as a VAD in Egypt, she finds many changes. With the town packed with troops waiting to leave for the Normandy beaches, and Haslar on standby for the wounded, Thursday's thoughts go to the two men who are vying for her heart: Connor Kirkpatrick, the naval doctor she met at Haslar in 1940, and army doctor Mark Sangster, who travelled with her on the troopship to Egypt. Although she longs to keep her promise to Connor, Thursday's feelings for Mark force her to consider the nature of promises and even, in the end, the nature of love itself. It is only as the war ends and she is presented with an ultimatum that she understands the truth about love, about promises - and about herself.

Another wonderful wartime saga from this much-loved author.Portsmouth, January 1941. When the Luftwaffe unleashes its full fury on the city in the first of three major blitzes, the Taylor family are bombed out. Judy finds her job relocated from the gutted Guildhall to a hotel in Southsea, and home is now a small terraced house in April Grove, with one fewer bedroom and no bathroom or inside lavatory. And then there is the news she has been dreading: her sailor fiancé has been killed. Judy and her young, recently widowed aunt Polly decide to turn their grief to good account and join the WVS, running canteens, accompanying evacuee children and helping the families of servicemen, often in the face of danger from air raids, flying bombs and V2 rockets. Gradually, Judy and Polly find their own grief healing as they take part not only in their war work but in the life of April Grove, and although both are at first convinced they will never know love again, they both find it in the least likely manner.

An absorbing Sunday Times bestselling wartime saga from this much-loved author.Kate, Sally, Maxine and Elsie work at the naval armament depot on the shores of Portsmouth harbour. The hours are long and the work difficult and dangerous, but even in the dark days of the Second World War they still find time to enjoy themselves, at the ENSA concerts and hops in the local drill hall. However, beneath the careless laughter each girl nurses a secret. Kate is terrified that she carries a jinx, while Maxine has discovered a family secret which turns her bitterly against both her parents. Elsie is still grieving the loss of her son Graham, killed in the Blitz. And spirited young Sally has lied about her age in order to get her job.Each faces a dilemma that will be resolved only after D-Day in June 1944. What happens then brings each woman face to face with her own strengths and failings and, ultimately, her own destiny.

A heart-rending wartime saga, bringing the reality of the end of war to the people of April Grove and Bridge End.Ruth, Lizzie and Heather each have their own reasons for greeting the end of the war with mixed feelings. For Ruth, it means she must face the possibility of losing Sammy, the evacuee boy she has come to love as her own - not to mention the uncertain relationship she has with his father, Dan. For Heather, who has been enjoying working the farm since her husband Ian went away, there is the difficult process of adjusting to a man who believes that his wife's place will now be in the kitchen. And Lizzie is confronted by the truth about her own strength of will in enduring years of loneliness - particularly as her friendship with the American airman, Floyd, deepens.With the coming of peace, life changes more than anyone had expected as the 'love and laughter' that had been promised turn to bewilderment, anger and disappointment. Yet although nothing is quite as they had hoped it would be, they are able to move into a future without war, and learn to live with peace.

Lilian Harry's engrossing wartime saga about the heroes and heroines of Dunkirk.During just nine days in the early summer of 1940, nearly eight hundred 'little ships', from lifeboats and passenger steamers to small private yachts and dinghies, set off across the English Channel to rescue almost half a million men trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk. Among them were three very different craft - a London fireboat from the docklands of the East End, manned by skipper Olly Mears and his crew; a small pleasure steamer from the River Dart in Devon, commanded by twenty-one-year-old Robby Endacott, an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy who grew up on the banks of the Dart; and a small motor yacht owned by Portsmouth solicitor Hubert Stainbank and crewed by his sons, Charles and Toby.As each boat ferries exhausted men from the beaches to the waiting ships, under incessant fire from enemy aircraft and in a sea awash with debris and bodies, the men are unknowingly united by a powerful driving force - the urgent need to find one man, brother or son, who matters more to them than anyone else. Each of these missing men has a family, a wife or a sweetheart at home who is anxiously waiting for news...One sweetheart in particular is determined to play her own part in the rescue.

The beginning of the beloved village series from Sunday Times bestselling author Lilian Harry.When Stella Simmons comes to the Devonshire village of Burracombe to start her teaching career, she is alone in the world. Orphaned as child and brought up in a children's home, she was separated from her sister Muriel and has never been able to trace her. Stella is soon caught up in the life of the village, and especially in the plans for celebrating the Festival of Britain. As headmistress Miss Kemp and vicar Basil Harvey try to keep the peace between villagers, who all have their own ideas for the proposed pageant and fair, Stella tries, with the help of artist Luke Ferris, to find her sister. But Luke has his own troubles...THE BELLS OF BURRACOMBE begins the story of life in a Devonshire village in the 1950s and shows us a picture of Britain coming to terms with the aftermath of the Second World War and entering a new decade.

A powerful novel from bestselling author Lilian Harry, set in and around a Devon airfield during the Second World War.It is 1943, and the quiet of Harrowbeer, in Devon, is disrupted by increased activity at the nearly airfield built at the beginning of the war. Among the squadrons moving in are pilots from Britain, Canada and Poland. The airfield, with its noise and its population, has a massive impact on the peaceful villages nearby - an impact that will affect some inhabitants for the rest of their lives.Alison, married to a pilot and newly pregnant, soon makes friends with the locals, particularly with May, who finds herself caught up in the life of the RAF, watching and waiting as the pilots and crew carry out their dangerous missions.Then, on the night when Alison's baby is born, her husband is reported missing and Alison and May find themselves facing a dilemma all too familiar to the wives and sweethearts of those who flew the Spitfires, Hurricanes and other aircraft to protect their country during this time of war.

A beautiful tale in the bestselling series set in a Devon village in the 1950s.Like the rest of the nation, the Burracombe villagers are shocked when King George the Sixth dies suddenly in 1952. But in the midst of their grief, the arrival of a stranger in the village on the very same day goes almost unnoticed, as the villagers have their own concerns...Farmer's daughter Val needs to find a home before she can marry her sweetheart; Hilary is struggling to come to terms with her new responsibilities, and Stella is still getting to know the sister she thought she had lost during the war. While the children at the village school are as lively and inquisitive as ever, there are still conflicts and feuds among the long-standing residents of Burracombe.Then a search for a family draws the whole village together, and more than one person is led to question their own ideas about families and what they mean.

April Grove and Burracombe characters are linked in this touching Lilian Harry novel.It is December 1952. A wedding is being planned in April Grove, Portsmouth, and Jess and Frank Budd want to bring together all their friends and neighbours. They even invite Stella Simmons and her sister Maddy, who now live in the Devonshire village of Burracombe.Dan and Ruth Hodges attend, together with Dan's son Sammy, who immediately falls in love with his childhood playmate Maddy. But Stephen Napier, son of the Squire of Burracombe, proves a strong rival and Maddy is not yet ready to make such a momentous decision about her life. Meanwhile, Ruth's niece Lizzie and her husband Alec seem to have overcome the problems they encountered when Alec returned from the POW camp which almost broke him. But their happiness is threatened when a face from Lizzie's past reappears in her life and turns everything upside down.

Tragedy threatens the Devonshire village of Burracombe...There's trouble afoot in Burracombe...Hilary Napier is upset and angry when her father brings in a new manager for the family estate which she has been running for the past year. Even though she cannot help liking Travis Kellaway, she resents his presence. But before long, she begins to appreciate Travis's strength and compassion, and she finds herself drawn to him.Meanwhile, life in the village is enlivened by the new drama club, formed by energetic young curate Felix Copley. Almost the entire village becomes involved in the pantomime he decides to organise - with results they didn't quite plan for! Then tragedy strikes, making everyone realise exactly what is important in their lives...

A warm and compelling tale, part of Lilian Harry's terrific Dartmoor-based series.The village of Burracombe is looking forward to the Coronation, but 1953 is to prove to be a year of heartbreak as well as celebration. While Stella begins to plan her wedding, her sister Maddy is only just coming to terms with the loss of her own fiancé; Val and Luke are wondering if they will ever become parents, and Hilary's chances of marriage seem at first to come closer, then to recede. The Tozer family also face anxiety. As grandmother Minnie fights for her life, Tom and Joanna's premature twins battle with their own crisis and Jackie, working and living in Plymouth, is determined to live her own life.Meanwhile, the life of the village goes on, with all its ups and downs, its feuds and differences. Bossy Joyce Warren tries to organise everything and everyone, Miss Kemp and Stella plan yet another event for the school, Jacob Prout strives to keep Burracombe looking its best for the festivities - and romance comes from a quite unexpected direction...

There's nowhere quite like Burracombe - a village full of warmth and intrigue...It's a summer's day in 1953 that turns Hilary Napier's life upside down. When Marianne, a beautiful French woman, knocks on her door, Hilary can't help but be struck by Robert, the young boy with her. He has the same eyes as the brother she lost in the war. As she listens to Marianne's sad tale, she realises that her soldier brother lives on in the son he never met. But this is only the first revelation...As the village of Burracombe tries to make sense of the strangers in their midst, there is also much to celebrate. A wedding is being planned, a birth is imminent and a courtship just beginning. Yet, as always, life is complicated, and some people must learn cruel truths about the world...

Come home to Burracombe - the village where life is full of surprises...A seemingly sleepy Devonshire village, Burracombe is in fact full of intrigue and drama. Family secrets, budding romance, cruel twists of fate and amazing friendships all play out against the backdrop of the beautiful countryside.It's autumn 1953. The village is delighted when Joe Tozer - who left Burracombe as a young man in 1919 - returns to visit his family. His life since emigrating to the States has been a world away from rural Devon, but coming home, he falls in love with the place (and one particular person) all over again. With him is his eldest son, Russell. He sets hearts fluttering in the village - but will there be anyone on his arm when he catches the boat back to America?

A heart-warming visit to the village of Burracombe where, whatever life might throw at you - strangers, surprises, love, change - you can always rely upon your neighbours and friends.Devon, 1954. The villagers of Burracombe pull together to help each other through the tough times but now it's summer, and a time to celebrate love and new life. Even so, there are still a few surprises to come...At Burracombe Barton, Hilary Napier is doing her best to keep the estate ticking along, all the while longing for a man she cannot have. She welcomes help from young Patsy Shillabeer - but Patsy is more headstrong than she first appears, and there's trouble brewing.And all is not well in the village school, where a strict new teacher appears to be making the lives of the little ones a misery. And almost everyone is missing their beloved teacher Stella, still in hospital after the accident that nearly killed her.As the first crocuses bring colour and the promise of change back to Burracombe, the villagers help each other through the hardships. For, while the course of true love never did run smooth for anyone, in Burracombe there are weddings to plan and it won't be long before everyone in this very special village comes together in a joyful celebration of love, life and the things that matter most.

Through the hard times and the good, true friends stand side by side. Set in Devon, the terrific new novel in the feel-good Burracombe series.The latest book in the Burracombe series, CELEBRATIONS IN BURRACOMBE draws together many threads of life in the little Devonshire village where triumph and tragedy have always rubbed shoulders.It's the late 1950s, and change is in the air. For the Napier family, up at the big house, the old ways are shifting. Hilary must discover if reaching out for a chance of happiness must mean breaking away from the life expected of her, while Patsy, their young housekeeper's help, is facing motherhood without her own family around her.Down the hill from the Napiers, villagers young and old are setting out on adventures - Stella and Felix begin married life, change comes to the village school and the Tozer family continue to find surprises in their midst. Warm, poignant and heartfelt, CELEBRATIONS IN BURRACOMBE serves up another delicious slice of country life.

It may be winter, but in the Devonshire village of Burracombe there is always warmth and friendship, no matter what troubles arise...In the village of Burracombe, nothing stays secret for long and behind the peaceful, rural charm there's always a scandal to uncover, a newcomer to the village to set tongues wagging, a happy occasion to celebrate or friends to help their neighbours through the tough times.It's December 1953 and for Stella Simmons, recovering from a car crash, the winter wedding that she and her sweetheart had planned seems impossible. Elsewhere in the village, Jackie Tozer is dreaming of America and Hilary Napier, who thought the war had robbed her of her chance of happiness, has to ask herself if she could ever imagine leaving her life at the big house for the sake of love and adventure. The darkest time of the year finds everyone asking questions with no easy answer.As snow falls softly on the village, Burracombe proves once again that there's always a surprise just around the corner.

Hilary Napier has had enough of secrets. Her engagement party is a chance for her and David to finally celebrate their good news. But with obstacles springing up on all sides, there may be more than the dress and venue to arrange before she can consider walking down the aisle. Frances and James are doing their best to ignore their feelings for each other as they organise the school play. Can Frances find a way to let herself love again?Amid all the drama, old friends are always on hand, and when Dottie falls ill, a familiar face comes back to Burracombe to lift her spirits and perhaps change her life.With surprises around every corner, life is never dull in this beautiful Devonshire village . . .

The day that Hilary and David have been waiting for has finally arrived and as the church bells ring out for the arrival of the bride, everyone's fingers are crossed for the day to go without a hitch. The festivities set the tone for the year ahead and there's more love in the air in Burracombe as planning continues for both Dottie and Joe's and Frances and James's nuptials. There's nothing like a wedding to bring the village together.Times are changing in Burracombe and as young and old embark on new adventures it's time to say goodbye. But with friends like these, a goodbye is rarely for ever, so instead we'll say a very fond farewell.Return to Burracombe in Lilian's next book, A Child in Burracombe, a prequel to the series that will show you where it all began...

Return to Burracombe in this warm and charming prequel to Lilian Harry's Burracombe series and journey back to where it all began . . .Devon, 1943. In the village of Burracombe, 'Dig for Victory' is more than just a wartime slogan. While the young men are away, everyone at home knows the war effort needs them too. Whether it's Land Girls on the farms, wives and mothers having to make do and mend, or the villagers knowing how to stretch rations to keep spirits bright, there is always something to be done to help.When the Barton is requisitioned as a children's home for war orphans, all of Burracombe rallies round to welcome their newest arrivals, particularly little Maddy Simmons. Still reeling from losing her mother and brother in the Plymouth blitz, and her father being killed at sea, now in a cruel twist, Maddy has been sent to a different children's home to her beloved sister.As Maddy explores the village and makes new friends, she begins to feel at home and realises that Burracombe is the kind of place where you will always have someone to turn to, even when times are hard. Could this be somewhere she could finally call home?This heart-warming story gives a different perspective to the village as it adapts to the struggles of wartime and explores the story of a much-loved character in the wonderful Burracombe series.