Bristol 1939

At forty years of age, Mary Anne Randall still turns heads. With an abusive husband spending most of his wages on beer, she has resigned herself to be the sole breadwinner to protect her family and keep the wolves from the door.

In order to make ends meet Mary Anne runs a pawnbroking business from the wash house at the end of the garden.

Following the outbreak of war an opportunity presents itself to escape her loveless marriage and find true love.

Will she take that chance, or carry on living just for her children and not for herself?

It’s 1953. Coronation Year.

While Bristol is still recovering from the aftermath of the war, three very different women are counting the cost. Polly longs for an easier, more glamorous life, but with her irrepressible young daughter and her charming – if scheming – husband, will things improve?

Charlotte is trying to forget her illicit wartime romance and accept the shortcomings of her marriage. And Edna is desperate to protect her young family, even if it means keeping secrets…

Bristol – 1945

The war has ended; the men are returning home to their loved ones, but for some things have changed.

Charlotte Hennessey-White’s husband, David is no longer the gentle loving man he once was and Charlotte, so independent during the war, is devastated.

Edna Burbage’s strong fiancée, Colin has suffered appalling physical injuries. He won’t hold her to her promise of marriage, but she insists her feelings are unchanged. But is that true? Is she marrying him out of love or pity?

And Polly Chandler’s sweetheart, Gavin who’d she’d planned her whole future around, hasn’t come home at all.

War and suffering have changed their men leaving the women to cope on their own. But they too are changed. They harbour secrets best kept that could do untold damage to these already fragile lives.

Will an unlikely friendship be enough to save them?

After escaping a train bound for a death camp with a trusty German Shepherd dog, a girl wakes to find that she has no memory of her former life.

Lily is fostered by the kind RAF pilot who found her and his wife, Meg. It is not long before their lives are disrupted once again by the war and, with their home in ruins, they are forced to flee to the country.

In the Somerset countryside, Lily is reunited with Rudy, the heroic German Shepherd. However it soon becomes clear that Rudy is not just her companion, he is protecting her too, and someone wants him out of the way…

“If at all possible, send or take your household animals into the country in advance of an emergency. If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed.”

Joanna Ryan’s father has gone off to war, leaving her in the care of her step-mother, a woman more concerned with having a good time than being any sort of parent to her.

But then she finds a puppy, left for dead, and Joanna becomes determined to save him, sharing her meagre rations with him. But, in a time of war, pets are only seen as an unnecessary burden and she is forced to hide her new friend, Harry, from her step-mother and the authorities. With bombs falling over Bristol and with the prospect of evacuation on the horizon, can they stay together and keep each other safe?

All she wants is somewhere to call home…

Frances Sweet can’t really remember her real parents. Brought up by her uncle, her cousins Ruby and Mary have always treated her like their little sister.

As the war continues to keep her cousins separated from the men they love – Frances is growing up fast enough to catch the eye of dashing American soldier Declan. But she also has a greater longing – to find the mother who abandoned her years before…

Some battles will be fought on the Homefront…

The war has had a devastating effect on the Sweet Family with young Charlie Sweet, lost at sea, presumed dead and bombs falling on nearby Bristol.

Still there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon in the form of Mary Sweet’s upcoming wedding to her Canadian beau. But even that has failed to rouse their father from his grief.

But in London a baby has been found in a bombed out house, sheltered in the arms of his dead mother. A child to make life worth living again…

May 1944

Hope and excitement is in the air when news breaks of the allied forces landing in Normandy. D Day has arrived. However, the day-to-day struggles for the Tobacco Girls continue.

Carole Thomas wants her old life back. She is burdened with the guilt of being a young single mother and considers having baby Paula adopted, but Maisie Miles will do anything to stop her.

Phyllis Mason having found the love of her life is getting married in Malta to Mick Fairbrother, but will the dangerous legacies of war plague her happy day?

Bridget O’Neill finds herself posted to one of the hospitals receiving the injured from the D-Day landing beaches. Her most fervent hope is that her husband, Lyndon, does not become one of them.

Peace is on the horizon, but will their wishes and dreams win through and bring them a happy ever after?

The Sweet family have run the local bakery for as long as anyone can remember.

Twins Ruby and Mary Sweet help their widowed father out when they can. Mary loves baking and has no intention of leaving their small Gloucestershire village. while Ruby dreams of life in London.

But as war threatens, there will be changes for all of the Sweet family, with brother Charlie off to serve and cousin Frances facing evacuation. But there will be opportunities, too, as the twins’ baking talent catches the attention of the Ministry of Food….

MEET HONEY DRIVER. HOTEL OWNER. WIDOWED MUM. CRIME SOLVER?

Originally published as A Taste to Die For.

The competition’s on. And the knives are out . . .

A cooking competition between Bath’s top chefs is bound to be murder. Honey Driver knows that much for sure.

But her head chef, Smudger Smith, is in the running for the grand prize and Honey couldn’t be prouder. She tags along for the main event: a nail-biting cook-off between Smudger and his arch nemesis, scheming Oliver Stafford.

Oliver cheats his way to victory. But the very next morning, he gets his just desserts.

He is found dead in his own kitchen. Stuffed in the oven like a prize turkey.

Detective Steve Harvey, Honey’s dishy on-off boyfriend, is convinced Smudger is behind it all. But Honey’s instincts tell her that can’t be right . . .

With so much at stake, can she uncover the real killer before matters reach boiling point?