The Crimean war is raging a world away from London. Martha Lackland, Abel Lackland’s daughter, astonishes her family and friends by announcing her intention to go to the Crimea to work amongst the British soldiers. After the initial shock, her family rally round to help her raise money for food and medicines. Once in Scutari, Martha meets Florence Nightingale. She also meets a surgeon – the dashing Alexander Laurence and love grows between them amidst the devastation of war.

London in the Blitz. Poppy is a mature and capable woman. She struggles to enable her family to lead normal lives. The problems they create are known to all mothers-a daughter torn between two men and a difficult and headstrong stepdaughter. It is a time of fear and uncertainty but love and passion grow amidst the devastation.

Martha Lackland dies in 1905. Her great-niece, Letty attends the funeral. Here she meets Luke O'Hare, an aspiring actor with plans to start a theatre for the poor of London. Letty falls under the spell of Luke and his circle of Bohemian friends. In an attempt to establish her independence from her domineering family she runs away to help Luke and his friends set up the theatre. It is also a time of great change for women as the Suffragette movement presents a radical challenge to the established order and Letty is drawn to the excitement and liberation it promises.

Product Description Abel Lackland has risen from squalid beginnings to become one of the wealthiest surgeons in town. He wants his eldest son, Jonah, to follow in his footsteps, but Jonah decides that the future lies in the world of the arts. Jonah steals away one night to visit the forbidden Haymarket theatre and manages to meet the famous Lilith Lucas. He falls under her spell - a fatal spell that, unknown to him, has haunted Abel for many years. Lilith is aware of Jonah's identity and sees a chance to repay Abel Lackland for the indignity and heartbreak of the past... About the Author Claire Rayner, nurse, agony aunt and author was born in London in 1931. She married in 1957 and it was while her children were young that she began to write. She is also a tireless campaigner on many medical and social issues, including the long term care of the elderly. Her literary output comprises over eighty books including fiction and a broad range of medical matters. She now lives in Harrow with her husband.

In the eighth novel in The Performers family saga, the lives of Miriam Da Silva and Claudette, granddaughter of the notorious Lilith, are destined to cross. Miriam, beautiful and rich, danced at the first ball of the 1892 Season, whilst Claudette, desperate to find a way of surviving in backstreet London, gambled all her charms and won a place on the stage of the Gaiety Theatre. Their paths crossed in the house of Mrs Lovibond - a house whose veneer of elegance concealed all the sordid vices of the Victorian underworld.

As Hitler rises to power, a man and woman travel to Germany in the desperate search for a Jewish family. Yet, more than common purpose unites them in their mission. Together, Peter and his married cousin, Leah Lackland, head for Munich.

The sparkling first episode in best-selling author Claire Rayner's new series The Quentin Quartet opens its doors on the bustling streets of Victorian London, where grocers vie with haberdashers, trade is on the up...and, in the shadows, jealously, revenge and greed lie waiting.

The early 1800's. Jesse Constam, a highly respected spice merchant, lives in fashionable Gower Street. Saved from poverty himself, he rescues two children from the gutter. Jesse's intervention changes their lives forever. The fate of Abel Lackland and Lilith Lucas and their families become inextricably entwined as they are destined for the vastly different worlds of medicine and the theatre.

It is 1911. At sixteen, Poppy is becoming a woman herself, and she can appreciate that the Suffragette Movement seems to promise a fairer future for all women. Then in 1914 The First World War breaks out and brings catastrophic loss and suffering. Poppy's life changes forever as the old certainties are swept away forever. However, she volunteers to work as an ambulance driver at the front in Flanders. There, amongst death and constant danger, she discovers a strange and unexpected liberation. She also meets a handsome war correspondent...