World War Saga

In February 1944, the girls of the Air Transport Auxiliary Mystery Club face the devastating personal loss of one of their own in a tragic crash. At the same time, another member is blackmailed, whilst honeymoon plans of a third are threatened by a puzzling mystery. As they share each other's joys and troubles, the friends find the comfort and strength to go on with their vital work and dangerous investigations in wartime England, even when few situations are what they seem to be.

Grace and Dougie have been courting for years, so when Dougie decides to emigrate to Australia he expects Grace to follow once she turns 21. Grace used to be besotted with Dougie, but she is increasingly worried by his bullying behaviour and gambling. On her way home from seeing Dougie off, Grace is nearly run down by a truck driven by widower Ben, who is on his way to the hospital to see his young son. Soon, Grace has agreed to look after Ben's child while he recovers from his accident. As they spend time together Ben struggles to ignore his growing feelings for Grace.

Sylvia is the spoiled only child of an ambitious mother, Lorna Ellis, who runs a dancing school in Blackpool. Approaching 21, Sylvia is under pressure to scoop up prizes by fair means or foul. Pearl is the oldest daughter in a large, chaotic family who all work at the Pleasure Beach. She often sneaks away to watch ballroom contestants in their glittery finery. Joy is an evacuee who lost her parents to the Blitz. Now she lives and works in a shabby boarding house and works as a cleaner. Though shy and modest, she falls in love with the newest dance craze - the American Jitterbug.

After having given up her baby at seventeen, Sonya is inspired by her work at an orphanage to discover what happened to her daughter twenty-five years ago. Reunited, they struggle to bond whilst braving the war together. Nurse Lily has returned to St Ives to finish training as a midwife. But when old flame Tristan is brought in wounded, she must put the past firmly to bed in order to care for him. And working at Tristan’s convalescent home, Mary longs for the romance she reads of in her novels. But her overprotective mother is making that more difficult at every turn.

Eine große Liebe. Getrennte Wege. Doch das Schicksal hat andere Pläne für sie. Unterfranken, 1916: Während auf Gut Benhaim Alberts und Emilias Hochzeit gefeiert wird, muss Klara eine folgenschwere Entscheidung treffen, die sie wegführen wird von ihrem kleinen Sohn und dem Mann, dem ihr Herz für immer gehört. Von der Liebe enttäuscht wagt Rainer Benhaim mit der Gründung einer Möbelmanufaktur einen Neubeginn. Der Erfolg gibt ihm recht: Schon bald ist das Unternehmen, das er zusammen mit seinem Bruder Albert leitet, über die Grenzen Frankens hinaus bekannt.

Trixie and her fellow lumberjills are back in Scotland, newly stationed at the MacKay estate. When they arrive, they are shocked to find the place dilapidated and neglected and the taciturn and secretive Noah MacKay not at all happy to be meeting them. It quickly becomes apparent that MacKay was expecting men from the forestry commission to take charge, rather than four young women. Trixie, Jo, Hen and Vi decide he needs to be proven wrong - after all, don't they have stamina, skill and strength?

Liverpool, World War II. Monica Eustace and Joan McDonald met as next-door-neighbours living in Mersey View in Liverpool. Their friendship is a close as ever, though they're married now, and sharing Monica's grand house on the other side of the city. But war clouds are gathering, casting a shadow over the happy future they dream of with their young husbands. Meanwhile, in London, Joan's half-sister Bella is overwhelmed with the glitz and glamour of the city while she's training as a singer - but will she forget her friends back home?

Almost losing her life in a bomb blast while serving in the Women's Volunteer Service has made Ann Gilby take stock of what's really important - her family. With daughter Sheila back home, and Joy still working munitions at the Cadbury factory and engaged to her soldier sweetheart, home life feels more settled too. Ann has even come to an uneasy truce with her husband, Len, despite her recent discovery of his infidelity and the fact that he has fathered a child with another woman.

London, December 1940. It's Christmas for the Good Time Girls, and whilst London tries to inject some sparkle into the wartime rubble, the women of the Hammersmith Palais aren't looking forward to the festive season. Nancy continues her battle to keep control of the Palais as Ronnie and his thugs appear at every turn, determined to take what he lost back. Can she draw on all of her strength to keep everyone safe, even if it means sacrificing herself? Meanwhile, Betty and Violet have secrets of their own. Secrets which would cause certain ruin if they were discovered.

Manchester, 1923. Jess Mason is determined to make her own way in the world. When she's appointed manager for Holly Lodge, a new home for old soldiers, she must convince the owner that she can run things just as well as any man - if not better. To everyone around him, Tom Watson seems a cheerful and sociable man, but he has secretly vowed to go through life alone. However, when he takes on the renovation of Holly Lodge and meets Jess, the walls he has built around himself start to crumble.

Der emotionale Auftakt zur neuen, bewegenden Familiensaga von Margit Steinborn, der Autorin des Bestsellers "Ein neuer Himmel". Zwei Menschen, die unterschiedlicher nicht sein könnten. Ein Kind, das sie verbindet. Eine Liebe, die sie in ihren Bann zieht. Unterfranken 1914. Im Morgengrauen legt das junge Dienstmädchen Klara ihr Neugeborenes vor den Toren eines Gutshofes in der Nähe von Würzburg ab. Das Findelkind ist ein Geschenk des Himmels für den jungen Baron Benhaim und seine Frau – sie adoptieren den kleinen Tobias, der nun eines Tages das Gut erben wird.

In Sydney, siblings Donald and Sarah Macintosh battle for their father's approval, and control of his empire, while their cousin David fights the enemy across the continents. US Marine Pilot James Duffy defies his grandfather's wishes, and a number of times, death, protecting Australian skies from the Japanese. Below, trapped in the jungles of Malaya, Diane Duffy is caught between saving the lives of hundreds of orphaned children, or that of her son. While Tom Duffy finds himself enlisting in yet another world war, his daughter, Jessica, narrowly escapes slaughter at a mission station.

While her husband and daughter work at the Cadbury's Bournville factory, Ann Gilby has her hands full at home with her youngest, Martin, and other daughter Sheila, newly returned home with baby Elaine. With Sheila's husband away doing his bit in the RAF, Ann knows she should be grateful to have all her children safe under one roof. But she can't help but fear for their uncertain future as bombs fall ever closer to her Birmingham home.

Deutschland 1938. Alle Zeichen stehen aus Sturm, doch Politik kümmert die junge Belle Lombard wenig. Ihre ehrgeizigen Pläne gelten einzig den Filmstudios in Berlin und dem vermeintlichen Mann ihrer Träume. Ihre Mutter Felicia verteidigt indessen als erfolgreiche Unternehmerin rücksichtslos ihre Interessen, sogar gegen die eigenen Gefühle. Doch das Chaos macht auch vor der weitverzweigten Familie der beiden Frauen nicht halt ...

1915. While World War One changes the country, with food becoming scarce and Britain's young men being called up, it is harder than ever to keep the grand Beach Hotel in Littlehampton running smoothly. Waitress Lili Probert has seen her hard work rewarded at the Beach Hotel, but hides heartbreak behind her sunny personality. Her sweetheart, Norman, is missing in action and has been presumed dead, but she cannot give up hope that he may be found. But when she meets injured soldier Rhodri, a fellow Welshman now living near Littlehampton, she fights hard to ignore her growing attraction for him.

Eliza Jones and her husband Bryn had a whirlwind romance and married shortly after meeting, but he was soon sent off to fight. In the midst of a Blitz attack on Liverpool, which leaves Eliza with amnesia, she gives birth to their baby son, Alfie. Still struggling with the aftermath of the birth, Eliza is distraught when Alfie is kidnapped from the nursery. As the search for Alfie progresses and the community bands together around Eliza, she is left with more questions than answers. Who would take her baby, and why? A

When Maggie’s new job takes her from bombed-out London to grand Snowden Hall in the Cotswolds, she’s apprehensive but determined to do her bit for the war effort. She’s also keeping a secret, one she knows would turn opinion against her. Her mother is German: Maggie is related to the enemy. Then her evacuee sister sends her a worrying letter, missing the code they agreed Violet would use to confirm everything was well, and Maggie’s heart sinks.

1931. Fifteen-year-old Kate witnesses her mother, Millicent, push a stranger from a station platform into the path of an oncoming train. There was no warning, seemingly no reason and absolutely no remorse. 1940. Exactly nine years later, Kate returns to the station and notices a tramp laying flowers on the exact spot that the murder was committed; the identity of the victim still remains unknown.

1944. With deadly doodlebugs terrorising London, Bessie Rushbrook agrees to give shelter to eight-year-old evacuee Marigold in her home. But, the little girl is no stranger, and Bessie must honour the promise she gave to Marigold's mother and not reveal her connection to the child. Marigold's arrival stirs up Bessie's memories from the past when the world was at war the first time. She is forced to face her actions from those days and question the secret that she's long kept hidden. When Grace is injured in London, Bessie makes the heart-wrenching decision to confess her secret.

In 1933, after Hitler and the Nazi Party consolidated power in Germany, Immanuel Birnbaum, a German Jewish journalist based in Warsaw, is forbidden from writing for newspapers in his homeland. Six years later, just months before the German invasion of Poland that ignites World War II, Immanuel escapes to Sweden with his wife and two young sons.