Time period: 19th century

Can she escape her past? Patty Jenkins has come a long way from her poverty-stricken days in Brownlow workhouse. She now has a coveted position in the kitchens at Freeman's Department store in Liverpool and even the prospect of advancement. For Patty has always enjoyed baking and her flair for it...

After her mother's death, Dora is sent to live with her father and his other family. But Dora is mixed race and illegitimate, two facts that see her treated as little more than a servant by her step-mother and half siblings. This doesn't stop the son of the house abusing his position and Dora fin...

After her mother's death, Dora is sent to live with her father and his other family. But Dora is mixed race and illegitimate, two facts that see her treated as little more than a servant by her step-mother and half siblings. This doesn't stop the son of the house abusing his position and Dora fin...

This book examines the intriguing story of how the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace came into being, from the key characters who made it happen to the fascinating tales behind the exhibitors and exhibits themselves.

1820, London. Sarah McCaffrey, fleeing arrest for her part in a failed rebellion, finds herself alone and on the run. She boards the Serpent, bound from London to the colony of New South Wales - and when the captain's reckless actions lead the ship to be dashed onto Sydney's notorious rocks, Sara...

Shipwrecks are part of life in the remote village of Porthmorvoren, Cornwall. And as the sea washes the bodies of the drowned onto the beach, it also brings treasures: barrels of liquor, exotic fruit, the chance to lift a fine pair of boots from a corpse, maybe even a jewel or two. When, after a ...

At the centre of this novel is the passionate love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff - recounted with such emotional intensity that a plain tale of the Yorkshire moors acquires the depth and simplicity of ancient tragedy.

Childhood sweethearts turned star-crossed lovers, fuelled by bitter jealousy and dark revenge. 'Wuthering Heights' is the story of the enduring love between the heroine, Catherine Earnshaw, and her father's adopted son, Heathcliff and how it eventually destroys their lives and the lives of those ...

1812. Off the coast of Brazil, HMS Java, a proud British 38-gun frigate, is captured in battle by the American USS Constitution - signaling across the world's oceans a challenge to Britain's naval premiership that cannot be ignored. Back in England Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is enjoying a moment of ...

1812. Off the coast of Brazil, HMS Java, a proud British 38-gun frigate, is captured in battle by the American USS Constitution - signaling across the world's oceans a challenge to Britain's naval premiership that cannot be ignored. Back in England Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is enjoying a moment of ...

Interweaving biography, criticism and history, David Pierce follows the life of W. B. Yeats. He describes Yeats' family and home, his interest in the oral tradition, the occult and automatic writing.

Grab your pick axe and your canary cage - it's time to mine for coal in the Victorian pits! As a British man living in a coal-mining village during the Victorian era, you're forced to endure the dangers, difficulties and despair of working underground in the 1800s. It's gruelling work, with long ...

Cruel school and wicked punishments await in this hilarious look at Victorian school days! Growing up in Britain in the 1880s wasn't easy. The going was tough and the punishments were even tougher. Follow the experiences of Victorian schoolchildren and discover their top tips on how to survive at...

As a 12-year-old girl living in Britain in the 1880s, you are about to start work for a wealthy family. You will be busy all day long as a Victorian servant. This title can be used as a background approach to wider issues in Victorian times, such as class divides, daily life and the position of m...

From his impoverished childhood in a working-class English family, to his determination to educate himself at any cost, to the serious ill health that dominated his twenties and thirties, his complicated marriages, and love affair with socialism, the first forty years of H.G. Wells' extraordinary...

Leigh Hunt takes centre stage in a circle that was to include Shelley and his wife Mary, Mary's half sister Claire Clairmont and Hunt's sister-in-law Elizabeth. Daisy Hay tells the story of the scandal and tragedy, gossip and poetry of the turbulent communal existence of of this youthful group be...

From Hell, Hull and Halifax, may the Good Lord deliver us. In 1849, Hull is a city forgotten and abandoned; in the grip of a cholera outbreak that sees its poorest citizens cut down by the cartload. Into this world of flame and grief comes Mesach Stone, a former soldier, lost upon his way. He's b...

The battle of Isandlwana was the single most destructive incident in the 150-year history of the British colonization of South Africa. Based on new research, Zulu oral history and new archaeological evidence from the battlefield, this is an account of a battle that has shaped the political fortun...