Margaret Forster presents the 'edited' diary of a woman, born in 1901, whose life spans the twentieth century. On the eve of the Great War, Millicent King begins to keep her journal and vividly records the dramas of everyday life in a family touched by war, tragedy, and money troubles. From bohemian London to Rome in the 1920s her story moves on to social work and the build-up to another war, in which she drives ambulances through the bombed streets of London. Here is twentieth-century woman in close-up coping with the tragedies and upheavals of women's lives from WWI to Greenham Common and beyond. A triumph of resolution and evocation, this is a beautifully observed story of an ordinary woman's life - a narrative where every word rings true.

Balmoral, 1932 Marion Crawford, an ordinary but determined young woman, is given a chance to work at the big house as governess to two children, Lilibet and Margaret Rose. Windsor Castle, 1936 As dramatic events sweep through the country and change all their lives in an extraordinary way, Marion loyally devotes herself to the family. But when love enters her life, she is faced with an unthinkable choice… Escape this summer with this sweeping love story about family secrets and the heart-breaking decision of choosing between your head and your heart…

An inventive, spirited novel about a pioneering woman who was shamed for daring to challenge male dominance in the arts and sciences four centuries ago. Margaret Cavendish was the first woman to address the Royal Society and the first Englishwoman to write explicitly for publication. Wildly unconventional, she was championed by her forward-thinking husband and nicknamed ‘Mad Madge’ by her many detractors. Later, Virginia Woolf would write, ‘What a vision of loneliness and riot the thought of Margaret Cavendish brings to mind!’ Unjustly neglected by history, here Margaret is brought intimately and memorably to life, tumbling pell-mell across the pages of this exhilarating novel — a portrait of a woman whose ambitions were centuries ahead of her time.

'In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart ...' A deeply moving and unforgettable portrait of an ordinary and yet an extraordinary teenage girl. First published over sixty years ago, Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl has reached millions of young people throughout the world. In July 1942, thirteen-year-old Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the occupation, went into hiding in an Amsterdam warehouse. Over the next two years Anne vividly describes in her diary the frustrations of living in such close quarters, and her thoughts, feelings and longings as she grows up. Her diary ends abruptly when, in August 1944, they were all betrayed. Since its publication in 1947, The Diary of a Young Girl has been read by tens of millions of people, now reissued with a revised Foreword, Afterword, Chronology and Glossary.

The Diary of a Young Girl abridged for younger readers and published in memory of Anne Frank, who died 70 years ago, just weeks before the end of World War II. Sensitively edited and with a connecting commentary by editor, Mirjam Pressler, the abridged edition of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank gives younger readers their first introduction to the extraordinary diary of an ordinary girl who has long become a household name. This abridged edition has a short prologue written by the editor, Mirjam Pressler, as well as a connecting commentary. There are beautiful line drawings, family photographs, and an Afterword to explain why the Diary ends so abruptly. This shorter edition is suitable for younger children who want to read Anne's diary for themselves.

Beautiful, twisted and brilliant - discover Yoko Ogawa. A lonely teenage girl falls in love with her foster-brother as she watches him leap from a high diving board into a pool - sparking an unspoken infatuation that draws out darker possibilities. A young woman records the daily moods of her pregnant sister in a diary, but rather than a story of growth the diary reveals a more sinister tale of greed and repulsion. Driven by nostalgia, a woman visits her old college dormitory on the outskirts of Tokyo. There she finds an isolated world shadowed by decay, haunted by absent students and the disturbing figure of the crippled caretaker.

Germany, 1946 History hides many secrets One woman will hunt for the truth… Daughter. Sister. Friend. Spy. It’s 1946 and the dust of war has settled over Europe. But for Edith Graham, an ordinary woman living an ordinary life, her journey is only just beginning. Escaping her humdrum existence, Edith is swept into war-torn Germany and recruited to draw elusive Nazis out of hiding. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more blurred the line between good and evil. In a shadowy world of shifting loyalties, where no-one is quite who they seem to be, who can Edith trust? Previously published as ‘Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook’

Meet some ordinary people who behave in extraordinary ways: a man who can hear plants scream, the wife who wants to get rid of her husband, and the woman with an unusual use for a leg of lamb. 29,948 words. British English. Selected and retold by Michael Caldon.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! A fascinating, humorous, and timeless coming-of-age tale featuring one of Jane Austens most memorable characters. "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition...had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." The celebrated opening of Jane Austens Emma introduces readers to a supremely self-assured and accomplished young woman who believes herself immune to romance. By turns brilliant and foolish, self-aware and self-deluding, Emma "leaps from error to error," writes Margaret Drabble in her incisive Introduction, wreaking comic havoc in the lives of those around her. The mature flowering of Austens singular and prolific genius, Emma is the compelling story of a woman seeking her true nature and finding true love in the process. With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble and an Afterword by Sabrina Jeffries

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! A fascinating, humorous, and timeless coming-of-age tale featuring one of Jane Austens most memorable characters. "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition...had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." The celebrated opening of Jane Austens Emma introduces readers to a supremely self-assured and accomplished young woman who believes herself immune to romance. By turns brilliant and foolish, self-aware and self-deluding, Emma "leaps from error to error," writes Margaret Drabble in her incisive Introduction, wreaking comic havoc in the lives of those around her. The mature flowering of Austens singular and prolific genius, Emma is the compelling story of a woman seeking her true nature and finding true love in the process. With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble and an Afterword by Sabrina Jeffries

Jane Austens brilliant satire of the gothic novel. The most sprightly and satirical of Austens novels, Northanger Abbey was written when the author was herself in her early twenties, and takes for its heroine seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a spirited young woman preoccupied with the pleasures of dressing, dancing, and reading sensational novels. But when she visits Northanger Abbey, the ancestral home of handsome Henry Tilney, Catherines taste in books comes back to haunt her. The rambling house full of locked doors and the familys mysterious history give rise to delightfully dreadful suspicions, and finally only Catherines sweet nature and good humor triumph over her susceptibility. A sly commentary on the power of literature as well as a cautionary tale about the perils of naivete, Northanger Abbey is a fresh and funny tale of one young woman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminating introduction, intensive instruction in the ways of the world. With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble and an Afterword by Stephanie Laurens

Jane Austens brilliant satire of the gothic novel. The most sprightly and satirical of Austens novels, Northanger Abbey was written when the author was herself in her early twenties, and takes for its heroine seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a spirited young woman preoccupied with the pleasures of dressing, dancing, and reading sensational novels. But when she visits Northanger Abbey, the ancestral home of handsome Henry Tilney, Catherines taste in books comes back to haunt her. The rambling house full of locked doors and the familys mysterious history give rise to delightfully dreadful suspicions, and finally only Catherines sweet nature and good humor triumph over her susceptibility. A sly commentary on the power of literature as well as a cautionary tale about the perils of naivete, Northanger Abbey is a fresh and funny tale of one young woman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminating introduction, intensive instruction in the ways of the world. With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble and an Afterword by Stephanie Laurens

In May 1941 Lena Mukhina was an ordinary teenage girl, living in Leningrad, worrying about her homework and whether Vova, the boy she liked, liked her. Like a good Soviet schoolgirl, she was also diligently learning German, the language of Russia's Nazi ally. And she was keeping a diary, in which she recorded her hopes and dreams. Then, on 22 June 1941, Hitler broke his pact with Stalin and declared war on the Soviet Union. All too soon, Leningrad was besieged and life became a living hell. Lena and her family fought to stay alive; their city was starving and its citizens were dying in their hundreds of thousands. From day to dreadful day, Lena records her experiences: the desperate hunt for food, the bitter cold of the Russian winter, the cruel deaths of those she loved. The Diary of Lena Mukhina is a truly remarkable account of this most terrible era in modern history. It offers readers the vivid first-hand testimony of a courageous young woman struggling simply to survive.

In May 1941 Lena Mukhina was an ordinary teenage girl, living in Leningrad, worrying about her homework and whether Vova - the boy she liked - liked her. Like a good Soviet schoolgirl, she was also diligently learning German, the language of Russia's Nazi ally. And she was keeping a diary, in which she recorded her hopes and dreams. Then, on 22 June 1941, Hitler broke his pact with Stalin and declared war on the Soviet Union. All too soon, Leningrad was besieged and life became a living hell. Lena and her family fought to stay alive; their city was starving and its citizens were dying in their hundreds of thousands. From day to dreadful day, Lena records her experiences: the desperate hunt for food, the bitter cold of the Russian winter and the cruel deaths of those she loved. A truly remarkable account of this most terrible era in modern history, The Diary of Lena Mukhina is the vivid first-hand testimony of a courageous young woman struggling simply to survive.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale This brilliant collection of connected short stories strings together several decades of moments in the life of one woman--as an ambitious girl in the 1930s, as a young professional coming of age in the uncertain '50s and '60s, and as half of a couple growing old together. In a series of vividly evoked settings that span cities, backwoods, and farm country, we see this woman contending over time with an unstable sister, a married lover, aging parents, mystifying stepchildren, vulnerable farm animals, and her own changing self. By turns funny, lyrical, earthy, shocking, and deeply personal, Moral Disorder displays Margaret Atwood's celebrated storytelling gifts and unmistakable style to their best advantage.

WHEN NEEDED, WILL SHE BE ABLE TO RISE TO THE CHALLENGE? 1945, Connecticut. A scandal breaks which forces a baffled Rose, aged four, and her mother to leave America and return home to England. The following May, a sister is born - Joanna or "Jon". Rose and Jon are like chalk and cheese. Jon is vivacious, fun, impetuous, rash and persuasive. Rose is reserved, steady, sure, reliable and... ordinary. It is her lot in life to hold the family together through times of tragedy and emotional upheaval. But, when, years later, Jon sets events in motion which send Rose across the Atlantic again and into the most extraordinary event of her life, can she ever be thought of as ordinary again?