Leah Fleming

Mayo de 1941: la isla de Creta es invadida por un ejército de paracaidistas. Tras una feroz batalla, miles de soldados, entre británicos y aliados, se ven obligados a tomar las colinas o convertirse en fugitivos, ayudados por los vecinos de Creta. Sesenta años despues, Lois West y su hijo, Alex, invitan a su tia Pen a una celebracion especial en Creta con motivo de su ochenta y cinco cumpleaños, a sabiendas de que no ha visitado la isla desde la guerra. Penelope George -anteriormente conocida como Giorgidiou- no muestra el menor deseo de acudir, pero decidira hacerlo ante la proximidad del 60 aniversario de la batalla. Es el momento de regresar y hacer el viaje que nunca penso que se atreveria a emprender. A su llegada a Atenas, Penelope no tardara en revivir las experiencias de su pasado, desde sus dias como enfermera en practicas hasta esa epoca oscura en que fue la ultima extranjera en permanecer en la isla. Muy pronto se vera rodeada por algunos viejos amigos y familiares de Creta que han oido de su llegada, mientras Lois y Alex llevaran a cabo una epica peregrinacion que permitira a Penelope reencontrarse con una vieja amiga que creia haber perdido para siempre... y descubrir una secreta verdad que habia permanecido oculta hasta entonces.

May 1941, and the island of Crete is captured by the Germans bringing together two very different women and changing their lives forever...May 1941 and the island of Crete is invaded by Paratroopers from the air. After a lengthy fight thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers are forced to take to the hills or become escaping PoWs, sheltered by the Cretan villagers. Sixty years later, Lois West and her young son, Alex, invite feisty Great Aunt Pen to a special eighty-fifth birthday celebration on Crete, knowing she has not been back there since the war. Penelope George - formerly Giorgidiou - is reluctant to go but is persuaded by the fact it is the 60th anniversary of the Battle. It is time for her to return and make the journey she never thought she'd dare to.. On the outward voyage from Athens, she relives her experiences in the city from her early years as a trainee nurse to those last dark days stranded on the island, the last female foreigner. When word spreads of her visit, and old Cretan friends and family come to greet her, Lois and Alex are caught up in her epic pilgrimage and her journey leads her to a reunion with the friend she thought she had lost forever.

1879, York.Greta Costello must rely on her wits to survive. She finds refuge as a Saturday girl for an old jeweller, Saul Abrahams, and her eye for detail, her long fingers and appreciation of beauty persuade Saul to train her as a pearl stringer. This skill will lead her through hardship and pain towards a new life.1879, Scotland.Jem Baillie knows the immense power of a perfect pearl. His father was a fisher on a tributary of the Tay river in Perthshire, Scotland, and together they found the rarest of pearls, a great white pearl they call Queenie. When this is stolen from them, Eben vows revenge.Spanning generations and continents, tracing the rivers of Scotland and the Mississippi, The Last Pearlis a sweeping novel of desire and revenge, of family and freedom, and of one woman's journey to open the shell she has built around herself to reveal the true beauty within.

When Isobel Morton takes over the cafe in Lichfields market square, she has big plans. Soon renamed The Victory Cafe, with a menu that delights despite rations, the girls who work at the Vic are swept away by Belles lust for life. Among the regular customers is a trio of soldiers from the nearby American base and waitress Dorrie Goodman soon befriends them, learning about jazz and romance in the process. But the stifling morality of a Midlands town in the 40s cannot accommodate such a friendship; jealously, hatred and the weight of public disapproval combine to precipitate a tragedy. It is not until many years after the war that friendship and reconciliation can begin to heal the wounds of the past ...