Molly's Christmas Orphans - Tapa dura

From the Sunday Times and ebook bestselling author of A Wartime Christmas comes a gritty and nostlagic family saga about love, loss and keeping family together. 'Surely one of the best saga writers of her time' - Rosie Clarke 1940. Molly Swift, at 27, has already suffered the tragic loss of her two-year-old daughter Emily, to the flu outbreak of 1935. Now she waits for news of her shopkeeper husband Ted, who volunteered for the British Expeditionary Forces at the outbreak of war. Molly is intent on running the general store with the help of her retired father, Bill Keen and ex-proprietor of the business. But after the building is hit during a bombing raid and Bill is severly injured, Molly faces difficult times. Alone in the hospital corridor as Bill is treated, Molly tries to keep positive. But the Blitz is well underway and she is forced to take shelter in the hospital's basement. It's here, as the bombs fall around docklands, that Molly meets Andy Miller and his two young children, Evie and Mark. An unlikely friendship begins as Molly offers the homeless group safe lodgings for the following night, and soon their lives are entwined, bringing unexpected joy and heartache for them all. Praise for CAROL RIVERS: 'A gripping page turner' - LEAH FLEMING 'Brings the East End to life - family loyalties, warring characters and broken dreams. Superb' - ELIZABETH GILL

Mother-of-three Carol Rivers, whose family comes from the Isle of Dogs, East London, now lives in Dorset. Visit www.carolrivers.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @carol_rivers