In 1934, at age 51, Elsa’s sheltered life in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy changes remarkably when she and her husband, Paul, purchase the Pensione Alexandria overlooking the Mediterranean in Naples. When war breaks out in Europe and Italy sides with Germany, Elsa and her family’s fears are quickly realized. The growing sense that the atrocities in German-occupied lands will soon occur in Italy forces them to sell their pensione and attempt a desperate journey to safety in America.

Nuri is a beekeeper and Afra, his wife, is an artist. Mornings, Nuri rises early to hear the call to prayer before driving to his hives in the countryside. On weekends, Afra sells her colorful landscape paintings at the open-air market. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the hills of the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they love is destroyed by war, Nuri knows they have no choice except to leave their home. But escaping Syria will be no easy task: Afra has lost her sight.

Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, 21-year-old Lillian Carter's life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists' models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge

Perla, a young Jewish woman, was raised in an extreme ultra-orthodox society. When she turns 18, and her parents have a hard time finding a match for her, she is thrown into the arms of a cold, violent man who makes her life unbearable. A forbidden, chance encounter with a man, and the feelings that ensue, make her begin to question everything she has ever known - and even consider that, maybe, she does not have to choose this life that has been thrust upon her. But she knows that once she makes a drastic decision, there will be no way back into the arms of the Jewish community.

Propelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly respected, and Odran believes that he is pledging his life to "the good."

Mary Roberts is an impoverished child living in a council flat in 1950s London. When she and her sister are left at an orphanage by their mother, they don't think their lives can get any worse. Harry Evans is an orphan who finds himself, with Mary and her sister, on board a ship bound for Australia. They're sent to a farm school for children, where abuse and neglect are rife. A journey that will change their lives forever and from which they’ll never return.

In a tiny town on the coast of Lancashire, Lily Brown is trying to hold her world together. With England in the throes of World War II, her alcoholic father a prisoner overseas, and her mother struggling to make ends meet, she is convinced marrying her wealthy suitor is the best way to take care of her family. Until a blue-eyed American soldier turns her life upside-down. Based on a true story, this beautifully researched biographical novel follows Lily’s journey as she finds herself torn between the country she loves and the man who has stolen her heart.

Esther has shut herself away in her vine-covered manor house on the top of a hill for as long as she can remember. Everyone in the village whispers about the scandal that broke her heart. She has cut herself off from the world—until now. Now, she needs help uncovering the mystery that has plagued her for decades. On a sunny spring day, 18-year-old Bruno is in the local library when he spots an advert. The old lady on the hill is looking for internet lessons, and Bruno sees his chance.

Abigail Gibson is gone. The day after Christmas, she walks out of her home in the suburbs, leaving behind a strange note on the kitchen table...and her 10-year-old son, Sam. When her sister Gillian gets the call, she can barely believe it: Abigail has always been a little, well, unreliable, but she hasn’t done anything like this in a decade - not since Sam was born. Now, Gillian and her husband are taking care of Sam while they wait for news of Abigail.

Diane picked up her mother’s phone. “How do you feel about your mother being let out of prison today after 65 years?” the reporter asked. Diane stared at her mother. “My grandmother is alive?” That one phone call hurled shock waves throughout the entire family. 1955 - Anna Bergman Craine’s life changes in an instant when she commits a crime of passion and is sentenced to life in prison. Leaving behind two young children, she is left alone in the world, never to hear from family or friends again.

In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow, always’. But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: ‘Find D’. Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.

A broken family. A new opportunity in a country on the precipice of unspeakable evil. November 1932. Seamus Ritter, a widower with four children, returns from riding the rails in an America crippled by the great depression. Realizing that his homecoming will not be how he envisioned it, and in a desperate attempt to make amends with his 16-year-old daughter, Maureen, Seamus accepts an invitation to come and work for his long-lost uncle in Berlin. With little other choice, Seamus takes the ship to Germany with his family.

Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother’s vintage jackets, purses... and pearls of wisdom.

Maggie Harrison is a devoted wife and mother, until one day, without planning to, she drives away, leaving behind her indifferent husband and two sulking teenagers. Maggie goes off on a quest of self-exploration, enjoying adventures, meeting new people, and rediscovering her passions. For the first time in years, she dreams of what she wants out of life, and realizes that her deteriorating marriage can no longer continue as it is. Can she and Andrew repair their broken relationship, or is their marriage over?