検索キーワード： 制作 "Soundings" 歴史小説

Jess and Nancy, nursing in France during the Great War, are very different girls with much in common. Both have lost their lovers in the trenches, so when the war is over, they return to a bleak future, nursing in Liverpool. Very soon, however, their paths diverge. Nancy marries an Australian and goes to live in the Outback whilst Jess marries a Liverpudlian. Both have children; Nancy's eldest is Pete, and Jess has a daughter, Debbie.

It is a cold December night and Sylvie Dugdale is weeping as she walks by the Mersey. She fails to notice an approaching figure, and jumping to one side to avoid collision, she finds herself struggling in the ice-cold river. Constable Brendan O'Hara, just coming off duty, sees the girl's plight and dives in to rescue her. He is dazzled by her beauty but discovers that Sylvie's husband is in prison, and the closeness that Brendan soon longs for is impossible. But he is able to help her escape from Liverpool....

When the Todds move into a flat on the Scotland Road, they are strangers to city life: their previous home was a canal barge. Harry gets a job as warehouse manager and his wife, Martha, works in a grocer’s shop whilst Seraphina trains as a teacher, Angela works in Bunney’s Department Store and young Evie starts at regular school. Then circumstances change, and Seraphina takes a job in Lyon’s Corner House. Customers vie for her favours, including an old friend, Toby....

Emmy Dickens lives with her widowed mother in a neat house in neglected Nightingale Court, but Mrs Dickens has always impressed upon her daughter that her main aim in life must be to escape from the court. Emmy sees that marriage is her best way out, and when Peter Wesley, First Officer aboard a cruise ship, asks her to marry him, she is over the moon. Life goes well for the newlyweds; they set up home and start a family. But when Peter is killed and Emmy is left almost penniless, her problems begin....

Liverpool, 1935. Kathy Kelling is coming home to Daisy Street from her first day at the High School, longing to tell her friend, Jane, all about it. The Kellings' life becomes a struggle when Kathy’s brother, Billy, has a serious accident. He needs constant attention, and Mrs Kelling must take in lodgers so that Kathy’s schooling does not suffer. When war breaks out, Kathy and Jane are forced to grow up fast. Kathy meets the handsome Alec Hewitt, but he is more attracted to blonde, bubbly Jane. But Fate has not yet finished with Kathy Kelling....

Halloween 1861. A special train with two carriages steams across the Lake District at night on its way to a place notorious for its record of supernatural incidents. Lighting inside the carriages is poor, and without warning, the lamp goes out in the last compartment of the second carriage, plunging it into darkness. When the special reaches the end of its journey, the passengers pour out on to the station platform. There are almost 60 of them in all, laughing and jostling.

1862. Growing up in a small seaside town on the Isle of Wight, free-spirited Eveline Stanhope feels trapped by the weight of expectation from her well-to-do family. Her mother and two elder sisters would rather she focus her attention on marrying well, but Eveline wants more for herself, and the arrival of the railway provides just the cause she’s been searching for. Driven by the cherished memories of her late father, Eveline is keen to preserve the landscape he loved so much and becomes closely involved with the project.

Liverpool, 1917. When Irish seaman Michael Gallagher docks in Liverpool after years of fighting with the British Navy, he never expects to fall in love. But the moment he glimpses Stella Bennett, all thoughts of returning to his homeland vanish. Determined to be together, the young couple defy Stella’s parents’ wishes. But their plans to marry are soon derailed by the arrival of baby Ginny. Her crop of fiery red hair plants a seed of doubt in her father’s mind, and it’s not long before their world begins to fall apart.

1936. Polly's guardian angel has to work overtime when her large family is forced to move from the countryside they love into central Liverpool. Money is desperately short, and with her mother working and her father sick, Polly is easily led astray by the handsome Sunny Andersen. But soon war looms, and Sunny joins the navy to train as a signaller. After the horrors of the May Blitz, Polly, too, decides she wants to help her country and goes into the WRNs. She hears that an old pal, Tad Donoghue from the Dublin slums, is now in the Royal Air Force.

Dympna Byrne lives a simple life with her family on the Connemara coast. She adores her father Micheál, and does her best to help her family by working hard and expecting little. But beneath the surface there are hidden secrets. Dympna’s mother idolises her clever eldest son, yet her attitude to Dympna is puzzling. So when her family find themselves in desperate need of money, it is Dympna who crosses the water to Liverpool to seek a better life.

1555. A priest has been stabbed to death in the village of St Botolph, his body left to rot by the roadside, and Jack Blackjack stands accused of his murder. As well as clearing his name, Jack has his own reasons for finding out who really killed the priest, but this is an investigation where nothing is as it seems. Was it a random attack by a desperate outlaw, or do the answers lie in the murdered priest’s past? As he questions those who knew the dead man, Jack is faced with a number of conflicting accounts – and it’s clear that not everyone can be telling him the whole truth.

Ardnish, 1944. On his deathbed, Donald John Gillies sends for a priest to hear his last confession. Waiting anxiously for the priest, his mind travels back to the dusty plains of South Africa in 1901, where he fought as a Lovat Scout during the Boer War and where he met the woman who was the love of his life. Forced to abandon her and her young daughter in a British concentration camp, DJ returns to Scotland and his old life after his camp is ambushed by Boers and many of his fellow soldiers are massacred.

After joining the Lovat Scouts at the outbreak of the Second World War, Donald Angus Gillies is sent on a mission to the Alps, where he meets Françoise, a young French Canadian SOE agent. The pair immediately form a close bond, but when Françoise is injured and captured, Donald realises his feelings for her are much stronger. After desperate attempts to find her, he has given up all hope. But a posting to Canada leads to some remarkable news, not just about Françoise but also about his own family.

Gallipoli, 1916. Lovat Scout soldier Donald Peter Gillies lies in hospital, blinded by the Turks. There he falls in love with his Queen Alexandra Corps nurse, Louise. The story moves back and forth from their time at the field hospital to the west highlands of Scotland where Donald grew up. As they talk in the quiet hours he tells her the stories of the coast and glens. Louise in turn tells her own story of growing up in a Welsh coal mining valley. They get cut off from the Allied troops and are forced to make an escape, but there is still another tragic twist to their story....

Now in her early teens, Laura moves to the village of Candleford Green to work in the post office under the tutelage of her cousin Dorcas Lane, and grow into womanhood. In Candleford Green, new ideas and new ways are coming in from the outside world, from Dorcas' famous telegraph machine to the scandalous sight of ladies riding bicycles. There are also new people entering Laura's life: the curmudgeonly old servant Zillah, the grand Sir Thomas, the Irish Harvesters and the ardent young gamekeeper Philip White.

In the little hamlet of Lark Rise times are changing and Laura is growing up. Although she must attend the nearby village school, she would far rather read and make up stories in her head. Real-life excitement comes, however, when she and her beloved younger brother Edmund are allowed to walk on their own to the grand market town of Candleford to stay with their relatives one summer. There, Laura discovers the joys of the shops, the ways of boy-talk with her cousins and the secret world of 'Bookworms Ltd' with her Uncle Tom, before an offer arrives that will determine her future.

Osborne House, 1879. Queen Victoria has occupied the British throne for over 40 years. Bringing together her extended family from across Europe offers a chance for old alliances to be strengthened and new unions to be forged. May Teck, daughter of a duke and princess, is constantly reminded that she lacks the pedigree to be a true royal. Alicky lives in the shadow of her siblings, until she meets the heir to the Russian throne. And Willy is destined to be the kaiser of Germany. As shifting forces of power send warning ripples across Europe, an unavoidable war looms on the horizon....

Pretty Celia Mardham should have been a success in her London Season, but a near fatal riding accident has left her with a pronounced limp which means she cannot even make a good curtsy, let alone dance. There can be no expectation of marriage, but her mama makes one last effort. She draws up a list of guests for a country house sojourn, picking only young ladies she feels will not be rivals, and some potential suitors. Among the well-bred gentlemen is Lord Levedale.

Manchester, 1908. Attractive, intelligent Mary Maitland is furious to learn that her pompous boss will never promote her, simply because she is a woman. Despite financial support from her family, Mary is determined to strike out on her own and earn a living. She finds work at a women's employment agency, where her talent for writing is noticed and she begins publishing articles for newspapers and magazines. But in the face of strong opinions from her well-to-do family on the role of a woman, is it possible to be a dutiful daughter at the same time as spreading her wings?

Felicity Fox is a rarity for a woman living in the early 1800s. Not only does she frequent the 'gambling hells' where most ladies would not dare to tread, she can also beat any man at his own game. It’s no wonder she’s gained notoriety as the 'Queen of Diamonds'. Edward, Earl of Addington, despises gambling and is not exactly enamoured of Felicity Fox either, especially after she tried to swindle his family. Except now the Earl requires assistance from the Queen of Diamonds - and there’s everything to play for.