Chile, June 1822. Maria Graham, a young British widow, watches as her compatriot Admiral Lord Cochrane sails triumphantly into the Valparaiso Bay, fresh from leading the Chilean fleet to victory over the country's Spanish rulers. Cochrane, a popular yet outspoken hero of the Napoleonic wars, is drawn to Maria, a woman whose intelligence and spirit of adventure rival his own. Yet their intense and extraordinary relationship must contend with a climate of uncertainty, political turmoil and civil war. Inspired by Maria Graham's own journals, MARIA AND THE ADMIRAL vividly brings to life the story...

'I wonder who chose the word 'glory',' murmured Arthur. 'You mean there's nothing very glorious about war.' The Major smiled. 'People expect words like glory. I do myself.' 'Oh, I'm not against it. There were glorious deeds performed.' The fields and gulleys of Gallipoli are thickly scattered with bullets, shrapnel and the bones of the fallen. Arthur Lamb stands alone, overlooking the bay. Fed on dreams of glory, he volunteered to fight for his country and found himself far away on Turkish soil. Arthur's fiancee, Sylvia, began the war comfortably at home in England but, restless for change,...

A woman lies unconscious on the carpet of a smart Westminster apartment, one red high-heeled shoe has fallen off... A younger woman lies with her eyes closed, half-hidden under a drinks cabinet... Her fingers clutch an empty bottle... What happens when a mother withholds her love? When she has no love to withhold? When she sees her three daughters as obstacles to her own formidable career? This is the story of three sisters, Millie, Di and Cleo. They are the war babies. Growing up in a world still in turmoil, hungover from war, the sisters struggle to leave behind their mother and build...