Saturday's Child

It was 1950. Magsy O'Gara, her husband killed in the war, plodded through her daily routine as a hospital cleaner, dedicating all her spare time to Beth, her genius daughter. Pursued by men who admired her great beauty, she was determined to remain a widow. Nothing was to divert her from her gruelling schedule. Her goal was simple: Beth would become a doctor. Beth, however, wanted a normal life - a brother, a sister, a stepfather who might make her wonderful mother happy. So Beth was delighted when a personable man began to court Magsy. Across, the road at number 1, Nellie Hulme, trapped in a world of silence, watched the other two Saturday girls. Deaf since infancy, Nellie had a secret so huge that it amused her. What would folk have thought had they known her true position in life? And why did she 'hear' in her dreams?

Literature & Fiction

Hamilton, Ruth

Genre Fiction

Pan Books

Lights of Liverpool

The O'Neils, who have lost brothers and sons into the bowels of London's East End, keep watch over their one remaining young male, Seamus. Hardworking and good-hearted, they cling together and help each other, and a whole community.

Macmillan, UK

Letting go of the past to grasp the future . . . Andrew Sanderson, brilliant surgeon and renowned musician, is still grieving the death of his beloved wife Mary when his younger daughter turns up on the doorstep having left her wealthy and philandering husband. It's not long before the house is overrun with daughters, grandchildren, sons-in-law and a boisterous stray dog called Storm. At Andrew's time of life, is this really what he needs? One thing is sure, home is a lot more interesting than it once was. As he reminisces about his past and the love he once shared with his wife, Andrew starts to realize that there is indeed a new road to be travelled; he just has to let go of his grief and embrace tomorrow...

A Liverpool Song

Macmillan

A Mersey Mile

In 1955 Scotland Road residents fear for their futures when government plans threaten to demolish their road and tear apart their community. Polly's Parlour cafe is the centre for action, where strategies are formed to fight back. But when local priest Father Brennan attacks little Billy Blunt, minds are instead turned to vengeance. Frank Charleson, business entrepreneur turned local hero after saving Billy's life, finds himself increasingly fond of Polly Kennedy. But his past won't leave him. After his mother's harsh behaviour towards his previous wife, can he put Polly through the same?

Romance

Meet Me at the Pier Head

British & Irish

Pan/Macmillan

Set in the beautiful Lancashire moorside town of Skirlaugh, The Judge's Daughter is the stirring story of two very different families whose lives have become inextricably tangled. Agnes Makepeace has always been courageous and strong-minded and on the surface, she couldn’t be more unlike the chilly, reserved Helen Spencer. Agnes knows there is a mystery to her own background and is determined to discover the truth about her past. She believes the key to unlock the secret is held with husband’s employer, Judge Zachary Spencer of Lambert Housea mean-spirited widower and solitary man. Judge Spencer has long neglected his daughter Helen and notices her even less when he takes a new wife. But he has underestimated both the extent of his daughter’s misery and her determination to enact her revenge. Helen’s new-found confidence causes her to behave in a way that will have a lasting, and shocking impact on both families and, surprisingly, leads to a lifelong friendship with Agnes. Yet it is only when the broodingly silent house on Skirlaugh Rise ceases to hold its breath and deliver the answers that Agnes has been seeking that she can finally find the peace of mind she has always longed for.

The Judge's Daughter

The Reading Room

Leanne Chalmers has made a career for herself presenting her own style of home decorating and design on the nation's screens. That was her past life, at least. For now Leanne has been forced to start again as Lily, leaving her name, job, and marriage behind. No one in the Lancashire village of Eagleton has a clue about Lily, save that she's come up from the South West with her best friend and a small child. But it’s hard to lead a solitary existence in a small place, and Lily and Babs are swiftly embraced by some of the local characters: Mike, the Catholic priest, who the girls can't help noticing is easy on the eye; Eve, a Liverpudlian, who has a big mouth but a heart of gold; the hairdressers Paul and Maurice; and Dave and his love, Philly, both shy yet determined not to be cowed by Dave’s mother, the domineering matriarch of the village. Soon, Lily's new life is full of promise and as she joins Dave's reading room, a shop come café and library, she begins to relax. But then Eve is wounded in a burglary, and suddenly, Lily is afraid that her secret is out: her husband Clive may have discovered where she is, and, having left her for dead before, is now out to kill her.

That Liverpool Girl

A wonderful World War II saga that is moving and humorous in equal parts, in the backstreets of Liverpool, Eileen Watson lives with her mother, Nellie, daughter Mel, and her three tear-away sons. Life isn't great, but they have each other, and family can get you through anything. Then, on the third day in September 1939, Britain declares war on Germany and their lives change forever. The children have to be evacuated, but daughter Mel refuses to go, and so Eileen says goodbye to her mother and sons, moves away from the street they love and faces a future without most of the people in her precious family. Thus begins a journey for them all. A journey filled with forbidden love, tragedy, and the terrifying sounds of a city they love crumbling into craters left by the Luftwaffe. Their lives will never be the same again.

The lives of three Irish immigrant families in Liverpool, England, intersect unexpectedly when a person from their past enters their lives.

A Whisper to the Living

Annie Byrne was born during one of the worst winters Lancashire ever remembered. When the doctor finally got through the nine-foot drifts of snow, mother and daughter were in a pretty bad way, but both the new-born Annie and her exhausted mother - a spinner in the cotton mill - were fighters, tough and determined not to let the world knock them down. They needed to be tough, for when Annie's father was killed in the war, Nancy married again. And Eddie Higson - once he'd courted and won Nancy Byrne - turned into a nightmare of a man, terrorizing the young girl with one secret evil after another. She had two friends who helped her through these bad years. Martin Cullen, rough, uneducated, loyal, who knew he wasn't good enough for her, and David Pritchard, the doctor who had supported her through the worst times and who had bad problems of his own. Together they watched her grow into a beautiful young woman, desperately fighting the legacy of her childhood.

Contemporary

Corgi

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hamilton, Ruth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hamilton, Ruth

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hamilton, Ruth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Saturday's Child

Lights of Liverpool

A Liverpool Song

A Mersey Mile

Meet Me at the Pier Head

The Judge's Daughter

The Reading Room

That Liverpool Girl

Lights of Liverpool

A Whisper to the Living