Charlotte Bingham Books

The sequel to To Hear a Nightingale. This is a love story about the first woman to train a Derby winner and the unexpected problems which accompany her new-found fame and fortune.

Further adventures in the lives of the characters met in Volume 1, LOVE IN BELGRAVIA ~ dreary little Jennifer, now a seemingly the permanently pregnant marchiones, beautiful but vexatious Georgiana who while recovering from her affair with a world famous film director now pretends to have a husband so that Gus her new and working class artist lover won't insist on marrying her, louche and drunken Andrew Gillott now miserably married to Jennifer's dreadful social aspring mother Clarissa, and pretty Patti, ex-Bluebell Girl who calls in Fulton and Elliott, the happily married gay interior decorators to swathe her new husband's knightly stately home in orange satin - characters wonderful and ghastly at the same time, and tgruly British from the bottom of their green wellies to the top of the Hermes headscarves.

Keston Hall, Buckinghamshire, is the seat of the Lydiard family and the imposing setting for a compelling love story that begins in 1907. Beautiful and spirited, Grace Merrill seems to stand with the world at her feet. But then, quite unexpectedly, a family tragedy obliges Grace to abandon her artistic talents and enter a life in service at the Hall. In this Upstairs Downstairs world of sadistic housekeepers and drunken butlers there is genuine hardship and drudgery for those employed in servicing the few. But Grace soon discovers that she has another talent when, through the merest chance, she manages to escape from the kitchen to the nursery floor. Here she learns to love Lady Lydiard's children as her own. Here, too, she learns her first lesson as a woman, that passion and sacrifice make awkward bedfellows. But if the love of her life, Brake Merrowby, brings her more sorrow than joy, her love for the children more than compensates for her enforced isolation in their world of muffins and rocking horses. As change reaches out to touch the great house, the realities of war leave their mark on the family. Yet for the children, grown and growing, when they stop to look back at the top-floor window they see only their nanny. Almost as if part of the fabric of the building, Grace grows to become not just the touchstone of their lives but in essence the mistress of the house itself.

London in the 1950s. Lottie is a reluctant typist at MI5 and the even more reluctant daughter of the organisation's most illustrious spy. Now she has had the bad luck to fall in love with Harry, a handsome if frustrated young actor, who has also been press-ganged into the family business, acting as one of her father's undercover agents in the Communist hotbed of British theatre. Together the two young lovers embark on a star-studded adventure through the glittering world of theatre - but, between missing files, disapproving parents, and their own burgeoning creative endeavours, life is about to become very complicated indeed...

Brougham is the stateliest of stately homes, but for Lady Artemis Deverill it proves a lonely, loveless place. Eleanor Milligan, born in downtown Boston, knows only poverty and a continuing battle against bullying brothers and a sadistic father. From the moment Artemis and Ellie meet on a liner sailing to Ireland, they are destined to become friends. And when Eleanor's Cousin Rose asks not only Eleanor but also Artemis to stay on at Strand House, County Cork, it marks the start of what is for both of them an idyllic time. But with the arrival of the devastatingly handsome artist, Hugo Tanner, it seems as though nothing will be quite the same. For in the sunlit pre-war summer, all three become emotionally entwined, with startling consequences that threaten to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Florence Fontaine has still not recovered from a family tragedy when she discovers a strangely dressed young man asleep in her guest cottage at the Old Rectory. Against her better judgement she offers him breakfast, only to rue the day as she finds herself caught up in the resulting drama of his life. Florence's young and beautiful daughter, Amadea, is immediately suspicious of Edmund, as he appears to be called, fearing that he might be a fraud. Against everyone's advice, Florence enlists friends and neighbours to help restore Edmund's now wandering mind and discover who he might be. As the mystery unfolds, it becomes apparent that Edmund's history is entwined with that of nearby Harlington Hall, but that his real identity is something quite other. Florence and Amadea become united in their quest, an adventure that takes them into many pasts, not least that of the young man whom they are now dedicated to help. In doing so they are finally able to put the tragedies of the past behind them, repair their once disjointed lives, and embrace a new and happy future.

By the author of To Hear a Nightingale, The Business describes the showbusiness careers of two people from very different backgrounds, Meredith Browne and Max Kassov. This is a tale of romance, of money and corruption, of talent used and abused.

In this compelling tale, the recently widowed Helena is encouraged by her eccentric friend Millie to buy a share in a horse. Suddenly, both women find themselves involved not just in the fate of the little horse, but of Rory James, his trainer.

"Daughters of Eden" focuses on the lives and fortunes of four very different young women, Marjorie, Poppy, Kate and Lily, at the outbreak of the Second World War

A century ago, marriage, and marriage alone, offered a nicely brought-up girl escape from the domination of her parents. Indeed it was the only path to freedom. That path led her to a Season in London and, the ultimate goal, Coming Out as a debutante. But along the way she had to survive a terrifying few months, a make-or-break time in which her family's hopes for her could only be fulfilled through a proposal of marriage. For Lady Emily Persse, Coming Out means leaving her beloved Ireland and its informalities for England and its stricter codes. For Portia Tradescant, released from the boredom of life in the English countryside, it means trying to get through the Season despite the best efforts of her eccentric Aunt Tattie. For beautiful May Danby, the Season is an entrée to a whole other life, worlds away from her strict convent upbringing in Yorkshire. Debutantes, Charlotte Bingham's delightful and stylish new saga, centres around a single London Season in the 1890s. But it is not just about the debutantes themselves. It is as much about the women who launch them, and the Society which supports their way of life. It is also about the battle for power, privilege and money, fought, not in the male tradition upon the battlefield, but in the female tradition...in the ballroom.

It is 1947, the worst winter in England since records began, and even the sea is frozen. For the women living in the little fishing port of Bexham, the chronic lack of everything from fuel to food has left them reeling. When Waldo Astley drives through thick Sussex snow into the village in his large American Buick, it is to find Bexham filled not just with grumbling residents, but frustrated wives and mothers forced back behind their stoves after the joy of the victory for which they fought so hard on the home front. Government directives have ensured that the returning men resumed the jobs their women managed so brilliantly through the gruelling years of war. But Waldo is no ordinary character, and while he has come to Bexham on a personal mission, his effect on all the residents is as warming as the electricity of which there is still such a shortage. For Judy, whose marriage to Walter has been badly affected by long years of separation; for Rusty, whose miscarriage has been mind-shattering; for Mathilda, whose single motherhood has put her eligibility in jeopardy, and for Meggie, still not recovered from her alter ego as a secret agent. No matter what the age or circumstances of the person, Waldo Astley is not just a breath of fresh air - but the wind off the sea.

As children, George Dashwood and Amelia Dennison loved to roam the Sussex Downs in company with their dogs, and just as their two very different families were friends, so too were they, until they are caught in a thunderstorm. She loves George but she cannot get George to love her.

A romantic wartime novel encompassing both love and tragedy.As Walter Berrisford paints beautiful Katherine Garland, she asks him to put a ladybird on her finger without his knowing why. He is appalled when he discovers that Katherine is a Nazi. The outbreak of war means that her sister Caro and her friend Robyn join the FANYs, while former maids, Betty and Trixie, work in a factory.War brings frantic romance to all, including their flatmate Edwina O’Brien, but it is Betty, transferred to decode at the Park that alone discovers the truth about the Ladybird.

Life was tough in England after the Second World War -- at least it was for those who were not part of some particular elite, the fabulously wealthy or the tiny coterie of British film and theatre stars. Little wonder then that Elsie Lancaster, the granddaughter of a theatrical landlady, thinks of nothing else but trying to become one of that shining constellation. Surprising therefore, given their very different origins, that Oliver Plunkett shares the same ambition, for his is the pampered background of old money. Groomed from an early age by his father's theatre-mad butler, there is no other world to which he aspires. No such ambition infuses his best friend, the kooky Coco Hampton. Theatre for her is all about costume, costume, costume. That they all become involved with Portly Cosgrove -- sometime manager, and soon-to-be-agent -- is part of the inevitable flow of theatrical life, as is the fact that they become emotionally entangled with each other. Come success or failure, the music they dance to is the distant music of fame and fortune, a tune which is often dim and, at other times, tantalisingly clear -- only to fade once more.

It is 1939, and the residents of the idyllic fishing village of Bexham are preparing for war. Judy Melton, Meggie Gore-Stewart, Mathilda Eastcott and Rusty Todd are all determined to play an active role while the men are away fighting.

Set in Cornwall in the 1950s, this is a story of one young woman's struggle to overcome guilt, loyalty and emotional debt. When the family unit is destroyed by Ma's death, Ottilie is adopted by wealthy hotel owners, the Cartarets. But as times change, only Ottilie has the means to save the hotel.

When Alexandra goes to stay with her cousins at Knighton Hall she is made to feel the poor relation; the daughters of the house are both beautiful and wealthy. She will not meet the handsome stable lad, Tom O’Brien, until much later.When Alexandra returns home, her father remarries and she is forced to become a maid-of-all-work. Alexandra makes a success of her new life and meets the lovely Bob Atkins. Meanwhile, Tom O’Brien has become impassioned with the beautiful Lady Florazel Compton who introduces him to the sophistications of 1950’s London. Sadly, Alexandra’s contentment with Bob is short lived and Tom comes back into her life.But the past seems destined to wreck the happiness of the present, as the still beautiful Lady Florazel is determined to re-capture her former love and destroy the magic hour of Tom and Alexandra’s meeting.

It is 1941, and England is at its lowest ebb, undernourished, underinformed and terrified of imminent invasion. Even at Eden Park, the lovely country estate where Poppy, Kate, Lily, Marjorie and her adopted brother Billy have all become part of the rich tapestry that is being woven around them, confidence is at an all-time low. And that is before the authorities discover there is a double agent operating within the M15 unit based there.Lily volunteers to be dropped into France, only to discover that her partner is Scott, Poppy’s fiance. Meanwhile, Kate’s lover Eugene is in Sicily to sabotage the bombers besieging Malta. As further lines of agents are wiped out and even Billy’s life is threatened, Jack Ward, the spymaster, is forced to take desperate measures to uncover the identity of the traitor in their midst.Meanwhile, Poppy, unable to stand idle, leaves Eden Park to train as a pilot. As she closes the wooden shutters at the House of Flowers, the old folly where she and Scott first found happiness, she realizes that they were made over a century ago to repel another invader. England survived then; she will again.

An intriguing, romantic bestseller about the Victorian politics of love and marriage which follows the fortunes of three very different young women. Beautiful Leonie, brought up by foster parents, receives a surprise from her wealthy godmother and is sent to work at a private nursing home. Dorinda sails from France without her wastrel husband and becomes a celebrated member of London's demimonde; and Mercy is saved from social ignominy by an older man with whom she falls passionately in love. The love knots that they all face in their relationships finally unravel, but not before hearts have been broken, and scandals risked.

It is late autumn, 1962, and darkness is falling, but not just over the idyllic fishing port of Bexham. The threat of atomic warfare is so real that people are taking their children to work, or staying home with their families as they face what they think might be the end of the world. No sooner has the threat of nuclear war seemingly passed than Judy, Mathilda and Rusty are facing a new, personal crisis brought about by their teenage children. Much as Waldo Astley would like to remain on the sidelines, he finds it impossible. Still grieving for his lost wife, he tries his best to help his three friends, only to find himself falling in love with one of them. Meanwhile the younger generation have their own problems, all of which involve their families. That all the generations find themselves once more united in a battle, this time to save the village they love, is both an irony and finally, a saving grace. Once more an enemy has to be defeated, once more they must arm themselves, but this time for a war of a very different kind.

Anyone arriving to stay at Stoke Park in Worcestershire could be forgiven for thinking that the house has a timeless quality. Certainly this occurs to Frederick Jourdan, the American composer who has rented the place to escape from overwork and from his well-meaning but exhausting fiancee. He revels in the peace and beauty of the place, until, early one morning, happening upon the heartstopping sight of the reclusive young occupant of the nearby Folly feeding deer at early dawn, he finds his life has been changed for ever. Time has indeed stood still for Fleur Fisher-Dilke, but for reasons that the new tenant of Stoke Park cannot possibly guess. Born to an ambitious surgeon and his social-climbing wife, as a child Fleur was moved to Worcestershire for the sole purpose of improving the family's social prospects. Quite by chance, however, she finds she has a prodigious gift, and in spite of her parents' opposition, her talent blossoms and she becomes famous beyond anyone's imaginings. Choices are made, but not forgiven, and it is only when her life takes a sudden and tragic turn, and she meets a fascinating and irreverent figure who is her opposite in every way, that Fleur finds that she has suffered a change of heart.

Portia and Emily meet to launch their daughters on an unsuspecting Society for the London Season of 1913. Both are determined that their offspring, Phyllis and Edith, will catch the eye of their friend May's son, a future Duke. If that were all, the Season would be a relatively simple affair, but since Portia is recently widowed and Emily is away from her husband, life is bound to get more interesting.Meanwhile, their arch-enemy Daisy Lanford, fallen on hard times due to extravagance and too many lovers, is busy launching American heiresses. However, her protegee, Sarah Hartley Lambert, whilst an engaging girl, is not the wild success Daisy hopes for. This is largely due to the machinations of Phyllis, who, having formed an unholy alliance with Edith, is intent on spoiling the American girl's chances.As always, the Season is fraught with dangers for both the young and the middle-aged, while the old observe, knowing it has all gone on before. It will be a minor miracle if all three girls find husbands before the end of the Season, and their mothers, not to mention Daisy Lanford, renewed happiness.

When Trilby meets Lewis, the all-powerful proprietor of a newspaper group, she suspects that her life might be about to change, but not, as it transpires, forever. For not only does Lewis wish to acquire her cartoon strip, but Trilby herself. She is inevitably drawn to this handsome, older, and far more sophisticated personality, just as Lewis is, from the first, determined to marry the insouciant Trilby, despite the opposition of her friends and family. But having won her, Lewis reveals himself to be irrationally possessive. Becoming a virtual prisoner in her own home is not something that Trilby had ever dreamt could happen to her, a young woman in 1950s London, but it is not long before she realises that Lewis is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to keep her to himself. Quite by chance, she discovers the real reason for her husband's unforgivable behaviour. Trilby must come to terms with the truth about Lewis, and more importantly, herself, before she can experience the kind of carefree happiness she once knew before her marriage.

A beguiling comic memoir reveals a young woman's surprising discovery that her father is a spy, serving as the model for John le Carré's George Smiley, and her subsequent role as a secretary in 1950s MI5. At eighteen, Lottie is shocked to learn that her seemingly dull father is involved in espionage, and he encourages her to find a meaningful job. Dressed in a dreary suit and feeling exposed without her false eyelashes, she arrives at MI5's Mayfair headquarters, where she is assigned to the formidable Dragon. Desperate to escape the monotony of typing, Lottie finds solace in the company of the serene Arabella, who helps her navigate the mysteries of office life, including the odd disappearance of security films and the peculiarities of workplace dynamics. As Lottie's home fills with actors posing as spies and Arabella's mother receives suspicious calls, she begins to feel increasingly unsettled. This memoir offers a fascinating glimpse into 1950s Britain, a time when Russian agents infiltrated the upper echelons of society, debutantes became typists, and Englishness embodied a complex code of behavior. Discretion and honor intertwine with secrecy and suspicion in this enchanting, extraordinary, and humorous true story.

When Hope's husband's business venture fails, the family have to leave their cosy suburban life for the isolation of Wiltshire's rolling acres. Before long, Hope falls passionately in love with a neighbour, Jack. It is left to her three daughters to strive to hold the family together.

Daisy lives at Twistleton Hall, along with her unmarried Aunt Augusta, and the spirits of her four dead uncles from World War One. Her life therefore has been overshadowed by the Great War, as has those of her friends Freddie and Lorna who live nearby. Daisy, always looking to escape the gloom of the Hall, has known them since the three girls were all sent for a smattering of education to the Court, where Freddie's Aunt Jessie purported to run a small private school. Now it is 1938, invasion is expected, but the bit of their country that turns out to be most in need of defending is their own beloved Twisteleton, but not as it happens from the Nazis. "From the Hardcover edition."

American heiress Emmaline Nesbitt has always understood that, as the eldest of four daughters, she is obliged to marry. So far, however, no proposals have come her way. Until that is, at a crowded ball, she meets Julius who wastes no time in asking for her hand.Soon Emmaline finds herself on the way to England to live with her husband-to-be, her hopes as high as they have ever been. However, what greets her on arrival is a strange house, full of odd guests and eccentric servants - a far cry from the glorious home that Julius had described. Indeed, as the days go by, her fianc changes beyond recognition and Emmaline's unhappiness deepens so that she cannot see any future to their relationship. But that is before Julius's past, and the history of his house, make themselves plain to her.

During the Second World War, Eastenders Miranda and Ted are sent to the country with another young evacuee, Roberta (Bobbie), to live with two unmarried sisters in their idyllic rectory. The time they spend with Aunt Sophie and Aunt Prudence turns their underprivileged lives into something very near to Heaven: gathering wool from hedgerows, initiating do and mend campaigns, and trotting about the countryside with Tom Kitten, Aunt Prudence's pony. But when the Committee for Evacuation object to the women's efforts to adopt all three of them, it is Bobbie who is sent away to live with the Dingwalls in very different circumstances. And when the aunts die, Miranda, Tom and Bobbie - who have come to regard themselves as a family unit - are eventually parted, seemingly forever. The three find each other after the war, and Miranda, now a beautiful young model, falls in love with grown-up Ted Mowbray, but unfortunately he can only think of her as a sister. In turn, he loves Bobbie, who can only think of him as her brother, having already met her beloved Julian during a summer by the sea in Sussex. Necessarily there are many intriguing complications, and all hearts are destined to be broken before a satisfactory emotional climax can be reached.

The idea for ROSE'S STORY originated with the hugely successful television series UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS, in which Rose played a prominent part as head housemaid to the Bellamy family. The authors, husband-and-wife team Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham, have taken Rose's television character as the basis of their novel and have produced a fascinating account of the experiences that led Rose to the house in Eaton Square and into service with the Bellamys. A novel of a servant girl growing up on the great country estates of Southwold. Rose was born there while Queen Victoria still reigned and it was accepted that she should enter service as a humble housemaid. But the whims of the gentry, so highly thought of by the innocent girl, took Rose to the bustling streets of London where she encountered a new world. A world of motor cars and such new-fangled inventions as the telephone and the vacuum cleaner.

Ein bewegender Roman über Cassie, eine irische Pferdezüchterin, die ihre triste Kindheit auf dem Pferderücken vergisst. Als sie sich in Tyrone verliebt und gemeinsam einen Stall für Rennpferde aufbauen, trifft sie das Schicksal hart: Ihr Mann stirbt kurz vor einem wichtigen Derby. Cassies Geschichte handelt von Neuanfängen.

Nach dem Tod ihrer Großmutter kämpft Alexandra als Dienstmädchen in Deanford um ihr Überleben. Sie schafft es, in die höhere Gesellschaft aufzusteigen, bis der charmante Tom O’Brien in ihr Leben tritt und alles verändert. Beide ahnen nichts von dem Geheimnis, das sie verbindet.

Děj románu je zasazen do mýty opředeného prostředí zábavního průmyslu, do Hollywoodu. Sleduje osudy čtyř osob - herečky Meredith, divadelního a filmového agenta Maxe, amerického scénáristy Williama a jeho pracovní a životní družky Jay. Autorka nešetří ironizujícím nadhledem na zákulisí velkého byznysu.