Charlotte Bingham Book order

The deliciously funny confessions of a debutante which became an international bestseller It is the early 1960s, and eighteen-year-old Charlotte Bingham, fresh from convent school, has been catapulted into the horrors of The Season. Though desperately on the hunt for a Superman to call her own, the country house ball circuit seems to yield nothing but an inexhaustible crop of charmless, chinless Weeds. But Charlotte's adventures are more than sufficiently diverting: whether she's bouffing up her hair to try and pass herself off as a beatnik, hurtling down the Champs Elysées on the back of a Vespa, or accidentally sticking her eyelids together with eyelash glue while at modelling school, her experiments in coming-of-age are never short of intrigue – and disaster. Published in 1963 when she was just nineteen, Bingham's sparkling memoir of her trials and travails became an international bestseller. From its pages emerges a deeply lovable and relentlessly optimistic young woman – for all that her shorthand isn't what it might be – looking for love in all the wrong places.

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...

'A Jilly Cooper heroine in a John le Carré world' (Libby Purves, TLS); a beguiling comic memoir about a young woman who discovers her father is a spy (and was the model for John le Carré's George Smiley) and goes to work as a secretary in 1950s MI5 Much to her surprise, eighteen-year-old Lottie has just found out that her aloof, rather unexciting father is a spy. And now he's decreed that she must make herself useful and get a Proper Job - so she's packed off to MI5 herself, trussed up in a dreary suit. Luckily her delightful colleague Arabella is on hand to enliven the torments of typing and decode the enigmas of office life. But as Lottie's home fills with actors doubling as spies, and Arabella's mother is besieged with mysterious telephone calls, the girls start to feel well and truly spooked... A hilarious true story, and a unique window into 1950s Britain - where Russian agents infiltrate the highest echelons, where debutantes are typists and where Englishness is both a nationality and a code of behaviour - MI5 and Me is a sparkling comic memoir.

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.

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.

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. From the Trade Paperback edition.

A novel exploring the lives of mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives on the homefront, focusing on their strength in caring for their loved ones. It delves into themes of love, heartbreak, and the remarkable nature of female friendship.

Sunny's ordinary life takes a turn when Gray's Bentley breaks down at her parents' cottage, sparking a potential romance. Meanwhile, her best friend Arietta discovers a secret about Gray that could impact Sunny's future, leaving her torn between honesty and loyalty.

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.