Showing results by author "Sharon Maas" in All Categories

In the small French town of Colmar, swastikas hang from lampposts, tanks are lined up outside the town hall, and 21-year-old Marie-Claire is in love. She will do anything for her childhood friend Jacques, including spying on her German boss, Dietrich Kurtz. Anything to make Jacques see her in a new light, as something more than just a silly little girl. But when Jacques rejects her, everything changes. Mortified and stung, Marie-Claire feels the need for revenge. She turns her back on those she loves and is catapulted into a new life.

When the Nazis march onto the cobbled streets of Colmar on November 1st 1940, Josef, a Jewish violin maker, gathers his wife and daughters closely to him and tells them everything will be alright. But one year later, three sharp knocks on the door at midnight turn his 17-year-old daughter Sarah’s world upside down. As the oldest child, Sarah must be the first to leave her family, to make her escape in a perilous journey across France via Paris to Poitiers. In the mountains she finds herself in terrible danger and meets Ralf, a German deserter, who risks his own life to save her.

Berlin, 1933. Leah and Magda have been inseparable for as long as they can remember, and one beautiful summer’s day in their courtyard, they vow nothing will ever come between their friendship. But Leah could never have predicted the darkness looming just around the corner… As Hitler comes to power and the Nazi Party gain even more influence, Magda proudly tells Leah she has decided to join the Hitler Youth. Leah’s blood runs cold before she begs Magda to change her mind—because Leah is Jewish.

A spellbinding story of forbidden love. Three continents, three decades, three very disparate lives: Savitri, intuitive and charismatic, grows up among the servants of a pre-war English household in Madras. But the traditional customs of her Brahmin family clash against English upper-class prejudice, threatening her love for the privileged son of the house.... Nataraj, raised as the son of an idealistic doctor in rural South India, finds life in London heady, with girls and grass easily available.

When young English nurse Sibyl Lake is recruited as a spy to support the French resistance, she doesn’t realize the ultimate price she will end up paying. She arrives in Colmar, a French town surrounded by vineyards and swarming with German soldiers. Her fear is dampened by the joy of being reunited with her childhood sweetheart Jacques. Sibyl’s arrival has not gone unnoticed by Commander Wolfgang von Haagan. She realizes that letting him get closer is her best chance of learning enemy secrets. Yet despite her best intentions, Sibyl finds that betrayal does not come easy to her.

India, 1940. And Rosie is devastated by the sudden death of her beloved mother. The parties, smiles, and games disappear, and although Rosie is desperate to stay in her home, her father cannot look after her. All alone in the world, she is sent to Sri Lanka to live with her mother’s friend Silvia and her three sons. Time passes, and Rosie flourishes in her new home amongst the mango trees and canna lilies. And one day, under the heat of the Sri Lankan sun, she falls in love for the first time. But her happiness is short lived, for the brutal war is creeping closer.

1934, Guyana. All her life, Mary Grace has wanted to know the truth about who her parents really are. As the mixed-race daughter of two white plantation owners, her childhood has been clouded by whispered rumours, and the circumstances of her birth have been kept a closely guarded secret. Aunt Winnie is the only person Mary Grace can confide in. Feeling lost and lonely, her place in society uncertain, Mary Grace decides to forge her own path in the world. And she finds herself unexpectedly falling for charming and affluent Jock Campbell, a planter with revolutionary ideas.

Georgetown, Guyana 1970. Seven-year-old Rita has always known she was responsible for the death of her beautiful mother Cassie. Her absent-minded father allows her to run wild in her ramshackle white wooden house by the sea, and surrounded by her army of stray pets, most of the time she can banish her mother's death to the back of her mind. But then her new stepmother Chandra arrives and the house empties of love and laughter. Rita's pets are removed, her freedom curtailed, and before long, there's a new baby sister on the way. There's no room for Rita anymore.

Growing up in British Guiana in the 1950s, Sharon Maas has everything a shy child with a vivid imagination could wish for. She spends her days studying bugs in the backyard, eating fresh mangos straight from the tree, and tucked up on her granny’s lap losing herself in books. But with her father campaigning for Guiana’s independence and her mother away for work, there’s a void in Sharon’s heart, and she craves rules and structure. The books she devours give her a glimpse of life in a faraway country: England.

When journalist Zoe Quint loses her husband and child in a tragic accident, she returns home to Guyana to grieve, but her curiosity leads her to the Americans who have set up camp in a rundown village nearby. Their leader, Jim Jones, dark-eyed and charismatic, claims to be a peaceful man who has promised his followers a paradise. But everything changes when Zoe meets one of his followers, Lucy. Lucy grabs Zoe’s arm, raw terror in her eyes, and passes her a note with a phone number, begging her to call her mother in America. Zoe is determined to help Lucy.

As the white daughter of a sugar plantation owner, Winnie Cox had everything: money, privilege, comfort. But in British Guyana in 1912, Winnie chose love over luxury. Winnie married George Quint, the love of her life - a poor black postman from the slums. While she lived in poverty with her husband, Winnie's sister Johanna ran the plantation and harboured deep resentment towards Winnie, always her mother’s favourite daughter. When Winnie's son becomes ill and she travels to find a cure, Johanna falls for George.

An utterly evocative and heart-wrenching novel about the importance of family, love and being true to yourself. Perfect for fans of Dinah Jefferies, Santa Montefiore and Diane Chamberlain. Living on the streets of Bombay, Jyothi has no-one to turn to after her mother is involved in a tragic accident. But after a chance meeting with Monika and Jack Kingsley, Jyothi’s life changes forever when the young couple decide to adopt her. The new family return to England, but Jyothi finds it difficult to adapt.