Piatkus imprint: 428 books

When Emily Thornton discovers a will linked with the murder of a sea captain in Hull in the 1860's, she is determined to discover what happened - but a vital witness is missing. So, Emily enlists the help of Thomas Laycock, a young man who has come to Hull to open his own detective agency. As...

Whitby farmer, John Dugdale, is involved with a local band of smugglers, seeing it as an easy and harmless way of making money. But John is shocked when Mark Roper - his daughter Emma's childhood sweetheart - turns up on a secret mission for the local excise officer. Emma is forced to face...

When Sam Harland returns a World War I hero to St Robin's Bay on the Yorkshire coast, he brings with him a French wife. He hopes that she will be accepted by the villagers, but one person, Mary Lawson, can never forgive what she sees as the ultimate betrayal. When Jean Lawson and Colin Harland...

When John Mitchell inherits property from a distant relative, he and his family move from a comfortable living in Whitby to a large country estate in Cornwall. It seems an ideal place for John and his wife to raise their young daughter, Abigail. However, life in the South is not without its problems...

Recently widowed, Katherine Chambers takes her young son to visit her husband's family when disaster strikes. The ship they are sailing on runs into a severe storm off Robin Hood's Bay on the Yorkshire Coast. Among the bodies on the beach, a survivor is found. Identified as Katherine from the engraving...

Whitby 1901. Sarah Brook has kept diaries for most of her life. Now eighty-five and at the end of her own journey, she allows her favourite great-niece Esther to read them. But while full of Sarah's thoughts and dreams, and family stories, the diaries also hold dark family secrets about the past,...

Young David Feernley is determined to escape the drudgery of his life as a Yorkshire farmhand. Setting off for the coast, his aim is to join the whaling fleet at Whitby, to earn his living on the stormy and icy Arctic seas. Although he has few sailing skills, a Captain soon recognises his worth -...

French-born Marie Gabin forms a friendship with Veronica Attwood in their final two years at school, but this is tested when Marie is forced to disclose a secret to her friend. In the shadow of this revelation, the girls grow up on a country estate in North Yorkshire. The First World War takes its...

A story of seafaring men and the women who love them, by the author of "The Red Shawl". Captain David Fernley has made and lost a fortune in the whaling trade, fishing the frozen Arctic wastes from the Yorkshire port of Whitby. Then his erring wife and best friend die in an accident at sea.

Olivia Coulson is pretty and determined enough to attract any man's eye. George Chilton-Brookes, heir to the Cropton estate, is visibly enchanted by her, while handsome gentleman farmer Kit Fernley is also drawn to her looks and vivacity. Olivia wavers between her two suitors, eventually inclining...

Struggling artist Richard is persuaded by his benefactor to leave his home town for the grand salons of London. He is encouraged to paint the beautiful Charlotte's portrait, and in doing so, the couple begin to fall in love. But Charlotte is married to an older man, who cares for her deeply. How can...

At the age of eighteen, Alice Ware is pretty, charming and impetuous. Back home in Yorkshire at the start of a new century, she is determined to seize any fresh opportunities and experiences that come her way. The arrival of a new neighbour, the elegant and scandalous Mrs Emma Cheevey, leads...

The East End of London, 1930. Work is scarce, food is in short supply and there is political unrest on the streets. But in the face of all this hardship, there's always friendship. Becky, Bernie and Rose - three best friends from very different backgrounds - are working hard to establish themselves...

Cynny Barlow is just eighteen when she falls helplessly in love with the dashing Ralph Clinton, an ambitious and talented actor visiting her home town for the summer. However, when Ralph is talent-spotted by a film producer, he puts everything behind him and leaves for the big time, with no idea that...