Francis Cottam: 4 books

They were just like the beaches at Normandy, Slapton Sand. That's why they trained them there - an army of invasion secluded in sleepy south Devon. But fifteen hundred soldiers perished at Slapton Sands, and no one seems to want to know why. Thirty-two years later, in the long hot summer of...

First published in 2006, this is the story of Polish war exile Julia Smollen who has escaped the horrors of Nazi labour camp to forge a new life in California with her daughter, Natasha. It's an exciting time to be in America. With Sinatra and the ratpack dominating a golden Hollywood and the...

Autumn 1940. London is being firebombed, unable to strike back as the Luftwaffe drones overhead. Jack Finlay, a young man notorious for his ability to fight fires, is given the task of preventing five buildings vital to Britain's war effort from being engulfed by the flames. But resources are...

Every year, three million single women in America move into an apartment for the first time. Few of them change the locks. Juliet Devereau can't believe her luck: after weeks of looking for a place to live, she's found a beautiful, spacious apartment overlooking Brooklyn Bridge. It almost seems...