Cirrus@Austlit

'When the lives of four debutantes are interrupted by WW1, they emerge as women determined to change the world.

At the mysterious Miss Lily's secret 'school', young women selected from Europe's royalty and highest families learn how to captivate a man - as a husband, or at a dinner party, in a salon or at a grouse shoot. For in 1914, persuading men is the only true power a woman has.

'Sophie Higgs is not upper crust. She is colonial Australian, the daughter of a corned beef millionaire. But of all Miss Lily's 'lovely ladies', Sophie may be the only one to understand Miss Lily's true ambition: to stop the almost inevitable war between the British and German empires. And only Sophie may have the courage to carry out a desperate plan to block use of the most terrifying weapon of the war.' (Publication summary)

'The war is over. But can there ever truly be peace?

'Australian heiress Sophie Higgs was 'a rose of no-man's land', founding hospitals across war-torn Europe during the horror that was WW1.

'Now, in the 1920s, Sophie's wartime work must be erased so that the men who returned can find some kind of 'normality'.

'Sophie is, however, a graduate of the mysterious Miss Lily's school of charm and intrigue, and once more she risks her own life as she attempts to save others still trapped in the turmoil and aftermath of war.

'But in this new world, nothing is clear, in politics or in love. For the role of men has changed too. Torn between the love of three very different men, Sophie will face her greatest danger yet as she attempts an impossible journey across the world to save Nigel, Earl of Shillings - and her beloved Miss Lily.

'In this sequel to the bestselling Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies, Jackie French draws us further into a compelling story that celebrates the passion and adventure of an unstoppable army of women who changed the world.' (Publication Summary)

'Paris,Christmas 1914

'Despite her love for Huw, Elspeth will not give up her espionage work while World War One rages. She will wear his ring around her neck, and marry him when the war is over.

'But a pregnant unmarried woman cannot, officially, work either. Sent on a secret mission into occupied Belgium, and unable to contact Huw, Elspeth begins to realise she is risking not just herself, but also her unborn baby. As danger escalates, will there ever be a joyous Christmas for Elspeth, Huw and their child?'  (Publication summary)

'Unimaginable danger creeps ever closer to Miss Lily and her loved ones . . .

'Amid the decadence and instability of Berlin in the 1920s, a band of women must unite to save all that is precious to them.

'With her dangerous past behind her, Australian heiress Sophie Higgs lives in quiet comfort as the Countess of Shillings, until Hannelore, Princess of Arneburg, charms the Prince of Wales. He orders Sophie, Nigel - and Miss Lily - to investigate the mysterious politician Hannelore believes is the only man who can save Europe from another devastating war.

'His name is Adolf Hitler.

'Long-lost love 'John' has also returned to Sophie's life, as well as a young woman determined to kill the woman she believes betrayed the female war-time resistance fighters of La Dame Blanche: her mother, Miss Lily Shillings.

'As unimaginable peril threatens to destroy countries and tear families apart, Sophie must face Goering's Brownshirt Nazi thugs, blackmail, and the many possible faces of love.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Paris, Christmas Eve, 1933

'For once it was an accident. Violette did not mean to kill St Nicholas. But there he was, with blood on the cobblestones, and a family waiting for the Christmas Eve miracle that would never come. And her own family expecting her to eat Christmas goose tomorrow at Shillings Hall in England.

'Violette Jones had led a life of melodrama since being born in the middle of a war to an espionage agent. But even she had never had to face a bloodied St Nicholas, and somehow conjure three miracles for Christmas.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'As the King of England wavers between duty and love, Sophie knows that she must choose duty.

'The year is 1936 and the new King Edward VIII wishes to marry American divorcee, and suspected German agent, Wallis Simpson. Top-secret documents that the king must read and sign are being neglected for weeks, and some are even turning up in Berlin.

'And as Germany grows its military might with many thousands of new fighter planes every year, Britain and its empire are under increasing threat.

'Can Miss Lily's most successful protege, Sophie Vaile, the Countess of Shillings, seduce the new king, prevent his marriage to Wallis Simpson, and turn him from fascism?

'And if a man can sacrifice his life for his country, should a woman hesitate to sacrifice her honour?

'Based on new correspondence found in German archives, Lilies, Love and Lies is a work of fiction.

'Or is it?

'In the fourth title in the Miss Lily series, Jackie French explores one of the most controversial events in history that saw the unthinkable happen when a king chose love over duty.' (Publication summary)

'The final and thrilling conclusion to the popular and bestselling Miss Lily series

'A mysterious telegram: 'Lily needs you' is received just before a plane from war-wracked England lands in one of Sophie Greenman's paddocks.

'Sophie, Countess of Shillings, has been living a quiet life on her property in Australia, until love and loyalty draws her back to Shillings Hall where she trained to become one of Miss Lily's 'Lovely Ladies'. Now, in 1942, Shillings Hall is training women to become espionage agents.

'Sophie's mission? To seek out disaffected German officers prepared to kill Hitler.

'Across Europe women like Sophie, or Parisian couturier Violette, or Hannelore, German Prinzessin and spy, must determine where their deepest loyalty lies. And as Europe slowly disintegrates, Miss Lily must also decide her final fate.

'Based on real-life events, this is the story of the women men didn't see. And in this fifth and final book in the Miss Lily series, Jackie French tells the story of the remarkable women who have been carefully left out of our war histories: those lost lilies of allied espionage.'

Source : publisher's blurb