Books by Hilary Green

Desperately tired after months living rough with Italian partisans, Richard makes a mistake behind enemy lines that results in devastating tragedy. Rose, performing for the troops crossing France, at last finds a man she feels she can love and is forced to make the most difficult decision of her life.Merry's lover is returned to him from the jaws of death only to be separated from him again by the demands of duty. But while the battle rages on they will fight for the future. In war and peace, in joy and despair, life continues - but never as expected.

Hilary Green takes the reader on a journey through the complex developing trade of the Middle Ages, which is the foundation of trade today. Taking the production of wool in the abbeys of the north of England as a starting point, she follows its journey to Flanders where it was woven into a variety of textiles in the growing international marketplace of Bruges. The journey continues to Bordeaux where the wool was traded for wine, which found its way back to London where some of it was traded for more wool. She describes the trade fairs of the Champagne region of France where wool and leather goods along with salt, iron and other commodities were traded and where banking developed - and she explains why. The merchants of Genoa developed the various trade routes, whether by land over the Alps or by water via rivers or the Mediterranean. By these routes, silks and spices came from the repositories in Alexandria and before that via camel trains from Arabia. The author investigates the mysteries and intrigue of trade where silkworms were smuggled into Constantinople and precious gems and ivory were shipped from unknown locations. Arab and Indian merchants brought exotic spices - cumin, ginger, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon - and aromatics such a myrrh and frankincense to Egypt via the Red Sea. As trade expanded and became more valuable, international relations became more sophisticated as governments moved to protect the valuable income it brought.

January, 1941. Dark days for Britain, standing alone against the menace of Nazi Germany, and for four friends fighting their own personal battles . . .When Rose Taylor receives two proposals on New Year's Eve she has to face an agonising choice that threatens to separate her from all those she loves. Meanwhile, Richard Stephens has to come to terms with his shattered dream - the only thing that sustained him through the chaos of Dunkirk and the long months on the run as an escaped prisoner of war. For beautiful Felix, badly burned when his Spitfire was shot down in flames, there is the prospect of weeks of painful surgery, watched by his anguished lover. But as the months go by each of them finds the courage to face danger. For it lurks on every side . . .

It is 1942. The theatres of war are North Africa and Italy. All eyes follow the front, but behind the scenes a messier war continues, an improvised game of snatched triumphs, terrible mistakes and terrifying uncertainty.Cabaret singer by night, spy by day, Richard risks his life to help British servicemen escape occupied France and get back to England. Rose leads a group of dancers with mixed morals high-kicking to entertain the troops as Hitler's bombers roar in the skies above. Then she is given orders to join the forces in the field, destination unknown.Meanwhile a phantom pianist, who has lost the love of his life, is following Montys soldiers across the African desert, mocking the enemies guns by playing Beethoven between the lines.