5 New Epic Romantic Novels

The Romance Novelists' Association (UK) have announced their shortlists for Romantic Novel of the Year.

Here are the nominees for Epic Romantic Novel:

That Liverpool Girl (M)
by Ruth Hamilton

"A wonderful World War II saga that is moving and humorous in equal parts, in the backstreets of Liverpool, Eileen Watson lives with her mother, Nellie, daughter Mel, and her three tear-away sons. Life isn't great, but they have each other, and family can get you through anything. Then, on the third day in September 1939, Britain declares war on Germany and their lives change forever. The children have to be evacuated, but daughter Mel refuses to go, and so Eileen says goodbye to her mother and sons, moves away from the street they love and faces a future without most of the people in her precious family. Thus begins a journey for them all. A journey filled with forbidden love, tragedy, and the terrifying sounds of a city they love crumbling into craters left by the Luftwaffe. Their lives will never be the same again." -Publisher

The Lantern: a novel (M)
by Deborah Lawrenson

"Drawn to an older man, Eve embarks on a whirlwind romance that soon offers a new life and a new home--Les Genévriers, an old house in a charming hamlet amid the fragrant lavender fields of Provence. Their relationship becomes strained, however, as Dom grows quiet and distant and Eve feels a haunting presence. The more reluctant Dom is to tell her about his past, the more Eve is drawn to it--and to the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful ex-wife." - Publisher

Jubilate (M)
by Michael Arditti

"A woman wakes in a Lourdes hotel room beside her lover of just two days. She has brought her brain-damaged husband on a pilgrimage to seek a miracle cure; her lover is making a TV documentary to mark the shrine’s 150th anniversary year. Setting aside personal doubts, family ties and spiritual differences, they embark on a turbulent affair from which neither they nor those around them will emerge unscathed. Jubilate is a love story unlike any other. Michael Arditti’s passionate and provocative novel combines tender romance with a unique and richly observed setting. Packed with eccentric and engaging characters, it challenges accepted notions of sickness and health, duty and sacrifice, the nature of miracles and the workings of grace." -Publisher

The Kashmir Shawl (M)
by Rosie Thomas

" Newlywed Nerys Watkins leaves rural Wales for the first time in her life, to accompany her husband on a missionary posting to India. As war engulfs Europe, the Watkins are in remote Ladahk, high up in the Himalayas. Nerys is lonely, but she makes a glamorous new friend, Myrtle McMinn, who introduces her to the lakeside city of Srinagar." - Publisher

Crimson China (M)
by Betsy Tobin

"On a freezing night in February, a woman wades into the waters of Morecambe Bay in a drunken bid to commit suicide. Braced for death, she finds herself instead saving a man's life- a young Chinese cockle picker, one of the only survivors of a tragic mass drowning. For Wen now missing, presumed dead, Angie provides an unexpected sanctuary. They share neither language nor experience, but she agrees to let him stay with her and disappear . Within a short time their unlikely pairing blossoms into something darkly passionate." -Publisher