Annie Groves Books

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Annie Groves was a bestselling author who wrote family sagas. Born in 1946 in an English nursing home, Groves was the first child of an engineer (Anthony Winn Jones) and his wife. The family lived in Lancashire for a while before migrating to Cheshire.

As a child, Groves had a vivid imagination. She also read voraciously. You can blame her mother for introducing the author to romantic serials. Soon after, she developed an obsession with Mills and Boon.

Groves attended Todmorden High School before moving to Manchester to work as a typist. She credited Steve Halsall, the love of her life, whom she met in her teenage years, for supporting her writing and publishing dreams.

Steve waited for Groves to graduate before marrying her. He also bought her the typewriter she used to pen romantic fiction. The investment paid off when she entered an RNA (Romantic Novelists’ Association) competition and won the attention of a literary agent.

The author had already published ‘Duchess in Disguise’ under the ‘Caroline Courtney’ pen name when she came across a magazine article which revealed that Mills & Boon was looking for new writers.

During that era, Mills & Boon would accept and even select new authors from unsolicited manuscripts. Groves was fortunate that an editor at the firm picked her work from the pile and identified her raw talent.

It was a dream come true for the author, who still read Mills & Boon. She would invade her local store on publishing day to snatch their books off the shelf before they disappeared. She went on to publish several novels for the brand using the ‘Frances Roding’ pseudonym.

Additionally, her novel ‘A Reason For Being’ was book #1000 for ‘Harlequin Presents.’ It came with a fancy gold cover. When her husband died in 2002, the author dedicated herself to her writing career.

She used her mother’s maiden name to create a new pen name and wrote numerous books for HarperCollins. Groves used Liverpool and London as settings and based the stories on her mother’s experiences from the Second World War. The series introduced a new generation of readers to her work.

At the time, she lived in a neo-Georgian house in Cheshire and primarily worked from home in the company of her pets and any friends and family that chose to visit her. The author wrote over two hundred books that sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.

Annie Groves Awards

Groves was a member of the RNA (UK). They gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Best Annie Groves Books

Annie Groves is a pseudonym. The author’s real name was Penelope Halsall. She died in 2011. Groves’ best books include:

The District Nurses Of Victory Walk: Alice Lake couldn’t wait to start her training as a District Nurse in London. Her parents thought she was making a mistake. They wanted her to settle down and start a family. But the aspiring Nurse was still nursing a broken heart, and she had no intention of exposing her fragile emotions to another doomed romance.

So, instead, she found a home in the East End with her best friend. But any hopes they had of living ordinary lives went out the window when the war came, and Hitler’s bombs descended. Now, Alice’s job has taken on a dimension she never expected.

London’s sick and injured are looking to her for help. Can she tend to them while juggling the misfortune and heartache in her life?

Wartime for the District Nurses: Alice and Edith’s first year as district nurses was a nightmare. They can’t believe they survived the ordeal. The pair barely had a moment to catch their breath, and unfortunately, it looks like things will get worse before they get better.

Alice and Edith cannot escape the war because Hitler’s bombers are still determined to reduce London to ashes. The nurses are strong. They are determined to persevere. After all, the men are away fighting for their country.

The nurses must do their part to heal the shaken and wounded locals, especially when rationing takes hold. Edith is struggling to maintain a brave facade. She has the strength of will to withstand the aftermath of the bombing raids. But the heartache haunting her personal life is an entirely different matter.

When Does The Next Annie Groves book come out?

Annie Groves doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The District Nurses Make a Wish and was released on October, 28th 2021. It is the newest book in the The District Nurse Series.

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