The Cruellest Years: Historical fiction with heart and drama - Love and War

A compelling trilogy of historical fiction set in the 20th century. From 1930s Soviet Union to 1950s communist Hungary via 1940s Nazi Germany, a triple set of novels depicting love, life and survival living under war, fear and tyranny. The Black Maria 'The choice is simple: freedom or love. In Stalin's Russia, you can't have both.'Maria has a devastating secret. She marries a man loyal to Stalin, not out of love, but as a means of forming a new identity and escaping her past.
Her existence is safe - but dull. Until the day she meets Dmitry. Dmitry is an artist, whose work allows him a standard of living way above the average Muscovite. But Dmitry feels straitjacketed by what he's allowed to paint. He aspires to paint the female form. When Maria offers to pose for him, he refuses, knowing how dangerous it would be - until he falls in love with her. Dmitry's artistic aspirations and Maria's yearning for a new life force them to risk everything in the name of love and freedom.
But will it destroy them?My Brother the Enemy 'Fear on the streets. Death on every corner. But the real enemy is the brother at his side.'1936 - Exiled by the Nazi regime for their father's beliefs, Peter's love for his brother is slowly eroded as Martin proves himself to be ruthless and manipulative. When Monika comes into their young lives, their mutual jealousies heighten and threaten to tear them apart.1941 - A childhood accident saves Peter from active service.
His brother, posted to the killing fields of the Eastern Front, isn't so lucky.1945 - Berlin is torn apart by Allied bombs. Amid the carnage and death that descends over the city, Martin returns from Russia - battered and embittered. The twins' seething bitterness and their shared love for Monika finally explodes with devastating consequences. Anastasia 'Sometimes the simplest of choices can have the most devastating of consequences.
Sometimes falling in love can be a curse. Sometimes being the hard man is the hardest job.'Budapest, 1956. Eva, George and Zoltan. Three people trying to live within a system that demands total obedience. Eva, reeling from the tragedy of losing her baby, Anastasia, falls in love at a time when love is fraught with danger. George, a rising star of Hungarian football, is told to throw a game. Faced with an impossible dilemma, George has to decide - to risk everything to fulfill his dream or, for the sake of his future, obey the rules.
Zoltan works for the secret police. A torn man trying to suppress the good within him, his job takes him further and further from the people he loves most. Their destinies collide as Hungary erupts into revolution. Secrets can no longer be hidden as love and loyalties are pushed to the limit in a terrifying climax. And at the heart of the novel, the unseen presence of baby Anastasia. Historical fiction with heart and drama.