Karen Woods Books in Order

When Gina Turner’s husband Scott is jailed for ten years, the authorities come after everything the couple own. Teaming up with friends Lola and Jess—whose partners are also inside—Gina hatches a risky plan to keep them all afloat, even as Scott faces his fiercest rival on the prison wing.

Four close friends return from a girls’ weekend with a terrible secret that could destroy all their lives. When anonymous letters demand cash in exchange for silence, the women must work out who to trust, who’s watching and just how far they’ll go to keep the truth buried.

The smart houses on Manchester’s Manor Estate look safe, but behind their tidy doors neighbours hide addictions, affairs and quiet desperation. When the mask of respectability slips, a web of exploitation, jealousy and crime is exposed, proving that the worst dangers can live just across the street.

Terminally ill Brenda Smith wants one last chance to face the three daughters she walked away from years ago. As dutiful Emily, hard-edged Teresa and runaway Shannon confront their mother’s secrets and their own, buried histories of love, betrayal and survival threaten to tear the family apart all over again.

Macy Taylor has spent her life keeping Tavistock Square’s code of silence and shielding her daughter from the estate’s dealers and gangsters. When seventeen-year-old Leanne starts chasing fast money, buried secrets and old debts drag both women into a dangerous bargain.

Zara Makin has three sons who rule their Manchester patch through fear, but now the eldest, Tyler, has been sent down to Strangeways. Holding the family together means dealing with rival gangs, prison politics and her boys’ bad choices—forcing Zara to decide how far a mother will go for her own.

In a corner of Manchester ruled by two crime families, the Johnsons and the Bennetts, prison-hardened Charlie Johnson comes home ready to reclaim his empire. His wife Janey is desperate to break free, but choosing sides in this war of loyalty, secrets and revenge could cost her everything.

Elsa Bradshaw thinks love with local bad boy Clayton will be her escape, but it drags her into Manchester’s seedy strip-club scene. There she crosses paths with Pamela, the club owner’s trapped wife, and together they face deadly turf wars, lust and betrayal.

Susan Knight turns a blind eye when her husband Donny washes his gambling winnings through her salon, convinced it’s just how he unwinds after running a tough alternative school. As debts, drugs and violence close in, Susan must decide how far she’ll go to stand by him.

Best friends Melanie and Diane grow up on a 1980s Manchester estate where everyone knows your business. When Diane falls pregnant and is pushed into a rushed marriage, rumours about the baby’s real father, a small-time dealer and a domineering dad set off a spiral of lies, jealousy and payback.

Prison officer Joan lives with her sharp-tongued mother and a stalled love life, until an inmate’s handsome brother, Patrick, seems to offer romance and escape. But the women on the wing are using him for their own scheme, and Joan’s desperation and Patrick’s secrets spark a chain of greed-fuelled betrayals.

Years after the events of Broken Youth and Black Tears, Charlotte and Rico have been raised apart, never told the full truth about their violent father. When the past crashes back through loss, homecomings and blackmail, old loyalties splinter and a brutal Manchester feud reaches breaking point.

Harpur Murray is shattered when her heroin-addicted brother apparently takes his own life, yet her mother refuses to discuss what really happened that night. As an online reunion with an old flame destabilises her marriage, Harpur digs into her family’s past, uncovering dangerous truths about love, guilt and loss.

Fresh out of prison and determined to go straight, Johnny Barker comes home to find his mum missing and his teenage sister vanished from their street. Following a trail that leads to a local crime boss and a sex-trafficking ring, Johnny must decide what he’s willing to risk to save his family.

While Mikey Milne serves time, his shoplifter mum Rachel is left to face a furious gangster who wants back the £10,000 Mikey stole. With forty-eight hours to find the money and naive girlfriend Sarah still in love with him, dark family secrets threaten to explode beyond the prison walls.

Fifteen-year-old Alice Goodman has always been warned to stay away from Tavistock Square, the rough patch that destroyed her drunken, violent mother. Drawn to its buzz and danger, Alice edges closer to the people her family fears most, forcing her to confront abuse, loyalty and the cost of breaking the rules.

Dawn Pritchard is about to marry Manchester crime boss Jud Watson, despite her reputation and an affair with his brother Larry. When the wedding ends in violence—Larry in a coma, Jud in a cell—the scramble to control the Watson empire pulls rival gangs and family loyalties into a deadly power struggle.

After a messy divorce, Rebecca Rooks turns to comfort eating while her once-big best friend Gemma slims down and seems to have it all. Joining a slimming club and a tough fitness camp, Rebecca finally starts to change—until a buried secret threatens her new confidence and her oldest friendship.

While feared boss Harry Jarvis rots in jail, the ambitious Collins brothers quietly steal his cannabis empire and his place on the estate. Harry’s wife and sons have moved on, but when he walks free he launches a ruthless campaign to win back control, igniting a violent turf war in north Manchester.

When Dalton’s family moves from Manchester to London, he and his girlfriend Fallon promise their love will survive the distance. In the capital he’s soon tempted by a new romance, while back home Fallon tries to rebuild her life—until fate, and unfinished feelings, bring the former lovers face to face again.

Grieving her mother’s suicide after her father walks out, therapist Marcy Jordan opens a clinic for the broken-hearted. As she counsels clients abandoned by cheating spouses or sudden tragedy, Marcy is drawn deep into their lives, uncovering webs of lost love, deceit and betrayal that mirror her own wounds.

Kendal Wilson can’t read or write and has never known who her father was. After her mother’s mysterious death, a hidden diary hints at long-buried secrets, even as Kendal becomes trapped in a brutal relationship with local gangster Scott and is forced to confront the truth about her past.

When her gangster boyfriend Tim is sent to Strangeways, Susie Jones is left to mind his criminal business and enemies. She finds unexpected allies in the prison visitors’ centre, but stepping up to run the empire herself brings fresh danger, temptation and consequences she never saw coming.

Sandra Partington has spent years being beaten down by her husband and belittled by her glamorous sister. When she finally snaps, Sandra plots inventive revenge on them both, in a story that mixes domestic violence, sudden fame and dark humour in very northern fashion.

Shaun’s mother escapes an abusive marriage and struggles to raise her demanding son alone on a Manchester estate. As Shaun turns to drugs, petty crime and the care system, this hard-hitting story asks what happens when society repeatedly fails a boy who just keeps wanting more.

On paper Victoria Greybank has everything—money, status and a handsome husband—but behind closed doors she’s trapped in a cold, kinky marriage she despises. Falling for a bold female property developer with a get-rich-quick scheme, Victoria dives into a risky new life of desire, cash and reinvention.

Rebellious teen Misty Sullivan falls pregnant to a local wannabe gangster and soon finds herself a prisoner in her own home. Betrayed by her best friend yet desperate to protect her baby, Misty slowly rebuilds her strength and plots a dangerous revenge on the men who broke her trust.

With vicious Gordon locked in Strangeways, the survivors of Broken Youth try to rebuild their lives. Misty, now with steady Dominic, is raising Gordon’s daughter Charlotte, while former friend Francesca hides with Gordon’s brother and their baby Rico—until the day Gordon walks free, nursing a bitter plan for payback.