Runaway Books in Order

Under the Runaway banner you’ll find a small group of novels linked by theme rather than tight chronology. Each centres on a girl or woman who has to flee danger or misery and build a new life, often in Liverpool, just as the world is tipping into war.

The Runaway introduces Dana and Caitlin, two young women who meet by chance on the ferry from Ireland. Both are leaving difficult pasts and guarded secrets behind, telling fellow passengers they are simply going to Liverpool to look for work. Ambitious and quick‑thinking, Dana spots an opportunity to open a tearoom and persuades the quieter Caitlin to join her. No landlord wants to rent to two single girls in Depression‑hit Liverpool, so when Caitlin’s new sweetheart offers to stand behind them, they grab the chance. For a time the tearoom thrives and the friends taste real independence. Then personal tragedy and the drumbeat of approaching war force them to fight for their survival and decide where home really is.

Years later in the timeline—but written more recently—The Winter Runaway opens in Scotland. Tammy and her mother, Grace, are desperate to escape Tammy’s violent, controlling father. A sudden tragedy leaves them with no choice but to flee in the dead of night, abandoning their community and even each other to avoid the severest punishment. Taking on new identities, they live apart and try to start again. Tammy joins the services, where the routine of training and the attention of a charming officer begin to thaw her mistrust, but she knows that revealing who she really is could destroy everything she has started to build.

Forthcoming and companion titles such as Forgotten Child and The Winter Bride continue to explore the same territory: women on the run from old lives, past mistakes or family secrets, trying to find safety, work and love in a Britain reshaped by conflict.

What ties the Runaway novels together is their focus on escape and second chances. The heroines aren’t fleeing abstract problems; they are running from fists, shame, poverty and the very real threat of being dragged back. Along the way they meet allies—landladies, fellow recruits, employers, kind strangers—who show them that not everyone repeats old patterns.

You can read these books independently, but approaching them as a loose collection lets you notice how often Katie Flynn returns to certain questions: How far do you have to travel to feel free? What do you owe to the people you left behind? And is it possible to build a future that isn’t defined by your past?