Showing results by narrator "Julia Franklin" in All Categories

On midsummer's day, Phoebe Bowler - star-sign demon - should have returned home a happy new bride. Instead, she's been jilted at the altar. In need of sympathy, she could turn to her neighbour, Rocky Lancaster, but with problems of his own he's turned into Mr Grumpy. That is until Essie Rivers arrives on the scene, and then Phoebe and Rocky's paths seem destined to collide with a very big bump. Essie knows far more about astrology, personology, numerology - any "ology" you care to mention - than Phoebe.

New Year's Eve, 1940: Evie Chase, determined to make a difference to the war effort, joins the ATA, the civilian pilots who ferry Tiger Moths and Spitfires to bases across Britain. Two other women nervously join up: Stella Grainger and Megan Jones. Billeted in a tiny cottage, they must learn to live and work together. Brave, beautiful and fiercely independent, they find romance, confront loss, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime.

Leanne and her teenage daughter, Abby, have recently been forced to move from London back to Kesterley-on-Sea, to Ash Morley Farm, where Leanne grew up. Leanne's husband Jack, Abby's father, killed himself over a year ago, and the pair are still reeling from the shock waves caused by the tragedy. Also living at Ash Morley farm is Leanne's mother, Wilkie, who is a rock for everyone, and family friend Klaudia and her two children.

Charlotte Goodman is living the dream. Surrounded by family, friends and a stunning vineyard overlooking the ocean, it would be difficult for anyone to believe that she has a troubled past. However, haunted by the theft of a young girl, Charlotte begins to realise the enormity of something she did many years ago and soon finds herself having to make the most harrowing decision any woman would ever have to face.

Lottie Carlyle faces a bittersweet romantic dilemma in Jill Mansell's engaging best seller, Making Your Mind Up - not to be missed by fans of Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson. Lottie Carlyle isn't looking for love when she meets her new boss, Tyler Klein. Living in a beautiful cottage with her two adorable - sometimes - kids in an idyllic village in the Cotswolds, on good terms with her ex-husband and with friends all around, she's happy enough with her lot.

Lori Maddox chooses to spend the year after university travelling and visits China, where she finds casual work as a private English tutor. Back in Manchester her parents, Joanna and Tom, who separated when Lori was a toddler, follow her adventures on her blog. When Joanna and Tom hear nothing for weeks, they become increasingly concerned and travel out to Chengdu in search of their daughter.

Emily Longesley married the love of her life and hoped that he would learn to love her. Instead, he upped and left their country estate for London. Suffering the snub with dignity, three years on Emily has had enough!

The Dangerous Lord Darrington is not a man to be welcomed into a house of unprotected women! He may be an earl, but even in the wilds of Yorkshire, Beth Forrester has heard tales of the incorrigible rake that make her toes curl…Unexpectedly hosting such a scandalous celebrity is only the first of Beth's problems. Now the wicked Lord Darrington has found out about the dark secret she will do anything to protect. How to buy a rake's silence? There is only one way - with her body!

Infamous playboy Tristan Romero meets ordinary Lily at a lavish ball, and arrogantly predicts that she will wake up the following morning between his designer silk sheets! Powerless to resist this wicked billionaire, Lily knows Tristan is only offering one night. But then she discovers she's pregnant…. Tristan's aristocratic duty demands he take Lily as his bride. However, Lily's shame over accepting a loveless proposal is heightened when she realizes that, as the Spaniard's wife, she'll be expected to fulfill his every need….

An abandoned infant on her doorstep is the last thing Manchester private eye Sal Kilkenny needs as she faces the challenge of her current case. Sal’s client Libby Hill is trying to put her life back together after the brutal killing of her love and the conviction of petty criminal Damien Beswick who confessed to the murder. But now Beswick has retracted his confession – exactly what game is he playing? The evidence against him seems damning, but is there more to this case than meets the eye?

Andee Lawrence is in heaven. Well, the South of France to be exact. Ex-detective Andee has swapped freelance investigation and a broken marriage for two months in Provence, renovating a beautiful villa with the new man in her life. Pottering around a small picturesque town on an early summer's day, she is at peace. But her world is about to be shattered. 'Remember me?' Two words spoken by a woman from the back of a car that say so much yet reveal so little.

Manchester today. A dead baby. A missing mother. A cradle of secrets. Has the woman killed her child? Is she at risk to herself? Someone in the neighbourhood of old terraced streets has the answers. But Detectives Donna Bell and Jade Bradshaw find lies and obstruction at every turn, in a community living on the edge, ground down by austerity and no hope. A place of broken dreams. Of desperation. And murder. When a stranger crashes into Jade's life, her past comes hurtling back, threatening to destroy her and the world she has carved out for herself.

Everyone adores Christmas. Especially Lizzy Kingham. But this year, she is feeling unloved, and under-appreciated by her family. The present-buying, decorating, and food shopping have all been left to her. So she wonders what would happen if she ran away and left them to it. Lizzy heads to her favourite place: a beach hut on the golden sands of Everdene. There, she meets an unlikely collection of new friends, all running away from something. But the spirit of Christmas gets under Lizzy's skin: soon the fairy lights are twinkling and the scent of mulled wine mingles with the sea air.

Susie Moran is a success. She has founded and run her own highly profitable company, and now her three daughters are all involved in the business. Rooted in the traditions of the Stoke-on-Trent potteries, and producing charming, useable objects of distinctive design, Susie is justly proud of her family and her achievement – and has no intention of letting it change. But what of the men in the family? Susie’s husband, a musician and artist, has always seemed happy to take a back seat.

Lady Emily Longesley married the love of her life and hoped that he would learn to love her. Instead, he upped and left their country estate for London. Confronting her errant husband three years on, she sees that he has been robbed of his sight and doesn’t know her at all! If she plays his mistress by delicious deception, can he finally learn to love his wife?

When her sister disappears, can Ellen Ryan keep her beloved niece safe? For the inhabitants of Liverpool's Milton Street a steady income and a roof over their heads are luxuries. The Ryan family have barely grown accustomed to such things when a fire destroys their father Jack's modest coal haulage business, leaving Jack broken and his family facing ruin. They're forced to turn to Conor, Jack's brother from Ireland, a man whose noisy joviality 17-year-old Ellen Ryan suspects hides a mean viciousness.

Infamous playboy Tristan Romero meets ordinary Lily at a lavish ball and arrogantly predicts that she will wake up the following morning between his designer silk sheets! Powerless to resist this wicked billionaire, Lily knows Tristan is only offering one night. But then she discovers she's pregnant, and Tristan's aristocratic duty demands he take Lily as his bride. Lily's shame over accepting a loveless proposal is heightened when she realises that, as the Spaniard's wife, she'll be expected to fulfil his every need.

Accused of murder, Alejandra flees her home, escaping to the southern edge of Spain, where she faces a life of poverty and destitution. Seduced by the power of the rich and the anonymity that waits across the water in Tangier, Ale makes a bid for a new start. But it will come at a cost: a life of deception. Because Ale's new friends want to know what she is running from, they want to know who she is and whether they can trust her. Fifty years later, a young American writer wanders the streets of Tangier, searching for inspiration.

Born into service, 16-year-old Juliet Harper has always idolised her mother, Agnes. But Agnes is haunted by what could have been and the glamorous life she might have lived if she had stayed in Manchester rather than settling down in the Lancashire moorland with her husband. Life takes another unexpected turn when Juliet's father suddenly dies. Agnes' reputation as a seamstress leads to her being taken on by local landowners the Drysdales, where she is proud to work. But it will be a bumpy road for both of them as they settle in to their new lives.

When Betty and her best friend Sally discover a baby tucked in a blanket amongst the rubble at the Manchester Salvage Depot, they can barely believe their eyes. As Betty holds the baby in her arms, she feels a familiar longing stir in her chest. Might she and her husband be allowed to care for this abandoned child, and create the family they have always longed for? Sally is shocked when she realises she too has news: she's pregnant and the two friends begin planning for the new arrival.