Showing results by narrator " Katy Sobey" in All Categories

Lancashire, 1832. Maids Hannah and Mary find themselves with no jobs and no home when their employer, Henry Sudell, loses all his money and disappears in the middle of the night. They have no choice but to return to Blackburn where Hannah is lucky to be taken in by her sister, Jennet, and brother-in-law, Titus, but Mary must seek lodgings in the infamous Star beer house.

After her husband Jack is transported to Australia as a convict, Hannah and her children are sent to the workhouse. Hearing nothing from Jack and believing he's dead, Hannah reluctantly agrees to marry widower Ellis Duxbury. But her children must remain in the workhouse, and when they are sent away as apprentices, it's up to Hannah to track them down. On Christmas Eve, Hannah is blessed with a miracle when Jack returns to the village. Yet more trouble lies ahead as Hannah is arrested, accused of bigamy and threatened with deportation herself.

Stockport, 1944. Alice seems to have it all, but the truth is her marriage isn't as solid as it seems. Busy running her husband's family shop while he's at war, everything changes when she meets handsome Louis, fresh in from Guernsey with young evacuee twins Gabriela and Philip. Factory heir Sophie is thrilled to be getting married—if only her mother her mother didn't disapprove! She's marrying for love, but her mother is convinced Tony is marrying for money. Is there more to her concern than Sophie realises?

Sixteen-year-old Bessie works long hours as a weaver in Blackburn, helping to support her family. Meanwhile, her older sister, Peggy, works as an apprentice at the Girls' School, hoping for a more prosperous future as a schoolteacher. Jennet and Titus Eastwood have always made decisions for their daughters' futures. But as the sisters near adulthood, they are determined to make their own choices. And with temptation in the way, will the girls find love - or infatuation - leads them astray?

When Grace Carter's boys are arrested for murder, she's forced to call on her most trusted and loyal connections to keep the boys out of prison. She'll even ask for help from those she would usually avoid like the plague. DI Leigh Moss has the power to save Grace's boys, but she's determined to bring Grace and the Carter clan down once and for all. Leigh might owe Grace her life, but her loyalty now lies with her job and protecting the streets of Liverpool. Until Leigh needs Grace's help, too.

If Melody hadn't run out of deicer that day, she would never have slipped and banged her head. She wouldn't be left with a condition that makes her sing when she's nervous. And she definitely wouldn't have belted out the Arctic Monkeys' 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' in assembly at her son's school. If Dev hadn't taken the kids to the zoo that day, then the accident wouldn't have happened. He wouldn't have left Flynn and Rose without a dad. Or shattered the love of his life's heart.

The first and second audiobooks in the exciting new Dadventure series, introducing Holly: big sister, magician and explorer-in-training! The Incredible Dadventure: Holly's dad is an explorer, having amazing adventures all over the world while Holly is stuck at home with her mum, her baby brother and the dog.... The Mumbelievable Challenge: Holly's mum has had enough! She challenges Holly and her dad (and the dog) to survive in the woods for five days without screens - in fact without electricity!

Yasmin would give anything to have a friend...and do anything to keep one. The first time I saw you, you were standing at the far end of the playing field. You were looking down at your brown, straggly dog, but then you looked up, your mouth going slack as your eyes clocked her. Alice Taylor. I was no different. I used to catch myself gazing at the back of her head in class, at her silky, fair hair swaying between her shoulder blades.

When Jennet and Titus Eastwood are forced to move from their idyllic cottage into the centre of Blackburn to find work in the cotton mills, their lives are changed in ways they could never have imagined, and their new home on Paradise Lane is anything but. Then Titus is arrested and sent to prison for attending a Reform meeting. Jennet is left to fend for herself, and things go from bad to worse as she finds herself pregnant and alone - with another man's child.

Lydia is killed in a car accident, but she returns to her bereft sister as a benign ghost who nonetheless comes to haunt the lives of those around her in unexpected ways: Jonathan Goldman, whose flat Lydia is running from when she is knocked down; his daughter, Stella, who has discovered her father has been having an affair with the gladiatorial Sonia; Stella's genius painter-boy lover, Izzy, whom she leaves behind as she flees to the arms of kindly Peregrine. Along with good stepmothers, bad mothers, strange professors and wicked monks, their lives collide in a breathtaking finale.

With simple breathing exercises, meditation tips and relaxation techniques, Practical Mindfulness will improve your concentration and help you achieve success. Questionnaires tailor advice to you by enabling you to identify negative patterns of thinking and challenge them using well-respected exercises. Learn how to meditate with step-by-step instructions and gain clarity with expert advice on stress management.

The sky is cornflower blue, the air is scented with the smell of fresh apple blossom and Lizzie Lovell can’t wait to start her new life in the mill on Magnolia Lane. But is she just about to fall in love with someone she shouldn’t? When Lizzie loses her larger-than-life dad she doesn’t know how to move forward. Encouraged by a childhood dream she shared with her beloved father, she is determined to continue his legacy and moves to the old Mill on Magnolia Lane, a place he had always longed to own.

Gabriela, a senior negotiator in the FCO’s Counter-Terrorism Unit, runs a small and powerful team based in Whitehall. She is tenacious, hard-working and the family breadwinner. Her husband, Tom - a freelance architect - looks after their two small children. When Gabriela returns from a seven-month stint in Moscow, something doesn’t seem right. Isobel is a journalist working for the local paper in Camden. Walking home from a party one night, she witnesses a horrific attack. But someone has seen her and is making themselves known in increasingly frightening ways.

Devastated by the death of her husband, Annie Philips is shocked to discover she is pregnant with his unborn child. Hoping for a fresh start, she travels to a remote stone cottage in Anglesey, amidst the white-capped mountains of North Wales. She settles in quickly, helped by her mysterious new neighbour, Peter. But everything changes when Annie discovers a small wooden box, inlaid with brass and mother-of-pearl. A box she was never supposed to find.

Vega Jane is 14 when she is secretly given a map that reveals a mysterious world and dangerous creatures beyond the walls of Wormwood, a place no one has ever left - or wanted to. Until now. The map makes her question everything she has ever been told about the place she calls home. Her friend, Delph, and her dog, Harry Two, are the only ones Vega trusts. Trapped by secrets and lies, they want freedom and truth. But she will have to fight for freedom. And the truth may cost Vega her life.

Carrie Anderson’s business selling books at her local train station is thriving and, with her beloved Mike returned from war, everything feels as though it is falling into place. That is, until Mike is sent to Washington as a liaison between Britain and America. When her twin brother, Johnnie, a fighter pilot, is injured, and her bookstall falls on hard times, Carrie misses the sage advice and comfort of Mike more than ever.

When Caitlin moved from London to New York, she thought she had left her problems behind. But now, down to her last dollar in a foreign city, she is desperately lonely. And then she meets Jake. Handsome, smart, slightly damaged Jake. He lives off-grid, in a lakeside commune whose members practise regular exercise. Before long, Caitlin has settled into her idyllic new home. But as the commune tightens its grip on her freedom and her sanity, Caitlin realises too late that she might become lost forever....

A juicy, powerful listen featuring twin sisters who have drifted apart and the shocking family secrets that bind them.... Robin and Sarah weren't the closest of twins. They weren't even that similar. But they loved each other dearly. Until, in the cruellest of domestic twists, they were taken from one another. Now in her early 30s, Robin lives alone. Agoraphobic and suffering from panic attacks, she spends her days pacing the rooms of her house. The rest of the time she watches - watches the street, the houses, the neighbours.

Orphan Edie is sent by her art-dealer guardian to Knight's Haddon School, on a secret mission to find out whether Anastasia, a Russian princess, is being persecuted by the other girls. But what Edie uncovers instead is a dangerous mystery that only the girls themselves can solve.

Amy had a happy childhood until the death of her mother when she was 10. Her father became an abusive alcoholic and she was quickly abandoned by him, given money so she would leave the house and leave him alone. And disappear she did - to drug dens, with the tragic consequence that she became addicted to heroin by age 12. Soon after, Amy's father kicked her out and she became homeless, going into care but quickly back onto the streets with other teenagers who had fallen through the net.