Showing results by narrator "Julia Franklin" in All Categories

I am the Dowager Countess of Kinsail, and I have enough secrets to scandalize you for life. I will never reveal the truth of my soul-destroying marriage--some things are too dark to be told. But at least no one can guess that I, a famously icy-hearted widow, am also the authoress of the shamelessly voluptuous romances currently shocking the ton! Only now I have a new secret identity, one that I will risk my life to keep - accomplice to Elliot Marchmont, gentleman, ex-soldier and notorious London thief.

Fancy Jones, best-selling crime writer, discovers that someone is trying to kill her. When she is invited to lecture at a writers’ conference in the Derbyshire Dales, she leaps at the chance to leave London and hopefully escape the threat of her assassin. Events turn sour when a body is found floating in a lake at the conference venue, and bizarre things start happening to Fancy. Suspicion falls on the other delegates but has her stalker followed her?

A new Regency romance, where scandal and seduction are rife! Richard, Lord Ledbury, has had his fair share of adventure on warring battlefields, but even this seasoned soldier isn’t prepared for the outrageous escapades going on in London’s ballrooms! Lady Jayne Chilcott is under orders to find a husband, and Lord Ledbury has caught her eye. But nothing is simple when courting under the glittering spotlight of the ton…

Blanche Longhurst is a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary, delivering Spitfires from factories to air bases around the country during World War Two. She believes herself to be safe from the direct conflict but during one routine trip, bad weather causes her to lose her bearings and projects her into activities that go against her sense of morality. She finds herself in another war, in another country where the anti-Nazi offensive is filled with subterfuge and personal betrayal.

1875. Terrified that her life is in danger in her abusive marriage, Emma flees to the safety of Nightingale Hall with her two children, seeking support from Squire Nicholson. A housemaid, overhearing a shocking revelation, persuades Emma to run away to London, before she is questioned and wrongly accused. The family's new life in an East End slum is a stark contrast to what they're used to, and Emma lives in constant fear of being discovered. A chance meeting with the infamous Captain Rufus O'Sullivan marks the beginning of a unique relationship.

Martha Owen has not had an easy start in life. Her abusive father dominates the family and she has lost her only friend after a painful falling-out. When her father's reliance on the bottle, and his increasingly violent temper, causes more turmoil for Martha, her mother and her three siblings, as well as World War One causing more strain on the home front, her prospects look bleak. With no money or qualifications to speak of, starting a job at the Potteries feels like a lifeline, but Martha finds herself wanting more than the production line job she works on.

Carrie Tollman awakes in the middle of the night with an intruder gazing down at her. He tells her he's killed before and he'll kill again. One word about what's happened, and he'll be back. Carrie is one of two carers looking after Enora Andressen's favorite scriptwriter. But Pavel is now paralysed, as well as blind, and it falls to Enora to track down this terrifying presence at Carrie's bedside.

Viola hasn't had much luck with men. Her first husband, Marco, companion of her youth and father of her only child, left her when he realised he was gay. Her second, Rhys, ended his high-octane, fame-filled life by driving his Porsche into a wall. No wonder her family always believes she needs looking after, and her friends think she really shouldn't be allowed out on her own...Which is why, at the age of thirty-five, she finds herself shamefully back at home, living with Mum.

1942: Saba Tarcan is a talented young singer with big dreams. So when an opportunity arises to entertain the troops in the Middle East, she jumps at the chance, cutting short a burgeoning love affair with a young RAF pilot, Dom. It soon becomes clear that entertaining won’t be Saba’s only mission. It's a move that will jeopardize not only her own safety, but also the love of her life.

Growing up in a small Wiltshire village, Abbie Morris knows what lies ahead of her - a life of drudgery as a menial servant, like that of her sisters. But everything changes when Abbie is twelve and their emotional, spirited mother casts them into a crisis for which no one is prepared. Six years later the Morris family have rebuilt their lives, and when Abbie and Beatie, Abbie's adored elder sister, set off for the county fair, the world seems a good place. But their new-found happiness is not to last.

Ben is, at last, leaving home. At 22, he’s the youngest of the family. His mother, Edie, is distraught. He husband, on the other hand, is rather hoping to get his wife back, after decades of family life. Ben’s brother is struggling in a relationship in which he achieves and earns less than his girlfriend. His sister is wrestling with debts and the end of a turbulent love affair. As the children’s lives become more complicated, they retreat to the simplicities of their childhood. But can you ever go home?

When the body of a herdsman is discovered in a farm building, Detective Sergeant Den Cooper is more than happy to cast local farmer Gordon Hillcock in the role of chief suspect. After all, it is a well-known fact that there was no love lost between Gordon and the victim. And besides, Den has a little grudge of his own - Gordon is currently dating his ex-fiancée, Lilah. However, Den did not plan on Lilah’s determination to protect her new lover....

After the death of her mother, whom she had spent her life caring for, Ruth Latham is lucky to find work as a typist at the Potteries Tramway Company in Stoke. While conscription forces more men to leave for the battlefields, Ruth finds herself growing closer to shy, but kind, mechanic, Stan Bristow. . . even if their courtship makes her enemies in the office. But the Great War causes scars at home and abroad and when trouble comes to The Potteries, tearing families apart and causing heartache for her greatest friends, Ruth must play her part in the difficult times ahead.

Born into poverty and hardship, Ruby Skinner's decision to approach the unscrupulous East End villain, Donald McCoy, for help, ends in disaster. In a desperate bid to move her ailing mother to the fresh air of the countryside, she realises that she has made a huge mistake, which will shape the rest of her life. Robert Thornton, a wealthy business man, also had the misfortune of suffering from the under hand dealings with McCoy, and when curiosity forces him to pursue Ruby Skinner, the barriers which divide the social classes of the 19th century are put to test by the power of love.

Richard, Lord Ledbury, has had his fair share of adventure on warring battlefields, but even this seasoned soldier isn't prepared for the outrageous escapades going on in London's ballrooms! Lady Jayne Chilcott is under orders to find a husband, and Lord Ledbury has caught her eye. But nothing is simple when courting under the glittering spotlight of the ton. Richard has always risen to any challenge, but Lady Jayne might just be the first to get the better of him...Let the games begin!

Friday nights, the best night of the week, the night they all looked forward to more than they cared to admit – talking, drinking, laughing and crying together. They were six female friends, different in age and circumstances, but with one common need: the warmth and support of their Friday nights. It was a time to share secrets and fears, triumphs and tragedies and, above all, to feel safe in the company of women friends.

Young widow Julia Nance has found happiness again running her beloved Guesthouse, Fairlight, but with the arrival of war, even her last bookings are being cancelled. Step-daughter Elowen immediately offers to find work with arch rival Alma Jennings, but Julia prefers to keep her close, and searches desperately for alternatives. Offering up her beloved home to be requisitioned, looking for any opportunity for work herself, she finds herself thwarted at every turn, and unwilling to accept the help of unscrupulous brother-in-law Pasco.

It's been six years since 14-year-old Marvel Trustrom went missing - six long years for Marvel's seriously ill father, Tom Trustom, who's desperate to know what happened to his daughter. DS Zed Willard has always believed that Jonah Kobi, a serial killer serving life for the murders of four other girls in the area, is responsible for Marvel's disappearance. Can Dr Claire Roget persuade Kobi to reveal the truth and finally confess to Marvel's murder?

In theory, nothing could be better than a summer spent basking in the French sun. That is until you add in three teenagers, two love interests, one divorcing couple, and a very unexpected pregnancy. Admittedly, this isn't exactly the relaxing holiday Leah Beaumont was hoping for - but it's the one she's got. With her sister Michele's family falling apart at the seams, it's up to Leah to pick up the pieces and try to hold them all together.

Living in Victorian Oxfordshire, Poppy Woods has suffered neglect and cruelty from her very first breath. Illegally adopted by the tight fisted and merciless Sidney Woods and his wicked wife, life in the quiet hamlet of Hurst is a daily challenge for Poppy, softened only by her caring neighbours, the Greenfield family, who keep a watchful eye over her. Ella Greenfield is like a true sister, and a childhood love for Arthur Greenfield blossoms.