Showing results by narrator "Anne Dover" in All Categories

Lillian is distraught - she must register for compulsory war work. Emily is also furious - her dream job as a chef will have to be put on hold, whilst Alice must abandon her plans of college. Staring at an identical letter, Elsie feels a kindling of hope, and down in London Agnes is packing her bags with a smile. Sharing grief and joy, lost dreams and gained opportunities, the five new bomb girls will find friendship and strength that they never before thought possible.

When amateur sleuth detective Kate Shackleton receives a dawn telephone call from her cousin, James, his news soon snaps Kate into wakefulness. The India office seek her on-the-spot help in finding a maharajah last seen on the Bolton Abbey estate. He has with him a hugely valuable diamond. Investigative successes and good family connections put Kate in the highly trusted category. Perceived as 'establishment', Kate feels like an outsider in her sympathies.

A Pawnshop Robbery: It's no rest for the wicked as Kate Shackleton picks up her second professional sleuthing case. But exposing the culprit of a pawnshop robbery turns sinister when her investigation takes her to Harrogate - and murder is only one step behind.... A Fatal Stabbing: A night at the theatre should be just what the doctor ordered - until Kate stumbles across a body in the doorway.

Kate Shackleton's sterling reputation for courageous sleuthing attracts the attention of the venerable Lady Coulton. Hidden in her past is a daughter born out of wedlock and given up to a different family. Now Lady Coulton is determined to find her and puts Kate on the case. But as Kate delves deeper into Lady Coulton's past, she soon finds herself thrust into a scandal much closer to home.

It's 1919 in Ashford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire. The Ryan family are adjusting to life in the aftermath of the First World War. Walter has returned home a broken man, and so it falls to his son, Josh, and daughter, Emily, to do their best to keep their family business as the village candle makers going. Josh and Emily are great friends with Thomas 'Trip' Trippet, whose father owns a cutlery manufacturing company in Sheffield, and Amy Clark, daughter of the local blacksmith.

When Sally Westwood moves into a large Victorian house that she has been left by a stranger, she is unaware that her benefactor died at the hands of her grandson, who is expected to inherit. The house holds a secret that Sally must reveal before she and her husband are out of danger. Mystery and intrigue surround them. The story goes back to the previous century, revealing something that is hidden in the house. Something that a man would kill to get his hands on.

1943, Hampshire. Pixie Saunders is 19 and employed in the local armaments factory. Not for the first time, her mother has run off with a dodgy-looking bloke, leaving Pixie to pay the rent and fend for herself. Pixie, along with her best friend, Rita; Em, the factory overseer; and the rest of the girls are making the most of the war while trying to stay alive. The work is dangerous and the hours long, but in the evenings they take off their overalls and go to the pub or, better still, go dancing.

1912 in The Yorkshire Dales and Alice Bentham and her brother Will have lost their mother to cancer. Money is scarce and pride doesn't pay the doctor or put food on the table. Alice gets work at Whernside Manor looking after Lord Frankland's fragile sister Miss Nancy. Meanwhile Will and his best friend Jack begin working for the Lord of the Manor at the marble mill. But their purpose there is not an entirely honest one.

Steal a glimpse at the past lives and loves of your favourite villagers in this captivating Burracombe short story. Autumn 1918 has brought young Alice Whiddon to the Tozer's farm to work as a maid. Alice soon falls in love with the little village and with life on the farm. But that's not all she's falling for. Youngest son, Ted Tozer is half promised to young Ivy Prowse, daughter of a neighbouring farmer, yet Alice and Ted feel a powerful bond forming.

Paddington station, nine a.m., rush hour. As the crowds ebb and flow, time suddenly stands still for two people: Fern and Elliott, ex-lovers who parted twenty-five years before and never expected to see each other again. But here they are, face to face, and the connection is as powerful as it was the day they first met. Their lives have moved on - to marriage, children and divorce - yet neither has stopped regretting the day that drove them apart. Fern gives Elliott her number and they tentatively arrange to meet.

On Easter day in 1918, Frances Kemp looked out at the little thatched village and promised that, one day, she'd come back...Long before Miss Kemp became headmistress of the village school, she had reason to know and love Burracombe. Sent to stay with family, young Frances treasured her summers there and the friends she made. But as she grows up, she admits that there is someone there who is more than just a friend.

Kathy Burton longs to escape the drudgery of her life as an unpaid labourer on her father's farm. With only the local church choir and the occasional dance at the village hall for amusement, she yearns for the bright lights. Spurning Morry Robinson's proposal of marriage, Kathy goes to live in the city with his aunt, Jemima Robinson. In turn, she finds employment for Kathy in a department store, but is anxious when Kathy is captivated by the sophisticated and handsome floor manager, Tony Kendall.

Polly Longden's china-doll looks belie a strong and fiery personality. When typhoid strikes her home city of Lincoln, she needs every ounce of that strength in order to cope. With the death of her mother, thirteen-year-old Polly has to give up her ambition of becoming a teacher to care for her family. When their father, too, falls victim to the typhoid, his only hope is to go to hospital, leaving Polly to cope alone. Thankfully she has the support of her neighbours: Bertha Halliday and her son, Leo, a young policeman.

Back in 1950 Pamela Rhodes became one of the first policewomen in the country. But the force's new female recruits faced a sceptical public in rural Yorkshire and even before they stepped out on the beat there were the prejudices of older male officers to overcome. Yet from the first Pam was thrust into the front line. From runaway bulls to investigating ladies of the night and cases of vice, her innocent eyes were quickly opened.

Maddy Kiernan knows her situation is desperate. With her parents dead, her brother Thomas is left as guardian to her and her sister, Carmel, and Thomas, Maddy is all too aware, only cares about himself. When his plans to marry the daughter of the Protestant canal agent backfire Thomas takes off to Liverpool, leaving the girls to fend for themselves against the lecherous agent. Taking the momentous decision to follow their brother, Maddy leaves for Liverpool. Within days the girls are destitute, reduced to living in a cellar, their money gone. Eventually, Maddy finds work as a maid to an old lady....

Bel Huntley married too young. If Miles could only give her the daughter she longs for after four sons, she might yet rediscover her love for him. While Bel dreams of a daughter, Jean Carter prays for a son. Jack, her husband, pours scorn on Jean’s failure to provide him with an heir. When Bel finally gives birth to a daughter, Jean becomes suspicious. Could there have been something between Bel and her husband, who always fathers daughters? In her jealous grief, Jean invokes an old curse.

Local Whitby girl, Colette Shipley has become fascinated by the mysteries of the new art of photography and begins to create a record of her scenic home town with its tall ships and twin lighthouses, street urchins and weathered old fishermen. One day she encounters Arthur Newton who shares her passion for the town's unique atmosphere. Colette and Arthur begin a friendship that develops further. However, unbeknown to Collette, Arthur is also married with a young child. Arthur has tried to be content with his steady job at the railways and his marriage to his childhood sweetheart Rose.

When John Mitchell inherits property from a distant relative, he and his family move from a comfortable living in Whitby to a large country estate in Cornwall. It seems an ideal place for John and his wife to raise their young daughter, Abigail. However, life in the South is not without its problems and he finds himself clashing with the Gaisfords, a powerful old Cornish family. Any problems the family encounter over the years, however, seem to be averted when Abigail marries handsome Luke Gaisford, in spite of her father's warning that still waters run deep.

1858 - When a wheel breaks on 20-year-old Betsy Palmer’s trap as she is crossing the North York Moors on her way to Rosedale with jewellery to sell to the ironstone miners, she is helped by Jim Fenwick, a supervisor on the mining project, and a special relationship between them develops. In Newcastle, love is also blossoming between Robert Addison, son of a successful merchant, and Adele Jordan when Robert discovers something scandalous that he fears will ruin many people’s lives.

Forced by circumstance to seek refuge with Fleur, her young daughter, in the remote abbey of Saint Marie-de-la-Mer, Juliette reinvents herself as Soeur Auguste under the tutelage of the kindly Abbess. But times are changing: the murder of Henri IV becomes the catalyst for massive upheaval in France. A new appointment is made, and Juliette's new life begins to unravel. For the new Abbess is Isabelle, the eleven-year-old child of a corrupt and noble family.