Showing results by narrator "Annie Aldington" in All Categories

Lottie Lane is all alone in the world. As a chambermaid at one of London's busiest inns, condemned to a life of drudgery and at the mercy of a vicious landlady, Lottie is too worn out to even dream of a better life. Until one night an injured soldier is brought to The Swan. Lottie nurses him back from the dead, and suddenly everything changes.

It is 1938, and the threat of war looms on the streets of London. But when the lights go down in the cinema aisles, usherette Daisy Blake is transported to a world of glamour and romance. Among the staff there is much merriment, and Daisy soon falls in love with the handsome organist, Al Dawson. Then war is declared, and, just after Al leaves for the front line, Daisy discovers she's pregnant.

A compelling wartime drama from the author of The Street, perfect for fans of Pam Weaver and Kitty Neale. Rosie Gardiner is having a tough war. She's had to leave her job as a nude at the Windmill in Soho after a horrific assault which left her pregnant and is now living back at home with her recently remarried dad. Despite her best efforts, Rosie and her dad just can't get along, and the strain of coping as a young, unmarried mother is getting to her.

With the fate of her family in her hands, Rose has to make a terrible choice: be thrown onto the streets without a penny to her name or watch her loved ones fall into ruin.... Rose is keeping a dreadful secret, and, too scared to ask her strict father for help, it's down to her to keep her brother from the hangman's noose - whatever it takes. Her innocent sister, Cora, is on a different road to ruin, bewitched by a handsome cad whose intentions are anything but gallant.

Carla Scofield has looked after her family since she was a teenager, but it's never been a bother because there isn't anything she wouldn't do for those closest to her. Warm, friendly, and with the ability to make everyone around her laugh, she carries her burden proudly. As the years roll past, Carla sees life around her change dramatically. Wartime brings new challenges and a new job for Carla in a sewing factory, and she shines.

When Sadie Wise strikes up a seemingly innocent conversation with a stranger on a train, the only thing on her mind is finding her husband, Eddie, and making him sign their divorce papers. She tells Mona that Eddie has been avoiding her for years, but now Sadie knows where he is she can finally be free from him. In Sadie's mind it's a throwaway moment. In Mona's mind Sadie is asking Mona to do something very dangerous for her.

1916: Across the channel, the Great War rages and in London's East End with her husband away fighting, Hannah Loxwood battles with the overwhelming burden of 'duty.' She has sacrificed so much for a husband who may never come home. When she meets Daniel who is thoughtful, intelligent and quietly captivating - Hannah finds herself faced with the most dangerous of temptations. Soon Hannah and Daniel will realise just how precarious their happiness is, as their destiny rushes towards them…

In the New Year of 1936, Gwen Purdy, aged 21, leaves her home to become a schoolteacher in a poor area of Birmingham. Her parents are horrified, but she has the support of her fiance, a recently ordained clergyman. Her early weeks in Birmingham are an eye-opener: at the school she faces a class of 52 children, some of whose homes are among Birmingham's very poorest.

But we don’t know the first thing about looking after babies.’ Phoebe’s mum and dad are foster parents, and they’re having a tough time. Her dad’s moved out for bit, and her little foster brothers are playing up. So when Phoebe and her brother Adam find a baby abandoned in their den, they decide to try and look after her themselves ...

London, 1640. Fifteen-year-old Henrietta Challoner dreams of adventure, of a life lived at the gallop, of the opportunities afforded to her brothers, Ned and Sam. She cannot know how devastatingly real these dreams will become, as the country slides towards vicious civil war...The crisis threatens to tear Henrietta's family apart. As religious and political tensions spill into the streets, they all must decide what comes first – their family, their country or their desires.

Their country needed themIn the summer of 1942, Lorna Washbourne must say goodbye to her beloved home in the peaceful East Anglian countryside, which is about to be demolished to make way for the US Eighth Army Air Force and its new airfield.War brings with it great change and Lorna and her friends find themselves called up to serve. Violetta is in the army while Megan and Bunty are sent to London: Megan, in the American Red Cross; Bunty, a clippie on the London buses.

War would change them forever. When World War II broke out, no one could predict the impact it would have on their lives. As the conflict begins to take its toll, the lives of four families become entwined. The Duchamps, the Spurgeons, the Sowersbys, and the Tooleys are all faced with personal struggles while the world around them is torn apart. Families become fragmented, love is found, and the young are forced to grow up too quickly - but all are determined to remain defiant and united against the upheaval.

She trusted the man she loved. It was the most dangerous things she had ever done… A gripping story of gangs, drugs, girls and unbreakable bonds. Perfect for fans of Martina Cole and Mandasue Heller. No one can touch Del Williams - the hardest gangster in Soho. He's got the monopoly on the drug deals and the girls - it'd be a mistake to underestimate him. The only person he'd take a bullet for is tough, beautiful Bunny Barker, mother of their daughter Star.

Despite her privileged upbringing, Daisy Lennox has always longed to make something of her life. She is drawn to the suffragette movement, but when her father faces ruin they are forced to move to the country and Daisy’s first duty is to her family. Here she becomes engaged to her childhood friend – a union both families have dreamed of. But, on the eve of their wedding, war is declared, and Daisy knows her life will never be the same again...

Linked through marriage to three brothers, the Underwood women prove time and again that they are a force to be reckoned with. Jodie has travelled a hard road to reach her own prosperity, despite her husband's constant unreliability. Yet she can't bring herself to fully sever ties with John. But now with a potential new love waiting nearby, Jodie must make a decision she has been avoiding for too long. Widowed at a young age, Lariane believes her marriage to Rick was perfect.

After a traumatic past, life finally seems to be looking up for Hanna Foster. But war is on its way... London, 1938. Hanna and Jack Foster had been sent to an orphanage when their parents were killed in a train crash, but were separated when a couple adopted Jack. Bullied and treated like a slave, it soon became clear it was a dreadful mistake. In desperation, Jack takes his future into his own hands and runs away to join the merchant navy, while Hanna takes a job looking after two children. For a time, life seems good, but war is looming and threatens to take away everything Hanna holds dear...

The reigning queen of Albert Square, Laila Morse shares her incredible story for the first time. This is a book that will shock, humble, and inspire.

Eighteen-year-old Irene Angel lives with her parents in a tiny room above the shop where her crippled mother ekes out a living selling pickles and sauces, whilst her charming but feckless father Billy gambles away what little money they do manage to earn. And it is all Irene can do to keep the family together. Billy's addiction soon leads him into trouble. Despite having been brought up by her father to fear and distrust the police, Irene finds herself forced to collaborate with them to save her father from ruin.

When 17-year-old Belinda Phillips falls in love with a handsome Anglo-Indian officer, she knows that he is a man she can never hope to marry. When he is reported missing, believed killed in action, Belinda discovers that she is pregnant. Facing disgrace and ruin, she has no option other than to accept an arranged marriage with a middle-aged widower, knowing she must keep the secret of her child's birth for ever. Reluctantly she sends her beloved daughter to a foster mother in Cripplegate, little realising she has entrusted Cassy's care to Biddy Henchard, a woman who runs a notorious baby farm in an area full of poverty and disease.

STANLEY BUTTERS is 10 years old. He has a hero - his Great Granddad, Sidney, a comedian who played the Palladium in the 50s and 60s (even if it was at the bottom of the bill). He has a passion - to be just like his Great Granddad and fulfil his dream of performing at the Royal Variety Performance - in front of the Queen. Armed with Sidney's wisdom and training and his secret box of destiny, Stanley is working towards his dream. One day on a school trip to the Drury Lane Theatre, Stanley gets his chance.