Showing results by narrator "Laura Kirman" in All Categories

A heartwarming wartime family saga from best-selling saga author Rosie Clarke. 1943, Mulberry Lane, London. In the midst of another bleak winter, life is hard for the residents of the lane. When Rose Merchant arrives at Mulberry Lane, she is carrying a secret that haunts her. How can she tell her landlady and the lane's matriarch, Peggy Ashley, that she is the daughter of a murderer?

The women of Mulberry Lane anxiously wait for news. Peggy doesn’t know if she’ll ever again see Able, the American father of her twins, while a very odd letter from estranged husband, Laurie, threatens to set the cat among the pigeons. Rose can’t stop loving Jimmy, while Tom can’t stop loving her. Will Gordon ever again be the man he once was? Can he be a proper husband to Maureen, and if he can’t, what will become of their marriage?

Lady Morwenna Trelawny Penvenan indulged in her fair share of dalliances in her youth, but now that she's the widowed mother to the heir of the Penvenan title, she's desperate to polish her reputation. When she's accused of deliberately luring ships to crash on the rocks to steal the cargo, Morwenna begins an investigation to uncover the real culprits and stumbles across an unconscious man lying in the sea's foam - a man wearing a medallion with the Trelawny crest around his neck.

Stephen Gordon is an ideal child of aristocratic parents - a fencer, a horse rider and a keen scholar. Stephen grows to be a war hero, a best-selling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. As her ambitions drive her, and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions.

Matt Westbrook only turned his back for a moment. But when he looks around, his car - with his three young children inside - has vanished. Panicked, Matt assumes a car thief has got more than he bargained for, but then he starts to receive text messages: This is a kidnap. If you want to see your children again, you will exchange them for your wife. Matt and his wife, Annabelle, are horrified....

For Sam Lovell, organising the summer festival in her hometown is one of the highlights of her year. It’s not always smooth sailing, but she loves to see Porthmellow’s harbour packed with happy visitors and being on the committee has provided a much-needed distraction from the drama in her family life (and the distinct lack of it in her love life). When their star guest pulls out with only a few weeks to go, everyone’s delighted when a London chef who grew up locally steps in at the last minute.

Cressida Collins is the queen of makeovers. With a well-placed stitch, button or seam, she can transform any frock in The Vintage Dress Shop and give customers their Cinderella moment. Like her beautifully organised workroom under the eaves, Cress's life away from the shop is just as orderly and mapped out. But when her boyfriend of fifteen years drops a bombshell, it explodes all the carefully laid plans Cress had for her future. It's going to take more than needle and thread to put Cress's own life back together. Will she ever be brave enough to say goodbye to her old dreams and start over?

After an absence of twelve years, Dominic Sanford returns to his dilapidated estate on the borders of Pemberley a troubled man. Journals have recently come into his possession that bring into question the accident that killed both of his parents and suggests they could have been murdered. Dominic will know no peace until he discovers the truth. Georgiana Darcy feels an immediate attraction towards her brother’s engaging friend.

Dedicated local vet Laura cares for the farm animals of the little village of Bramble Heath. But falling bombs aren't the only danger as the war hits close to home. Laura is not afraid to serve her country by caring for animals and protecting the crops everyone relies on. But, just when the country is most in need of food, the farms of the village come under attack. Desperate to figure out who could be doing such terrible things even while German bombs rain down, Laura is relieved when the Ministry respond to her requests for help. But the man they send isn't what she expects.

It’s been a year since Lottie’s fiancé walked out, leaving her heartbroken. But things start to look up when she lands her dream job at a beautiful Lake District estate, with a handsome groundskeeper for a neighbour. So when Lottie is asked to organise a last-minute Christmas wedding at Firholme, she can’t wait to get started. Until she meets the couple and discovers that Connor, the man who broke her heart, is the groom-to-be. As snow falls on the hills, can Lottie put aside her past to organise the perfect winter wedding?

1939. When the man Georgie has always loved is sent to France on a secret mission, every knock of the door fills her with dread. Beth is determined to do her bit for the war effort. Caught up in a whirlwind romance, she marries only to become a war widow. Desperately trying to make her way back from Paris to her family in England, a fateful and tragic encounter brings Hetty to Chateau de Faubourg, where she joins the resistance.

England, 1811: When Elizabeth Trelawny flees London, she has more than one reason to run. And when her carriage, pursued by her would-be fiancé, is caught in a storm, she quickly accepts the help of a dark stranger. ABut Rowan Curnow is not exactly a stranger. He’s not quite a gentleman either. Class disparity once kept him from courting Elizabeth, even if it didn’t keep him from kissing her. The couple elude their pursuers and reach Bastion Point, Elizabeth’s future inheritance. But in the very act of spiriting her to safety, Rowan has jeopardized Elizabeth’s inheritance

It is 1939 - World War II is looming, Oswald Mosley has awoken fascist sympathies among the British aristocracy and, in London, socialites are gathering for the start of the Season. Enter astute Oxford graduate Hope Stapleford, whose quick wit, love of books and keen observations set her apart from her peers. Her rebellious friend Bernadette has persuaded her to take part in the Season and Hope expects little more than a round of dull engagements and dreary introductions.

Sophy Stevens is moving to Australia. Turning thirty has found her unexpectedly out of a job, out of a relationship, and just in need of Something Different - and Australia, where she can finally meet her grandparents and surprise them on their wedding anniversary, looks like the perfect answer...if she can save up the money for the plane ticket. So when her feckless, absent dad Johnno offers her a job at his vintage clothes shop in Primrose Hill, she can't turn it down.

When Gemma Lamb takes a job at a quirky English girls’ boarding school, she believes she’s found the perfect escape route from her controlling boyfriend—until she discovers the rest of the staff are hiding sinister secrets. Even McPhee, the school cat, is leading a double life. Tucked away in the school’s beautiful private estate in the Cotswolds, can Gemma stay safe and build a new independent future, or will past secrets catch up with her and the rest of the staff? With a little help from her new friends, including some wise pupils, she's going to give it her best shot.

All Beth has to do is drive her son to his Under-14s away match, watch him play, and bring him home. Just because she knows that her former best friend lives near the football ground, that doesn't mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that, and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn't seen Flora Braid for 12 years. But she can't resist. She parks outside Flora's house and watches from across the road as Flora and her children, Thomas and Emily, step out of the car. Except....

When Helen, finally pregnant after years of tragedy, attends her first antenatal class, she is expecting her loving architect husband to arrive soon after, along with her confident, charming brother Rory and his pregnant wife, the effortlessly beautiful Serena. What she is not expecting is Rachel. Extroverted, brash, unsettling single mother-to-be Rachel, who just wants to be Helen’s friend. Who just wants to get know Helen and her friends and her family. Who just wants to know everything about them. Every little secret.

Lizzy Darcy’s spring house party is becoming a Pemberley tradition and this year Lizzy will have the pleasure of all her sisters’ company. She is apprehensive at the thought of her mother, Mrs Bennett and the formidable Lady Catherine De Burgh being at Pemberley at the same time especially, as there is to be an exciting announcement from Lizzie’s sister Kitty. Richard Turner, recently promoted to the rank of major, plans to propose to Kitty during the course of the party.

When Lizzie Summers is jilted at the altar, she’s left completely heartbroken. But then she receives news that she has inherited a beautiful chateau in Provence, and it seems like the perfect escape. Upon arrival, she discovers she is now the proud owner of...a crumbling ruin. A decrepit chateau – with nothing but dust and a goat for company. Intending to head straight back to the airport, Lizzie instead gets caught in a freakish summer storm and finds herself trudging through a vineyard for help. Bedraggled and furious, she enlists the help of her nearest neighbour, the enchanting Luc.

The first chapter of a manuscript arrives on Publisher Marina’s desk. She assumes it’s just another novel by another aspiring writer. As the chapters arrive one by one, Marina is convinced they are about her past. There’s only one person who can know everything about the scandal, the trial, and the trauma that nearly broke her. This is one story that should never be told, and Marina is so desperate she will do anything to stop it getting out.