Showing results by narrator "Emma Powell" in All Categories

Plymouth, 1954. The future seems rosy for Plymouth schoolgirl Anna Millington, as she prepares for teacher training college. But Anna's life is not what it seems. Her family is hiding a cruel secret that resulted from the worst night of the Plymouth Blitz. Now, the devastating consequences are about to erupt again. Fearing for her life, Anna leaves her dreams behind and flees to nearby Dartmoor. It isn't long before Anna secures a position as a serving girl at Ashcroft Hall.

Dartmoor, 1875. Rose Maddiford, beautiful, vivacious and intelligent, could have her pick of men across Dartmoor. But she is in no hurry to marry unless it is for true love - and certainly not while she can help her father manage the Cherrybrook Gunpowder Mills. Then tragedy strikes. Rose’s father is injured by an explosion at the mill, and the family is left teetering on the edge of poverty. Rose is left with just two options: accept arrogant, controlling Charles Chadwicks’ proposal and move to London or let her family perish. Rose must choose duty over love.

The Harrison family gathers as usual for Christmas in their big Sussex house. This year, however, outside realities are pressing hard: Pamela and John, married for four decades, know that time is catching up with them. And trouble is brewing in the lives of their four children. Cassie, the cossetted youngest, is in the throes of an affair with a married man; Elizabeth, her awkward older sister, is struggling with a faltering second marriage; Peter, the eldest and designated inheritor of Ashley House, is beginning to meet resistance to such a prospect from his career-orientated wife.

Olivia Sheldon has travelled across the world to marry a man she does not love. Reluctant to leave England but coerced into the marriage, Olivia's reward is being reunited with her estranged sister, Clara. Her punishment is falling impossibly and illicitly in love with the enigmatic Captain Edward Bertram. Then one scorching day Clara is abducted from Alexandria's busiest street. Desperate to find her sister - and the truth about her disappearance - Olivia becomes embroiled in Egypt's shadowy underworld, risking both her life and future with Edward.

Dartmoor, 1914. Twenty-four-year-old Marianne Warrington is in danger of being left on the shelf. That's what her mother says, and that’s precisely how she wants it. She has her future mapped out, and it doesn’t include marriage or babies. Instead, she vows to devote herself to rearing horses on her parents’ farm. Then World War One breaks out, and the Warringtons’ peaceful existence is shattered forever. Amid the chaos, Marianne seizes her chance to prove she’s more than just a spinster.

Kiyote Tales: The Forbidden Forest marks the inaugural installment in an exhilarating adventure series, brimming with perpetual action and humor. Meet the Kiyote, a charismatic, talking coyote residing in the quaint town of Smud. His latest daring escapade, however, triggers the ire of the formidable Lord Pamplamoose Pithwhithle, setting off a chain of events that thrusts our cunning hero into a perilous situation.

The house where Stella and her sister, Amy, grew up never changes - the red front door, the breathtaking view over the Cornish coast, her parents in their usual spots on the sofa. Except this summer, things feel a little different.... Stella’s father is nowhere to be seen, yet her mother - in suspiciously new Per Una jeans - seems curiously unfazed by his absence and more eager to talk about her mysterious dog-walking buddy, Mitch.

Impulsive and intrepid psychotherapist, Juliet Grey, can't resist responding to an anonymous text message telling her to go to Hammersmith Bridge at dawn. But it isn't simply the dead body in the water that disturbs her, it's the way something uniquely personal to Juliet has been left on the corpse.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Without a Trace. A compelling story of courage, friendship and love by international number-one best-selling author Lesley Pearse, read by Emma Powell. Coronation Day, 1953. In the Somerset village of Sawbridge, young shopkeeper Molly Heywood slips away from the celebrations to her friend's cottage and makes a shocking discovery: Cassie is dead, and her six-year-old daughter, Petal, has vanished without a trace.

Rachel wakes from a coma to discover her controlling husband has been killed, and the police suspect her of involvement. But all Rachel can recall from the last few weeks are tantalising flashes of a fellow commuter. A man whose name she doesn't know. A man who has disappeared without a trace. Now Rachel is a wealthy widow and the vultures are circling, wanting her in prison for murder, or failing that ... dead. Can Rachel discover the truth in time to save herself?

Returning from their honeymoon, John and Lydia Savidge have another mystery on their hands. As a favor to an old friend, they agree to help uncover who killed Sir Benedict Stanbury, master of Fallowfield. Could the hapless stable hand accused of the crime really be guilty? Or could it have been the suspicious solicitor or the frightened governess? Someone knows something. Someone is lying. With a surplus of suspects and an absence of alibis, the newlyweds must untangle this web of confusion and catch the killer in just three days.

As war rages, Barbara Sinclair is desperate to escape her unhappy home life. And with the threat of German bombs ever present, Barbara reluctantly agrees to marry John, her childhood friend, who is leaving to join the RAF. But an encounter with Alex Everton, a dashing Spitfire pilot, complicates matters for Barbara. With emotions running high, she begins to question whether she has made a terrible mistake. With the constant threat of death all around her, Barbara must try to find a way to deal with the complexities of her difficult home life and her emotional relationships, too.

The phony war is over and Hitler is beginning his rampage through Europe. But back home Barbara Sinclair has troubles of her own. With her wedding to Spitfire Pilot Alex Everton imminent, Barbara is worried about a secret she is keeping from her new husband – one that could ruin everything. Determined to try and maintain some normality in her life, the wedding goes ahead, but Alex leaves almost immediately to continue fighting the Germans. Barbara fears for his safety and for the moment, her secret must wait. But when bombs fall on Barbara’s new home, the war feels closer than ever.

When Alice receives an invitation from Karen, her charismatic University friend, to stay in a remote cottage in Scotland, she can't wait to rekindle their lost friendship. But two more former students arrive - never friends of Alice's - and as the atmosphere chills, Karen isn't the warm-hearted soulmate Alice remembers. Barely is the reunion underway before someone is dead and the fragile gathering is pushed to a breaking point.

August 1883. The future for Ling Southcott, a quarryman’s daughter, seems to be already mapped. Marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Barney, a cluster of children, a life contained to the hamlet of Foggintor Quarry. For Ling, with her sharp, enquiring mind and love of books, it is an accepted, if unwelcome fate. But then the new Princetown Railway opens across Dartmoor, connecting her remote hamlet to the neighbouring town of Tavistock, and even Plymouth.

Cornwall, 1939. The wealthy silversmiths, the Cossentines, are poisoned at dinner: only the youngest son and daughter survive. Maurice inherits everything. Celeste, with a history of psychosis, flees, taking with her a unique silver ring and assuming a new identity. She trains as a nurse but lives in fear of being recognised. When a wounded soldier captures her heart, she yearns to confess. But dare she trust even Danny with her secret?

Heavily pregnant, Barbara is looking forward to welcoming her new baby. But with her husband Alex still away flying and fighting the Germans, she fears he will miss the arrival of his longed-for child. But after the birth, Barbara is gripped with a terrible fear that she will lose her family completely – that this dreadful war will take everything from her. As she spirals into a dark depression, she pushes everyone away and it seems as though she will lose everyone she loves after all. Unless Barbara can find the courage to grab her second chance at happiness?

21-year-old Alix is studying in Paris, far away from Sasha, her Serbian father and Leonora, her English mother, as World War Two breaks out. Finding hope even in troubled times, romance sparks with fellow student Raoul; but she soon learns young love can be tumultuous. So, when Steve, a handsome American pilot with Serbian ancestors, enters her life, she can't ignore her feelings toward him. And making a decision will be even harder as both men leave for war.

Clemmie throws herself into volunteering with the very organisation who helped her and her sisters when they were homeless: the WVS. Demonstrating a natural flair, painfully shy Clemmie is soon drafted to set up one of the British Welcome Clubs aimed at easing American troops' integration into English life. There, she meets Squadron Leader Dunning who, shot down in the Blitz, has been left partially paralysed. As friendship turns to something more, Clemmie faces an impossible decision - sacrifice her dreams of motherhood, or lose the man she's learning to love.

When Noelle and Sam's lives collide one snowy evening, they spend eight perfect hours stuck side by side believing that they'll never see each other again. But soon their lives become entangled in ways they never expected - and it's going to change everything.