Jessica has just had the wedding of her dreams, and now she's setting up a new home with her lawyer husband, Matthew. Even better - they are expecting a child. But as they paint the nursery and shop for the baby, Jessica keeps waiting for the excitement to kick in. Why isn't she transformed by maternal feelings? Where is the all-consuming love she's supposed to feel for her child?

Whoever said the afterlife would be easy? Noël Coward is the toast of twenties society... a brilliant playwright, composer and entertainer whose witty songs and pithy lines don't quite tell the full story. Goldenhurst, his house in Kent, provides a place where he can be himself. And more importantly where he can be with his lover, Jack, without fear of arrest or judgement. But their romantic idyll is ruined, first by the arrival of Noël's demanding relatives and then by a mysterious death.

London, 1882. Alec Lonsdale, a young reporter on the Pall Mall Gazette, is working on a story about a fatal house fire. But the postmortem on the victim produces shocking results: Patrick Donovan's death was no accident. But why would someone murder a humble shop assistant and steal part of his brain? When a second body is discovered, its throat cut, and then a third, Lonsdale and his spirited female colleague, Hulda Friederichs, begin to uncover evidence of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest echelons of Victorian society.

Marion Crawford is just 22 years old when she becomes governess to the little Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose in 1931. As their beloved 'Crawfie', she is instantly confided in, trusted and immersed in the lives of the royal family. As World War II finally comes to an end, it's clear that Princess Elizabeth has fallen in love. Now heiress presumptive to the British throne, no one believes that Prince Philip of Greece is a suitable husband for the future queen of England. No one, that is, except for Crawfie.

In little more than 50 years the regard with which the Royal Family are held has changed out of all recognition. Their private lives are now the stuff of soap opera and it seems any one who comes into contact with them sells their story to the magazines or to the newspapers. The Little Princesses was published in 1950 to a furore we cannot imagine today. Crawfie was demonised by the press, and the Queen Mother, who had been a great friend and who had, Crawfie maintained, given her permission to write the account, never spoke to her again.

It's 1915 when young Bess Ravenhart, recently widowed, leaves her baby son, Frazer, with her mother-in-law, Cora, while she sails from India to Britain to set up a home. But Cora has no intention of returning Frazer to his mother's care. Though Bess makes a new life in Edinburgh and knows the joy - and pain - of motherhood with further children, her heart always aches for the little boy she left behind. When Frazer travels to Scotland 20 years later, it seems Bess' dreams of a reconciliation will come true. 

Lilli Sternberg longs to be a ballet dancer. But outside the sanctuary of the theatre, her beloved city is in chaos. The Nazi party are gaining power, and the threats to those who deviate from the party line are increasing. Jewish families are being targeted and their businesses raided; even her father’s shop was torched because of their faith. When Lilli meets Captain Marco Zeiller during a chance encounter, her heart soars. But Marco has been spotted by the Reich as an officer with potential.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother has been called the 'most successful queen since Cleopatra'. Her personality was so captivating that even her arch-enemy, Wallis Simpson, wrote about 'her legendary charm'. Portrayed as a selfless partner to the king in the Oscar-winning movie The King's Speech, The Queen Mother is most often remembered from her later years as the smiling granny with the pastel hats. When she died in 2002, just short of her 102nd birthday, she was praised for a long life well lived. But there was another side to her story.

1940, Great Paxford, Cheshire. When a spitfire crashes in the village, the lives of an extraordinary community of women will change forever: Frances Barden's greatest challenge is only just beginning; Pat Simms received a respite when her abusive husband went to war, but now he's home Pat doesn't know who to turn to; and for newlyweds Teresa and Nick, the plane crash on their wedding day may just be the start of their troubles.

'Never again', became Queen Elizabeth II's mantra shortly after Diana's death. More specifically, there could never be 'another Diana'—a member of the family whose global popularity upstaged, outshone and posed an existential threat to the British monarchy. Picking up where The Diana Chronicles left off, The Palace Papers reveals how the royal family reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana's blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet.

Anne Glenconner reveals the real events behind The Crown as well as her own life of drama, tragedy and courage, with the wonderful wit and extraordinary resilience which define her. Anne Glenconner has been close to the Royal Family since childhood. Eldest child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she was, as a daughter, described as 'the greatest disappointment' by her family as she was unable to inherit. Her childhood home, Holkham Hall, is one of the grandest estates in England. Bordering Sandringham, the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were frequent playmates.   

Hannah Francis has been forced to leave her beloved mother and the life she knows in the silk mill town of Macclesfield and is set to become an apprentice at a cotton mill in the Derbyshire dales. It is a cruel blow for such a young girl, but her three travelling companions are even younger than she is, and Hannah is determined to keep their spirits up and remain in good cheer.

This is a story of the most well documented, most commented on love affair of our times. Yet the personalities behind the facade remain elusive and the nature of their relationship is an enigma. This is the first major biography of Charles and Camilla, two people who have battled against the curious lot that fate has thrown their way. Gyles Brandreth returns to the same ground as his last book, the bestselling "Philip and Elizabeth"; "Portrait of a Marriage".

A story charting the events of the 20th century through the eyes of the Fielding family, whose fortunes are altered irrevocably. The Brian Aldiss collection includes over 50 books and spans the author’s entire career, from his debut in 1955 to his more recent work. On the glorious sands of the North Norfolk coast, Steve, the youngest member of the Fielding family, plays alone. But are these halcyon days War is looming, and things will never be the same again. This book, described by Brian as his magnum opus, charts the fortunes of the Fielding family throughout the 20th century.

Don’t miss the sweeping new summer audiobook from Fern Britton.