Showing results for "melanie crawley" in Literature & Fiction

April 1897: A young nanny arrives at Sandringham, ancestral estate of the Duke and Duchess of York. She is excited, exhausted - and about to meet royalty. So begins the unforgettable story of Charlotte Bill, who would care for a generation of royals as their parents never could. Neither Charlotte - LaLa, as her charges dub her - nor anyone else can predict that eldest sons David and Bertie will each one day be king. LaLa knows only that these children, and the four who swiftly follow, need her steadfast loyalty and unconditional affection. 

Jen Taylor has a secret. In 1987, the body of 14-year-old Kelly was found on a railway track, and Jen believes she was responsible for her death. Now an adult, Jen is approached by Kelly’s mother, who asks her to help investigate her daughter’s murder. But Jen is hiding more than anyone knows. As the investigation is reopened by Jen along with her former friend Claire, secrets from the past come to light, and when another murder takes place, the case takes a sinister turn.

After 50 years of marriage, Gretyl Trollop is thinking of a new life, somewhere hot. Her husband, Albert, is thinking of the crematorium. She's thinking of stuffing herself in a bikini. He's thinking of a taxidermist. The Londoners continue their separate lives until a mysterious letter turns their world upside down. In Essex, Dave and Sharon Soddall are struggling on benefits and looking for a get-rich-quick solution. With the help of a devious financial advisor, they concoct a plan and Costa Soddall Travel is born. Will the Soddalls pull off the con of a lifetime?

Leonie Simoneaud was once one of the elusive Lake People - Acadian descendants in Louisiana with odd psychic powers. As a 13-year-old, she rescued an outsider child, Douglas Trent, from a maniacal pedophile named Monroe Whitechapel. Consequently, she was shunned by most of the Lake People for exposing them to the external world. As an adult, she lives elsewhere, an owner of an antique store in a quaint Texas town: Buffalo Creek.

They were the Boleyns, once one of England's most powerful family. Anne Boleyn captured the hand of Henry VIII, and now we see the rise and fall of their family fortunes through the eyes of the eldest Boleyn daughter, Mary. Mary Boleyn is overshadowed in history by her sister, Anne, but it was she who first caught the eye of Henry VIII, setting the stage for her family's dramatic rise to power - and ultimate fall from grace. Although Henry set her aside as his mistress, Mary still navigated the dangerous waters of the Tudor court while forging ahead to find a life.

On a remote island in the Adriatic, the playboy son of a president (and ex-warlord) hosts a spectacular entertainment to satisfy the jaded appetites of the super-rich. And for one young family, the holiday of a lifetime is about to become a desperate battle for survival. As teenage parents, Sam and Jody managed to defy the odds once before, striving to raise their children in a settled home. But the years of struggle have taken their toll, and Sam's demons return to haunt him at the worst possible time.

After a tragic car accident, Samantha is left widowed and bereft. Her husband, Adam, was everything to her. At least the home they shared together in Cornwall provides her with some security. Or does it? Upon returning from a school reunion where Sam met her old friend, Penny, and an old flame, Dan, she discovers that Adam had invested money unwisely and she is now penniless. Dan comes up with a way in which she can keep the house, and he’s willing to invest. Dan gets his way...but at what price? And why is he so keen to help, despite his wife’s reservations?

When schoolteacher Lorna Buchanan witnesses a strange ceremony on the grounds of St. Anne’s College, she is sacked by the tyrannical headmistress - and becomes entangled in a web of mysticism and murder. Set in a cozy 19th-century English spa town, The Malvern Mystery follows Lorna as she investigates a deadly crime clouded by deception, greed, and ancient rituals.

When crusading journalist Lydia Wright is sent a video of an apparent murder on a London train, she thinks she’s found the story to revive her career. But she can’t find a victim, much less the killers, and the only witness has disappeared. Wary she’s fallen for fake news, she begins to doubt her instincts - until a sinister call suggests that she’s not the only one interested in the crime. Michael Stringer deals in information - and doesn’t care which side of the law he finds himself on.

One night before Christmas...two babies for the Italian! Sevastiano Cantarelli can barely believe Amy Taylor is real. After the lifetime of betrayal he’s experienced, her surprising sweetness is the ultimate threat to his cynical worldview! Unwrapping her innocence was a gift he couldn’t forget...but one he knows it wouldn’t be fair to repeat. Their encounter left Amy exhilarated - and wanted for the first time. She knows that walking away from the commanding Italian is the safest way to keep her heart intact.

A brutal series of murders of London’s most vulnerable women casts the city into a frenzy of fear and suspicion, pushing it to a state of panic not seen in centuries. Jack the Ripper has arrived. When Scotland Yard begins to find traces of Jack’s handiwork in a string of seemingly unrelated killings, will the world’s most notorious serial killer be caught at last?

Heng Lee is a goatherd in the remote mountains northeast of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, very close to the border with Laos. It is a tight-knit community where everyone knows one another. Heng gets sick all of a sudden but not too sick to take the goats out, until one day, he has to go to see the local shaman because he has started fainting.

Ellie Truman’s widowed mum is struggling to keep Gwel Teg, the family hotel in Cornwall, afloat. Ellie is determined to do everything in her power to help her, even if that means moving back to the sleepy Cornish village she fled from broken-hearted a few years ago. Things go wrong from the start, and she’s grateful for the help from hunky guest Reece Mitchell. But does Reece have ulterior motives? Will Ellie’s efforts be for nothing? 

When 30-year-old Kate’s childhood sweetheart dumps her without a goodbye, she almost hits rock bottom. But she’s determined to have a fresh start and goes to Italy’s stunning capital city in search of healing. Hot sun, fresh coffee and white marble piazzas; here, Kate might be able to put herself back together. But when a glass (or three) more wine than is strictly necessary leads to questioning by a concerned policeman – a tall, Italian policeman, with wavy, black hair and cheekbones to die for – she knows she’s in trouble. 

Jane is a woman without a past. She wakes up in the back of a car with handcuffs on her wrists, with a man intent on doing her harm. She escapes, but into the murky underworld of New Orleans. A mysterious man shadows her, and strange memories tantalize her. People want to hurt her, and an unearthly creature stalks the night. Insanity might be a possibility, but everything is horrifyingly real. This sultry world is anything but ordinary.

Wales. 1955. Sixteen-year-old Janine's wrenching screams shatter the stillness of night as she gives birth to her illegitimate child. Still struggling to take its first breath the newborn is snatched away by the teen's father and they disappear into the dark. London. 1965. Paul, a kind gentleman Janine meets the night she runs away professes his unrequited love. After he becomes aware of the suffering caused by the haunting memories of her past, he convinces her to make peace with her estranged father, now dying.

Christmas Babies for the Italian: Be swept away by this festive delight, as USA Today best-selling author Lynne Graham enthralls with this passionate Christmas pregnancy romance! The Greek Demands His Heir: "Don’t be silly, Leo. Strangers don’t get married." Leo Zikos should be celebrating securing a perfectly convenient fiancée, but it's left him cold. Instead it’s stranger Grace Donovan’s impeccable beauty that fires his blood. So he decides to pursue one last night of freedom....