Showing results by narrator "Jilly Bond" in All Categories

The first time Annie Sweet sees 43 Stanley Road, the house is so perfect she feels almost as if it has chosen her. She longs to move in, but with her husband increasingly distant, and her daughter wrapped up in childhood, Annie is left alone to mull over the past.

Abbie loses her cool during an argument with her daughter’s teacher, unaware the conversation is being recorded. Soon, her tirade is shared on social media, and she is fired. Even her children suffer from the fallout. To make matters worse, the public scandal has attracted an old enemy intent on ruining Abbie’s life. As the shaming and outrage intensifies, her children are forced to face some terrible truths. And when lives are threatened, Abbie must ask herself... Will anyone come out of this unharmed?

Grace is living through every mother’s worst nightmare. Her daughter Abi went away on a dream vacation—and was murdered. Overwhelmed by grief and fighting off old demons, Grace tries to make sense of it—who would want to kill her beautiful girl? But as she learns more about Abi’s life, she realizes she didn’t know her own daughter very well. How did Abi acquire all those designer clothes? And what was she doing on those mysterious trips to the city? Grace desperately needs to find answers. But soon it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want her digging into Abi’s past.

The debauched celebration of the cabaret era. The magical ascent of cinema. The deprivations of World War I and the build up to World War II. Set against the rise and fall of Berlin and the innovations in art that accompanied it, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite brilliantly weaves together the story of orphan girl Lilly Nelly Aphrodite's remarkable journey from poverty to film stardom.

A brooding contemporary gothic love story, beautifully told with rich and sensual imagery. When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to purchase Les Genevriers, an abandoned house in a rural hamlet in the south of France. As the beautiful Provence summer turns to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries that haunt both her lover and the run-down old house, in particular the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful first wife, Rachel.

If you could change your life, would you? For fans of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the story of a woman who runs a sewing shop in a small town in France, and a chance in a million... Jocelyne is 47 and runs her own dressmaking shop. She's a bit overweight, her husband is very ordinary and her best friends are the twins who run the hairdresser next door. Jocelyn has reached the point where she is examining her life and measuring it against what her teenage self had imagined.

The groom: Rogan Hunt has no need for a wife. After a stint in prison, he is only concerned with rebuilding the coffers of his estates. But then the Duke of Belvingham makes him an offer only a fool would refuse. The bride: Lady Caroline Ware is horrified when her father arranges her marriage with a man said to have a wild temper and an even wilder reputation. But the Duke is dying, and Caroline has no choice but to agree.

Voices from the Blue tells the story of the hundred years of service of female police officers within the Metropolitan Police through the voices of the women who fought their way towards equality and won the respect of both their colleagues and the public. The authors have interviewed hundreds of former and serving policewomen and with the co-operation of the Metropolitan Police and the Women's Police Association now have access to the files and stories of thousands of former officers who served over the past hundred years. 

Scarlett is excited to be moving to the countryside, especially as it means she will finally get a pet. She chooses Bootle, a ginger kitten with four white socks, and the two of them become inseparable. Then Scarlett has to start at her new school... Bootle tries following Scarlett to school each day. But when there's a downpour, he gets lost. How will Scarlett ever be able to find him when she has no idea where he could be?

It's 1782. The 13-year-old daughter of a Venetian merchant family is lured naked from her bath by a stray cat and finds herself in the arms of Casanova - the legendary seducer of women. Twenty-five years later Cecilia is in Albania, now a portrait painter of some renown. Enter a young man from England, a troubled poet, looking for adventure at any price - a man who begins his affair with Cecilia.

King Casimiro harbours a secret. No one in the kingdom of Zaffirinthos knows that a devastating accident has left his memory clouded in darkness. And Casimiro himself cannot answer why Melissa Maguire, the enigmatic English rose before him, stirs such feelings in him. Questioning his ability to rule, Casimiro decides he will renounce the throne. But Melissa has news she knows will rock the palace to its core....

It's Christmas and for one whole week the Birch family is gathering under one roof. Olivia, the eldest daughter, has returned from treating an epidemic abroad and must go into quarantine for seven days. Her mother says it's the perfect opportunity to spend some 'quality time' together. Her younger sister wholeheartedly disagrees. Her father isn't allowed an opinion - but is determined to offer one anyway. When no one can leave the house, and no one can enter, life for the Birches feels like an eternity. Especially when they're all harbouring secrets. One of whom is about to come knocking at their door....

Rosie lived peacefully in Moscow, and her mother told her fairy tales. One summer night, all that came abruptly to an end when her father and sister were gunned down. Now, Rosie’s only inheritance from her reclusive mother is a notebook full of eerie, handwritten tales, but there is another story lurking between the lines. 

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

Norah Thornby can no longer afford to live in her grand family home - unless she can find a respectable lodger. But Nurse Lettie Quick is not nearly as respectable as she seems. Meanwhile the beautiful Rae Grainger is staying in an isolated house miles away from the town. It’s certainly rather creepy, but Rae knows that all she has to do is stay out of sight until paid-professional others take her little problem away.

Tess believed matrimony was, is for life - until her husband decided that their marriage was the relationship equivalent of a starter home: cramped, claustrophobic, and something he'd outgrown. Now, at thirty-five, Tess is in the biggest mess of her life. Known to her friends as "Tip-Top Tess" because of her pursuit of the perfect home, she's now a candidate for How Clean is Your House? But there's a life raft on the horizon: the Divorce Survival Class - a boot camp for the broken-hearted.

It's more money than the street urchin has ever dreamt of. But who is the rider, and why is there so much interest in his big black horse? And will the boy ever see the money he has been promised? There's highway robbery in the air, but it isn't entirely clear just who is trying to rob who.

Food writer Claudia has sampled dishes by the world's greatest chefs. But when she hears about a remarkable pastry shop operated out of a convent in a sleepy Italian hillside town, she wants to write a book featuring their desserts and their creator - Sorella Agata. Sorella tells of the young woman who inspired her: Rosalia, who was kidnapped and separated from her family. Claudia discovers a deep, fascinating story - one that affirms food can do more than nourish the body....

Sebastian, Duke of Hasford, has a title, wealth, privilege, and plenty of rakish charm. Until he discovers the only thing that truly belongs to him is his charm. An accident of birth has turned him into plain Mr. de Silva. Now, Sebastian is flummoxed as to what to do with his life - until he stumbles into a gambling den owned by Miss Ivy, a most fascinating young lady, who hires him on the spot. Working with a boss has never seemed so enticing.

Married four times, Susannah Forbes had a starry career as a top model. Now, with an instinctive eye for design, she finds herself in constant demand as an interior designer. Offered a commission by a recently divorced American to make over his lavish Long Island home, Susannah accepts, bringing as her assistant young divorcee Daisy Mitchell. Taking off from Heathrow, Susannah is transported back to a time when, at the height of her modelling career, she lived in New York.