Showing results by narrator "Jilly Bond" in All Categories

Gina and Sally Makepiece have inherited a stall in the French House - an antiques centre nestled in the heart of the English countryside. Gina is determined to drag the French House and its grumpy owner into the 21st century. Bearing all the attributes of a modern-day Mr Rochester, Matthew Ballinger is less than happy with the whirlwind that has arrived on his doorstep. The last thing either of them want is to fall in love. But will a trip to France change their minds?

INTRODUCED BY KATE SAUNDERS 'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' RICHARD OSMAN 'My favourite writer . . . I pick up her books with joy' JILLY COOPER 'Beneath the gentle surfaces of her novels is a slow-building comedy, salt wit in a saline drip' NEW YORK TIMES In a provincial university town, Caro...

Bloomsbury presents Life in a Cold Climate by Laura Thompson, read by Jilly Bond. 'The book is a gem: fresh, intelligent and assured' Sunday Times Nancy Mitford was, in the words of her sister Lady Diana Mosley, 'very, very complex'. Her biographies and novels, her journalism, and the vast body...

Rina accepts an invite to Aikensthorpe, a country-house hotel with a sinister past. Her fellow guests are an eccentric bunch of magicians and scholars who want to re-enact a séance. Back in 1872, it left one man dead and another mad. But Rina won’t be drawn into all of that. She's relieved when Detective MacGregor comes to her rescue. But then a blizzard sets in...leaving them trapped in the house, cut off from civilization. And then the first of the bodies is found—a distinguished scholar, smothered in his sleep. Who will be next to die on this dark and stormy night?

When Jerry Harrison receives an unwelcome visitor at his remote Cotswold cottage one winter's night, the last thing he expects is to end up dead. But, next morning, his cleaners find him fatally stabbed and the police have a murder inquiry on their hands. With no witnesses coming forward and very little evidence to go on, Jess and Ian must dig deep to find the answers to this baffling case. But not before another villager is attacked and left for dead . . .

Having left the big city behind, Sarah Vane is fully embracing her calmer life in the quaint coastal town of Merstairs. With more time for hobbies, she joins a very popular life drawing class at the local tea shop. But when their usual model, the ever-punctual Mr Williams, doesn’t turn up, Sarah’s worried. He’d been complaining of a cough just last week so she decides to check up on him. Arriving at his crooked little cottage, it appears the front door isn’t quite shut. Stepping inside, Sarah is shocked to find Mr Williams slumped in his armchair.

A lorry crashes on a dark, wet road. In the wake of the tragedy, a dying man receives another chance at life - but does he really deserve it? And if he lives, will those around him wish he hadn't? When critically ill Jacob Wilson has a heart transplant, his behaviour becomes very strange. His worried parents and girlfriend try their best to understand his sudden mood swings, but as things worsen, they begin to live in terror of what they might find in their son's bedroom next - and as Jacob's personality morphs, so, too, do the lives of those around him....

The funny, sharply observed and life-affirming Radio 2 Book Club pick. 'Hilarious and touching' DAILY MAIL 'Warm, humane, funny and sad . . . Absolute pleasure reading' MARIAN KEYES 'Keenly observed and utterly believeable' PANDORA SYKES 'Hilariously funny' ROSAMUND LUPTON...

Sex, Drugs and Walking Sticks is a one-stop guide for living well and feeling confident in your older years. It frees you from being what you “ought” to be, to being whatever you like. You’ve earned that freedom. Dr Miriam’s approach is to get you feeling happy about as many aspects of your life as you want to, whether that be confidence in health, happiness, relationships, looks and more.

Victoria and Albert have been destined for one another since birth. However, the passive Albert is well aware that marriage to a quick-tempered, demonstrative woman like Victoria could result in unnecessary scenes and stormy court feuds. And he is right. The young queen, as well as having to endure her constant pregnancies, is in perpetual revolt against anyone encroaching on her position – and Albert is doing just that. Despite attempts on her life and political crises

A MATTER OF MURDER is the seventh Cotswold village crime novel in Ann Granger's Campbell and Carter series. Sure to appeal to fans of Midsomer Murders and M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin mysteries. Two years ago, Miff Ferguson chose to opt out of the rat race. Since then he's been living rough and...

First published in the 1940s, the story of Gobbolino, the witch's cat with one white paw and bright blue eyes, has been delighting generations of children. Gobbolino is the charming tale of a witch's cat who would rather be a kitchen cat. Gobbolino has one white paw and blue eyes and isn't wicked at all, so his mother doesn't like him.

Marguerite, eldest daughter of the Count of Provence, married a king of France - and now her sister Eleanor is determined to make just as grand a match. Good fortune and wily cunning bring her Henry of England. He is a good and generous husband, but a weak king. He rules a nation that still remembers his cruel and foolish father, King John. As Henry showers gifts on his new bride, his extravagance forces him to levy ever-greater taxation on the land, and the spectre of a revolt soon looms against him.

It is 1936 in a remote dale in the old northern county of Westmorland. For centuries the rural community has remained the same, the Lightburn family has been immersed in the harsh hill-farming tradition. Then a man from the city of Manchester arrives, spokesman for a vast industrial project that will devastate both the landscape and the local community. Mardale will be flooded to create a new reservoir, supplying water to the Midland cities. In the coming year this corner of Lakeland will be evacuated and transformed.

For Lucy Riddick, Venice has always been the dream destination, the ideal place to lose herself. And now she needs to do just that. The secret she's been keeping has finally caught up with her and Lucy needs to disappear - fast. But what if, when she sets foot in Venice, Lucy finds the one thing she has been running from?

In June 1940, a covert new force - the Special Operations Executive (SOE) - was set up to wage a secret war. Its agents were tasked with sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines, and over the course of the next five years, 470 special agents would be sent into France. Only 25 female SOE agents would return. None before have told their story in their own words.

The five children have grown up and World War I has begun in earnest. The sand fairy has become a creature of stories... until, for the first time in 10 years, he suddenly reappears. Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed; the two younger children will have seen the Great War from...

In this twisty and action-packed adventure from the BSFA award-winning author of Descendant Machine and Future’s Edge, a crew of bounty hunters find themselves ensnared in a conspiracy on the very fringes of the devastated solar system. Perfect for fans of James S. A. Corey and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

News of Thomas à Becket’s martyrdom has spread throughout Christendom, and the blame is laid at the feet of Henry Plantagenet, King of England. Two years later, with Becket canonised, Henry’s position is precarious: punished at the Pope’s insistence for his part in Becket’s death, he now also has an enemy in his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after her discovery of his longstanding infidelity with Rosamund Clifford.

Trapped in a London flat, Beth remembers a transgressive love affair in 1960s Paris. The most famous writer in Russia takes his last breath in a stationmaster’s cottage, miles from Moscow. A father, finally free of his daughter’s demands, embarks on a long swim from his Canadian lakeside retreat. And in the grandest house of all, Danni the Polish housekeeper catches the eye of an enigmatic visitor.Rose Tremain awakens the senses in this diverse collection of short stories.