Showing results by narrator "Claire Morgan" in All Categories

Cambridgeshire - March 1939. As the clouds of war begin to gather in Europe, the Talbot family of rural Blackberry Farm will be torn apart, just as so many families all over the world will be. Life will never be the same again. Whilst in London, the Salmons family will feel the pain of parting and loss. Brought together by war, the two families become intertwined and, as the outlook looks bleak, they must draw on each other’s strength to fight through the hard times.

Best friends Hollie and Niamh tell each other everything. Behind the village of Abingworth’s closed doors, every family has its secrets - and their doors might hide the worst ones of all. One day Hollie tells Niamh about a devastating discovery, swears her to secrecy, then vanishes. The villagers claim to know nothing. But when Hollie’s body is found, the police know one of their number isn’t just a liar, but a killer....

Young Charlotte Mortimer loves her job teaching the poor children in the local school and she is happy with her steadfast fiancé, Luke. Then, one day, a terrible mining explosion rocks the town, and, suddenly, everything Charlotte thinks she knows is thrown into doubt. The arrival of wealthy businessman Justin Harvard complicates things further. Charlotte must marry him to save the school she loves even if it means sacrificing everything else that is dear to her. There are secrets and lies at every turn to challenge her; will she ever make it as a bargain bride?

When Ella Burton takes a job as a lowly cleaner at the glamorous Palace theatre in Swansea, she is surprised by how quickly she takes to the job - it's as if she was born for a life in the theatre. Unlike Kathleen, who wants her name in lights, backstage is where Ella's heart lies, running the show under the watchful eye of Anthony. It's not long before she realises that she has fallen in love.

Twins Katy and Rebecca don't know much about each other's lives anymore.  Rebecca thinks that Katy is a high-flying event planner in London, while Katy thinks that Rebecca lives in idyllic marital bliss in the countryside. Each sister believes the other has created a perfect life - but the truth is that neither twin has the life she pretends she does. And when these sisters unexpectedly swap houses for a week, they're in for a big shock.

When her beloved father dies, Manon Jenkins is left homeless and alone. She longs for Caradoc Jones, son of a famous Welsh cattle drover, and, in desperation, she accepts a job as chaperone to Caradoc's spoilt sister Georgina, and joins the drovers on the road to Smithfield market in London. Non struggles to be accepted by the other women on the journey, as they walk long miles over rugged terrain. One heady, star-filled night, Caradoc finally becomes her lover, but she is devastated when he refuses to marry her.

Gwenllyn Lyons has been raised by her grandmother in the Wye Valley. One afternoon, they come across a man lying injured by the river bank. They nurse him, but nothing seems to help him regain his lost memories. Gwenllyn realises that she can't imagine what it would be like without this man in her life. As her love for the mysterious stranger grows, she cannot help rejoicing when she realises he feels the same way about her. Gwenllyn's only fear is that some day his past may come to haunt them - a different life, where another woman might be waiting for him. 

When her parents passed away and her older brother went missing in America, Lady Meriel Traherne had to leave her beloved estate in Wales to escort her rebellious younger sister to a school in France. She had no idea of the dangers she would encounter in this foreign land, and she certainly never expected the help of Sir Anthony Davies, the kind of fashionable gentleman she had always despised....

Charlotte knew nothing of her parents except that they'd died when she was a child. And when her aunt's will leaves no provision for her, Charlotte must leave the only home she's known for the uncertain protection of an uncle she's never met at his manor house, Plas Melyn. Plas Melyn seems cold and unwelcoming, but when acts of violence that can only be directed at her occur, Charlotte has to wonder why anyone would want to kill a poor orphan.

It is the year AD 454. The Roman Empire has withdrawn from Britain, throwing it into the chaos of the Dark Ages. Mai has been kept safe by her father and her sister, Haf. But when Saxon warriors arrive at their farm, the family is forced to flee to the hills where British warlords lie in wait. Can Mai survive in a dangerous world where speaking her mother tongue might be deadly, and where even the people she loves the most can't be trusted? 

Two lonely people. One note in the window. And what happens when they reach out.... Lachlan Wallace is stuck at home after a car accident stalled his army career. With months of physiotherapy still to endure and only his rescue dog and cat for company, he’s taken to gazing out of the window, watching the world spin on without him. And then he notices a vase of flowers on the windowsill of the apartment opposite his. Drawn to their hope and colour, he decides to reach out and sticks a message in his window.... 

Jessie Price has travelled the drovers' roads from South Wales to London's Smithfield Market and becomes a milkmaid in London. Her ambition to own her own dairy grows, and she is helped by young Albie. Meanwhile, Non Jones is miserable when Caradoc leaves her and their son to go to London on the drove, and when she receives news of a terrible accident, her world falls apart. Jessie is devastated when Albie is arrested and sent to Newgate prison. She knows that he is innocent and will rely on Non to speak for him in court.

Charged with drama and beauty, this memorable collection by a master storyteller weaves a magical world of possibility and power from female myths of physical renewal, creation and change. It is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shapeshifting women of our native folklore. Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia, Sharon Blackie brings to life women's remarkable ability to transform themselves in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances.

When tragedy struck 25 years ago, Martha Morgan lost everything. Once a member of one of the UK's most prestigious bands, she now lives in solitude in the beautiful small village of Dordogne. In an attempt to piece her life back together Martha decides to rent her idyllic French farmhouse to holidaymakers for the summer, hiring the mysterious Ben to work as a caretaker to help reconstruct the dishevelled B&B.

Ivy Edwards is 31 years old, funny, shameless and a bit of a romantic. She's also currently trying not to cry in the office toilet. Partly because she's just run out of money for fags. A bit because her mum continues to annoy her. Definitely not because she's just been dumped by her fiancé. With her London life in shambles and her family miles away in the Welsh valleys, Ivy doesn't actually feel like she belongs anywhere.

What clever woman would want a man like Lord Harry Desire? Why, he was clearly a lummox - languid, vain, and bland. Not even his beautiful face could redeem him. But he stood to inherit a vast fortune, and that was good enough for Deirdre's father, a spendthrift vicar who arranged the match to rescue himself from imminent financial collapse. Leave it to Deirdre to contrive an escape, a quick elopement with her one true love, the dashing Guy Wentwater. But Wentwater's love proved none too true, and Deirdre found herself in a humiliating pickle.

Poor Minerva. Prudish, self-righteous, and incredibly beautiful, she is to be sent to London to capture a wealthy husband. But Minerva doesn't know the first thing about flirting. The London dandies find her moralizing appalling and concoct a plan to assault her virtue - an assault that will scandalize all London society. Meanwhile, Lord Sylvester Comfrey, whom she met earlier through her father, has been keeping a careful eye on the girl. A fact she resents. She dislikes Lord Sylvester. There is something about him that disturbs her.

Daphne Armitage embarked on her first Season with secret dread. For though she had long since learned the power of her flawless beauty, she shrank from the open competition of the marriage mart. Better to marry her first suitor, the fastidious Cyril Archer, and be done with it. But when Simon Garfield, notable and wealthy Corinthian, falls in love with the lively girl bubbling beneath the veneer of her beauty, Daphne's resolve is tested...that is, until the vain Mr. Archer threatens to reveal a family scandal so horrible that marriage seems a small price to pay....

How could colourless Frederica withstand a Season's scrutiny after the five beauties before her had married so magnificently? Disguised as a chambermaid, Freddie found her way into the household of the fashionable Duke of Pembury. That wild gentleman was soon on to her tricks and found himself escorting the lady to London. Once on the marriage mart, the five sisters preened and primped the youngest until Freddie could not recognize herself!

Vampires have always lived among them, quietly attacking unsuspecting debutantes and dandified lords as well as hackney drivers and Bond Street milliners. If not for the vampire slayers of the Gardella family, these immortal creatures would have long taken over the world. In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy, and this time, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is chosen, on the eve of her debut, to carry the stake.