Showing results by narrator "Lucy Rayner" in All Categories

I’m so looking forward to meeting Aunt Maura, my mother’s twin sister who lives on the rugged west coast of Ireland. With my own mother dying so suddenly, and my sweet baby daughter arriving, I need family around me. But instead of arriving at Maura’s house safe and sound, I wake up in hospital, badly injured. Then I remember the crash. Where is my baby?

Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World. Though of differing temperaments, cautious Thomas and fiery Margaret, a healer, are bound by a love that has lasted decades. With a child on the way, their new beginning promises only blessings. But in this austere Puritan community, comely faces hide malicious intent. Wrong moves or words are met with suspicion, and Margaret’s bold and unguarded nature draws scorn. Soon, Margaret is mistrusted as more cunning woman than kind caregiver.

In the winter of 1924, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher travels to a school friend's house to witness the estate's famous Guy Fawkes celebration. But she gets more than the quiet weekend at the quaint family manse that she was originally hoping for. The home is the site of some severe family tension. The Viscount and head of the family is a strict and unyielding sort, insisting that everyone - especially his children - meet his own unreasonable expectations. On the evening of the Guy Fawkes celebration, the Viscount is found dead on the floor of his study, killed by his own hand.

Since they were children, cousins Kate and Cecelia have been inseparable. But in 1817, as they approach adulthood, their families force them to spend a summer apart. As Cecelia fights boredom in her small country town, Kate visits London to mingle with the brightest lights of English society. At the initiation of a powerful magician into the Royal College of Wizards, Kate finds herself alone with a mysterious witch who offers her a sip from a chocolate pot.

July 1816. Kendra Donovan could use a distraction. The FBI agent has been dealing with a serious case of cold feet after impulsively agreeing to marry Alec, the Marquis of Sutcliffe. And if that isn't enough, there is also the tantalizing possibility that maybe, just maybe she could return to her own timeline. When Reginald Lansing, the Earl of Craymore, is found mortally wounded on the Duke of Aldridge's land, Kendra gets the distraction that she's been looking for.

Twenty years ago, student Daisy Harrington went out for the evening and never came home. Her body was found a week later. The killer was caught. Case closed. Now, on what would have been her fortieth birthday, her five university housemates are invited to a weekend gathering. None of them want to go. But none of them can refuse—the invitation makes it clear that if they don’t attend, the past they’ve spent two decades hiding will finally come to light.

In September 1926, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher visits Sybil Sutherby, a school friend now living in Derbyshire as the confidential secretary to a novelist. Suspecting that something is seriously amiss, Sybil has asked Daisy to discretely investigate. Upon arrival, Daisy finds a household of relatives and would-be suitors living off the hospitality of Humphrey Birtwhistle, who had been supporting them through his thrice-yearly, pseudonymous Westerns. When he took ill, though, Sybil took over writing them while he recovered, only to see the sales increase. Now, she fears that someone in the household is poisoning Birtwhistle to keep him ill and Sybil writing the better-paying versions.

It takes a minx to tempt a rogue...Beautiful and feisty Henrietta Barrett has never followed the dictates of society. She manages her elderly guardian's estate, prefers to wear breeches rather than dresses, and answers to the unlikely name of Henry. But when her guardian passes away, her beloved...

When Neith Salah—a quantum curator charged with traveling to our parallel Earth to rescue precious artefacts—is ordered to save a priceless Faberge Egg, she figures it's just another job. The only problem: she's not sure what the egg looks like. Or where it is. Or when it is.

Something is rotten in the heart of Alexandria and Julius Strathclyde is in trouble. He appears to have summoned the gods, which is driving his partner, Neith Salah, insane. Not to mention all the other ultra-rational citizens of Alpha earth. It gets worse. The gods set a challenge that can't be refused. The race is on to find the lost blueprints for the Quantum Stepper. Whoever possesses them will be able to unlock the stepper's true potential. The game is afoot and the outcome is terrifying. All of time and space will be under the control of the victors; to protect, or to plunder.

In the summer of 1923, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple makes what should be an uneventful research trip to the Museum of Natural History quite an eventful day - with her nephew, Derek, and her soon-to-be stepdaughter, Belinda, in tow. But as she interviews the various curators for her article on the museums of London, she soon discovers that the Museum of Natural History is a hothouse of professional rivalry and jealousy.

In early 1925, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher - recent mother of twins - resumes her journalistic career by agreeing to write a piece about the Tower of London - the Bloody Tower - for an American magazine. Invited to observe the centuries-old ritual Ceremony of the Keys, she's spending the night (her first time away from her babies), since the complex is locked and guarded, and the high walls are surrounded by a disused moat.

Aleys is sixteen years old and unusual: stubborn, bright, and prone to religious visions. She and her only friend, Finn, a young scholar, have been learning Latin together in secret—but just as she thinks their connection might become something more, everything unravels. When her father promises her in marriage to a merchant she doesn’t love, she runs away from home, finding shelter among the beguines, a fiercely independent community of religious women who refuse to answer to the Church.

1326 was one of the most dramatic years in English history. The queen of England, Isabella of France, invaded the country with an army of mercenaries to destroy her husband's powerful and detested lover, Hugh Despenser the Younger, and brought down her husband, King Edward II, in the process.

The rebellion is over. Prince Charles is in hiding, the Jacobite clans are scattered to the four winds, and in Inverness, the Duke of Cumberland plans a brutal retribution against the Highlanders who rose against his father. His intention: to ensure they can never rise again. Alex, knowing Beth to be dead, leads his men into a vicious war of attrition against the British Redcoats, who have destroyed everything in life he ever held dear. Only his desire for revenge keeps him alive.

Miss Emma Harlow hasn't earned the reputation as a hoyden for nothing, so when the duke of Trent discovers her in his conservatory stealing one of his orchids, he isn't surprised - charmed, delighted and puzzled, yes, but not surprised. It is Emma who is amazed. But her vexation doesn't last long. For Emma is a practical young lady with a mission: to end her dear sister Lavinia's engagement to the villainous (and dreadfully dull!) Sir Waldo Windbourne, and she thinks that the famous libertine is just the man for the job.

Julius Strathclyde has been dragged through to an alternative earth. Now, training as a quantum curator, every ancient book, every stolen gem, and every lost masterpiece lies at his fingertips. It's incredible. But he has some problems: he can't get home, priceless artifacts are being stolen, and someone is trying to kill him. Oh, and he can't get a decent cup of tea anywhere. Following the disastrous Faberge assignment, Neith Salah is blinded by grief and rage. She's hardly a stable companion, but she's the only one he trusts.

The sixth and final book in the captivating series which follows the lives of Beth and Alex MacGregor, their family, and friends. Alex, now believing Beth to be alive, leaves Scotland and heads south to keep the promise he made to her at Culloden, determined to be reunited with his wife regardless of the danger to himself. Meanwhile, the Duke of Newcastle has realised that he cannot kill Beth, either publicly or privately, without attracting the enmity of powerful people, including the heir to the throne.

By all accounts, Lucy’s handled her divorce well. She’s finally in the cozy, plant-filled house of her dreams. And although she doesn’t fit in with the other divorcées—all busy looking for their next ex—she’s excited to get down to earth and savor the small joys of life. When Lucy meets Elle, a hip younger woman who shares her same passions, their connection is instant. Taking a chance on kismet, Lucy forges a friendship that fills her days with meaning. She and Elle are inseparable, from sunup to sundown, enjoying the immediate ease and familiarity of each other’s company.

Explore the enchanting world of Welsh fairy tradition as this guide unveils the enduring presence of these magical beings in Celtic myth and folklore. Join Welsh native Mhara Starling as she shares authentic Welsh beliefs, delves into the connection between magical practitioners and the fair family (Tylwyth Teg), and helps you incorporate these mystical entities into your own spiritual practice if you so choose.