Showing results by narrator "Polly Edsell" in All Categories

England, 1940. Opening the box with trembling hands, she couldn’t believe it–a tiny baby lay inside. She gently lifted the newborn as it started to cry. Cradling the little one to her chest, she searched the darkness for any sign of whoever left it here. And as she rocked the child, something fluttered to the ground...a ration book.

Sir Dominic De Lacy – one of the season’s most eligible gentlemen – has recently proposed marriage… to a woman he scarcely knows. But his father’s choice for him, Miss Maria Nightingale, seems amiable, and at 29, Dominic cannot live the life of a bachelor forever. He hopes he can provide a happy future for her as they learn to care for each other. Maria, however, has other ideas. Midway through their engagement celebrations, she confesses to Dominic that she is not Maria at all, but her identical twin sister, Margaret.

Alice is nursing an injured hand and a broken heart when she moves to the village of Churchwood at the start of WWII. She is desperate to be independent but worries that her injuries will make that impossible. Kate lives with her family on Brimbles Farm, where her father and brothers treat her no better than a servant. With no mother or sisters, and shunned by the locals, Kate longs for a friend of her own. Naomi is looked up to for owning the best house in the village. But privately, she carries the hurts of childlessness.

As winter turns to spring, Hollie—owner of The Starfish Café—is feeling content as she settles into her new life with her loving boyfriend, Jake, and their adorable dog Pickle. But when an unwelcome visitor threatens the future of her café, Hollie must stay strong to protect her family's legacy.

‘I’ll always protect you.’ These are the words my mother whispered to me every time she kissed me goodnight. And whenever we ventured outside our windswept seaside village, she’d clutch my hand tightly and her face would be pinched and pale. I never understood why. But now I do. Growing up, I’d heard the whispers and the rumours. My mother tried to keep the truth from me, but she failed. I understand exactly what happened eighteen years ago. I know I am the murdered doctor’s child.

A gorgeous and evocative novel about three sisters and a life-changing summer in Corfu. What if your life worked out perfectly...for someone else? It's been 18 years since Ava spent the summer on the Greek island of Corfu, but she has never forgotten what happened during those months—or who she left behind. Now single, estranged from her family, and preparing to wave her daughter off to university, Ava's life seems a million miles away from the one she dreamed about as a teenager—a life now being lived by her sister instead.

Alice, Kate and Naomi want to keep the magic of Christmas alive in their village of Churchwood but a thief in the area and a new family that shuns the local community are only the first of the problems they face.

Berlin, 1936. The Landau family are at the heart of their community, running a music shop in Berlin and just trying to survive. But their lives are unravelling as Hitler's power increases and the treatment of Jewish families deteriorates. Eldest daughter, Rachel, fears for her sisters' future and will do anything she can to keep them safe. Will she find hope in the darkness? Paris, 1936. As whispers of war travel over from Europe, American debutante Kay escapes her mother's grasp and travels as a reluctant spy from Paris to Berlin.

The year 1934. Kitty Underhay steps out of the battered Rolls Royce and onto the graveled driveway of Thurscomb Castle in deepest Yorkshire. She’s honored to be a bridesmaid at her cousin Lucy’s wedding to the reluctant Lord Rupert Woodcomb, but as family and friends gather for welcome drinks, Kitty dodges intrusive questions about her own marital status by taking a stroll about the castle grounds. As she passes through the manicured gardens, a fatal shot rings out....

1813. Lizzie's beloved older sister Esme is sold in marriage to the ageing Lord Blountford to settle their father's debts. One year later, Esme is dead, and Lizzie is sent to take her place as Lord Blountford's next wife. Arriving at Ambletye Manor, Lizzie uncovers a twisted web of secrets, not least that she is to be the fifth mistress of this house. Marisa. Anne. Pansy. Esme. What happened to the four wives who came before her? In possession of a unique gift, only Lizzie can hear their stories, and try to find a way to save herself from sharing the same fate.

Between her emotionally absent mother and her physically absent father, there is nobody to answer them. Eva is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why are there no baby pictures of her? Why do her parents avoid all questions about her early years? When her parents’ relationship crumbles, Eva begins a journey to find these answers for herself. Her desire to discover where she belongs leads Eva on a journey spanning decades and continents—and, along the way, she meets women who challenge her idea of what a mother should be and who will change her life forever....

The housemate. She's here to stay.... You've let a stranger into your home. You don't know her secrets. You don't know what she wants. Megan and Chloe have found the perfect house. And when they meet Sammi, she seems like the perfect housemate to share it with. It could be the beginning of a brilliant friendship. But Megan isn't so sure about this new girl. She knows they need to be careful about whom they invite in. Because once she's in, she's here to stay.... A brilliant and gripping psychological thriller - perfect for fans of Louise Jensen, Jane Corry and Friend Request.

In 1947, returning to the UK with two young children to support, Margaret Durrell starts a boarding house in Bournemouth. But any hopes of respectability are dashed as the tenants reveal themselves to be a host of eccentrics: from a painter of nudes to a pair of glamorous young nurses whose late-night shifts combined with an ever-revolving roster of gentleman callers leading to a neighbourhood rumour that Margo is running a brothel. Margo's own two sons, Gerry and Nicholas, prove to be every bit as mischievous as their famous Uncle Gerald.

Meet Hollie Jenson, presenter of the smash-hit docu-series Bad Medicine, which exposes the perils of extreme therapies. Her next target: a new retreat run by wellness guru Ariel Rose, who claims to have discovered the secret to healing pain through her three-day ice rebirth treatment. Acting on a mother's plea to find her son, who vanished soon after his stay, Hollie ventures into the Swiss mountains where the retreat occupies a former observatory in search of the boy and to expose Ariel as the charlatan she believes her to be.

The Dance of the Dolls tells the story of identical twin ballerinas rehearsing for the ballet Coppélia at the recently opened Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Superficially, even their differences are complementary: Olivia aspires to be the perfect ballerina while Clara is rebellious and independent. Clara has been seeing a pianist at the theater, the passionate Nathan, while Olivia is unaware that she’s cast a spell on Samuel, a bashful apprentice ballet shoemaker who steals into Sadler’s Wells as often as he can to watch her dance.

Rebecca hasn't seen her father, Leo, since she was six. Her family never talk about him, and she has long since pushed him firmly to the back of her mind. All she knows is that once upon a time, he was a well-loved children's TV star. But when a journalist turns up uninvited at her office, asking questions about her once-famous father, Rebecca starts to wonder whether there is more to Leo's absence than she realised. Then, looking for answers, she unearths a book of fairy tales written by Leo and dedicated to her - but what use are children's stories to her now, all these years later.

In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spills through the door of a little restaurant, crowded with German soldiers. The owner, Marianne, moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of steaming, wholesome food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart. That night, the restaurant closes its doors for the final time.

Secret femme-fatale in training Millicent Whittenburg needs to escape her unpleasant and restrictive betrothal. Taking matters into her own hands, she plans her eventual ruin! Then she can disappear from society to carry out the Queen’s deadly missions. Step 1: seduce the one man who despises marriage more than her!

Paris, 1720. La Salpêtrière hospital is in crisis: too many occupants, not enough beds. Halfway across the world, France's colony in the wilds of North America has space to spare and needs families to fill it. So the director of the hospital rounds up nearly a hundred female “volunteers” of childbearing age—orphans, prisoners, and mental patients—to be shipped to New Orleans. Among this group are three unlikely friends: a sharp-tongued twelve-year old orphan, a mute ‘madwoman,’ and an accused abortionist.

Peggy could lose her beloved pub. Maggie her acclaimed restaurant. Maureen her business and her home. Everyone had something to lose. Whilst old friends try to come to terms with the shocking news, the younger generation continue to forge ahead in the swinging sixties. Relationships flourish and new opportunities blossom; the ever changing world becoming their oyster. But family bonds remain strong, after all, it's people that matter not the buildings.