Showing results by narrator "Emma Powell" in All Categories

August 1883. The future for Ling Southcott, a quarryman’s daughter, seems to be already mapped. Marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Barney, a cluster of children, a life contained to the hamlet of Foggintor Quarry. For Ling, with her sharp, enquiring mind and love of books, it is an accepted, if unwelcome fate. But then the new Princetown Railway opens across Dartmoor, connecting her remote hamlet to the neighbouring town of Tavistock, and even Plymouth.

Dartmoor, 1914. Grace Dannings is a farmer’s daughter, but she dreams of making her mark as a London Suffragette. Too bad she’s stuck in Walkhampton, the sleepy village where she was born. As a child, she could escape to the wheelwright’s mill. Spellbound, she’d watch labourers hammer iron and timber into wheels. Now she’s a woman and nothing about the village feels like home. The men are brutish, the women afraid of change. Perhaps she could have married Martin, the mill owner’s son. But society says she’s not good enough.

For five years, May and evacuee Cliff, have fought against village bullies and bigots. Despite the hardships, they have built a loving mother and son relationship. As peace approaches, they must find a way for him to stay in the home he has come to love, or he will be sent back to a city he has forgotten and the mother who abandoned him, and May and Cliff will lose each other forever.

After fleeing German-occupied Paris, Alix is back in her home in Belgrade, hoping to finally reunite with her parents. But her parents have fled with King Peter to ensure his safety. Alix and her father's deputy steward Drago's attempt to find them is derailed and they are forced to reside in the Serbian country home. But all is not lost when Alix finds Nikola in the city - the man she was arranged to marry before war broke out. She has more in common with him than ever expected, and together with Drago they join a new Resistance.

1648: Civil war is devastating England. The privileged world of Katherine Ferrers is crumbling under Cromwell's army, and as an orphaned heiress, she has no choice but to marry for the sake of family. But as her marriage turns into a prison and her fortune is forfeit, Katherine becomes increasingly desperate. So when she meets a man who shows her a way out, she seizes the chance. It is dangerous and brutal, and she knows if they're caught, there's only one way it can end....

Rachel wakes from a coma to discover her controlling husband has been killed, and the police suspect her of involvement. But all Rachel can recall from the last few weeks are tantalising flashes of a fellow commuter. A man whose name she doesn't know. A man who has disappeared without a trace. Now Rachel is a wealthy widow and the vultures are circling, wanting her in prison for murder, or failing that ... dead. Can Rachel discover the truth in time to save herself?

Christine Garrett is investigating an unusual malaria outbreak on the south coast of England. As she threads the connections between the dead, she discovers links to her son and the charismatic leader he follows. In finding the source of the spreading plague, she is forced to decide between her old faith and the reason that has brought her to a lightless place.

When Abigail and Edward became co-owners of historic Winfield Hall in the beautiful Sussex countryside, they had little idea what the future held. But, as the days of summer lengthen, their feelings towards one another grow and love begins to blossom. Harry and Aura have been a couple for a year now and, with the summer solstice approaching, Harry hatches a very special plan. He just hopes that the sun, moon and the stars are all in alignment. But not everything is going to plan.

Jen Shaw has climbed all her life. The riskier the ascent, the better. Until she went too far and hurt the people she cares about. So she's given it all up now and checked herself into a rehab centre to prove it. Yet, when Jen awakens drugged and dangling off the local lighthouse less than 24 hours after a 'family emergency' takes her home to Cornwall, she needs all her skill to battle her way to safety. Has Jen fallen back into her old ways, or is there a more sinister explanation?

Left homeless after the Exeter Blitz, May must find a job if she's to put a roof over her head and help support her two younger sisters. Taking a job as housekeeper to farmer George, May soon ends up getting stuck into more than just cleaning and cooking. The Ministry of Agriculture will close Fair Maids Farm if it doesn't meet their produce targets, but George refuses to heed their warnings. With only two reluctant Land Girls to help, May receives unexpected guidance from Dan, a neighbouring farmer, whose kindness gets tongues wagging in the village.

Everyone thinks Lexi is crazy when she falls in love with Hollingsworth House, a crumbling old Georgian mansion in Yorkshire – and nobody more so than her husband, Dylan. But there’s something very special about the place, and Lexi can sense it. Whilst exploring the grounds, she stumbles across an old diary, and within its pages she meets Allie, an Australian nurse who worked in France during the First World War. Lexi finally realises her dream of buying Hollingsworth, but her obsession with the house leaves her marriage in tatters.

1924. The First World War is over and eleven-year-old Alexa is growing up on the idyllic Cornish coast with her best friend Harvey. But she soon discovers there are secrets at the heart of her family that have been hidden for years. And when her mother dies suddenly, she finds her whole life thrown into turmoil. 1931. Still reeling from the secrets she uncovered, Alexa flees to the intoxicating city of Venice. But her new glamorous life is not what she hoped for and, with dark shadows closing in, she will question everything she thought she wanted.

Essex 1941. Unhappy with life at home with her privileged family, Hannah Austen-Bagshaw runs away to join the Land Girls Army, carrying with her a dark and terrible secret. Life on the farm is tough, but when Hannah meets handsome working-class flight lieutenant Jack, they form an immediate friendship. But unbeknownst to Jack, Hannah is sheltering a young German pilot who has crash landed in a nearby field. Torn between her duty and her humanity, Hannah knows she risks being arrested as a traitor, but she cannot see the young pilot suffer.

Eighteenth-century Cornwall is crippled by debt and poverty while the gibbet casts a shadow of fear over the land. Yet when night falls, free traders swarm onto the beaches and smuggling prospers. Terrified by a thief-taker’s warning as a child, Jenna has resolved to be good. But when her brother asks for her help to pay his creditors, Jenna finds herself entering the dangerous world of the smuggling trade. Jack Penhale hunts down the smuggling gangs in revenge for his father’s death. Drawn to Jenna at a hiring fayre, they discover their lives are entangled. But as Jenna struggles to decide where her allegiances lie, the worlds of justice and crime collide, leading to danger and heartache.

As far as matrimonial prospects were concerned, Lucy Bliss was told she'd make an excellent clergyman's wife. Her mother, however, had loftier aspirations for her lovely younger sister Belinda. Belinda would marry a duke. More specifically, the Duke of Wardshire. Lucy was truly horrified. Lucifer Wardshire! Why, he was rumoured to be as wicked as the devil, with orgies and mistresses and worse! As the London Season unfolded, Lucy couldn't decide who was more abominable, her vulgar mama or the arrogant yet disconcertingly handsome duke.

Cornwall, 1939. The wealthy silversmiths, the Cossentines, are poisoned at dinner: only the youngest son and daughter survive. Maurice inherits everything. Celeste, with a history of psychosis, flees, taking with her a unique silver ring and assuming a new identity. She trains as a nurse but lives in fear of being recognised. When a wounded soldier captures her heart, she yearns to confess. But dare she trust even Danny with her secret?

Paddington Station, present day. A young woman boards the sleeper train to Cornwall with only a beautiful emerald silk evening dress and an old, well-read diary full of sketches. Ellie Nightingale is a shy violinist who plays like her heart is broken. But when she meets fellow passenger Joe, she feels like she has been given that rarest of gifts...a second chance.

The ponies of Pemberley Stables have been bound by magic, and each of them are trapped in time. Can two brave girls help get them back? Gus the riding-school pony isn't having a very good day. But can Olivia and Eliza break the spell that is making him so grumpy and bring him back to the stables?

When a body is found floating in London's Royal Albert Dock, successful public relations expert Kay Christie is sent to quiet the media, but things get complicated when it emerges that she knew the victim. As events spiral out of control, Kay discovers that those close to her may be harbouring another secret - the story of a missing girl. Can Kay discover the truth before her life unravels and she risks losing everything? In the Wake questions whether we can ever truly leave our pasts behind and explores the lengths that we will go to protect the people that we love.

Plymouth, 1954. The future seems rosy for Plymouth schoolgirl Anna Millington, as she prepares for teacher training college. But Anna's life is not what it seems. Her family is hiding a cruel secret that resulted from the worst night of the Plymouth Blitz. Now, the devastating consequences are about to erupt again. Fearing for her life, Anna leaves her dreams behind and flees to nearby Dartmoor. It isn't long before Anna secures a position as a serving girl at Ashcroft Hall.