Showing results by narrator "Jilly Bond" in All Categories

London, 1702. When her husband is lost at sea, Mary Burton Gulliver, midwife and herbalist, is forced to rebuild her life without him. But three years later when Lemuel Gulliver is brought home, fevered and communicating only in riddles, her ordered world is turned upside down. In a climate of suspicion, poverty and violence, Mary is caught in a crossfire of superstition and fear driven by her husband’s outlandish claims of the wonders he has seen, and it is up to her to navigate a passage to safety for herself and her daughter, and the vulnerable women in her care.

England, 1943. Lost in fog, Pilot Vee Katchatourian is forced to make an emergency landing where she meets enigmatic RAF Airman Stefan Bergel and then can't get him out of her mind. In occupied Poland, Ewa Hartman hosts German officers in her father's guest house while secretly gathering intelligence for the Polish resistance.

It's not that Verity Kent doesn't sympathise with those eager to make contact with lost loved ones. After all, she once believed herself a war widow. But now that she's discovered Sidney is alive, Verity is having enough trouble connecting with her estranged husband, never mind the dead. Then Verity attends a séance, where she encounters the man who still looms between her and Sidney - and a medium who channels a woman Verity once worked with in the Secret Service.

In this hilarious sequel to the hugely popular Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Sally Stick and her shaggy best friend Fetch discover plenty more mysteries to solve. Like, is there a beaver loose in the town? Who is the handbag thief? And, most importantly, why does Uncle Bob's house always smell of biscuits? Somehow, despite the accidents, misunderstandings and general confusion that dog the hapless pair wherever they go, they always get results. And they have a lot of fun along the way!

This is the story of a sleepy town called Suds. A place where stories fill the air of children who keep turning grey and disappearing without a trace. Poppy and Erasmus are certain there's something peculiar going on in Suds, and they're determined to unravel its secrets. But when they discover the answers might lie in the dark and twisting woods, can they find the courage to creep inside and solve this riddling mystery?

Has Ella met her match? The glamour of the French Riviera quickly turns sour as she is caught up in an investigation that will have repercussions on both sides of the channel. When her mother telephones from France with news of her imminent arrest, Ella rushes to her aid, along with her aunt and an eccentric friend. But what starts as a simple disappearance quickly turns to murder, and Ella finds herself embroiled in a mystery that is far more complex than she’d anticipated.

When the crime scene is pure coincidence and there’s no evidence, how can you prove it was murder? Ella Bridges faces her most challenging investigation so far when the vicar dies suddenly at the May Day fete. But with evidence scarce and her personal life unravelling in ways she could never have imagined, she misses vital clues in the investigation. Working alongside Scotland Yard, will Ella manage to unearth the clues needed to catch the killer before another life is lost? Or will personal shock cloud her mind and result in another tragedy?

Stick and Fetch are on holiday, but even in a rickety old seaside hotel there are plenty of crimes to solve and mysteries to unravel. Such as, who is Major Mayhem? Why is that door frightened? And where could the small-bottle-of-shampoo robbers be hiding? This lovable pair is on the case and undeterred despite plenty of mishaps, misdeeds and misunderstandings along the way. A fun-filled adventure featuring two hapless investigators with a lot of hair.

Migrants and millionairesses, refugees and aristocrats all looking for a way to improve their lives. After WW1 a world of opportunity was opening up for women.... Before convenient air travel, transatlantic travel was the province of the great ocean liners and never more so than in the glory days of the interwar years. It was an extraordinary undertaking made by many women. Some traveled for leisure, some for work; others to find a new life, marriage, to reinvent themselves or find new opportunities. Their stories have remained largely untold - until now.

This family secret means the end of everything they've ever known. But could it also be the chance for a new beginning? Verity seems to have it all. A beautiful home, two grown-up sons and a husband who has always been her rock. But one day, the doorbell rings. And it changes Verity's life forever. Saskia has nowhere else to go. Before she died, her mother left her with her father's name and nothing else. The only way for Saskia to take care of herself – and her unborn baby – is to find the father she never knew. And the family that didn't know she existed.

Early on a grey November morning in 1941, only weeks after the German invasion, a small Ukrainian town is overrun by the SS. Deft, spare and devastating, Rachel Seiffert's new novel tells of the three days that follow and the lives that are overturned in the process. Penned in with his fellow Jews, under threat of transportation, Ephraim anxiously awaits word of his two sons, missing since daybreak. Come in search of her lover, to fetch him home again, away from the invaders, Yasia must confront new and harsh truths.

A year after the tragic death of her husband, Kate Nichols, still overwhelmed with grief, meets Richard Marshall. A divorced father of two, Richard’s messy involvement with his bi-polar ex-wife troubles Kate but, despite these obstacles, she can’t stop herself from falling in love. Meanwhile, as Kate’s father battles with the final stages of cancer, her divorced mother has found a new love in Ben. But Kate’s suspicions are roused as her mother’s behaviour becomes increasingly furtive.

King Casimiro harbours a secret. No one in the kingdom of Zaffirinthos knows that a devastating accident has left his memory clouded in darkness. And Casimiro himself cannot answer why Melissa Maguire, the enigmatic English rose before him, stirs such feelings in him. Questioning his ability to rule, Casimiro decides he will renounce the throne. But Melissa has news she knows will rock the palace to its core....

Like a princess in a fairytale, Grace Hamilton has been showered with blessings: professional success, a happy marriage, and she even lives in a beautiful castle. But the only thing she really wants – her heart’s desire – is the one thing she can never have. Her sister, the beautiful Susannah, has made a mess of her life. Like a reverse Midas, everything she touches turns sour. But fate puts Grace’s future in Susannah’s hands, changing the balance of power between the sisters forever.

Lizzy Baxter is thrilled when her family moves to Cornwall-she's always loved the beach. Lizzy doesn't realise, but she has a special connection with the sea-and the mystical mermaids and silver dolphins who swim there. But there's much more to the beautiful blue-green world than magic. The veil sea queen is plotting to steal something precious-something that belongs to Lizzy. The Mermaid Curse is a perfect blend of fantasy and reality.

Merry lives a simple life. For work, she writes cryptic crossword puzzles. For pleasure, she swims in the icy cold sea. And in between she keeps a careful eye on her neighbour, Lucas Manning, the son of her late best friend Julia. One day Lucas's wife reports him missing. Merry has known Lucas his whole life; he would never walk out like this. Bad things have always hovered around the Manning family. Lucas's abusive criminal father disappeared decades ago, and his brother Sean is in jail. But Lucas is different. A good man. He was the one who turned Sean in to the police, after all.

Ivy's parents, the King and Queen of the Sand Witches, have prepared her a show-stopping birthday present - a magic act where they disappear! But hold on, they really have disappeared! Foul work is at play, and to rescue Ivy's parents, she and her friend Tom must travel all over Miracula on broomsticks and flying carpets, making friends along the way, and pulling together to defeat Clawdelia Thorn, evil Queen of Grotland.

Hello Computer is the story of a working-class girl who begins a lifelong love affair with technology after seeing a computer for the first time in 1967. It tells of her quest to become a professor of computing in one of the top universities in England. Empowered as a programmer on pioneering hospital systems, she learns that computer code can change lives. Her story is a journey from 1967 to 2017, through exciting times and epic events, from the dawn of the internet to the dotcom boom, from punch cards to the raspberry pi and virtual worlds.

A jar of festival mud, a photo album of family memories, a child's teddy bear, a book of bell ringing methods, an old cassette tape, a pair of slippers... These are the items that fill the exhibit shelves in Vanessa Jones' museum. At first glance, they appear to have nothing in common, but that's before you find out the stories behind them... Because Vanessa's Little Museum of Hope is no ordinary museum - its aim is to help people heal by donating items associated with shattered lives and failed relationships, and in doing so, find a way to move on, perhaps even start again.

In the faraway land of Miracula, the early dawn mist drifts around Newt Castle: home of a young Sand Witch called Ivy Newt, her familiar Tom Wolf, and her parents King Lucius and Queen Fenella. Every Halloween at sunrise, a spooky haunted house appears, only to disappear again at the stroke of midnight. Ivy and Tom set out to solve the mystery, stumbling upon an imprisoned witch, a powerful sorcerer and a curse they must break before time runs out.