Showing results by narrator "Annie" in All Categories

It’s 1983 and Stephanie Crouch’s life is dull. She is desperate to escape the run-down, pokey council house she shares with her overbearing family, but at fourteen years old she has nowhere to go. When Stephanie meets East End wide-boy Barry, his cockney charm and quick tongue soon have her head over heels in love. Finally Stephanie feels like her dreary life is on the up. But too young to control their fate, Stephanie and Barry are torn apart when he is whisked away to Spain by his family.

Thirteen-year-old Alice Truelove can’t take another day of her father’s cruelty. Better a life on the streets than being constantly blamed for her mother’s sad death, or that’s what Alice thinks as she packs up her meagre possessions. But fending for herself in the Black Country town of Wednesbury is not as easy as she expected, and it soon hits her that without help she will quickly be hungry and cold.

September 1941. Mary arrives in war-torn London nursing a broken heart and a painful secret. When she is offered her dream post as an assistant in the fabric department at Liberty store, she knows this is the fresh start she needs. Amid the store’s vibrant prints and sumptuous interiors, Mary finds a new family who can help her to heal. But not everyone will give Mary such a warm welcome, and the trauma of her past will soon catch up with her. As Mary and the Liberty Girls endure the heartache and uncertainty of war, it will take a steady heart to keep the magic of Christmas alive.

Fern has the voice of an angel, but as an underpaid barmaid and pub singer, she's going nowhere fast. Then she enters the TV talent show Fame Game, and this could be her big break. But then, things are never that simple. Evan David's exquisite tones have enthralled opera buffs throughout the world. Everyone around him panders to his every need, but what he really needs now is a break - from everything. Two worlds collide when Fern becomes Evan's assistant, and neither is prepared for the dramatic effect they have on each other.

Once they had been called Orrice and Effel, two bedraggled, scruffy waifs who lived rough off the streets of Walworth. Now they were Horrace and Ethel Cooper, grown up - quite respectable really - and living with their adopted parents, Jim and Rebecca Cooper. When Horrace saw the pretty girl who worked as a shop assistant in Adams (Ladies Fashion Modes) he was quite bowled over and knew he had to meet her. From then on he was in and out of the shop, buying hats and stockings and ribbons, trying desperately to persuade Miss Sally Brown to come out with him.

December 1930. With the Depression biting deeper, it looks like many children in the East End will wake up to nothing on Christmas morning. Widower Robbie Graham earns just enough to put food on the table for his children, Ben and Ruthie. Local cake shop owner Flo Hawkins can't bear the thought of any child having nothing for Christmas. Along with her sister, Honour, she hatches a plan to bring some festive cheer to the community.

1939. After the sudden and tragic loss of her husband, Helen is returning home to her mother’s house in Biggin Hill, Kent - the one place she vowed she’d never go back to again. Alone and not knowing where to turn, Helen finds herself joining the local women’s sewing circle despite being hopeless with a needle and thread. These resourceful women can not only make do and mend clothes, quilts and woolly hats, but their friendship mends something deeper in Helen, too.

The Pratchett family have to contend with coalman Alfie Pratchett's obsessive jealousy. A bully, his two teenage children, John and Millie, have learned to dodge him and his moods. The main concern of ugly duckling Millie - who looks nothing like her handsome brother John - is to protect their mum, Eileen. When crisis strikes the Pratchetts' home, Alfie is forced to watch his whole world gradually collapse around him. Their old life has gone forever, and a new one has begun - one in which rape, debt, alcoholism and insanity play their parts. And redemption is a long time coming.

When 19-year-old Tommy Carter throws away a promising career as a professional boxer to work for local villain Davey Abbott, everyone thinks he’s made a huge mistake - collecting debts and working in strip clubs is no life for a young lad. A brutal fighter, Tommy quickly earns a reputation for himself and becomes Davey’s trusted right-hand man. But when Davey is murdered Tommy is shocked to learn that Davey has left his business empire to him - Tommy’s the boss now. No one believes Tommy will succeed. But there is only one rule Tommy lives by...always back the underdog.

Nic Chen refuses to spend her senior year branded as the girl who cheated on her charismatic and lovable boyfriend. To redefine her reputation among her Ivy League-obsessed classmates, Nic begins writing their college-admissions essays. But the more essays Nic writes for other people, the less sure she becomes of herself, the kind of person she is, and whether her moral compass even points north anymore.

Six months ago, Mia Rhodes was a Seattle office manager, toiling away from nine to five and spending her weekends managing her online political competition, Ameritocracy. Now, that competition is spreading across the American political landscape, making Mia a celebrity and giving Ameritocracy a real shot at upending the two-party system in the 2020 election. But as the final voting draws near, Mia is betrayed by one of the people she trusts most, throwing Ameritocracy into disarray, and possibly ending her dream of changing American politics forever.

Annie F. Downs wants you to take each next step of life with excitement, heading forward with beauty and confidence. ​Personal yet powerful, A Life of Lovely offers young women honest stories, biblical truth, and courageous examples - all to encourage listeners to persevere their way to hope. You will walk away excited about who you are becoming and challenged to look for lovely, fight to finish, and find the beautiful in your every day!

Best friends Sarah, Maisie and Freda are brought together by their jobs at Woolworths. With their loved ones away on the front line, their bonds of friendship strengthen each day. Betty Billington is the manager at Woolworths and a rock for the girls, having given up on love...until a mysterious stranger turns up one day - could he reignite a spark in Betty?

The Adams family were poor, cheerful and, above all, respectable. There was Mrs Adams, a widow having lost her husband in the Boer War; Boots, the bright one; Tommy, the quiet one; Sammy, a wheeler dealer in the making; and Lizzy. Lizzy was a real pearl - one of the prettiest girls in Walworth. Then Lizzy falls in love it is 1914. War is coming, and everyone is going to be affected. Will the Adams family - gutsy, tough and cheeky - pull through? Down Lambeth Way is the first in Mary Jane Staples' Adams Family series. Their story continues in Our Emily.

Jenna Mathews has nothing on her mind except making sure her best friend's wedding is perfect in every way. As the maid of honor and the florist, she needs to keep on task. However, she is in no way prepared for the sexy best man who slides into place at the last second for the wedding rehearsal. He flusters her from the moment he arrives and manages to tip her world on its axis before the night is over.

Emily Townsend needs closure. And she will do anything to get it, including visit a local BDSM club. What she doesn't expect is for the sexy man she's been ogling for three weeks to waltz over to her table and dominate her in a way she's never experienced.

Diana Davis has been head of the family business since the death of her husband, an infamous bank robber. She's a woman in a man's world, but no one messes with her. Her only son, Angus, is a natural born villain, but he needs to earn Diana's trust before she'll allow him into the business. Once he's proved he has the brains to run their clubs in Marbella, he is given what he's always wanted. It's the beginning of a reign of terror that knows no bounds.

George Markham has a nasty little hobby, one that erupts into an orgy of viscous sexual depravity. Patrick Kelly is a hard man. His one soft spot is his daughter, and when she falls victim to the Grantley Ripper, Kelly wants revenge. The DI in charge of the case is Kate Burrows. She feels for Kelly but her growing involvement with a known villain is putting her career at risk...

Cathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband, and even when he’s conscripted she knows it’s only a brief respite - divorce is not an option. Cathy, a true Brogan daughter, stays strong for her beloved little son, Peter. When her husband is declared missing in action, Cathy can finally allow herself to hope - in just 6 months she will legally be a widow. In the meantime, she has to keep Peter safe and fed.

A terrifyingly gripping thriller of East End violence and corruption. Eleven years ago Marie Carter was convicted of killing her two best friends. And she's paid the price. Now she is being released from prison. It's time to go home. But life has moved on, and Marie has nowhere to go. Her parents have disowned her; her friends have abandoned her; even her kids don't want to know. But some people out there are watching her, following her every move - they know that Marie Carter wants retribution.