Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Strevens" in All Categories

Maggie Webb has lived the last decade caring for elderly husband, Stanley, as memory loss gradually erases all the beautiful moments they created together. It’s the loneliest she’s ever felt in her life. When a mysterious stranger named Hassan appears at her door, he reveals a shocking truth: Stanley isn’t losing his memories. Someone is actively removing them to hide a long-buried secret from coming to light.

If you won a gorgeous purple motorbike and your domineering husband said you were too fat for leathers and should sell it, would you do as you were told - or learn to ride it in secret? Artist and café owner Lucy Daumier intends to do just that - but learning to ride is far from easy, especially under the critical eye of prickly motorcycle instructor Ash Connor. So starts an exciting summer of new friendships and fun - as well as a realisation that there is more to Ash than meets the eye when she is introduced to his seven-year-old daughter, Daisy.

Recently divorced, Tessa Parker runs a successful B&B in a seaside town. During a surprise visit from Australia, a long-lost aunt lets slip a family secret that unsettles her fragile world.In shock, and feeling betrayed by her whole family, Tessa confides in her ex-husband just as he reveals he has a new woman in his life. Struck unexpectedly by jealousy; balancing her own turmoil against the demands of parenting, Tessa tries to trace her birth father, with devastating results. Yet she fails to see how this is a crucial moment in her children's lives.

1842. Stranded on Deception Island in the South Atlantic, her whaling captain husband lost at sea, Karina is destitute and desperate. Disguised as a cabin boy, she stows away on a British ship. But Karina is about to get a nasty surprise. As she grows closer to ship's surgeon Joseph Hooker, Karina and the rest of the crew find themselves pushed to the limits both physically and emotionally as conditions worsen on board.

1851. Wealthy businessman Jacob Welland is dying of consumption and implores private detective Laetitia Rodd to find his beloved brother, whom he has not seen for 10 years. An impoverished Oxford scholar who left college to live as a wandering hermit, Joshua Welland has been spotted in a gypsy camp, where it was rumoured he was learning great secrets.

Queen Victoria had over 30 surviving grandchildren, and to maintain and increase power in Europe, she hoped to manoeuvre them into dynastic marriages. Yet they often had plans of their own, and her matchmaking was further complicated by tumultuous international upheavals. Queen Victoria's Matchmaking travels through the glittering, decadent palaces of Russia and Europe, weaving in scandals, political machinations and family tensions.

Vita longs to write plays and poetry - but as a high-born girl in Roman Londinium, her fate is sealed: marriage and children. Then her father is murdered, her mother and brother disappear, and Vita flees from a shadowy enemy. Disguised as a slave at the gladiators' arena, she forges an unlikely bond with Brea, a native Briton gladiatrix - and her wolf. Together, they resolve to discover and bring the killer to justice before Vita's identity is revealed.

Shauna Vincent has just learned that the job she set her heart on has gone to a well-connected rival. Devastated, she accepts an offer from an old family friend, and soon Shauna is deep in the French countryside with endless hours to explore the magical landscape around her. But can the charming Laurent de Chemignac, owner of the local chateau, help her untangle the secret that this little French castle amongst the vines might be hiding?

Everyone told Cara Shelly that she was crazy to set up a café in the shadow of eccentric Kentish stately home Tanton Towers. But three years later, the Happy Huffkin café is thriving, and Cara considers the Tanton Towers staff - and its eccentric owners, Max and Alison - to be like family. But one summer evening, Alison comes hurtling down to the café to beg her for help. Daphne Hanson, queen of the Towers' costume-clad dancing troupe is lying dead in the orangery. Strangled! But by whom? And why?

Merryn Burton is excited to travel down to Cornwall to start her first big job for the London art dealers she works for. But as soon as she arrives at Pencradoc, a beautiful old mansion, she realises this will be no ordinary commission. Not only is Pencradoc filled with fascinating and possibly valuable artwork, it is also owned by the Penhaligon brothers - and Merryn’s instant connection with Kit Penhaligon could be another reason why her trip suddenly becomes a whole lot more interesting....

Winifred Maxwell is found guilty of treason, and her brother William could be found guilty of the same charge for helping her escape from London. . . She has been persecuted throughout her life for her family's loyalty to the exiled Stuart dynasty. Winifred and her husband make it to Rome, to the exiled court of the James III, where Winifred becomes governess to the princes Charles and Henry. Meanwhile, her niece Mary is in Paris with her lover. Are Winifred's resolve and tenacity a match for her niece's imprudent behaviour?

The gruesome murder of a homeless teenage boy suggests a methodical serial killer is at work in Walvis Bay, a depressed port, isolated in the Namib Desert. Police profiler and investigative journalist Dr Clare Hart is sent to work with Tamar Damases, head of the town’s Murder Unit. Until a few days ago, her relationship with Captain Riedwaan Faizal seemed to be going well - but she knows she is not the only woman in his life.

It's 1969, and the summer of love still lingers in London, but Gilda is haunted by her wartime past. She walked out on her son, Reuben, when he was just a boy and fears he'll never forgive her. When he marries a small, blonde gentile, she takes it as the ultimate rejection. Her cold, distant son seems transformed by love. What does his new wife have that she doesn't? As Gilda's obsession builds, she starts to follow her daughter-in-law, copies her hairstyle and breaks into the newlyweds' home.

In a time of looming war, glittering spectacle and financial disasters, the wealthy liberals of the Whig Party work to topple a tyrannical prime minister and a lunatic king. Marriages and friendships stretch or break; political liaisons prove as dangerous as erotic ones; and everyone wears a mask. Will Eliza Farren, England's leading comedic actress, gain entry to that elite circle that calls itself the World?

When recently divorced Chloe Canton is gifted her grandmother’s house in Bermuda in her will, it seems a perfect time for a fresh start. Her chance at paradise comes with a rundown business, a neighbour who is putting pressure on her to sell up for development and another who quickly makes herself comfortable in Chloe’s house. Chloe discovers a dead body on the local riding trail soon after she arrives and finds herself dragged into a murder investigation.

Miriam hasn't left her house in three years, and cannot raise her voice above a whisper. But today she has had enough, and is finally ready to rejoin the outside world. Meanwhile, Ralph has made the mistake of opening a closet door, only to discover with a shock that his wife Sadie doesn't love him, and never has. And so he decides to run away.

At the age of 21, Edith Chaplin married one of the most eligible bachelors of the day, the eldest son of the sixth Marquess of Londonderry. Her husband served in the Ulster cabinet and was Air Minister in the National Government of 1934-5. Edith founded the Women's Legion during the First World War and was also an early campaigner for women's suffrage. She created the renowned Mount Stewart Gardens in County Down that are now owned by the National Trust.

Vita's gift shop would do better if she ran it as a business, not as somewhere to daydream. But she's not one to tell herself off: she leaves that to Tim, her ex. Active, outdoorsy Oliver runs his trees-surgery business as calmly as his home - but his love life is intensely private. When Vita and Oliver's paths cross at a pear tree, there's a chance of something blossoming. As spring turns to summer, both Vita and Oliver are given second chances. Bu will they take them - or walk away?

Ginnie Holmes has found something she never intended to find - an overwhelming passion for a man she should not be with. At an abandoned boathouse hidden on the riverbank of the Thames, Ginnie steps into a world that’s just a little bit brighter than her ordinary life. Then, in a single terrifying event, the lovers' secret becomes a deadly catastrophe, and Ginnie finds herself in the path of extraordinary danger.

Trapped in a burning cabin on a freezing, snow-covered mountain, Selma Falck has no idea where she is or how she got there. She barely makes it out in time as the flames engulf the cabin. With no signs of human habitation nearby, the temperature rapidly dropping and a blizzard approaching, how will she survive? As Selma fights the cold, the hunger and her own wounds, she eventually forms a frightening picture of the past six months. Not only does she have to find a way to stay alive, she needs to make it back to civilization.