Showing results by narrator "Annie Aldington" in All Categories

The Quinns are one of the most feared criminal gangs in London's East End.So the reaction of Joe Quinn to the news that his daughter Lynsey is involved with a policeman is predictable and swift, and a pregnant Lynsey finds herself out on the street, bruised and alone.At the age of 11, Lynsey's daughter Helen is returned to the clan. Hated by her grandfather, loved only by her uncle, she struggles to fit into a world she doesn't understand. As warring factions battle for control of the East End, tragedy is about to strike again.

Harley Mason, you may love her or hate her, but never underestimate her. As the Masons settle down to a more normal life following the death of three family members, a shocking discovery of a schoolgirl found dead in nearby woods starts the finger pointing once again. Lewis Sanders, the detective on the case, struggles to believe that a teenage girl is capable of such a horrific crime. Yet the discovery of a second body could put Harley Mason in the frame.

1915, Chrisp Street Market, East London. While the man she loves is fighting on the frontline for his country, Lily Larkin is up at dawn carrying crates of apples to his market stall. Taking charge of Greg's business while he's away, she's grown from a penniless workhouse orphan into a shrewd tradeswoman. But the market is a man's world, and Lily soon starts attracting unwanted visitors, including Greg's old rival.

You think you know who I am. Five seconds is all it takes to sum me up and dismiss me. But a man needs company, and I want a woman who's worth the effort. There's no rush, though. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. As I've found to my cost, bodies are hard to get rid of.

After losing her mum in a tragic accident when she was young, Chrissy Moss had to find out the hard way how to survive on one of the East End's most notorious estates. When a 15-year-old girl disappears, hours after delivering a message for local gangland lowlife Eddie, the residents take the law into their own hands, forcing old secrets to resurface. With rumours flying - not just about the girl's disappearance, but about Laura Moss' death years earlier - Chrissy begins to suspect what happened to her mother was no accident: it was murder.

Katie committed a terrible crime, but now she’s done her time and is determined never to go back behind bars. But starting again isn’t easy, especially after what she ​did and what was done to her. A stay in a probation hostel helps Katie make new friends on the outside, and slowly she finds her feet, but the world is full of temptations and memories, drawing Katie back to her past. Before she can truly start to live again, Katie must finally confront her demons and face the nightmare she’s been turning away from. But she needs to be careful.

The reigning queen of Albert Square, Laila Morse shares her incredible story for the first time. This is a book that will shock, humble, and inspire.

London, 1944. With bombs raining over London, keeping the Battersea Tavern open is no easy feat for owner Winnie Berry - but the community need the warmth and familiarity of the pub more than ever. After marriage, Maureen Fanning had moved out to Wandsworth with her bad-tempered husband Brancher. But when he loses both his job and their lodgings, the only people who will take them in are her kindly grandparents, Len and Renee. Getting a cleaning job at the Battersea Tavern is the least she can do to pay them back. It would all be fine...if it weren't for Brancher.

Crime is a man's business, so they say, though not according to Queenie Dove. A self-proclaimed genius when it comes to thieving and escape, she reckons she's done pretty well. Yes, she had a tough childhood in London's East End. But she survived the Blitz, learned how to get by on her wits, and soon graduated from shoplifting to more glamorous crimes. Daring, clever and sexy, she thrived in the Soho of the Krays and the clubs of Mayfair, fell wildly in love, and got away with it all. Or did she? For beneath Queenie's vivacious, unrepentant account lies another story....

Left on the steps of an orphanage when she was just days old, Nancy Sunday was brought up in hardship—until the kindly Rosalind Carey took her in. Now 18 years old, Nancy is an adopted member of the Carey family. But she can’t help wondering who her parents really were. When Nancy is sent away to finishing school, she finds herself in the midst of London society. There she meets Freddie Ashton—kind and warm-hearted, he might just be the man of Nancy’s dreams. But she knows his wealthy parents would never let him marry a penniless foundling.

There was a double wedding planned in Walworth. Sally Brown was marrying Horace Cooper, and her brother, Freddy, was at last getting hitched to his childhood sweetheart, Cassie Ford. But the wedding wasn't the only thing being planned, for Ginger Carstairs and Dusty Miller were working out a bank robbery and, unbeknown to the inhabitants of Walworth and Denmark Hill, both Freddy Brown and the Adams family were to be deeply involved and put in considerable danger.

London has been ravaged by war for three years now, and life couldn't be tougher for those living on Lavender Road. Many loved ones have been lost, and sacrifices have been made, but Lady Helen de Burrel is about to take the biggest risk yet. Inspired by the courage of her friends on this south London street, Helen volunteers to join the Special Operations Executive and so put her life in jeopardy for the sake of her country. But it's hard to know whom to trust, and when her heart is on the line, even love becomes dangerous.

Whitechapel in the 1930s was not an easy place to be brought up, and when the war came, those with nothing were hit the hardest. Queenie watched her family struggle and learned her lessons the hard way. When she was a little girl, there was one thing Queenie knew - she was going to get out of this.... And then tall, dark and handsome Alfie Butler walks into her life and gives Queenie her ticket out. One rushed wedding later, the real trouble begins. As the Krays make their mark on the East End, Queenie realises what it takes for an East End girl to really succeed.

The 1950s are in full swing, and the Adams family is blessed with many new additions. Chinese Lady now has so many grandchildren that even she can sometimes scarcely remember them all. Boots and Sammy are kept up-to-date by the Adams youngsters, some of whom are now working in the family business. But they also welcome newcomers, including the lovely Anneliese, whose German ancestry makes her less than popular with some of her South London neighbours, and Joe and Hortense, newly arrived from the West Indies and working hard for Matt and Rosie on their farm in Kent.

The gripping new Second World War novel from Sunday Times top ten best-selling author of While We're Apart. After the death of her parents in a bombing raid, Mary Jones discovers a secret in the pages of her father’s diaries. Her search for the truth brings her to Cliffehaven on the south coast. Here she finds work at the Kodak factory, sifting through the airgraphs, which are being sent from all over the world by the men and women in the armed forces and by their loved ones.

The latest crime thriller from best-selling author Kerry Barnes.

There was a new family in Browning Street, Walworth - the Harrisons. Respectable and well-behaved, the only thing unusual about them was that Mr Harrison was never there. He was a sailor, said Ma Harrison, away fighting pirates in the China Seas. Actually, 'Knocker' Harrison was in Marsham Gaol - he had unfortunately burgled a lady's suite when she happened to be there. Pa wasn't really a very good burglar.

Two sisters living in London's tough East End… will Jennifer and Kathy be tough enough to survive?Katherine and Jennifer Finch are like chalk and cheese: Katherine is a midwife, dedicating her life to helping others - and Jennifer is a prostitute. Leaving home age 15, Jennifer must learn to live on her wits in London's notorious East End. Soon, however, she is battling drink and drugs, and is pregnant with a child. Her labour is nearly fatal, but her sister steps in to save the day.

Wood Green, North London, November 1913. The storm clouds of war gather overhead while one brave girl fights to save her family.... After her mother dies, Livvie Bone knows it's down to her to protect her younger siblings from their drunken father. But life on the worst street in London is dark and dangerous, and one night she needs protection herself. When the mysterious Joe Hunter steps in to help her, Livvie's fascinated by him, in spite of his unsavoury reputation.

‘Oh my goodness - another girl, Mrs Swain!' Clara's normal iron composure broke, and she screamed, ‘No! That's not the bloody deal!' And that was how my nanna, Bertha Swain, entered the world. When Helen Batten's marriage breaks down, she starts on a journey of discovery into her family's past and the mysteries surrounding her enigmatic nanna's early life. What she unearths is a tale of five feisty redheads struggling to climb out of poverty and find love through two world wars.