Showing results by narrator "Jilly Bond" in All Categories

Living with her partner, Tony, his parents and their precocious teenage son, Alberta Granger considers she belongs to the perfect modern extended family. Her catering business is booming and her daughter, Hannah, is embarking on a glittering career. In fact, Alberta’s only preoccupation is why Tony seems unduly upset by his ex-wife’s forthcoming marriage.But some shocking news is about to rock Bertie’s world to its foundations.

When ex-Major Ed Parker of the US Army is pushed over a cliff at Pointe du Hoc following the anniversary of D-Day, a crisis is sparked in British Intelligence. The cream of the Secret Service gather: Dr. Audley, Oliver St John Latimer, Commander Cable, Dr. Paul Mitchell. But none will take on the case. Why is the investigation left to inexperienced Elizabeth Loftus? Is there any truth in the old rumour that Parker was a KGB double agent?

England, 1435. Eleanor Cobham has married into the highest ranks of the aristocracy; she is now the Duchess of Gloucester. She and her husband, the Duke Humphrey, set up a court of their own to rival the royal court in London, surrounding themselves with fascinating and influential people. But Eleanor craves the one thing she lacks: a son and heir - and through him a possible route to the throne of England.

Ellen Thomas, experienced war correspondent, returns to Afganistan’s dangerous Helmand Province on assignment, keen to find the murderer of her friend and translator, Jalil. In her search for justice in a land ravaged by death and destruction, she uncovers disturbing truths. Hasina, forced by tradition into the role of wife and mother, lives in a village which is taken by the British Forces. Her only son, Aref, is part of a network of underground fighters and she is determined to protect him, whatever the cost.

This book is the flip to How to Be Happy; a book which offers a reassuring and empowering guide to finding positivity and inner strength, it helps individuals to understand that it is not what happens to them, it is the way that they react and respond. Happiness guru Liggy Webb is here to help us all find positivity and inner strength to cope with stressful situations.

A person or persons unknown bludgeon Stafford Mills to death with his own silver candlestick. Suspects abound and suddenly sleepy Osborne-Tye seems a sinister place. The clues pile up. So to the suspects, and the search for the killer becomes quite a challenge. Then a second body is discovered, turning everything on its head. Can DI Guido Black and D Sgt Eden Hudson unravel the clues and unpick the alibis to crack their first murder?

Sebastian, Duke of Hasford, has a title, wealth, privilege, and plenty of rakish charm. Until he discovers the only thing that truly belongs to him is his charm. An accident of birth has turned him into plain Mr. de Silva. Now, Sebastian is flummoxed as to what to do with his life - until he stumbles into a gambling den owned by Miss Ivy, a most fascinating young lady, who hires him on the spot. Working with a boss has never seemed so enticing.

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

Emily Soldene's life spanned the entire Victorian era. As both leading lady and a formidable impresario with her own opera company, she was a darling of London’s music halls and theatre land, later reinventing herself as a journalist and writer. From humble working-class beginnings, Emily's fiery ambition would see her counting the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Charles Dickens as friends and mingling with the Rothschilds, Oscar Wilde and aristocrats. She even alleged that she had a close encounter with Jack the Ripper.

One hot summer's day, two-year-old Jessica Preston disappears from the beach. The police are convinced she drowned, but Sandra Preston won't give up hope that her daughter is still alive. How can she? Twenty years later, another child goes missing, and Sandra is approached by a young journalist who raises questions about what really happened to Jessica Preston all those years ago.

Another thrilling adventure for Anna Fehrbach. 1953: Anna Fehrbach, now happily married, is enjoying her Bahamian hideaway. Its been three years since the Russians last attempted to arrest her for her attempt on the life of Joseph Stalin, and she's beginning to believe that her archenemy, Lavrenty Beria, has abandoned the chase. But when Anna is lured into one last job for the CIA, she is plunged back into the Russian orbit....

In 1913 an orphan girl is delivered to The Hall of Eternal Splendour, seemingly destined to live out her life as a prostitute in its smoky backrooms. Yet one day hope appears in the unlikely form of a customs inspector, a modest man who will take Pan Yuliang as his concubine and introduce her to a glamorous life in 1920's Shanghai: a life of love and of art. But as Pan begins to realize her talent as a painter she also sees that she may lose something even more precious: a life in safety.

In war time, the rules of love change…1854. Britain is fighting a gruesome war. There has been no news of Lucy Gray since she eloped with handsome and impetuous Captain Charlie Harvington and embarked with him to the Crimea. Dorothea Gray will risk anything to heal the rift with her little sister and bring her home safe. She determines to join Florence Nightingale and the other courageous women travelling to the battlefield hospitals as nurses.

It was easy for society to overlook Lady Ida Howlett; they found her bookish, opinionated, and off the marriage mart. But little did they know that behind a calm exterior beats the heart of an adventuress, one who, determined to discover her runaway sister’s whereabouts, steals a carriage and sets off on a daring mission. Then she discovers she’s not alone! Bennett, Lord Carson, is inside, and he refuses to leave.

Just before D-Day in 1944, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, an elderly woman walks into a police station. She has information, she says, about human remains recently discovered nearby. The bodies could have stayed buried for ever - like the pain and passion that put them there. But Mary Holmes is finally ready to tell the truth. The young constable sent to take her statement is still suffering from the injuries that ended his army career. As he tries to make sense of her tale, William finds himself increasingly distracted.

Anna Fehrback is not yet 21, the picture of innocent beauty-and a deadly assassin with seven kills to her name. Recruited by the Nazis under threats of reprisals against her family, she has served as a double agent in the war, secretly spying for the British. Now, as France falls to Germany, she faces a new mission: go to Russia and assassinate Stalin.

Eve was just eight years old when, as a Jewish girl in a Berlin school, the rumblings of the Nazis' rise to power began to threaten everything she knew. Fortunately, her parents managed to get the family out of Germany and start a new life in London. The horrors of war were just a part of the past - until the day when Eve inherited a treasured family notebook that hid an amazing secret.

With Tullor safely behind glass at the Sealife Centre,and no news of evil Queen Taran,Lizzy almost believes that her troubles are over.Only she can't help thinking that it's not like Taran to give up.When her sister,Rose,starts behaving strangley,Lizzy wonders whether Taran might be up to her old tricks.Before long it's a race against time as Taran's final,terrifying plot to gain total power unfolds.

Nash, the “dangerous” Duke of Malvern, has always bristled against the rules of English society. Hot tempered and fearful of becoming like his brutish late father, he lives a life of too much responsibility and too little joy. And although he’s vowed to never marry, a duke has a duty—and there’s only one way to get himself an heir and a spare. So Nash reluctantly takes a look around at society’s available young ladies to see who might be willing to put up with his one-word answers and frequent glowers.

It's 1782. The 13-year-old daughter of a Venetian merchant family is lured naked from her bath by a stray cat and finds herself in the arms of Casanova - the legendary seducer of women. Twenty-five years later Cecilia is in Albania, now a portrait painter of some renown. Enter a young man from England, a troubled poet, looking for adventure at any price - a man who begins his affair with Cecilia.