Showing results by narrator "Laura Brydon" in All Categories

Christina O'Connor is the main prosecution witness from the Huddersfield Grooming scandal. In 2017, 11 men were convicted of a staggering 43 offences against her. In this memoir, Christina will describe how, from being a happy child with a loving family, she fell into the clutches of a grooming gang whose abuse of children earned them a total of 221 years in prison.

Four best friends, leaving kids, partners, broken hearts and guilty secrets behind them at home, and heading for Ibiza for the mother of all hen dos. Mums on tour: what could go wrong? Three days and nights of blissed-out sunsets, bottomless Sangria and sun-soaked lie-ins to sleep off the hangovers sounds like heaven—but it turns out you can get into a hell of a lot of a trouble, very fast, on the island where rules are made to be broken. It’s a chance to forget about dodgy exes, feuding families and the 9-5, and realise sometimes your friends are the family you choose.

After a tough breakup, Ellie returns to the only place she's ever really felt at home - the coastal town of Sanderson Bay. A year later, she's living her dream, brewing delicious artisan teas and selling them at her very own café. And when the mysterious and brooding Ben walks into her tearoom, Ellie finally dares to dream of true love. But then her ex shows up in the Bay, and just as Ellie discovers some tragic truths about her family's past, she learns Ben might be hiding an unwelcome secret of his own.

Five old school friends reunited for a weekend in Sheffield. A drunken game of truth or dare. One won't survive. The young woman is found murdered in a swanky hotel room. Detective Claudia Nunn gets the text just as she leaves her therapist's office. The victim's friends all say the same thing: she had been distracted and kept disappearing all weekend. And on the Saturday, someone had screamed abuse in her face. Did she know her killer?

Summer 1940. The war is raging on but the Steel Girls are fighting their own battles closer to home. After patching things up with Archie, Patty is miffed when he appears to have forgotten all about her 18th birthday. New girl Hattie has a lot to deal with as she trades the counter at Woolworths for the Vickers factory floor. But is she keeping a secret and are things tougher at home than she’s been letting on? Meanwhile, Nancy is besides herself when she receives word that Bert is missing in action and is struggling to keep it together.

Sue Young has never asked for much apart from a quiet life. She’s always been happy with her call centre job and dinner on the table at six o'clock. That was until a tragedy tore her tranquility into little shreds. With her life in tatters, Sue is persuaded to join a charity cycle ride led by morning TV’s Kath Fuller, who is having a crisis of her own, and Sue’s self-appointed support crew are struggling with their own issues.

Five years after the traumatic events witnessed by Rita and Yansis in Manchester, the couple finally agree to return with their young son, Daniel, to attend her brother John's wedding to the beautiful Paula. But memories are long on the Riverhill Estate, and when Daniel goes missing, Rita realises she has many enemies with a motive for taking her child. Once more she faces a race against the clock to unmask the perpetrators, but this time she has help in the shape of her Special Task Force brother, John.

How far would you go to hide from the past? One-year old Maisie Lewis is missing. DC Jan Pearce is in hiding from her past but is drafted onto the case when things escalate. What forced Jan to come back to Manchester to start a new life? Who is she hiding from? What is making this kickass woman hide away and work on cold cases rather than step up to the action? Is it business - or is it personal? A chain of paper dolls and a series of sinister messages leads Jan to the truth and into the dangerous territory of hidden secrets - but is it too late for little Maisie?

When Jennifer goes up to Cambridge University with her head full of the Romantic Poets, she never dreams that she will find her very own Byron. But then she meets gorgeous actor Laurie Lewis, and finds herself living a real-life love poem. Fifteen years and two children later, Jennifer and Laurie's relationship is starting to feel more like an epic tragedy. After a series of revelations turn her world upside down, Jennifer will do anything to keep her family together—even if it means moving hundreds of miles away to Laurie's childhood home in Westenbury, Yorkshire.

After the year Aidan and I have had, we needed some respite. My husband is overworked, whilst I'm anxious about the past, so renting a night at this converted barn house in the countryside seems like the perfect place for the pair of us to relax and unwind. It might be situated at the bottom of a large garden, but it's private enough that we don't have to mingle with the homeowners who live nearby. Or at least that's what I thought...

Life is hard for the Fothergill family as they try to make a living on their Dale farm. Bob Fothergill has set his sights on buying his own farm instead of renting the one they currently hold. Sally, his teenage daughter, wishes her father would see that she could help more with the farm. Ben, their youngest, has no interest in farming so is ignored. Sally's mother makes do knowing her husband wants what's best for them. But when Bob decides to take a well-paid part-time job, it causes friction in the family, bringing tension to New Year’s Day, 1939. Ivy and Sally’s lives change.

Astrid Webb is missing. The police have found her car crashed near the woods, the driver's door open, the seat spotted with blood. But there's no sign of Astrid herself, a sick woman who rarely left her house, who surely couldn't have left the scene of the accident without help. Her husband Bryan is sure that she's alive - after all, this isn't the first time she's vanished, only to reappear without explanation. But as the days pass, Bryan starts to look like a suspect in his wife's disappearance, perhaps in her murder.

DS Jan Pearce has a big problem. Her 15-year-old son, Aiden, is missing. Jan draws together the threads of missing-person cases spanning 50 years and finds tragic connections and unsolved questions. Bessy Swain, an elderly woman that Jan finds dead on her search for Aiden, and whose own son, Thomas, was also missing, may have the answers.

All the neighbours were laughing, drinking out of plastic glasses and getting along. I almost felt happy. Almost forgot about the terrible argument earlier and the sinister messages I’d been receiving from a strange address all week, threatening to expose the lies behind my perfect life. As we finished with the red and gold fireworks and welcomed everyone back to our house, I believed that everything would be okay. But I didn’t know who I was inviting in.

Spring 1940. As the war rages on, Vickers steelworks is busier than ever, which is proving tough for Nancy as she juggles working long hours and looking after two young children, all while waiting for her husband to return home safely. Betty is determined to roll up her sleeves and joins the Women’s Voluntary Service to keep busy and from fretting about her fiancé. But Patty is left worrying about someone closer to home. Sweetheart Archie has been keeping a secret from her, and one that puts him in great danger. Will it threaten to pull them apart for good?

Lyrical and raw, It Happened Like This is a book about misogyny in all its forms, about heroism and villainy, about class and the climate of neglect created by austerity, but most importantly it’s a book about women and their power, explored through the prism of Vicky’s story.

DS Jan Pearce is still searching for her missing son. When she finds a little girl, Elise, alone in a pram in a busy town center, she must unravel a mystery that takes her to the edge of her emotions. Then, another child, Dara Price, goes missing. Lisa Connelly, Elise's mother, has been forced into a life of prostitution and has been leaving her little girl alone. Her gangland boss is holding her prisoner but she wants her little girl back. Jan finds herself balancing her search for her son with finding Dara.

We are the North. With ground-breaking new authors, a thriving independent publishing scene and vibrant grass-roots networks, the North is driving a revolution in new literature. This anthology showcases the best of its talent, from every corner of the region and across all its vibrant genres. Some contributors are well-known established names, others are newcomers - all of them are part of the new northern writing scene.

In the scorching summer of 1976, Robyn spends her days swimming at the Lido and tagging after her brother. It’s the perfect holiday - except for the crying women her mum keeps bringing home. As the heat wave boils on, tensions in the town begin to simmer. Everyone is gossiping about her mum, a strange man is following her around, and worst of all, no one will tell Robyn the truth. But this town isn’t good at keeping secrets....

Yorkshire Dales, Summer 1997. Vicky Mott slips out the door of her remote cottage, and into the pale dawn light. She scrawls a note for her friends. Gone to see the sunrise. V xxx That's the last anyone ever hears from twenty-year-old music lover Vicky. Another victim of the Fellside Strangler? That would make Vicky the fourth young woman to lose her life this summer. Snatched by a mysterious killer who stalks the fells . . . But Vicky's body is never found.