Showing results by narrator "Annie Aldington" in All Categories

The close, loving family life Rose has known is shattered when the country goes to war. Rose resolves to do her bit so, aged 16, she leaves home to train as a nurse in London. There she finds freedom, excitement and a different way of life. A brief encounter with a soldier opens her eyes to romance, but is he the man she thinks he is? Can first love survive long separation or will Rose discover that her heart belongs to another? When the war brings searing loss and heartbreak, can Rose find the strength to look to the future?

When genealogist Cleo is asked to investigate the family of Upper Moore House as a favor to her estate agent friend, it's a different commission to the ones she's used to. And right from the start she feels there's something not quite right about Mrs. Darcy D'Eath Wytcombe. What is Mrs. Wytcome's real motive for digging so deep into her late husband's family? What secrets does she think Cleo will uncover? And is she prepared for what else might be revealed?

When the beautiful but naïve Grace Lennicker falls for Isaiah Feasey, son of a rival smuggling family and owner of a local tavern, her sisters try to intervene. But as tensions grow, there is another suitor also hoping to win her hand in marriage, the dashing and more favourable Albert Enderby, a young lieutenant in the Revenue. Grace is unwittingly drawn back into the world of smuggling that her sisters fought hard to leave behind, and as violence erupts, she finds herself unable to stand by, knowing the rival gangs will kill anyone who stands in their way.

One summer day Clara Marshall vanished without trace. A few days later, her children, six-year-old Lorraine and five-year-old Janine, also disappeared and were never seen again. Richard Marshall, Clara's heartbroken husband, claimed he had discovered his wife was having an affair with an Australian backpacker and that she had run away with him, taking the children with her, destroying the family for ever.

Aggie has tasted freedom working at the local munitions factory. But the Great War is coming to an end, and the men are coming home. Aggie can't bear the idea of going back into service. She wants more from her life - and becoming a Copperette - a member of the Women's Police Service - might help her move up in the world. Mim just wants to do her bit for her country. She's prepared to work hard to help her fellow women and keep up morale. She even takes Aggie in to her house to help with her training.

The ravaged world of Tallarn now plays host to the greatest armoured conflict in the history of mankind, with the bitter and vengeful Iron Warriors leading warhosts of tanks and Titans across the befouled plains. In desperation, a covert team of Imperial Fists resort to seemingly unthinkable measures in order to regain the upper hand - but will their mission to seize the macro-transporter Eagle's Talon ensure victory or merely spell doom for their loyal allies on the surface below?

Molly lives with her repugnant father, who has betrayed her many times. From a young age, living on the streets of London's East End, she has seen the harsh realities of life.... When she's kidnapped by a gang and forced into their underworld, her future seems bleak. Flo spent her early years in an orphanage and is about to turn her hand to teacher training. When a kindly teacher at her school approaches her about a job at Bletchley Park, it could be everything she never knew she wanted.

Can their friendship survive the struggles of war? The East End of London, 1940. Life is tough for the Ten Bells Street girls. Best friends from childhood, the three of them now find themselves scattered across London, bearing the weight of war apart. Exiled from the East End, Rose has created a new life for herself and now works as a dancer in a club in Soho, but she soon finds that life in the West End isn't any easier than what she left behind.

Where is the line between hope and madness? Stella and her boyfriend were teenagers when their one-year-old daughter, Alice, vanished during a beach vacation. Though her body was never found, Alice was assumed to have drowned. Twenty-one years later, Stella is a happily married mother to a 13-year-old son and a successful therapist. But everything falls apart when a new patient walks into her office. The young woman introduces herself as Isabelle - but Stella is sure it’s Alice....

It is autumn 1940 and, as the bombs rain down on London, a close-knit community struggles to survive. Working at the local post office, Bessie Green does her best to keep her customers' spirits up, but when she receives a telegram addressed to her parents, there's nothing she can do to prevent the heartache that lies ahead. Then Bessie hears that 11-year-old Daisy Mason has been orphaned in a blast, and she's sure that taking Daisy into their home is just what her parents need to help them overcome their grief.

When Polly Pritchard learns that her husband has been killed in action, she brings up their young daughter, Emmie, alone. To make ends meet, she gets a job at the Cherry Ballroom in West London, and it is here that she meets James, a Canadian airman, and they fall in love. But then Polly's husband turns up very much alive.... Life is even harder for Polly after the war. James has gone, her husband is involved in a criminal gang, and their daughter suffers from an illness that leaves her deaf.

The third and final novel in the Ten Bells Street saga series.

Robbed of marriage to the man she loved, Leah Bryce rears his daughter Miriam as her own. But her desire for vengeance lead her to treat the girl with extreme cruelty. Leah's son Ralph has always loved the girl he believes to be his sister, and fights to subdue feelings that are more than brotherly. Only when Leah's malign influence is removed for ever can Miriam overcome the horrors of her girlhood to find love and joy at last.

Rowan Forrester has it all - the happy marriage, the adorable dog, the good friends, the promising business and even the dream home after she and her husband, Tom, win a stunning but slightly dilapidated Georgian townhouse in London at auction. But in the blink of an eye, Rowan’s picture-perfect life comes crashing down around her, and she is faced with the prospect of having to start again. To make ends meet she begins a search for housemates and, in doing so, opens the door to new friends and new beginnings. But could she be opening the door to new heartbreak, too?

Fearing for his life, Thomas Marsh has fled Castle Bay and found work as a mill hand, deep in the countryside. Here he comes across the unconventional Isabel Cavendish and is captivated by her beauty and wildness. But Isabel's father has ambitions for his daughter, and she is soon sent away to Ramsgate to learn how to be a lady. Struggling to understand society's obsession with dresses and balls, Isabel chafes against the restrictions of her new life. Then she meets Daniel Coates, in town for one night only, and the pair discover a strong mutual attraction.

Sent to the workhouse as a child, all Ella Hathaway can remember is a voice whispering, 'Dearie, promise you will never forget what you saw. Your Ma was killed deliberate...and someone oughter pay for it.' When wealthy spinster Letitia Fairchild witnesses Ella being ill treated, she takes her in as a scullery maid. But as Ella grows up, she is determined to find the truth about her mother's death and appeals to Letitia for help, revealing her only personal possession, a black silk purse. Intrigued, Letitia agrees to begin a quest to solve the mystery of Ella's past.

Having suffered much cruelty at the hands of her father, Isabel Kenton is shocked to hear after his death that he was not her real father. Isabel inherits their house while her twin brother, Mark, is left the family steel works. But when World War I breaks out, Mark joins the RAF, and Isabel must take responsibility for the management of the business. Struggling to keep the business alive, she must also discover who she really is.

Like a princess in a fairytale, Grace Hamilton has been showered with blessings: professional success, a happy marriage, and she even lives in a beautiful castle. But the only thing she really wants – her heart’s desire – is the one thing she can never have. Her sister, the beautiful Susannah, has made a mess of her life. Like a reverse Midas, everything she touches turns sour. But fate puts Grace’s future in Susannah’s hands, changing the balance of power between the sisters forever.

It’s Christmas 1880 in London’s East End, and a dying Irish girl leaves her baby in the care of the Sisters of Clemency. The nuns raise little Ettie O’Reilly as their own. But the lives of the nuns and orphans are soon crushed by an unexpected turn of events. Ettie is at her lowest ebb when she is betrayed by the boy who has promised his undying love and loyalty. She is faced with the revelation of a heart-wrenching secret.

When Kristen’s partner, William, is murdered in a mugging gone wrong, she tries to pick up the pieces for the sake of her young stepson, Theo. But when Theo’s biological mother, Ros, demands that he go to live with her, Kristen’s world is torn apart again. The police think that William was killed by an elusive criminal known as the dog man - but Kristen has reason to believe that Ros, a woman with an unstable past, is behind the killing.