Showing results by narrator "Julie Maisey" in All Categories

Receiving letters by post or via e-mail has always been important to me. Even now I feel slightly disappointed if the postman passes the door without anything for me, even though I know the chances are it will be a bill, a parking fine, a bank statement or a catalogue offering me clothing or garden furniture. The same applies when my inbox is empty save for someone offering a deal on a used car or urging me to change my energy provider.

Life changes for the Palin children when Mam dies, and it's up to 12-year-old Sally to take her place. Sally is determined that her baby sister Emily has a better life. When Emily is sent to live with rich relatives, it seems like her wish has come true. Sally and her family may face poverty in Liverpool, but love shared will help them overcome their hardships. Emily, however, wanting for nothing, might find out that happiness is harder to find.

Sisters Mary and Cathy Ward couldn’t be more different. Fiercely independent Mary is determined to leave the mean streets of Liverpool, whereas Cathy is happy with the life she has. But when both girls fall for the same man, conflict threatens to push them apart, and as they are caught up in their own troubles, Liverpool erupts in the Bloody Sunday riots.

Heavily in debt and earning peanuts as a 'trolley dolly', Saskia Swann desperately needed to get her life back on track. After a chance meeting, she landed a job as cabin crew - but this time on a private jet. Suddenly, she found herself transported into the glittering world of oligarchs and billionaires where the hostesses wear Prada, seven-course meals are served on fine china, the bodyguards carry guns and the mile-high shenanigans not only take place in luxury cabins, but in the cockpit itself.

Liverpool, 1901. The Tempest family is all but destitute, barely able to put food on the table. When Florrie falls ill with pneumonia and Arthur is imprisoned after a drunken fight, their 13-year-old daughter, Lizzie, finds herself parentless, desperate and alone. Despite her young age, Lizzie has spirit and determination, and she knows that she must find work to keep herself off the streets. In a stroke of luck, she gets a job in the match factory, and foreman George Rutherford takes her under his wing.

When Daniel Davenport saves Maddie Lockett and her young brother, Tom, from drowning, an immediate bond is forged between them. But Daniel is an aspiring doctor and son of a wealthy manufacturer whilst Maddie is a potter’s daughter from a poverty-stricken area of the Potteries. Even a friendship between the two could be frowned upon, let alone anything more....

> P is for Paris, where it all began. J is for jealousy, where it all came undone. But the most important letter is F. F is for forgiveness, the hardest of all. Sisters Poppy and Rose used to be as close as two sisters could be, but it's been over a decade since they last spoke. Until they both receive a call that tells them their mother has gone - without ever having the chance to see her daughters reunited. Andrea, though, wasn't the kind of woman to let a little thing like death stand in the way of her plans.

1946. The war is over, but a bereft Sheila Hodges is left parentless and alone in London. With nowhere else to go, she heads to Worthing to reconnect with her grandmother and cousin Veronica, known as Ronnie. Ronnie and Sheila are given the opportunity to run their grandfather’s business, a local garage. Ronnie’s ne’er-do-well brother Leslie is furious - as the man of the family, he believes the business is rightfully his. But their grandmother is adamant that Leslie is not to be trusted.

It's been a good few years since Molly and Bernie left their native Ireland and settled in Liverpool. Now they're both being courted by fine young men, and the future looks bright. But 1945 is rapidly approaching and soon war is changing everything - destroying homes and lives, and snatching away long-held dreams.... The beautifully evoked backstreets of Liverpool are the perfect setting for a tale of grit, friendship - and love.

Laura is excited to spend Christmas as usual with her beloved aunt Hedda and her friends. But her festive mood soon turns sour as she finds both old faces and new are keeping secrets from her. When a fire claims the life of her best friend, the beautiful and talented Iben Jensen, the scars of that night will remain with Laura for the rest of her life.

In the late '80s, our Rachel was having a boss time as a podium dancer at the Pleasuredrome, Birkenhead. Fast forward several years, and she's married, with the kids she's always dreamed of, but the body she's always dreaded. To make things worse, her husband, Trevor, begins to show his true controlling colours and Rachel blames herself, spiralling into depression. Until she discovers running.

It is 1966, and things are changing in the close-knit Napier Road. Stephanie is nine years old, and she has plans. But everything changes when Stephanie strikes up a relationship with Mr Man, who always seems pleased to see her. When Dawn goes missing in the woods during the World Cup final, no one appears to know what happened to her - but more than one of them is lying.

On board the superyacht Perseus, moored in the glamorous harbour in Antibes, Freya Addison is settling into her new role as hostess. The other crew members all like Freya, she is calm and diligent and a hard worker, but what they don’t know is that Freya has a secret and an ulterior motive for being on board. Because Freya isn’t here to travel the world in style. She has her sights set on one thing only, bringing down the owner of the yacht - the rich and arrogant Julian Falcon. A man who ripped the heart out of Freya’s family.

Last night my son, Shay, sneaked out of the house and didn’t come home. He promised not to go to the illegal party in the woods. But someone’s been attacked and Shay has gone missing. The police want to know if he saw what happened. I’m worried he could be involved. After all the trouble he’s been in lately, mixing with the wrong crowd, coming home beaten up and scared, I thought we’d put it all behind us. Trouble is, Shay resents me moving my new boyfriend into the family home. I found all sorts on his laptop, including a half-written email warning me not to trust David.

January 1941: As Charlie Barton tiptoes silently out of the house one cold winter morning to go off and fight for his country, his wife, Audrey, is left to run the family bakery on her own. Times are tougher than ever, but at the Barton Bakery in Bournemouth, Audrey is determined as always to serve the town with love, loaves and cakes, even as the town is reeling from the struggles of the Blitz. Audrey’s brother, William, has returned from battle with serious wounds. His fiancé, Elsie, is waiting for wedding bells, but William is a changed man, and will her hopes be in vain?

It is 1944, and Anne Black is making the best of a new life in Somerset, but bringing up her daughters so far from their father; her mother, Peggy; and their real home of Cliffehaven isn't easy. The safety of Somerset makes separation bearable until danger strikes and rocks Anne's world. Back in Cliffehaven Peggy Reilly is running the Beach View Boarding House with her usual love and warmth. The war is taking its toll, however, and Peggy longs to have her scattered family home again.

Lucy Winters’ parents have always been there for her. Loving, gentle and kind they have given her everything she could have wished for. Now, estranged from her husband, she has moved to the country to take over their thriving auction business. The moment she begins to prepare for her first sale she knows she’s made the right decision. And she dares to hope that at last she is living the life she has always dreamed of.

December 1940: All that Audrey Barton wants is her family together for Christmas. But the war changes everything.... The Barton family bakery in Bournemouth has been at the heart of the town for generations: Audrey and Charlie Barton have never been rich, but their bread and cakes – and their love and advice – have enriched the lives of others in the town for many years. When war breaks out, it doesn't take long for trouble to arrive on the bakery doorstep.

When widowed Amelia Smith takes a fallen soldier into her household, she is shocked to discover he has no idea who he is. Determined to help him recover his memory, she embarks on a journey that will change and endanger them both. Working out whom and what he is brings back painful memories to Marco. The only constant in his life is his burning desire to take revenge on those who tried to steal everything from him. As his memories return, he needs Amelia Smith's calm good sense more than he ever anticipated.

We teach our children how to tie their shoelaces, how to read, how to ride a bike. We explain the weather and rainbows and why people have jobs. But when it comes to explaining the forceful, baffling, intense and marvellous emotions that we might experience, well, things become vague.