Showing results by narrator "Deirdra Whelan" in All Categories

When the anonymous invite arrived, we knew exactly who it was from. Elle Romero, the beautiful, charismatic Texan who burst into our lives when we were teenagers. We'd gone our separate ways and lost touch. Until now. Elle, the legendary prankster, is back. She's invited us all—me, Claire, Lizzie and Megan—to a swanky country house for a reunion. We arrive excited for a weekend of reminiscing and reconnecting. A chance to step out of our uneventful lives for a while. But when Elle fails to show up at her own party, we begin to wonder if she's up to her old tricks.

Following the death of her husband, Ffion moves back to her family hotel in Wales seeking home comfort. In the village of Cariad Cove, she reconnects with her family, and starts to find hope as she takes up running and meets Joe. For Joe, the second his dog crashes into the beautiful woman on the beach, it's love at first sight. But recognising a hurting soul, he offers Ffion his friendship and soon the two are organising a charity run for the local animal sanctuary.

When Holly Dryden fled Penhallow Sands nearly a year ago she was determined to put the past - and Rich Turner - behind her. But now an unexpected loss and financial trouble has led her back to the family vineyard, and it’s time to tell Rich the truth - he’s a father. Surrounded by the memories of what they once shared, Holly’s anger fades in the glow of Rich’s undeniable love for their son and the way he selflessly steps in to help the vineyard out of trouble.

When three women head to Portugal for a long weekend in the sun, the goal is to celebrate an upcoming wedding. Jane is getting married, and Angela and Maya want to give her a good time before she does. But the carefree getaway soon goes awry, and by the time the friends board their flight home, they are all carrying a terrible secret. It's one that could ruin each of their lives, which is why they make their pact: They agree to tell no one else what happened while they were away. As long as they can do that, they should be fine. That is until somebody else threatens to share their secret.

A broken family. Skeletons in the closet. Lives in danger. When Eva’s brother Ben announces he has found their mother, Eva is determined to have nothing to do with the woman who abandoned them 18 years ago to a traumatic childhood in foster care. Eva is happy now, in a loving relationship with rich and dependable Jim, and she is pregnant. Nothing can change Eva’s mind. Her eyes are firmly on the future. But when her baby is born with a serious hereditary illness, she is forced to confront both her mother and her past.

Schoolteacher Rachel will do anything to protect her younger sister, Laura. So when their long-lost father shows up out of the blue and makes a shocking accusation against Laura’s husband, Rachel is thrown into turmoil. As undeniable evidence surfaces, Rachel discovers everything she thought she knew was wrong. Has her sister’s entire life been a lie? And how did her young niece get the bruises she is hiding? And who keeps calling her in the middle of the night? As their father works his way into their lives, Rachel finds her ordered world slipping away.

In the peaceful Cotswolds village of Maybridge, you wouldn't expect to find a dead body in the rose garden. And certainly not two. Abby is horrified to discover the bones of a baby buried under a rose bush. It's in the garden of her soon-to-be ex-husband Howard's family home. She immediately calls the police. But she can't get hold of Howard. He's off on a jolly with the woman he's got pregnant. And then, just two days later, Abby finds Howard himself.

Orphaned at the age of 10, Archie Ledbetter is forced to live with his uncle in his very grand house. Uncle Walter seems emotionless, exhibiting little feeling towards the young lad. If it wasn't for some of the staff at Huntington Hall, Archie's life would be a complete misery. There's a dark secret that Cook hints at as to why Archie's mother left her lavish lifestyle behind and ended up settling in the East End of London, scraping a living selling cakes and confectionery from the back of a barrow in the marketplace. Archie's never known his father and wonders who he is.

Just four months after Emma Hogan was born, her father was convicted of a heinous crime and sent to prison for life. Forty-six years later, and now a London-based journalist, Emma discovers an old notebook she suspects might be connected to her father. Embossed on the front of that notebook is a single word - Clawthorn. Unbeknownst to Emma, the innocent-looking notebook is anything but, and it takes a stranger with an uncanny knowledge of the past to warn her of that - an intriguing stranger named Clement.

There might be a war on, but that doesn't stop Georgina Garrett running her business with an iron fist. No one said running the Battersea gang was going to be easy, but her unflinchable nature makes Georgina unstoppable. With a role that requires a ruthless ability to seek revenge and pay out crippling punishments, Georgina's enemies are growing in number. With a target on her back, Georgina knows she must do everything to protect her family. But, with the loss of someone closest to her, can Georgina rise up from the ashes or allow a usurper take her crown?

Georgina Garrett was born to be ruthless and she's about to earn her reputation. As World War One is announced a baby girl is born. Little do people know that she's going to grow up to rule the streets of Battersea. From a family steeped in poverty the only way to survive is with street smarts. With a father who steals for a living, a grandmother who's a woman of the night and a mother long dead, Georgina was never in for an easy life.

Hidden within the confines of The Royal Institute of Prehistorical Studies, Sybil is happy enough with her work - and her love life. Then to her dismay, her old adversary, assertive and glamorous Helen Hansen, is appointed Head of Trustees. To add insult, Helen promptly seduces Sybil's boyfriend. Betrayed and broken-hearted, Sybil becomes obsessed with exposing Helen as a fraud, no matter the cost. Offbeat and darkly funny, The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line is about things lost and found. It is also a story about love, grief and forgiveness: letting go and moving on.

Glamorous Cara De Rosa has it all: a successful and rapidly expanding chain of family-run Italian restaurants, friends aplenty and an imminent marriage to a much younger man. When she collapses during a family party, all signs point to a heart attack. But Cara knows better. Someone wants her dead. Granddaughter Sienna already knows what it's like to want answers. This time she's determined to get them. Because at De Rosa's, someone needs to pay.

Jennifer’s life isn’t going as she planned. Fired from her job and on the brink of divorce, her only salvation lies at the bottom of a wine bottle. When her mother insists she get away from everything, she reluctantly agrees to explore her Italian roots in Tuscany. Staying in her family’s centuries-old cottage, she becomes embroiled in a mysterious tragedy involving her great-grandmother.

Abby enters the Maybridge Flower Show, never dreaming for one moment that she'll win the gold. Or an invitation to appear on telly, alongside gardening legend Daisy Dashwood! Some people say Daisy's a tiresome diva. But starry-eyed Abby can't wait for the cameras to start rolling. Until . . . Daisy staggers out on stage. Only to collapse at Abby's feet. Her demise might seem like a tragic accident—resulting from a cocktail of booze and hay-fever medicine. But Abby's not so sure.

Carla Andrews and Lorraine West are work colleagues and best friends. They socialise together, they work in the same bookmakers and they support each other as only best friends can. Then they are murdered together. When DI Tom Fowler is handed the case, he discovers a journal that Carla has left and must unpick the secrets Lorraine has kept hidden. Soon Carla’s and Lorraine’s husbands become the main suspects. It’s usually the spouse who is responsible, isn’t it? The investigation progresses until Isaac West, Lorraine’s 16-year-old son, disappears.

Heather is a single mum who has always done what's best for her daughter, Chloe. From birth up to the age of 17, Chloe has never been any trouble, until one night when she calls her mother with some shocking news. There's been an accident. And now there's a dead body.... As always, Heather puts her daughter's safety before all else, but this is one time when she goes too far. Instead of calling the emergency services, Heather hides the body, saving her child from police interviews and public outcry.

The chicken can fly only a few metres but–somehow–this unlikely evolutionary descendant of Tyrannosaurus Rex has conquered the world. Earth is now home to more than twenty billion chickens, at least ten times more than any other bird. For every human on the planet, there are three chickens. In Fowl Play, Sally Coulthard charts the chicken's fascinating journey from dinosaur to domestication to exploitation, exploring every aspect of the history of Gallus gallus domesticus.

Obsession, jealousy, lust, revenge.... There is nothing more dangerous than a passion that curdles and spills into murder. Love, when it goes wrong and spirals into violence, leads to the most chilling and tragic consequences. Death at the hands of a partner or ex-partner is the most common form of murder for women, far outnumbering the risk of death from a stranger. Obsessional sexual desire is the common thread through the stories in this book, tragic examples of how death can come at the hands of a once trusted and loved partner.

It's the 1930s, and Georgina Garrett has risen up from her tough beginnings to become the new boss of the Battersea gang. But not everyone is pleased with a female taking charge. With rival gangs trying to steal her turf, untrustworthy men in her midst and her dad lost deep in the bottle, Georgina has a lot to tackle. With her friends and family in constant danger and those closest to her questioning her leadership Georgina must use her wits to show that she's made for this job. The Garrett name is one to be feared, and Georgina will begin to change the face of Battersea forever.