Try free for 30 days
-
Children of Fortune
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
The Lonely Wife
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1850: Beatrix Fawcett is just 18 when her father tells her she is to marry a stranger. Hesitant, but with little choice, she agrees to the match - with hope for a good husband in Charles and the surprising delight of a lovely Yorkshire house in which they are to live. As Beatrix sets to making the house a home, she falls in love with it and the countryside nearby. But she does not fall in love with her husband.... It's clear Charles has chosen her simply to meet the requirements of his inheritance and has little interest in his young wife.
-
The Hungry Tide
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Foster's parents have been fighting a constant battle with poverty, disease and crime. When her father, Will, is involved in a terrible accident at work, their lives became even harder. But Will's good deeds of the past pay off as John Rayner decides to rescue the Fosters. John provides them with work and a house on the estate owned by his wealthy family.
-
New Neighbours for Coronation Close
- By: Lizzie Lane
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bristol 1936. Jenny Crawford has resigned herself to a loveless marriage living hand to mouth with their two children. Like many others, husband Roy struggles to find work at the docks but a chance encounter turns the family's fortunes around. Not only does he get regular work but they are also allocated a council house on Coronation Close on the outskirts of the city. Jenny and the children are overjoyed, this is the fresh start she could only ever dream of. But trouble feels never too far away.
-
-
Can’t wait for the next in the series
- By Denise on 04-03-2023
-
The Harbour Girl
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scarborough, 1880. Young Jeannie spends her days watching her mother and the other harbour girls sitting at the water's edge - mending nets, gutting herring - and waiting for her friend Ethan Wharton to come in on his father's fishing smack. As she was growing up, Jeannie always expected to marry Ethan, who is loyal and dependable. But then she meets Harry - a stranger who has come to visit from Hull for the day - and she falls for him.
-
Four Sisters
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matty has had to care for her three younger sisters ever since their mother’s death 10 years ago. She and the girls’ beloved father have worked hard to keep the family together, and now it’s time to celebrate as Matty turns 18. But their joy is short-lived when tragedy suddenly strikes and their father disappears on his way to London. The sisters have no way of knowing what has happened to him – only that he hasn’t returned home. With little money left they’re now forced to battle life’s misfortunes alone....
-
Winter’s Daughter
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hull, 1856. James Ripley and his wife Moira have always looked out for the poor of Hull. When, during one stormy night, there is a flood in a nearby cellar—a popular shelter for the homeless—James rushes to help. Among those rescued is a dark-haired little girl who speaks a language no one can understand. Some say that she came to the cellar with her mother, but no one knows where the mother is now. Concerned for the child's safety, James is unsure of what to do.
-
The Lonely Wife
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1850: Beatrix Fawcett is just 18 when her father tells her she is to marry a stranger. Hesitant, but with little choice, she agrees to the match - with hope for a good husband in Charles and the surprising delight of a lovely Yorkshire house in which they are to live. As Beatrix sets to making the house a home, she falls in love with it and the countryside nearby. But she does not fall in love with her husband.... It's clear Charles has chosen her simply to meet the requirements of his inheritance and has little interest in his young wife.
-
The Hungry Tide
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Foster's parents have been fighting a constant battle with poverty, disease and crime. When her father, Will, is involved in a terrible accident at work, their lives became even harder. But Will's good deeds of the past pay off as John Rayner decides to rescue the Fosters. John provides them with work and a house on the estate owned by his wealthy family.
-
New Neighbours for Coronation Close
- By: Lizzie Lane
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bristol 1936. Jenny Crawford has resigned herself to a loveless marriage living hand to mouth with their two children. Like many others, husband Roy struggles to find work at the docks but a chance encounter turns the family's fortunes around. Not only does he get regular work but they are also allocated a council house on Coronation Close on the outskirts of the city. Jenny and the children are overjoyed, this is the fresh start she could only ever dream of. But trouble feels never too far away.
-
-
Can’t wait for the next in the series
- By Denise on 04-03-2023
-
The Harbour Girl
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scarborough, 1880. Young Jeannie spends her days watching her mother and the other harbour girls sitting at the water's edge - mending nets, gutting herring - and waiting for her friend Ethan Wharton to come in on his father's fishing smack. As she was growing up, Jeannie always expected to marry Ethan, who is loyal and dependable. But then she meets Harry - a stranger who has come to visit from Hull for the day - and she falls for him.
-
Four Sisters
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matty has had to care for her three younger sisters ever since their mother’s death 10 years ago. She and the girls’ beloved father have worked hard to keep the family together, and now it’s time to celebrate as Matty turns 18. But their joy is short-lived when tragedy suddenly strikes and their father disappears on his way to London. The sisters have no way of knowing what has happened to him – only that he hasn’t returned home. With little money left they’re now forced to battle life’s misfortunes alone....
-
Winter’s Daughter
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hull, 1856. James Ripley and his wife Moira have always looked out for the poor of Hull. When, during one stormy night, there is a flood in a nearby cellar—a popular shelter for the homeless—James rushes to help. Among those rescued is a dark-haired little girl who speaks a language no one can understand. Some say that she came to the cellar with her mother, but no one knows where the mother is now. Concerned for the child's safety, James is unsure of what to do.
-
Silver Wishes
- Jubilee Lake, Book 1
- By: Anna Jacobs
- Narrated by: Catherine Harvey
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lancashire, 1895. When her controlling stepfather suddenly dies, it seems that Elinor Pendleton finally has a chance of freedom. But her hopes are soon dashed when she learns that the thuggish Jason Stafford has inherited every penny, and is determined to have Elinor too. Forced to flee with her maid, Maude, Elinor finds shelter with Maude's distant cousin in the remote village on the shore of Jubilee Lake. But Walter Crossley has troubles of his own. Having lost his closest family in a tragic accident, he needs one of his grandsons to return from America to inherit his farm.
-
-
Enjoyable as always
- By jnpenguin on 10-11-2023
-
The Gypsy Girl
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Polly Anna's mother died when she was just three years old, it seemed the workhouse was the only place for her to go. But with the help of Jonty - a young misfit who soon became her best friend - she managed to escape, running away with the fairground folk. She became a horserider and acrobat, travelling all around the country. Her friends became the circus people, and her home the caravans and travellers' tents.
-
No Place for a Woman
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lucy's parents are killed in a train crash, her kindly uncle steps in to look after the little girl - to the initial apprehension of his wife and her son. However, Lucy's sweet, spirited charm slowly wins over her new family, and as she overcomes the trauma of her childhood, she grows up inspired to become a doctor, just like her father. But studying medicine in London takes Lucy far from her home in Hull and the people she loves, and she has to battle to be accepted in a man's world.
-
-
Loved it
- By Amazon Customer on 13-01-2022
-
A Place to Call Home
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ellen thought she’d always live in the remote, pretty coastal village where she grew up. After all, her husband, Harry, works on a farm where he’s guaranteed a job and home for life. But when the old landowner dies and the couple and their young children are forced from their cottage, the future is suddenly bleak. Rather than stay - and starve - in the countryside they love, Harry sets out to find a job in the factories and mills of nearby Hull, and Ellen must leave behind everything she’s ever known to follow her husband and build a new life for her family.
-
The Doorstep Girls
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Can two friends find hope in hard times? Ruby and Grace have grown up in the poorest slums of Hull. Friends since early childhood, they have supported each other in bad times and good. But their families are bound together by more than friendship, and secrets from the past threaten to make their lives even more difficult. The local cotton mill has provided work for Ruby and Grace since they were nine years old, and now, years later, both girls find themselves the objects of attention from the mill owner's sons.
-
A Wartime Wife
- Mary Anne Randall, Book 1
- By: Lizzie Lane
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bristol 1939. At forty years of age, Mary Anne Randall still turns heads. With an abusive husband spending most of his wages on beer, she has resigned herself to be the sole breadwinner to protect her family and keep the wolves from the door. In order to make ends meet, Mary Anne runs a pawnbroking business from the wash house at the end of the garden. Following the outbreak of war an opportunity presents itself to escape her loveless marriage and find true love. Will she take that chance, or carry on living just for her children and not for herself?
-
Rosa's Island
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosa grew up an orphan in a remote, watery island fastness on the wild East coast of Yorkshire. Taken in as a small child by the motherly Mrs Drew, she realised as she grew up that this large and seemingly close farming family contained many troubled souls: Mr Drew, whose religious fervour held a dark secret; Jim, the eldest son, who was terrified of something from his past; Delia, longing to escape from the island; and tall, handsome, confident Matthew, who wanted only one thing - Rosa herself.
-
Homecoming Girls
- By: Valerie Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hull, 1874. Clara had always wondered about the beautiful, mysterious Jewel Newmarch, who was adopted as a baby and turns heads wherever she goes - her exotic looks point to her origins far away from the streets of Hull. Even at her twin sister Elizabeth’s wedding, Clara knows that Jewel is the belle of the ball. And as Jewel looks on at the happy, newly-married couple she feels a restlessness and intense longing to know her own roots.
-
A Christmas Wish
- By: Lizzie Lane
- Narrated by: Penelope Freeman
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten-year-old Magda Brodie’s world is torn apart when her mother dies in the workhouse two weeks before Christmas. Her wastrel father arranges for her sisters to be sent to their grandparents in Ireland and for her younger brother to be adopted, leaving Magda distraught with worry as her family are scattered far and wide. Magda, as the eldest girl, is sent to live with her Aunt Bridget who, for whatever reason, holds a bitter resentment towards Magda. But adversity makes Magda strong and determined.
-
A Mother's Choice
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 10 years Delia has had to fend for herself and her son, Jack, and as a young unmarried mother, life has never been easy. Every new coat and pair of shoes was bought with what little money she could scrape together as a singer on the stage. But when the theatre work dries up, Delia faces a dilemma: continue the search for employment with no knowing whether she'll find the stability and security her son needs or return to the place that should be home...where only spite and hatred await them.
-
Manchester Moll
- By: Emma Hornby
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eighteen-year-old Moll Chambers works her fingers to the bone doing all she can to support her family. With an ailing father and a wayward mother, Moll is the only one who can look after her siblings, Bo and Sissy. But Manchester is an increasingly dangerous place to live, overrun with a ferocious rivalry between gangs of so-called 'scuttlers': young men and women bent on a life of violence and crime. And they have her brother in their sights. Soon even Moll can't protect Bo from the lure of the criminal underworld.
-
-
Loved this book
- By James on 02-12-2023
-
Rich Girl, Poor Girl
- By: Val Wood
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christmas 1860: Polly, living in grinding poverty, loses her mother in childbirth and finds herself alone on the streets of Hull. Rosalie, brought up in affluence and comfort on the other side of town, loses her own mother in similar circumstances and on the same day. Polly takes a job as scullery maid in Rosalie's lonely house, and the two girls form an unlikely friendship. Travelling to the North Yorkshire Moors they discover a new kind of life and find unexpected joy and fulfilment.
Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
1864: following the untimely death of her cold-hearted husband, Beatrix and her three children are finally free. While Ambrose has already determined his path in life, eldest son Laurie's future is less certain. With the responsibility of the family estate on his shoulders, Laurie must decide between staying in Yorkshire to farm the family land and following his dreams.
Meanwhile, headstrong and independent Alicia is defying expectation and excelling at school. There, she befriends the enigmatic Olivia Snowdon and they quickly become inseparable. But Olivia's family past is shrouded in mystery and as she begins to dig deeper secrets come tumbling out....
Can the two families overcome the challenges that lie ahead?
Critic Reviews
"A heart-warming story filled with compelling action." (Rosie Goodwin)
"Hull's answer to Catherine Cookson." (BBC Radio 4's Front Row)
"Wonderfully fully-fleshed characters are the mainstay of [Val Wood's] stories." (Peterborough Telegraph)