Showing results by publisher "Bolinda audio" in Literature & Fiction

Pearl has given up on her dreams of being a journalist after being denied a promotion because of her gender. Joining the WAAF as a radio telephone operator for Bomber Command, Pearl's new job at RAF Fenthorpe serves two purposes – providing an income for her grandmother, and keeping a close eye on her younger sister, Thea, an instrument repairer at another Lincolnshire bomber station.

Tinahely, Ireland, 1959. Rosie Hart is content leaving her home behind to follow her new husband to Australia. But she soon discovers there is no room for her or their young son in the life he has built in vibrant Kings Cross. As their marriage crumbles, Rosie will need to fight for the golden future her son deserves...until the day her world is shattered and all hope turns to dust.

American Ambassador Maxwell Gordon Amberley has a reputation as a tough negotiator. Yet when he is sent to Vietnam, the dilemma he faces throws him into self-doubt. He is made arbiter of his nation’s fate on the one hand and of the life and death of the ruling house of Vietnam on the other. Out of every international crisis comes at least one great story.

1870 - Emma Grady has spent seven years of servitude as a convict in Australia. Now, having earned her ticket of leave, she is still bound by chains of honour and friendship. Yet she lives for the day when she will return to England, to face those who cheated and betrayed her. And to Marlow Tanner, the man she loves and whose tragic child she bore and then lost.

Natalie is a young Gold Coast mother with a loving husband, two small children, and a happy lifestyle. While helping her mother move house, she finds a little box containing a Burmese artifact. When Natalie learns its unique history through a letter left by her great-great uncle, it ignites her interest in its origins and her uncle’s unfulfilled plans for this curio. Her investigations collide with her own dramatically changing circumstances and create a dilemma that challenges the core of her marriage as she finds herself immersed in two very different golden lands.

The year is 1807, and Martha is in the process of recovering from the murder of her husband, David. The murderers have been brought to justice, and now she looks forward to a happier future in the company of Owain Laugharne, the new love of her life. Plans for the marriage are far advanced when Owain disappears without a trace.

Blackburn, 1947. In the tiny front parlour 14-year-old Laura Blake watches her beloved father die. But not before he tells her she will make something of her life. Laura never forgets his words. Yet her path to success proves to be a rocky one. Forced to trundle a cart around the back streets, selling other folk's cast-offs to support her family, Laura learns enough to start work in her uncle's furniture shop. But then fate deals another cruel blow when Laura is brutally raped. Bearing the child of her attacker in secret, she vows to make the world pay for its injustice towards her.

When a young Japanese fighter pilot is shot down and captured in the 1942 Darwin bombing, he knows in his heart he should be dead. Duty is heavy as a mountain, death as light as a feather. That’s the Military Code and it means fight to the death, never surrender or you’ll bring a bitter shame on yourself and family. He conceals his true name to protect his family. Suicide is a possibility, but he’s drawn away from his military indoctrination by experiences with ordinary Australians, drawn towards living out his own individuality.

Friday the thirteenth of February 1948 is Hannah Gordon's thirty-sixth birthday. Her daughter Allie turns sixteen on the very same day. What's more, it's a full moon. Hannah doesn't need Grandma Ade's warning that bad luck is coming to realise the odds are against them. Hannah Gordon has always wanted to be someone important, yet she's stuck in an inner-city back street, fighting to keep hold of her children, her home and her sense of self. Then a devastating accident sets off a chain of events that will rock the family foundations to the core.

London, 1594. The queen's physician has been executed for treason and conspiracy theories flood the streets. When Nicholas Shelby, unorthodox physician and unwilling associate of spymaster Robert Cecil, is accused of being part of the plot, he and his new wife, Bianca, must flee for their lives. With agents of the Crown on their tail, they make for Padua, following the ancient pilgrimage route, the Via Francigena. But the pursuing English aren't the only threat Nicholas and Bianca face.

London, 1593. Five years on from the Armada and England is taking its first faltering steps towards a future as a global power. Nicholas Shelby – reluctant spy and maverick physician – and his companion Bianca Merton are settling into a life on Bankside. But in London there is always a plot afoot.... Robert Cecil, the Queen’s spymaster, once again recruits Nicholas to embark on a dangerous undercover mission that will take him to the back alleys of Marrakech in search of a missing informer.

Paramedic Stacey Durham has an idyllic life: her dream job, a beautiful house, and a devoted husband. Until her car is found abandoned and covered in her blood. Detective Ella Marconi knows information is key in the first twenty-four hours, questioning frantic husband James, jealous sister Marie, and Rowan, the colleague who keeps turning up in all the wrong places.Just as Ella starts to piece together the clues, a shocking message arrives for James: You won't see her again if you don't tell the truth.

It is Warsaw, 1939, and Elzunia is an indulged teenager who longs for a heroic life filled with romance. But the outbreak of war shatters all her dreams. As bombs fall, she meets Adam, a taciturn airman whose fate becomes entwined with hers. In despair over the occupation, Adam joins the Polish resistance, then flies bombers for the RAF.

When Josie O'Casey returns to London after 12 years in America, she is overjoyed to discover that her childhood sweetheart Patrick Nolan, who she believed to be dead, is alive and well. But Josie's happiness is short-lived - Patrick now belongs to another. Heartbroken, Josie vows to forget about Patrick and settle back into life in the East End. But the East End that Josie knew as a child is much changed. While Josie can remember only too clearly her poverty-stricken upbringing, her family's social standing has vastly improved since they've been away.

Cathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband, and even when he’s conscripted she knows it’s only a brief respite - divorce is not an option. Cathy, a true Brogan daughter, stays strong for her beloved little son, Peter. When her husband is declared missing in action, Cathy can finally allow herself to hope - in just 6 months she will legally be a widow. In the meantime, she has to keep Peter safe and fed.

Bringing ancient myth to life with passion, humour and humanity, Lindsay Clarke vividly retells the story of Troy and of the heroes who fought there. Traumatised by the slaughter that his ingenuity unleashed upon the people of Troy, Odysseus believes himself unworthy of returning home. Embarking on an epic journey to the ends of the world and deep into the shadows of his own heart, Odysseus turns at last for Ithaca, where his wife and son await, besieged by rivals who believe - and wish - him dead.

Single mother Carrie is heart-sore when she arrives on the sun-drenched island of Santorini with her daughter Nell – her adored uncle Sol's tattered sketchbook clutched to her chest. Even as they explore the winding cobbled alleys, Nell can't forgive Carrie for keeping a secret – the truth about her own father. But Carrie hopes that seeking answers to a family mystery will heal their fractured relationship and show Nell that the family she desperately wants has been there all along.

After giving birth to her daughter, Kate O'Connor finds herself back in Poor House Lane with some momentous decisions to make. Faced with the opportunity to move out of the slums, she invests her unexpected fortune in a new shoe factory to challenge Eliot Tyson's monopoly over the workforce, regardless of whether or not he is the father of her children...

Alice: 30-something, IQ of 159 (almost a genius), only communicates with her mother in Morse code. Her imaginary friend is back. Erika: 15, daughter of hot ‘wealthugee’ who loves Russian literature, genuine genius, killer eyeliner and killer instincts. The climate is in crisis and wealthy immigrants are flocking to New Zealand for shelter, stealing land, driving up food prices and taking over. But Alice has far more important things to worry about – hating her best friend’s husband, getting free wine and quiet-quitting her dull day job. Until she meets Erika.

One winter's night, in the coal-hole in her yard, Rosie finds that a woman sheltering there has been severely beaten by thugs. At a glance, Kathleen looks like an unkempt, aged vagabond who tramps the roads carrying all her worldly possessions in a grubby tapestry bag. Her only friend is the mangy old dog who accompanies her; the sum of her life is in the diaries she so zealously guards. Yet close up, Rosie can see that Kathleen has a gracious beauty – the 'look' of a respectable lady of means.