Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Historical

Life has always been tough for May and Gus Lavender. Their father went away to sea never to return, and then their mother falls victim to the typhus sweeping through Liverpool. Regarded as orphans by the authorities, May and Gus are sent to the Brownlow Hill Workhouse. Like all workhouses, Brownlow is the last resort for the poor and the destitute. May and Gus will have to rely on each other more than ever if they are to survive the hardships to come....

1800: Three years after escaping to London with her bisexual lovers, Bella Rushdale wakes one morning to find their delicate ménage a trois about to shatter. Vaughan, Marquis of Pennerley, has left abruptly and without any explanation. Determined to reclaim him and preserve their relationship, Bella pursues him to his family seat on the Welsh Borders, where she finds herself embroiled in his preparations for a diabolical gothic celebration on All Hallows Eve - a phantasmagoria.

Liverpool, 1868. Shrouded in secrecy, Alice Sampson gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. But the former nurse's happiness is blighted by the knowledge that as a penniless, unwed mother, her future, and that of her child, can only be one of shame and disgrace. Then a knock at the door brings a miracle: she is invited to return to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary and her beloved ward. With the help of her friends and the welcome attentions of Reverend Seed, the hospital Chaplain, Alice slowly starts to rebuild her life.

When the Nazi occupation of Rome begins, two courageous young women are plunged deep into the Italian Resistance to fight for their freedom in this captivating debut novel. Rome, 1943 Lucia Colombo has had her doubts about fascism for years, but as a single mother in an increasingly unstable...

In the summer of 1936, while the Nazis make secret plans for World War II, a courageous and daring young woman struggles to expose the lies behind the dazzling spectacle of the Berlin Olympics. German power is rising again, threatening a war that will be even worse than the last one. The...

Will she ever be reunited with her real father? Angelina was abandoned on the doorsteps of Brownlow Workhouse when she was just a baby - her only possession the rag doll she held in her arms. Nicknamed 'Angel' for her golden curls, she is adopted by Mr and Mrs McBride. At first Angel is so happy to have found a caring family to save her from the drudgery of the workhouse. But her new parents are not the benevolent guardians they first appear.

Snow had fallen in the night, and now the great house, standing at the head of the valley, seemed like a five-hundred-year old ship sailing in a white ocean… For the Cavendish family, Rutherford Park is much more than a place to call home. It is a way of life marked by rigid rules and lavish...

A tantalizing pact between an ordinary woman and the silver-tongued son of the Devil is all that stands between Britain—and all hell breaking loose. 1851, London. All supernatural species have emerged from hiding, a result of The Great Revelation, led by Her Majesty, the vampiric Queen...

January 1942. With female conscription now in place, the spitfire production line at the Bell Works Factory is busier than ever. When sisters Val and Kay arrive, singers who bring glamour as well as talent, they are soon entertaining their co-workers after long shifts on the factory floor. Audrey is delighted to have caught the eye of a new male supervisor. But is he all that he seems? With romance, heartbreak, painful goodbyes as well as joyful reconciliations all around, one thing is for sure – the women pull together to keep the spirits up of one and all and do their bit for the war.

A down-on-her-luck shop girl and the son of an earl find they have more in common than they thought—including sexual chemistry they can’t resist—in this fresh Regency romance by Shana Galen. Tamsin Archer might just be having the worst year of her life. And that’s saying something...

Inspired by Agatha Christie's real-life Detection Club, a murder among a group of golden age mystery writers meets a second chance romance in this debut novel from author Jackie McMahon. London, 1930. Lucy Hubbard is on the cusp of achieving her dreams. With her first mystery novel debuting...

Orphaned Jenny and her chimney sweep brother Noah eke out life in a cellar dwelling in the heart of the slums. Noah is the main breadwinner, but he is treated horribly by his master. Worried for her brother's safety and health, Jenny resolves to put her talent for singing to good use and begins trawling the low inns and taverns at night entertaining the punters. When she catches the attention of a music hall manager and is offered a spot on the stage, it seems like a dream come true. But her newfound success can't include her brother.

Spring 1937: Teresa, a young Basque girl, is evacuated to London in the wake of the Guernica bombing. She thinks she has reached safety in the lofty halls of Rochester Place and the soothing arms of Mary Davidson, but trouble seeks her out wherever she goes. Autumn 2020: Corrine, an emergency services operator, receives a call from a distressed woman called Mary. But when the ambulance arrives at Rochester Place—the address the woman gave them—she is nowhere to be found.

After her plans to elope with her married lover fall through, Rachel Kivell is brokenhearted and saddened that she must remain in her small Cornish mining town, with all of its dark secrets. But her brooding is put to an end when the loving but childlike Alice Bowden turns up on her doorstep. Poor orphaned Alice has nowhere to go, but Rachel cannot see herself taking on the responsibilities of a child. Can she put her worries aside, or will Alice never find a place to call home?

A Cornish saga, perfect for fans of Poldark. In the Cornish mining village of Meryen, a secret never stays a secret for very long.... No one knows this more than Tara Nankervis. Beautiful yet pained, she is forced to share a devastating secret with her much older and destructive husband Joshua. Out of options, she plans to leave once and for all, taking her daughter, Rosa Grace, with her. But will she have the courage to leave everything behind, or is home truly where the heart is?

Three intrepid princesses find themselves targets in a deadly plot against the crown—until their uncle devises a brilliant plan to keep them safe... Princess Luisa has devoted her life to duty, quietly preparing to succeed her father as ruler. Nothing, however, primed her to live on the run...

Three intrepid princesses find themselves targets in a deadly plot against the crown—until their uncle devises a brilliant plan to keep them safe... Of all her sisters, Princess Stefanie is by far the least amenable to law and order, which is why she’s appalled to find herself masquerading...

When 17-year-old Mary O'Connor collapses one Sunday in church she is taken to live with Dr Roberts and his wife in a beautiful Yorkshire village for her health. Though initially employed as a maid, Mary soon becomes the daughter the couple were never able to have. With Britain at war, unable to remain idle, Mary finds employment in the local steel works but when her fiancé Tom Downing is killed in action Mary is convinced it is retribution for their night of sin during Tom's Christmas leave.

It's 1875, and the morals of Queen Victoria mean nothing to London's wayward and debauched elite. Young but naïve Clarissa Longleigh is visiting London for the first time. She is eager to meet Lord Marldon, the man to whom she's been promised, knowing only that he's handsome, dark, and sophisticated. In fact he is depraved, louche, and has a taste for sexual excess.

Elizabeth Gaskell's compassionate, richly dramatic novel features one of the most original and fully-rounded female characters in Victorian fiction, Margaret Hale. It shows how, forced to move from the country to an industrial northern town, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, and a turbulent relationship with mill-owner John Thornton. North and South depicts a young woman discovering herself, in a nuanced portrayal of what divides people, and what brings them together.