Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Historical

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee, read by Rachel Bavidge. Lilliet Berne is a sensation of the Paris Opera, a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role. When one is finally offered to her, she realizes with alarm that the libretto is based on a hidden piece of her past. Only four could have betrayed her: one is dead, one loves her still, one wants only to own her. And one, she hopes, never thinks of her at all.

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.

Summer, 1936. Newly trained midwife Hazel Price returns to the Yorkshire streets of her childhood, only to find that her modern methods and 'stuck-up' ways bring her into conflict with her family and other formidable residents of Raglan Road. Determined, Hazel battles on, assisting with home deliveries and supporting the local GP. The days are long and hard, but Hazel brings knowledge and compassion to the work she loves.

Liverpool, 1939: 16-year-old Lizzy Atherton is forced to flee her violent stepfather in the middle of the night and finds herself stranded on a station platform completely alone. Desperate to know what has become of her beloved mother, who she had no choice but to leave behind, Lizzy returns the next day only to find her home deserted. Devastated, Lizzy joins forces with her old school friend Dolly and Clara, an escaped evacuee, and vows to find her mother whatever it takes.

When Lucinda Peterson’s recently perfected formula for a salve to treat croup goes missing, she’s certain it’s only the latest in a line of misfortunes at the hands of a rival apothecary. Outraged and fearing financial ruin, Lucy turns to private investigator Jonathan Thorne for help. She just didn’t expect her champion to be so . . . grumpy? A single father and an agent at Tierney & Co., Thorne accepts missions for a wide variety of employers—from the British government to wronged wives. None have intrigued him so much as the spirited Miss Peterson.

Bobbie Fraser, Mary Holland and Jean Thornton are Atta Girls - part of the Air Transport Auxiliary team flying planes between bases. Taking to the air in anything they're given, their work is dangerous but their courage always comes through. Now there's a new girl joining the ranks - Canadian Viv Robertson, who is bright, brash and brave. But can Viv settle into her new home with the other girls?

Portugal, December 1807. Jack Reid, the British agent known as the Moonflower (formerly the French agent known as the Moonflower), has been stationed in Portugal and is awaiting his new contact. He does not expect to be paired with a woman - especially not the legendary Pink Carnation. All of Portugal believes that the royal family departed for Brazil just before the French troops marched into Lisbon. Only the English government knows that mad 73-year-old Queen Maria was spirited away by a group of loyalists determined to rally a resistance.

Orkney, 1940. Five hundred Italian prisoners-of-war arrive to fortify these remote and windswept islands. Resentful islanders are fearful of the enemy in their midst, but not orphaned twin sisters Dorothy and Constance. Already outcasts, they volunteer to nurse all prisoners who are injured or fall sick. Soon Dorothy befriends Cesare, an artist swept up by the machine of war and almost broken by the horrors he has witnessed. She is entranced by his plan to build an Italian chapel from war scrap and sea debris, and something beautiful begins to blossom.

London, 1978. Yamaye, a woman in her 20s unsure of who she is, but with dreams of being a DJ and MC. Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she can go raving with her friends at The Crypt, an underground club in the industrial town on the outskirts of London where she was born and raised. Everything changes when she falls deeply in love with Moose: he offers the chance of freedom and change. When their relationship is cut brutally short, Yamaye goes on a dramatic journey of transformation.

Carrie Anderson’s business selling books at her local train station is thriving and, with her beloved Mike returned from war, everything feels as though it is falling into place. That is, until Mike is sent to Washington as a liaison between Britain and America. When her twin brother, Johnnie, a fighter pilot, is injured, and her bookstall falls on hard times, Carrie misses the sage advice and comfort of Mike more than ever.

Belle Hatton has embarked upon an exciting new life far from home: a glamorous job as a nightclub singer in 1930s Burma, with a host of sophisticated new friends and admirers. But Belle is haunted by a mystery from her past - an old newspaper clipping found in her parents' belongings after their death, saying that the Hattons were leaving Rangoon after the disappearance of their baby daughter, Elvira.

1841. Mr Montgomery Hurst of Radcliffe Park is getting married. To the great consternation of the county of Wickenshire, he is not marrying the daughter of an earl, but an impoverished widow with three children, whom nobody has ever heard of. Society is both appalled and intrigued. Nobody is more curious than Mr Ashpoint, a wealthy local brewer, who had hoped Mr Hurst might choose his daughter, Amelia, as his bride. Only, Amelia has no interest in marrying Mr Hurst - or indeed in marrying at all.

Scotland, 1940: Isla Donaghue is just sixteen when her mother dies, and her idyllic life comes to an abrupt end. Unable to cope, Isla’s father sends her to the poorhouse when he joins the merchant navy. Horrified at the harsh conditions of the poorhouse, Isla is determined to escape. Enlisting the help of her newfound friends Meg and Sophie, she devises a plan to flee to Liverpool.

1942. After her fiancé is killed in a pogrom, Hannah Martel narrowly escapes Nazi Germany and takes temporary refuge with her cousin, Lily, in Brussels. Safe for now, but desperate to flee Europe for good, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line: a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother, Mateo. Freedom is tantalisingly close. But when Lily's family are arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties and her own determination to escape.

Autumn 1941, and as female conscription looms, three women arrive at the Bell Works Factory in Hucknall to work on the Spitfire production line. Lily soon realises her real dream is to pilot the planes; Edna longs to be reunited with her evacuee daughter, but soon discovers she has a much bigger problem; and Jeannie fears the worst after weeks of no news from her fiancé. Despite all the heartache, with a bit of festive cheer and 'can do' attitude, The Engine Girls will pull together and do all they can to ensure Britain's safe for the New Year.

Arriving back in her hometown after spending some time training at the Infirmary for Women in New York, Maud can't wait to put her newfound skills to the test. But in a city built and run by men she must work hard to be accepted. Whilst her nurse friends welcome her back with open arms, there are others who do not wish her well, including the spiteful Nancy Sellers. She will stop at nothing to sabotage Maud's life and soon turns her attention to those Maud holds most dear.

Former painter and unreformed rake Kit Griffith is forging a new life in Cornwall, choosing freedom over an identity that didn't fit. He knew that leaving his Sisterhood of women artists might mean forfeiting artistic community forever. He didn’t realize he would lose his ability to paint altogether. Luckily, he has other talents. Why not devote himself to selling bicycles and trysting with the holidaymakers? Enter Muriel Pendrake, the feisty New-York-bound botanist who has come to St. Ives to commission Kit for illustrations of British seaweeds.

Alice, Kate and Naomi want to keep the magic of Christmas alive in their village of Churchwood but a thief in the area and a new family that shuns the local community are only the first of the problems they face.

Secret agent Augustus Whittlesby has spent a decade undercover in France, posing as an insufferably bad poet. The French surveillance officers can't bear to read his work closely enough to recognize the information drowned in a sea of verbiage. In the ninth installment of Lauren Willig's best-selling Pink Carnation series, the atrocious poet teams up with an American widow to prevent Napoleon's invasion of England.

Mary is a driver for the ATA and although she yearns to fly a Spitfire, she fears her humble background will hold her back. After all, glamorous Angela is set to be the next ‘Atta Girl’ on recruitment posters. Bobbie learned to fly in her father’s private plane, and Jean was taught the queen’s English at grammar school before joining the squad. Dedicated and resilient, the three girls rule the skies: weathering storms and dodging enemy fire. Mary can only dream of joining them - until she gets the push she needs to overcome her self-doubt.