Showing results by narrator "Eilidh Beaton" in All Categories

Drawing on the infamous Lord Lucan affair, this compelling novel explores the roots of a shocking murder from a fresh perspective and brings to vivid life an era when women's voices all too often went unheard. In the summer of 1974, Mandy River arrives in London to make a fresh start and begins working as nanny to the children of one Lady Morven. She quickly finds herself in the midst of a bitter custody battle and the house under siege: Lord Morven is having his wife watched. 

After her mother dies, grief-stricken Cora discovers she has been left a cottage, a crumbling shelter on a mysterious Scottish island. The moment Cora arrives on the windswept isle of Seal, she falls under its spell and is drawn to brooding Innes, back on the island to confront his past. As Cora begins to trace her mother's roots, she learns Gealach Cottage has a dark, turbulent history. Another young woman has sought refuge here, fleeing terrible danger, and waiting for her lover to return. What became of her? 

Connie lost her words at the age of five, the day she witnessed her mother and father's untimely death. Since then she has been all but mute, only being able to choke out a few select words. Now, years on, Connie's husband is on his deathbed, and all she can do is quietly sit by his side. But there are so many dreadful secrets locked up in Connie's silent prison. And time is running out to set them free....

Lorna is following her dreams. But can she follow her heart? Lorna Ferguson has dreamt of opening her own bed and breakfast in the village of Glendale for as long as she’d pictured falling in love. Although her love life remains hopeless, Lorna is determined to secure Dove House – the home she imagined living in as a child – to start this new venture with her family. Along with brother Adam, Lorna starts restoring the house to its Art Deco glory.

When Penny Moon is banished from Fleet Street to ressurect an ex-pat magazine on the French Riviera, the worst news is yet to come. Her partner will be David Villers, the man she once tried—and humiliatingly failed—to seduce. But when she arrives at the Riviera, she is surprised to find that, instead of the usual headaches and frustrations of restarting a magazine, all that should be impossible is easy. Then, quite unexpectedly, she meets Christian Mureau, a mysterious and elusive man who is wanted by the FBI, and her curiosity is instantly clouded by passion.

It would seem that even a pretend engagement cannot keep Lady Rose Summer from trouble. Bored with endless parties, teas and balls, she befriends Dolly Tremaine, a beautiful young girl newly arrived from the country and overwhelmed by the demands of the Season. Their friendship is cut tragically short, however, when Dolly is found dead in the river, with flowers in her hair and blood on her breast.

21 June, 1815. London may be cheering the news of Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo, but Lady Petra Forsyth has little to celebrate after discovering that the death of her viscount fiancé three years earlier was no accident. Instead, it was murder, and the man responsible is her handsome, half-Scottish secret paramour Duncan Shawcross—yet the scoundrel has disappeared, leaving only a confusing riddle about long-forgotten memories in his wake.

Since moving to a new city, once-adventurous Steph is doing her best to prove to her friends and family back home that her life is as fulfilling and envy-inducing as ever. The truth? She is broke and has found that making new friends isn't as easy as she expected. Eric has lost his way in life since his breakup with perfect Clarissa. Now that all his friends are buying homes, getting married and starting families, Eric is still living in a house share, feeling left behind. Eric and Steph are strangers, but with one connection - they live on the same street, on either side of number 26.

The last surviving city of the fae is about to fall, and only one person can save it. The Mirrors are decimated. Travel to and from the human world is at a standstill. Ænathlin teeters on the brink of destruction. It falls to Julia, the Head of the dreaded Redaction Department, to stand between order and chaos. As the baking heat of summer dries Ænathlin to a crisp, a cascade - an irreversible collapse - is predicted to occur before year's end. Food and supplies are running out, and support for the anti-fairy group Ænathlin Again is growing.

World-famous fiddle player Barley McFee arrives in blustery Bellewick, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, for a grand homecoming concert organized by jeweler Bernice Brennan. Fiona Knox, owner of the Climbing Rose Flower Shop, is starting to regret volunteering to help with the concert. Bernice is an exacting taskmaster, and Fiona has enough tension dealing with her parents, who have traveled from Tennessee to visit Fi and her younger sister, Isla, and to reveal a secret about Fi's birth. 

When her daughter was born with cystic fibrosis, Kate Micklethwaite vowed that Daisy would never be defined by the illness. When Daisy starts school, Kate meets her new teacher, the kind and charming Mr Spencer Swanson. Now, with more time on her hands, Kate can start thinking about her own future. With her Open University dissertation deadline looming, Kate needs to decide what she wants next. But as she and Spencer get to know each other, Kate notices that people are whispering behind her back once more.

Calla North and her mum, Elizabeth, live a life that’s far from normal. There are days when the power is cut off and Calla has to do her homework by candlelight; there are others when curious strangers want to talk to Elizabeth about her research on ducks. When Elizabeth says yes to a once-in-a-lifetime trip to save a small brown duck, she sends Calla to the best place she knows: The School of the Good Sisters. 

Tom has decided he doesn't want to live. Adam wishes he had that choice. Tom's lost his job and now he's been labelled 'spermless'. He doesn't exactly feel like a modern man, although his double life helps. Yet when his secret identity threatens to unravel, he starts to lose the plot and comes perilously close to the edge. All the while Adam has his own duplicity, albeit for very different reasons, reasons which will blow the family's future out of the water.

Inspired by the true history of the SS Great Britain, Starboard is about the friendship, heroism and bravery that you can find in others, whether they’re made of flesh or iron. It’s about taking control of your own life and going on epic adventures. But most of all, it’s about finding out who you really dare to be, when you’re completely out of your depth.

Jess and Laura might be sisters, but they’re very different. Laura is laid-back, eats cheese in bed and takes life as it comes. Jess, meanwhile, is the classic overachiever. They’re family, but they’re not exactly friends. When their mum dies, the sisters struggle to agree on anything, from where to scatter the ashes to whether 'passed away' is an acceptable term. But as life forces them together, Laura and Jess realise: the only way through this is as a team. After all, they’re stuck with each other - and drinking wine is more fun as a pair....

Matt - grief-stricken after his beloved wife's death, he arrives on Seal Island desperate to hide from the world. Grace - the island's doctor believes she's left it too late to find love or have a family. Rose - lying in a coma at a hospital on Seal, a young woman fights for her life, recalling the journey that led to her accident.

Florist Fiona Knox left behind her gloomy life for a magical garden in Scotland, but a murder on her shop’s opening day spells doom. Fiona Knox thought she was pulling her life back together when she inherited her godfather’s cottage in Duncreigan, Scotland - complete with a magical walled garden. But the erstwhile Tennessee flower shop owner promptly found herself deep in danger when she found a dead body among the glimmering blossoms.

Bea’s back! But life at the Academy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Being the only fairy is bad enough, but then the rumours of a ghost spread, setting everybody on edge. And when people are afraid, it’s never a good time to be the odd one out. So Bea is determined to keep her head down and not, absolutely not, draw attention to herself. That is, until she comes face to face with the so-called ghost. Bea realises that things at the Academy are a lot more complicated than they first appear - and that's before an unwelcome face turns up begging a favour.

Betrayed by the woman he loves, kidnapped, tortured, and separated from the source of his power, Seven's only goal is to punish the people who have wronged him. That is, until he is forced to work with Amelia. Amelia is bright and precocious and does not have time for his vendetta. She is working on a machine designed to map the planets, an orrery, and has been promised a permanent home with the Sisterhood of Cultivators if she succeeds. The only problem is, the orrery is a lot more than a simple machine - it is also a doorway. And when a door is left open, anything might come through.

It’s the 1950s, and Lorrie is unimpressed when her family moves to the remote Scottish island where her grandad runs a whisky distillery. She befriends Sylvie, the shy girl next door: ‘The slightest smile from Sylvie was a fluffy elephant at the fair. It had to be won with a clear aim,’ writes Lorrie. Yet fun-loving Lorrie isn’t sure Sylvie’s is the friendship she wants to win.