Showing results by narrator "Lucy Scott" in All Categories

Lying in bed next to the man of her dreams, Leah is crippled with fear and unable to sleep. She knows that her husband Jacob is going to wake up to her, not the woman of his dreams. Jacob worked and served Leah’s father Laban for seven years to marry her younger sister Rachel, but on the night of their wedding, the brides were switched; the right man was married to the wrong bride.

Polish by birth, Fryderyk Chopin made his name in post-Revolutionary Paris and is often depicted as the archetypal Romantic artist–blessed with extraordinary talent but consumed by the flame of genius, tormented by intense and tempestuous relationships and doomed to an early death. But how much of this story is based on fact? This account of Chopin’s life and times separates myth and reality and, illustrated with numerous musical examples, takes us from his youthful beginnings as ‘a second Mozart’ to the darkness and light of his life and the brilliance of his work.

Two million people in the UK live with sight loss, and many more worldwide. Yet the general population knows very little about the day-to-day life of the blind, who must move through a world not designed with them in mind, from city planning and technology, to pop culture and education. What’s more, blind people often fall off the pages of our history books, despite being some of the most prolific figures in their fields.

Claude Debussy is regarded by many as the quintessential French composer, with music that invited both warm applause and frosty criticism in his day. While our ears no longer hear him as controversial, his works heralded the dawn of an artistic period founded on innovation and experiment, and a desire to break with the past in search of new expressive means. With never a dull moment, Debussy went from being a musical misfit at the Paris Conservatoire to bohemian life amongst the Symbolist poets and some scandalous love affairs.

Famous today for his Trois Gymnopédies, Erik Satie was an eccentric and solitary figure who was nevertheless viewed by some as a prophet of French musical modernism, his striking creativity championed by Ravel and Debussy.

Bathsheba is taken against her will by the most powerful man in Israel. A month later, she discovers she carries the evidence of their secret, dangerous encounter. With her husband at war, this pregnancy could mean her death or untold greatness. When the king finds out that she is with child, he immediately summons her husband home from war, a cunning plan in mind. Will the king's plan work? Will her life be spared? Will there be any consequences for the injustice? Will love grow in the middle of pain and give birth to second chances?

Maddy Wolfe’s life has just capsized. After her twenty-year marriage suddenly implodes, she heads to Brighton to search for her estranged son, Jamie. But he’s nowhere to be found and for the first time, she’s totally alone. That is, until she meets the Salty Sea-Gals, a group of feisty sea-swimmers. Seventy-two-year old Helga is determined not to slow down, while thirty-something Tor is still figuring out who she is. Bereaved Dominica is trying to find a reason to carry on, and busy mum Claire is learning to put herself first for a change.

The Seal of Confession is the latest breathtaking espionage thriller from the author of Selling St. Christopher. Clemmie, a life-worn shadow operator for the British Secret Service, is accompanied by her team of young misfits, as they investigate the murder of a Russian Orthodox priest in London. However, their mission is anything but routine, and they are soon contending with a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

There are stories for every listener in this delightful collection—exciting crime-solving adventures; nervous young actors in the spotlight for the first time; unforgettable holidays and unlikely friendships.

1963. When Eleanor meets famous young poet Lyndon Chance, he offers a way to flee her abusive father. In return, she must pretend to be Lyndon's wife. He takes her home to a Tudor manor on the Camel Estuary in Cornwall, where she finds herself in the middle of a feud between Lyndon and his twin brother, Oliver. It's soon clear that the old house hides many dark secrets. But could they be a threat to Eleanor?

Ursula and Bandares is the story of a young English servant girl and her wolfhound Bandares. Taken into the confidence of the secretly Royalist Lady of the House, Lady Grey, Ursula is coaxed into smuggling Royalist prisoners out from under the nose of the Lady’s Parliamentarian husband, Lord Grey.

Crescent Place was once a peaceful country green surrounded by five tasteful suburban houses and populated by polite, responsible citizens. But as the city enveloped it, the residents built a gate to keep the world out. With each passing year, the subdivision grew stranger and stranger - until it began to look like a time capsule of the 1890s.

France, 1942. As the war in Europe rages on, Adèle Ambeh dreams of a France that is free from the clutches of the new regime. The date of her marriage to a ruthless man is drawing closer, and she only has one choice. With the help of her mother, Adèle flees to Lyon, seeking refuge at the Sisters of Notre Dame de la Compassion. The sisters are secretly aiding the French Résistance. Adèle quickly finds herself part of the Résistance.

Max Weston, 21, leaves for his first army posting in central Africa. What happens to him changes the lives of his family forever. At home, his parents struggle to cope. The overwhelming love Caroline has always felt for her only child is now matched by the intensity of Max's absence. The silence is broken by the arrival of Caroline's mother-in-law, Elsa, who at the age of 98 can no longer look after herself. After years of living in fear of putting a foot wrong in front of this elegant, cuttingly courteous lady, finally, Caroline has the upper hand.

Barney and Hattie Frank are 12-year-old twins who play football together on the school team. The team is trying to win the County Cup. Hattie is the better player but Barney thinks he can see where the school team is going wrong. So, when a TV talent show is looking for a new manager to help a failing Premiership team to start scoring again, Barney's sure he knows the answer. Maybe, to demonstrate his skills, he could train Hattie to be a top goal scorer.

When Alexandra discovers that her husband, Philippe, is having an affair, she can't believe he'd risk losing the love that has transformed both their lives. Still in shock, Alexandra finds herself powerfully attracted to a much younger man. Jean-Luc Malavoine is 23, intense and magnetic. He's also the son of Philippe's best friend. With every increasingly passionate liaison, Alexandra is pulled deeper into a situation that threatens everyone she holds dear.

The suffragette movement is reaching fever pitch, but for broke Fleet Street tomboy Frankie George, just getting by in the cutthroat world of newspapers is hard enough. Sent to interview trapeze artist Ebony Diamond, Frankie finds herself fascinated by the tightly laced acrobat and follows her across London to a Mayfair corset shop that hides more than one dark secret.

It all starts with a young girl playing her ukulele in a dingy folk club. There is something different about the song she sings - a song called 'Life Is Beautiful'. It breaks hearts. It makes money. It might even change the world. But no story of beauty and success in our cruel modern world can be entirely innocent. Can it? Young Girl With a Ukulele is a dark and clever story of music and fame - and the sinister forces which can lie behind them.

Jane Seymour is a shy, dutiful 15-year-old when her eldest brother, Edward, brings his bride home to Wolf Hall. Katherine Filliol is the perfect match for Edward, as well as being a breath of fresh air for the Seymour family, and Jane is captivated by the older girl. Over the course of a long, hot country summer, the two become close friends and allies, while Edward is busy building alliances at court and advancing his career. However, only two years later, the family is torn apart by a dreadful allegation made by Edward against his wife.

Will Shakespeare is about to meet the girl who will change his life forever. After a mixed-up courtship with the Hathaway sisters ends badly, Will jumps at the chance to go to London, where he can pursue his dream of becoming an actor. There, Will meets the unusually tall (and strong) Meg who has earned the nickname "Long Meg" for her height. She's also fleeing her own past as an orphan turned thief. Disguised as "Mack", Meg was once a member of a band of boy thieves who betrayed her.