Showing results by narrator "Des Powell" in All Categories

Mina Smallman has lived through the unimaginable. On Saturday 6 June 2020, her daughters, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, were killed in a park by a male stranger as they celebrated Bibaa's birthday. Mina has been fighting for justice ever since - for her daughters, and for the rest of us, by challenging the toxic culture in the Metropolitan Police and calling out the wider institutional misogyny, racism and classism in Britain. Now, she tells her story for the first time.

No one would suspect prim, proper Prudence Etchingham of lusting after her best friend's brother. Nor would anyone guess that she's responsible for dozens of the best forgeries in London's antiquities markets. But if her love for Alex is doomed to fail, she must raise enough money to escape the marriage mart. She just needs one last daring forgery to set herself up for life....

The widowed Marchioness of Folkestone is notorious for her parties, her art collection, and her utter disregard for the rules. But Ellie Claiborne knows her destruction is near. The new marquess is her first lover - the man whose sculpted body and sardonic grin haunt her every time she picks up her paintbrush. If he ever returns to claim his inheritance, her heart won't survive seeing him again.

1914 Spindrift House, Cornwall: Edith Fairchild's good-for-nothing husband, Benedict, deserted her when their children were babies. Now that the children are almost adult, Edith and Pascal, her faithful lover of two decades, are planning to leave their beloved Spindrift artists' community and finally be together. But an explosive encounter between Benedict and Pascal forces old secrets into the light, causing rifts in the happiness and security of the community.

Edith Fairchild, deserted by her feckless husband, Benedict, eight years before, has established the thriving Spindrift artists' community by the sea and found deep and lasting love with Pascal. They have accepted that they cannot marry, but when Benedict returns unexpectedly to Spindrift House, all Edith and Pascal's secret hopes and dreams of a joyous life together are overturned. Benedict's arrival shatters the peaceful and creative atmosphere of the close-knit community.

Quentin and Lottie Bredin, like many modern couples, can't afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, they can't afford to go on living in London; instead, they must downsize and move their three children to a house in a remote part of Devon. Arrogant and adulterous, Quentin can't understand why Lottie is so angry; devastated and humiliated, Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded. Mud, mice and quarrels are one thing - but why is their rent so low?

Before Ellen, things were easier and less complicated. They were either good or bad, right or wrong, black or white, and I understood the difference. Since Ellen, everything has been coloured in shades of grey. From the author of The Secrets Between Us, part of the 2012 Richard and Judy Summer Reads, comes this dark, thrilling novel that is perfect for your book group. It's set 20 years ago against a backdrop of dreamy Cornish summers, a place where childhood friendship becomes young love, where love becomes obsession, and where obsession ultimately ends in betrayal and a tragic death.

Written by the world’s leading experts and campaigners, Modern Slavery: A Beginner’s Guide blends original research with shocking first-hand accounts from slaves themselves around the world to reveal the truth behind one of the worst humanitarian crises facing us today. Only a handful of slaves are reached and freed each year, but the authors offer hope for the future with a global blueprint that proposes to end slavery in our lifetime.

Refusing to lose her brother to the violent Hermanos street gang, Benny turns to Dimitri, the dead sexy Russian who lives in the apartment above her family's bakery. He's the only man tough enough to get through to Johnny and save him from a life in prison - or worse.

There's nothing Dimitri won't do for Benny, even if it means dealing with her troublemaking brother. He quickly realizes that it's not just Johnny and his thug friends that pose a threat to Benny.

Sally was an honoured guest in a palatial country home. Aunt Mabel, the lovelorn columnist of Home Chats magazine, had been summoned to prevent the Duchess of Dartware's son, Paul, from a marriage that others believed a fate worse than death. Who would have guessed that behind Aunt Mabel's acid pen and ageless wisdom lurked the real 18-year-old Sally Blane, determined to make the handsome marquess her own! But how could she compete, wearing false wrinkles and a white wig?

Martha is the youngest of three sisters and, in her mid-thirties, has the dubious honour of being the only one to call off a wedding at the last moment. Now, feeling as if she’ll be single forever, and trying to keep her low opinion of her sister Iris’s fiancé to herself for risk of looking bitter, Martha needs a change of scene. When she is given the opportunity of a holiday to Paxos it seems too good to turn down, though the idea of travelling alone is daunting. And when the trip to the Greek island gets complicated, Martha wonders if this has all been a mistake.

Acclaimed radio and TV dramatist Roy Clarke is well known for his hit sitcoms Last of the Summer Wine, Open All Hours and Keeping Up Appearances. But before he came to fame, he penned two hugely entertaining six-part thriller serials—both directed by a struggling radio producer who would become one of the most renowned playwrights in the world: Alan Ayckbourn.

When a friend is forced to consider a marriage of convenience, Lady Amelia Staunton is determined to rescue her. But her plans trap her in an illicit seduction, and Amelia must marry him herself. Malcolm's all-consuming kisses and devilish humor might make up for her lost freedom, but she believes he will force her to abandon the Gothic romances she yearns to write. Since she can't escape him, she must distract him from her secret.

Emily Moon lives with her mother in an inn on a clifftop in the darkest reaches of Cornwall. After her father mysteriously disappears, her mother finds solace at the bottom of a bottle, and the only way to keep afloat is to turn a blind eye to the smugglers who send signals from the clifftops. But Emily knows that the smugglers killed her father to ensure his silence, and she will not let his murder go unpunished....

Daisy Jenkins never expected to be anything more than a trespasser on the idyllic lawns of Marsden Castle. Then suddenly she was admitted into the seemingly magic circle of the Earl and Countess of Nottenstone, where she awaited the arrival of the notorious Lord Chatterton; her father - a stranger whose very name was foreign to her. She was suddenly Daisy Chatterton, surrounded by aristocratic sharks who seemed to both court as well as mock her. And why did the elegant Duke of Oxenden offer his protection to this newcomer who made him laugh at the very word love?

As a casting director for 23 years, Holly Powell witnessed the casting world from three different points of view: as an independent casting director, as head of casting for a studio, and as a network casting executive. From this unique perspective she formed Holly Powell Studios, with her mission being to demystify the audition process for actors.

Welcome to your new cottage in the country - complete with grumpy vet, village gossip and a very muddy dog.... City girl Ella wants to take refuge in the country, lick her wounds and work out what she's going to do with the rest of her life. She certainly doesn't want to have a four-legged houseguest or anything to do with village life. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of Wilsgrave have other ideas.

Georgia Sage has a gift: she can see evil in people. As a courtroom artist she uses her skills to help condemn those who commit terrible crimes. After all, her own brutal past means she knows innocence is even rarer than justice. But when she is drawn back into the trial that defined her career, a case of twisted family betrayal, she realises her own reckless pursuit of justice may have helped the guilty go free.

Cornwall, 1939. The wealthy silversmiths, the Cossentines, are poisoned at dinner: only the youngest son and daughter survive. Maurice inherits everything. Celeste, with a history of psychosis, flees, taking with her a unique silver ring and assuming a new identity. She trains as a nurse but lives in fear of being recognised. When a wounded soldier captures her heart, she yearns to confess. But dare she trust even Danny with her secret?

Under the midnight sun of Arctic Norway, Cecilie goes online looking for friends, and stumbles across Hector Herrera. They start chatting and soon realise that they might have just fallen in love. But there’s a problem: Hector lives thousands of miles away in Mexico. And he's running from a tragic past. Cecilie's whole life has been anchored by sticking to what she knows and her job at the cafe in the town in which she grew up. Can she really make a leap of faith for someone she's never met? And will Hector break free to change the path he's on?