Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

When Alice Verinder’s beloved sister Lydia goes missing, Alice boards the Orient Express bound for Topkapi Palace in Constantinople, determined to find her. Lydia was governess to the Sultan’s young children and though her letters spoke of exotic delights and welcoming hosts, the reception Alice receives is decidedly cold. Now, as Alice digs deeper into the secrets of a land foreign to her, she has only Englishman Harry Frome to help her. But as their search uncovers unforeseen dangers and exposes an unexpected ardour, is Alice ready for the truths they’ll uncover?

Fashionable society regards Sir Benjamin Wright with the utmost honour and respect. Yet Lady Emma knows that her husband is, in fact, a drunken, jealous brute who delights in humiliating her both in and out of the bedroom. So, his unexpected murder is a blessing, she thinks - that is, until the constable's accusing finger points to her as the murderer. But it soon becomes apparent that her late husband hid many secrets and enemies.

Sophie is a girl about town - living the party lifestyle with Daddy footing the bill. But when she gets embroiled in a scandalous affair, she is thrown out of home and left to fend for herself on the mean streets of London. Scraping a living as a cleaner in a photographic studio, living in a bedsit on the Old Kent Road, eating baked beans from the can - this is one spectacular fall from grace. On top of that, she is papped by photographers every time she leaves the flat, with her so-called friends laughing at her downfall.

When her favourite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died. But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realizes there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree. A century earlier, head gardener William Hatherwick and Hester Mordaunt, mistress of Beechgrave, share a love for the mighty estate - and an undeclared love for each other. But when war breaks out, William is sent to the battlefields of France, and as the conflict rages on, Hester grieves beneath the tree.

It's taken years, but Natasha Brown's life is finally on track. Running a florist's in the quaint village of Willowbrook, she's put her short-lived marriage to Luc Duval far behind her. That is, until he unexpectedly walks through her shop door, three years after their divorce. Luc reveals that he never told his family about their split, and now his father is desperately ill and demanding to meet Natasha. Luc needs her to come to France and pretend they're still happily married. Natasha is horrified, but when Luc makes her an offer she can't refuse, reluctantly packs her bags.

Orphaned young, H is sent to live with her doting aunt in London. H’s life is a happy one until her lecherous cousin robs her of her innocence and the plague takes away the city and the people she loves. H is cast out – friendless, pregnant and destitute – into the rapidly emptying streets of London under quarantine. Forced to fend for herself, she is determined to gain back the life she lost. H will face a villain out for revenge, find love in the most unexpected places and overcome a betrayal that she never could have foreseen.

Abbey Carter, her boyfriend Sam and their trusty canine companion, Lady, relish living in the picturesque village of Wishwell at the edge of their beloved Primrose Woods. The woods and the country park are full of activity as the festive season approaches. Lizzie Baker is flat out at the Treetops café, serving all sorts of winter warmers, festive goodies and lashings of hot chocolate. And when her daughter and grandchildren arrive to stay, the run up to Christmas is set to be even more magical than she had expected.

Annie Bailey had done it all: madam, mistress and gangster's moll. Now she's Annie Carter, and she's taking over the East End. Annie knew that it wouldn't last. Everything was going so well; she was living in Majorca, had Max Carter - the head of the Carter firm - by her side and had given him a beautiful daughter, Layla. But if there was one thing life had taught her, it was that everything could change in the blink of an eye. One minute she's lying by the pool, the next she's out cold. When she comes round, Max and Layla are gone.

Nicholas Lyon gambled his way into a fortune and ownership of the most opulent, notorious gentlemen’s club in England. But when Nick’s cruel brother dies, he inherits a title he never wanted. The sooner Nick is rid of the estate that has always haunted him, the sooner he can return to the life he’s built in London. But there’s one obstacle - the exquisite Thomasina Thorne.

When Norah arrives in Venice for a 10-week internship, she is surprised to discover that her guide for her work trips around the lagoon is the undeniably gorgeous and kind Gianluca. She can’t help thinking he might be too good to be true, with his endless fascinating local stories and his infectious laugh. Norah is still bitter after an accident left her with a serious injury and also meant the end of her long-term relationship. And besides, she's serious about her career, and that means leaving Venice at the end of the summer.

Rhys Forester, the new duke of Claremont, lives his life by four words: Enjoy all, regret nothing. He’s devoted to the pleasure of his wild soirees, reckless behavior, and shocking the ton with his interests in trade. The debts that come with his title don’t fit the carefree lifestyle he’s created, and when he’s forced to return to his family’s estate, he’s also forced to confront his one and only regret: the beautiful girl he left behind.

When Lady Anne Sinclair vowed to marry anyone as long as it meant she married before her spoilt beauty of a sister, she had no idea the 'anyone' would be the Marquess of Torrance. Long the darling of the ton - and considered quite the confirmed bachelor - he succumbed to Annie's charms and, most magically, made her his wife. But Annie's lifelong battle for attention had ill prepared her for married life. In a tipsy reverie on her wedding night, she blurted out her real reason for marrying the Marquess....

With a mind sharper than a razor blade it was only a matter of time before Ruby Darke fought her way to the top. From humble beginnings she became the queen of London’s retail, but she didn’t get there by obeying the law. Now, with her son Kit and daughter Daisy finally by her side, she’s ready to start a new chapter in her life, but, unknown to all of them, enemies are circling. There aren’t many who threaten Ruby Darke and live to tell the tale. But this time, she may just have met her match. If you live on the edge, you may just die on it....

Certainly the two should never have met. The handsome, wealthy Marquess of Rockingham was the most notorious man in London, as infamous for his violent temper as he was for his intemperate ways. Miss Lucinda Westerville was a country vicar's daughter, as innocent as she was lovely and as proper as a young lady could possibly be. Yet when this improbably matched pair met at a glittering social ball, they had struck the dubious bargain to become man and wife - in name only!

The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of history's most monstrous dictators—her father, Josef Stalin. Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy—the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father.

Rather than protect their daughter like any good parent should, first Fanny and then Thomas Bennet push their sixteen-year-old daughter Elizabeth into a marriage with a much older man who happens to be a duke. Fanny is seduced by the fact he is a duke, even if he is not interested in Jane, something she cannot believe at first, and his willingness to dower her remaining four daughters. For Bennet, when the Duke offers to break the entail on Longbourn after a certain condition is met, his half-hearted opposition to the match dissipates.

This is a story of friendship that defies all odds and survives and flourishes regardless of the impediments that arise. The friendship is born out of an almost tragedy and extreme bravery by one Elizabeth Bennet. In saving the lives of those in peril, she thwarts the designs of one of the villains of this tale and makes an enemy of the person. As in canon, our Anne is sickly. In this variation, it is because she had suffered a bad case of childhood scarlet fever. For the purposes of this story, the disease has seriously weakened her cardiovascular system.

Facing bankruptcy, Celine's family were forced to turn their home into a guesthouse to make ends meet. Celine found her new life hard work but great fun. She met a young man, Nicky, who seemed very taken with her. If only Nicky's masterful cousin, Oliver, wouldn't keep interfering. But when she discovered that Nicky was married, Celine was only too grateful for Oliver's comforting presence. Gratitude wasn't exactly what Oliver had in mind, but it was a start.

Amory Ames might be wealthy, but she is unhappily married to playboy Milo and so willingly accepts her former fiancé Gil Trent's plea for help in preventing his sister Emmeline from meeting a similar fate. Amory and Gil set off for the Brightwell, a sprawling seaside hotel in Devon where Emmeline and her intended, Rupert Howe, are holidaying. An unresolved history between Gil and Rupert surfaces, and after a late-night quarrel the luxurious hotel is one guest fewer by morning.

What is visible to the naked eye has been exhaustively raked over; in Underground London, acclaimed travel writer Stephen Smith provides an alternative guide and history of the capital. It's a journey through the passages and tunnels of the city, the bunkers and tunnels, crypts and shadows. As well as being a contemporary tour of underground London, it's also an exploration through time.