Showing results by narrator "Annie Aldington" in All Categories

Nellie Welche’s life changes for ever when she’s proposed as companion to Princess Sophia, daughter of mad King George III and Queen Charlotte. Taken into the heart of the family, Nellie is privy to the innermost secrets of the wayward House of Hanover. From the first rumblings of the French Revolution to the beginnings of the railway age, Nellie charts their story as she and Princess Sofy support each other through the ups and downs of their extraordinary lives.

She should have been safe. But she never came home. Kath has lived on the same London estate for decades. Lately she’s become friendly with the little girl next door, who is often left alone for hours while her mum is at work. They have a system. When Mina gets home from school to the empty flat, she knocks on the wall three times. Knock, knock, knock. I’m home safe and sound. But one day Mina’s knock doesn’t come. Kath raises the alarm and the police begin the search. Kath was the only person looking out for Mina—now she might be the only one who can bring her home.

Malice is book three in the best-selling Rina Walker series, following Harm and Threat. London, 1964. Gang warfare is breaking out, and Rina Walker's struggle to survive amid the battles and betrayals of a gruesome cast of racketeers and gangsters requires all her considerable skills as an assassin. Playing one side off against the other to protect those she loves, Rina is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse where her life is just one of many at stake....

When Polly Pritchard learns that her husband has been killed in action, she brings up their young daughter, Emmie, alone. To make ends meet, she gets a job at the Cherry Ballroom in West London, and it is here that she meets James, a Canadian airman, and they fall in love. But then Polly's husband turns up very much alive.... Life is even harder for Polly after the war. James has gone, her husband is involved in a criminal gang, and their daughter suffers from an illness that leaves her deaf.

Beautiful, dark-haired Lily has been abandoned in a Birmingham slum as a tiny child. With few clues as to her identity she endures a childhood of loneliness and loss. At eighteen she applies for a post as nanny with the family of a Captain Fairford, a soldier in Ambala, north India and his highly strung wife Susan. Lily is drawn into the emotional life of the Fairford family and adores her charge, two year old Cosmo.

As snow falls outside Abbotsford vicarage on Christmas Eve, Rose Northwood finds a child lying destitute in the manger of the town's nativity display. Reminded of her younger brother, who died at Christmastime, she is determined to nurse the young boy back to health. But the child has lost his memory and can't recall where he came from…

The female private detective has been a staple of popular culture for over 150 years. But what about the real-life women behind these fictional tales? Dismissed as 'Mrs Sherlock Holmes' or amateurish Miss Marples, mocked as private dicks or honey trappers, they have been investigating crime since the mid-nineteenth century - everything from theft and fraud to romance scams and murder. In Private Inquiries, Caitlin Davies traces the history of the UK's female investigators.

When 12 year-old Jared Johnson’s little sister dies, just hours after his mother breathes her last after wasting away so her children could eat, he knows he is on own. Desperate to avoid the workhouse, he does everything he can to survive the inhospitable streets of Birmingham. Jared is blessed with the gift of the gab and soon attracts the attention of the King of the Tatters, Toby McGuire. Recognising a kindred spirit, Toby soon has Jared out on a cart hustling for rags.

Accused of killing her brother, Rachel Cade is sent to the workhouse to await trial. There, handsome landowner Jared Lytton comes to her rescue. Despite being vindicated, Rachel is forced to leave the village. She meets the widow Beulah Thomas and her son, William. Working on their farm, she is treated with kindness, and when William asks for her hand in marriage, she agrees. But Rachel cannot forget Jared Lytton, whose path seems destined to cross hers.

Banished from her father's home, wheelchair-bound Esther Kerral is horrified when he forces her into an arranged marriage with Morgan Cosmore, the son of a local factory owner. Both fathers hope the union will save their ailing businesses; little do they know that each is as bankrupt as the other. Poor Esther must struggle as best she can not only to survive a loveless marriage, but also to build up a business of her own in a man's world.

Molly Dawson, now a respectable married woman, lives with her husband, head gardener Charlie, on the Woodchurch Manor estate, where they have brought up three delightful daughters. Her life appears idyllic...but she has suffered the torment of a secret since she was 18 years old. When George Smith - a young stranger fresh out of the Navy - appears at the estate's annual garden party, Molly's life is set to change again....

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Sisters of Battle Road by J. M. Maloney, read by Annie Aldington. In 1939, Annie Jarman and her six young daughters were evacuated from their South London home and sent to the Sussex countryside to wait out the war. Little did they know what was in store for them or how their lives would change.

Keep the family together - that's what her old mum always said. Put up and shut up. And that's what everyone else did around there. Essex, 1959. Flo earns her money as a scrubber, cleaning the cruise ships and dreaming of a day when she might sail away from her life in the Dwellings, the squalid tenements of Tilbury docks. Then the Blundell family are evicted from their home.

After a traumatic past, life finally seems to be looking up for Hanna Foster. But war is on its way... London, 1938. Hanna and Jack Foster had been sent to an orphanage when their parents were killed in a train crash, but were separated when a couple adopted Jack. Bullied and treated like a slave, it soon became clear it was a dreadful mistake. In desperation, Jack takes his future into his own hands and runs away to join the merchant navy, while Hanna takes a job looking after two children. For a time, life seems good, but war is looming and threatens to take away everything Hanna holds dear...

What is it like to broadcast the fateful words "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday," then jump into the unknown? The members of one of the world's most unusual brotherhoods provide the answers in this incredible book. Formed during the Second World War to celebrate the survival of pilots who had been forced to bail out over water, the Goldfish Club has taken on new members ever since. They share one pivotal moment, but their experiences beyond this couldn't be more different.

Rowan Forrester has it all - the happy marriage, the adorable dog, the good friends, the promising business and even the dream home after she and her husband, Tom, win a stunning but slightly dilapidated Georgian townhouse in London at auction. But in the blink of an eye, Rowan’s picture-perfect life comes crashing down around her, and she is faced with the prospect of having to start again. To make ends meet she begins a search for housemates and, in doing so, opens the door to new friends and new beginnings. But could she be opening the door to new heartbreak, too?

Margate, 1786. Dairymaid Molly Goodchild dreams of a better life. Up at the crack of dawn to milk her uncle's cows, the one comfort of her day is her friendship with apprentice gardener Charlie. When dashing Naval Officer Nicholas arrives in town, Molly's head is turned by his flattering attentions and she casually spurns Charlie - believing this is her chance to escape a life of drudgery. Yet when Molly needs Nicholas most, he lets her down. With her hopes in tatters, Molly is forced to flee Margate for London, where she finds herself struggling to survive.

Everything has finally fallen into place for Renee. So when vicar Roger asks her to support a new dance hall, it should be a great way to give back to the community. Except Renee has a terrible secret she is holding onto. One that Roger can never know about. Nancy will keep Renee's secret. But she's got her own problems: handsome GI Jack has turned her head, and the American soldiers are causing a stir. Temperance has made a new friend - but now that she has someone who can understand the challenges she faces, will her relationship with Archie survive?

When genealogist Cleo is asked to investigate the family of Upper Moore House as a favor to her estate agent friend, it's a different commission to the ones she's used to. And right from the start she feels there's something not quite right about Mrs. Darcy D'Eath Wytcombe. What is Mrs. Wytcome's real motive for digging so deep into her late husband's family? What secrets does she think Cleo will uncover? And is she prepared for what else might be revealed?

April 1940. Violet Millington, is ready to rediscover the joy of living. As she waltzes into the Palais, to begin her new life of boosting morale in war swept London, she must leave her family's sorrow behind her. But soon Violet discovers she's not the only one with something they're running from. Violet quickly befriends gutsy American Nancy, the diamond of the dance hall, flame-haired Renee with her enviable foxtrot, and Temperance, who must overcome her bullies to achieve her dreams.