Showing results by narrator "Katherine Press" in All Categories

The perfect husband...After a difficult pregnancy, Esther is grateful that her forward-thinking husband, Robin, offers to put his career on hold so that she can return to the job she loves. The perfect father...Robin flourishes in his new role of stay-at-home parent, but Esther finds leaving her daughter behind to go to work more challenging than she'd thought, and soon the imbalance in their relationship brings old tensions to the surface. A perfect lie? Then one day Esther arrives home from work to find Robin and Riley are missing.

Stuart Ingram was once a respected local councillor. The first time the police knocked on Gina's door, they arrested her husband. The second time, they accused him of child abuse. But he died a guilty man. This time, the police are here for Gina - to tell her that her husband is dead. Murdered, just two weeks before his trial. Gina always stood by her husband. Even when everyone else walked away. She believed the trial would clear his name. But now Stuart is dead. And his wife is the suspect.

Moving to this village was supposed to be a fresh start for me and my 13-year-old son, Harry. After the tragic death of my husband, it was a chance to leave everything bad behind and make better memories at Primrose Cottage, the postcard-perfect house with honeysuckle around the door. However, things haven’t exactly been easy since we arrived, and after what we’ve been though, I’m scared of letting anyone new into our lives. But when one of the local dads asks Harry to join the weekend sports club, I find myself saying yes.

It’s meant to be the most wonderful time of the year but 30-year-old Holly Hanwell doesn’t really feel like celebrating…not after the bombshell news her boyfriend is leaving her to have a baby with someone else. So Holly’s organised a quiet Christmas in her cosy little house and plans to avoid the traditional village festivities, and anything resembling a man, at all costs.

Growing up in Edwardian south London, Alice Rowlands longs for romance and excitement, for a release from a life that is dreary and lonely. Her father, a vet, is harsh and oppressive; his new girlfriend, brash and lascivious. Alice seeks refuge in fantasy, in her rapturous longing for Nicholas, a handsome young sailor, and in the blossoming of what she perceives as her occult powers. Harrowing and haunting, a Gothic tale that is a strange cross between Daphne Du Maurier and Stephen King, but will also intrigue readers of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Diane Setterfield.

Veronica and Gabe met when they were children at ballet class, and by the time they’d reached their teens, they knew they’d be dancing together forever. Only Gabe’s mother had other ideas.... Twenty-something years later, Veronica no longer dances and life hasn’t turned out how she thought it would. She’s divorced with a needy ex-husband, monosyllabic teenage sons, a sister who fancies herself as a long in the tooth ‘it girl’ and a mother who’s recently moved into a care home.

Investigative journalist Laurie Forbes is planning her wedding to Elliott Russell when she receives a tip-off that a group of illegally smuggled women is being held somewhere in the East End of London. During her search, unexpected and devastating events begin throwing her own life into chaos, so fellow journalist Sherry MacElvoy steps in to help. Taking on undercover roles to get to the heart of the ruthless gang of human-traffickers, neither reporter can even begin to imagine what dangers they are about to face.

1944 - The Isle of Wight: 16 year-old Constance’s life on the island is sheltered until the death of her brother, brings the reality of war crashing down around her. He leaves behind his pregnant widow, Ginny. When Constance meets a handsome Canadian airforce man, she’s eager to escape her grief and be swept up by first love. It’s a love which has ramifications she could never envisage. Present day: When young British backpacker, Isabel Stark happens across a car accident on a lonely stretch of road in the South Island of New Zealand her life changes forever.

Life-long friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate are following in the footsteps of their families, working at the Clarks shoe factory. But when Britain declares war on Germany, the Somerset village of Street is shaken to its core. The Clarks factory is at the heart of life in the village, but the Clark family are Quakers and pacifists. Before long, there are fierce debates amongst the workers and tensions between those who oppose the war and those who believe the village men should go to fight.

Workers in the Clarks shoe factory, at the heart of the village, have left for the army in droves, and news from the Front seems to grow darker by the day. When lifelong friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate receive the news they had been fearing, all hope seems lost. And Louisa’s world will be rocked further when she makes another discovery, one that will see her cast out by her family, changing her life forever.

Carla Craig is passionately in love with Richard Mere—he has a hold over her she can't resist. Even when her world is blown apart, Carla still can't put the affair behind her. And Avril Hayden, Carla's flamboyant and sensual friend, finds herself increasingly intrigued by this mysterious connection—a connection that won't go away. But as hidden truths are finally revealed, intrigue turns to fear, and risk to terrible danger.

Tim and Rachel Hendon are riding high on an ideal marriage and growing political success. Tim is already in the Cabinet, and as they celebrate yet another election victory, they have no idea that they are on the eve of a nightmare that is going to totally devastate their lives. After a high-profile murder, Katherine Sumner has disappeared. Is she the killer? Or will the information she has on top government officials make hers the next body to turn up on the coroner's table?

When war is declared, Lily sees an opportunity to escape her domineering father: she will join the Great Western Railway factory to win her financial independence and move out of home. Maggie doesn’t want to simply follow in her sisters’ footsteps and work in the laundries at the GWR. So, when the chance comes to volunteer for men’s work in the machine shop, she’s the first to raise her hand. Catherine, a clerk in the GWR office, has been helping with London’s evacuation efforts, organising trains to move children out of the city.

Soulmates do exist... But will they find their way to each other? The year is 1954. In a small French museum, two people's lives are about to change forever. On a wintery night in December, fifteen-year old Zara meets Leon for the first time. As the power cuts out in the museum, Leon and Zara spend an hour in complete darkness, discussing their love for art, Monet and Paris. They both feel an instant connection but they have never seen each other in the light. They might not know what the other looks like but they know, their lives will never be the same.

It looks like Jessica and Jack have it all. Their social media accounts show them glamorous, happy and sickeningly in love. They even landed a book deal to share their seven rules for a perfect marriage – an instant bestseller, of course. But behind the scenes it's not so simple. Jessica is determined to make a success of her business and has stopped making time for Jack. Meanwhile Jack is learning that he hates the life of an Instagram husband.

When the gold-rimmed invitations arrive through the doors of best friends Simone, Hannah and Vicky they're instantly taken aback. Their ex-friend Jodie is inviting them to a lavish Mediterranean villa to celebrate her birthday. They haven't spoken in years since she betrayed them in the worst way. So how did they make the guest list? They all have their reasons for saying yes. Stay-at-home mum Simone had her dream job snatched away. Hannah lost the love of her life. Café-owner Vicky wants the chance to help a wronged friend. Is the reunion a chance to confront Jodie and the past?

Following her recent marriage to Lucas, Louisa is delighted to discover she is expecting. But after everything she’s lost since the war began, dare she believe that this is a sign of brighter days ahead? Meanwhile, Louisa’s friends Kate and Jeannie struggle to balance factory work alongside their responsibilities at home, with shortages, illness and bad news from the front putting them under ever more pressure. Then unexpected news means that Jeannie can finally get her heart's desire but can she accept her happiness at someone else's expense?

With the country in the grips of conscription, the pacifism at the heart of Street village comes under scrutiny, and when Kate befriends Gerald, a young Quaker arrested for refusing to fight, she starts to understand the true dilemma the community finds itself in. Still grieving the loss of her sweetheart Mattie, Louisa finds herself at odds with her parents, who refused them the chance to marry. As her mother’s attempts to find Louisa a husband show no signs of abating, Louisa takes solace in her friendship with Jeannie’s brother Lucas.

A timeless tale of courage, resistance and friendship, The Umbrella Mouse is a heart-stopping adventure drawing on the true stories of animals caught in the conflict of WWII, winner of the 2019 Sainsbury's Book Prize for Fiction and selected for Waterstones Book of the Month. 1944, and London is...

England, 1925. Louisa Drew lost her husband in the First World War and her six-year-old twin sons in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Newly remarried to a war-traumatised husband and seven months pregnant, Louisa is asked by her employer to travel to Clewer Hall in Sussex where she is to photograph the contents of the house for auction. She learns Clewer Hall was host to an infamous séance in 1896, and that the lady of the house has asked those who gathered back then to come together once more to re-create the evening.