Showing results by narrator "Carole Boyd" in All Categories

When beautiful Tessa Harrison and her twin cousins take over their parents' Lancashire cotton mill, their luxurious upbringing has left them unprepared for their new responsibilities. For Tessa, there is an added but forbidden attraction at the mill. Foreman Will Broadbent, with his genuine understanding of the business and its workers, could not be more different from the dashing cousins. Yet, like the twins, he is hopelessly in love with this untameable girl.

Full-cast adaptations of three of Winifred Holtby’s best-known novels, plus short stories and bonus programmes about the author: Winifred Holtby was an acclaimed novelist, journalist, feminist and social reformer. Her work encompasses six novels, two short story collections, a play and the first critical study of Virginia Woolf, but she is best known for her posthumously published masterpiece South Riding, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Award. She died in 1935, aged just 37.

England, 1936. A beloved king is dead, and by year’s end, the charismatic new monarch will give up his throne for love. The world is on the brink of war. And in the tumultuous intervening months, three outsiders will find themselves embroiled in the hidden truths, undeclared loves, unspoken sympathies, and covert complicities of a glittering high society in the throes of upheaval.

Lisa Logan was still a girl when she learned that it was a man's world... A man's world and no place for the weak.When her beloved father deserted them, she and her mother were left with nothing. Her mother could not cope with this new and harsh reality, but Lisa swore her revenge.

Here's a story that brings all the villagers of Fairacre together, as they face the prospect of developers who hope to build new houses on the fields adjoining old Mr Miller's farm. Everyone has an opinion, but not everyone is in agreement about the development. Under the watchful gaze of Miss Read, the school teacher, we meet old characters and new, from retired teacher Miss Clare and the surly Mrs Pringle, to the new assistant teacher, Miss Jackson, who brings with her problems of her own.

It’s 1954 and Adam Carter is 12 years old, an only child with no friends nor any self-confidence. His father Edward is a bully of a man. A successful and ruthless businessman, he breeds fear into the heart of his family. Adam’s mother Peggy is too cowed to protect her son, so Adam’s only support comes in the shape of Jake Wallis, the school bus driver. One particular afternoon, when Adam is his last drop of the day, Jake decides to accompany him along the darkening wood land to his house.

It’s 2013, and 80-year-old Frances (has-been writer) is sitting on the stairs of No.3 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, listening to the debt collectors pounding on her front door. From this house she’s witnessed five decades of world history. While she waits for the bailiffs to give up and leave, Frances writes. She writes about the boyfriends she borrowed and the husband she stole from Fay, about her daughters and their children. The problem is that fact and fiction are blurring in Frances’s mind.

Miss Read heard about the sale of Tyler's Row from the always well-informed Mrs Pringle - and before long Fairacre was alive with rumours. Why were the present owners selling?

In the riverside town of Bedford, four students can hear the haunting voice of a woman singing. The beautiful melody is coming from their neighbour, a recluse who never opens her door to anyone or leaves her home in daylight. They have no way of knowing that the woman next door, Madeleine Delaney, is driven by a dangerous memory that for over 20 years has controlled her meagre existence.

Our perception of Victoria the Queen is coloured by portraits of her older, widowed self – her dour expression embodying the repressive morality propagated in her time. But Becoming Queen reveals an energetic and vibrant woman, determined to battle for power. It also documents the Byzantine machinations behind Victoria’s quest to occupy the throne, and shows how her struggles did not end when finally the crown was placed on her head.

As Barney Davidson watched the liner sail away with his beloved family on board, bound for America, he stood a devastated and broken man. His dream was over, but theirs was just beginning. They must never know what he had suffered to give them this opportunity, he thought. Now many years later, Barney is gone. Lucy Baker, now old and in ill health, knows the truth about what happened. She promised Barney she would never reveal his secret. But is it a promise she can keep?

One of the most passionate novels of its time, Jane Eyre derives its strength from the honesty and directness of its heroine. The first person narrative involves us right from the start, letting us into Jane’s thoughts as she matures from rebellious child to passionate woman. Notice how social snobbery is condemned – particularly in the character of Aunt Reed and the conditions at Lowood ‘Orphans Asylum’.

Stephen Hawking is one of the most remarkable figures of our time, a Cambridge genius who has earned international celebrity as a brilliant theoretical physicist and become an inspiration and revelation to those who have witnessed his courageous triumph over disability. This is Hawking's life story by Kitty Ferguson, who has had special help from Hawking himself and his close associates and who has a gift for translating the language of theoretical physics for non-scientists.

Maureen Bancroft has never learned the art of putting herself first. As a widow with a gentle temperament and humble ways, she’s been easy to take advantage of. All that changes when an unexpected windfall comes her way. Determined to make up for lost time, she decides to take a holiday and, needing a companion, looks up her friend Barbara Hayle. Glamorous, and with a successful career on the stage, Barbara seems to be everything that Maureen is not. But things aren’t as they seem, and what starts out as a nostalgic trip between friends becomes something different altogether.

When Elizabeth Price engages private detective Roland ‘Orlando’ Gibbons to find out the truth about her husband’s suspected affair, she unwittingly sets off a chain of correspondence that reunites four formerly close-knit couples. They all live just a few suburban streets away from each other, they are all still married, so how – and why – did they become so estranged? In a series of letters, each protagonist is far more self-revealing than they would ever be in person.

The new novel from Sunday Times best-selling author Josephine Cox, who gets straight to the hope and heartbreak of family drama. One fateful night changes the course of a child's life forever.... Rosie's mother is a cruel woman and has Rosie's kind and loving father wrapped around her finger. Though John Tanner does his best to protect her, Rosie often bears the brunt of her mother's rage. And his protection can't last forever. In one tragic moment, Rosie's fragile world is shattered.

Eight-year-old Casey’s mother, Ruth, is a cruel woman with a weakness for other women’s husbands. Casey’s father is gentle and hard-working and, though Tom Denton has long suspected his wife of having sordid affairs, he has chosen to turn a blind eye to keep the peace. But then Tom’s world is completely shattered when he receives two bits of devastating news. Because of this, Tom realises that from now on their lives must change, forever. A broken man, Tom is made to fight for his son, determined to keep him safe.

The story of Villette is told in flashback by Lucy Snowe, who tells of the trials of her young self first in England, and then in Belgium. Charlotte Bronte does not paint a romantic picture of an unsupported woman's life - her heroine has to endure straitened circumstances, insecurity and humiliation. However, despite everything that happens to her, Lucy is a warm and courageous character who makes the most of the opportunities that occur.

1611, after 10 years in the Orient, Celia Lamprey and her husband Paul Pindar have returned to England, bringing with them a legendary diamond despite the curse that surrounds it. An army of carpenters, gardeners and footmen have been summoned to restore Pindar's great house Bishopsgate to its former splendour, but all is not as it seems.

This is a story from the Classic Women's Short Stories collection.