Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Strevens" in All Categories

In 1895, nine American heiresses travelled across the Atlantic to bag themselves husbands and titles. For the English gentlemen the girls married it was a way to secure their estates. For the girls who came from new money, marriage was a means to obtaining social prestige. The Transatlantic Marriage Bureau tells the stories of these nine heiresses and the remarkable women who made it happen - the unofficial marriage brokers Lady Minnie-Paget and Consuelo Yzanga, Duchess of Manchester.

When, at the Pollards Harvest Supper of 1817, Araminta Glover was seduced by Jan Honeywood, the outcome seemed inevitable. Araminta, like so many servant girls, would marry her poor suitor and prepare to raise a large family on nine shillings a week. But 17-year-old Araminta was determined enough to rebel against the pattern of impoverished rural life, and, putting marriage and Jan firmly behind her, she accepted the post of dairymaid in the house of the strange Mrs Stancy.

The stage is set Deborah O'Hara loves her life, leading her troupe of actors. But when she becomes entangled in a web of secrets spun by the rakishly handsome Damian Beaumaris, Duke of Cirencester, she is forced to play the hardest role of her life: that of the stunning but disloyal Paulette, the duke's widowed sister-in-law. To regain the honor of his family, Beau needs Deb's help.

The gruesome murder of a homeless teenage boy suggests a methodical serial killer is at work in Walvis Bay, a depressed port, isolated in the Namib Desert. Police profiler and investigative journalist Dr Clare Hart is sent to work with Tamar Damases, head of the town’s Murder Unit. Until a few days ago, her relationship with Captain Riedwaan Faizal seemed to be going well - but she knows she is not the only woman in his life.

Frank isn't much looking forward to the school visit to a local stately home. Still, not even in his worst nightmares did he expect anything like what actually happens! When "Not-Sheba", the servant girl from the picture, just walks out of her frame and demands Frank's help to find out her true identity, Frank realises that there is no escape. Charlie the celebrity-mad mummy doesn't help much either and nor do the Indian statues.

The first of a new series of young fiction by Jenny Valentine, winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for her debut novel, Finding Violet Park. IGGY AND ME is a series of family stories featuring the mishaps and shenanigans of the irrepressible 5-year-old Iggy as seen through the eyes of her big sister Flo. Funny and endearing, each chapter is a complete and satisfying story in its own right, perfect for newly-confident readers to enjoy alone, or for reading aloud at bedtime.

After one uncharacteristically wicked night, the once reckless Eleanor Bracewell-Lowen now leads a safe and prudent life. On his return to London's high society, Lord Cristo Wellingham looks different from the man she knew so briefly in Paris, but he is still as magnetic... In his cold amber eyes Eleanor detects something she has seen mirrored in her own - longing. His touch invites passion, but this is a man who could destroy her good name with just one glance....

Castles in the Air is a beautifully written, autobiographical story of rescuing an ancient mansion. Gwydir Castle was inhabited by ravers and rats until Judy Corbett and her husband Peter Welford found and acquired this 500-year-old house mouldering in the foothills of Snowdonia. Despite the toads, strange smells and squatters, they decided to mortgage themselves to the hilt to bring the castle back to life.

Opening dramatically with the horrors of the 2005 London bombings, this is the profoundly moving story of a country on the brink of civil war and a child's struggle to come to terms with loss.London. On a bright July morning a series of bombs bring the capital to a halt. Simon Swann, a medic from one of the large teaching hospitals, is searching frantically amongst the chaos and the rubble.

It was meant to be the perfect romantic holiday. But then Flora Bexton’s boyfriend does the unthinkable, and she responds in the only logical way: she steals his motorbike and escapes for a holiday by herself on the Welsh coast. Far from the lonely trip she imagined, Flora soon finds comfort at the friendly local Art Café, where the legendary hot chocolate and cake help to ease her troubled mind. And when Aussie Welsh lifeguard Jake Foley steps in just when Flora needs help the most, she realises that her ‘holiday’ feels more like home with every passing day.

Jessie Tempest has two main interests: reading books and selling books. Her little bookshop in the seaside town of Staithes is a cosy hideaway from the chilly Yorkshire wind, but it’s also Jessie’s sanctuary from the outside world. When writer Miles Fareham and his son Elijah arrive to stay in the holiday apartment above the shop, it’s a test for Jessie who has always felt clueless when it comes to kids. But as she learns the story of the single father and the inquisitive eight-year-old, Jessie realises that first impressions aren’t always the right ones.

For two people who run competing arts centres in Cornwall, Sybill Helyer and Coren Penhaligon get on rather well. So well, in fact, that Sybill often wishes the owner of Pencradoc Arts Centre would look up from his spreadsheets for a minute and notice her. Unfortunately, even that is too much to ask from workaholic Coren. However, when the pair join forces to run an exhibition on the wild and wonderful life of Elsie Pencradoc, a talented artist who lived at Coren’s estate in the early 20th century, they’re in for a surprise.

A darkly whimsical and wickedly funny tale about a 12-year-old maid who finds herself at the very heart of a conspiracy involving mischief, ghosts, and intrigue. Just right for fans of Lemony Snicket and Neil Gaiman, Anyone but Ivy Pocket is the first book in a four-book series.

Merryn Burton is excited to travel down to Cornwall to start her first big job for the London art dealers she works for. But as soon as she arrives at Pencradoc, a beautiful old mansion, she realises this will be no ordinary commission. Not only is Pencradoc filled with fascinating and possibly valuable artwork, it is also owned by the Penhaligon brothers - and Merryn’s instant connection with Kit Penhaligon could be another reason why her trip suddenly becomes a whole lot more interesting....

Harriet and Matthew Rowsley, the housekeeper and estate manager of Thorncroft House in Shropshire, have to cut short their successful trip to Oxford when they receive a telegraph: a decapitated and mutilated body has been found on the estate. While trying to help the strangely slow police investigation, the couple face an unsettling threat to their livelihood: after years of searching, a legitimate heir of Thorncroft estate has been found!

When aspiring author Lucy attends a rich friend’s 50th birthday party in glamorous Monaco, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever. Heartsore after a broken marriage, she is not looking for love so when she meets Elias, and he offers to take her sailing on his employer's boat, she agrees only as research for the book she desperately wants to write. They bond over their adult children - who seem to want to clip their wings and force them into living like pensioners - and the chemistry is undeniable. But is he all he seems? And is she ready to trust again?

A casual remark on the telephone leads Eleanor Hamilton to an appalling and deeply disturbing discovery: John, her husband of 20 years, has been leading a life of duplicity and betrayal. Shock, jealousy, and anger drive Eleanor to extraordinary limits in her desire for revenge. But then fate intervenes in the shape of a terrible accident.

Sarah Hall is an exquisite chronicler of landscapes - rural, industrial, psychological - and these haunting stories reveal a writer at the peak of her powers. Rich in the mythic symbolism of wilderness and wasteland, these tales blur the natural and urban, mundane and surreal, human and animal. Written in Hall's lyrical prose, this uncannily disturbing collection glitters with poetic and erotic imagery.

Caseley is the 21-year-old daughter of Teuder Bonython, successful shipyard owner and consul for Mexico. When Teuder falls ill, Caseley takes responsibility for the shipyard, the consulate, and her father's health, but in Victorian England, she must hide her talents in a world dominated by men. Not conventionally beautiful, Caseley also resigns herself to a life without love...until she encounters a half-Spanish captain, Jago Barata.

Time is running out ... A killer who won’t stop. An investigator who won’t give up. When a beautiful young woman is found murdered on Cape Town’s Seapoint promenade, police profiler Dr Clare Hart is drawn into the web of a brutal serial killer. As more bodies are discovered, Clare is forced to revisit memories of the horrific rape of her twin sister and the gang ties that bind the city’s crime rings. Are the murders really linked to human trafficking, or is the killer just playing sick games with her?