Showing results by narrator "Caroline Lennon" in All Categories

As undertaker Drew Slocombe drove to Greta Simmonds’ burial in Broad Campden, deep in the heart of the Cotswolds, thoughts of his troubles at home and at work played on his mind. The last thing he was worried about was becoming a murder suspect. Thea Osbourne becomes Drew’s unlikely friend and defender when the council worker opposing the burial is found dead just minutes from Thea’s latest house-sitting assignment: the Cotswold home of the late Mrs Simmonds.

Emily is back in Ireland after nine long years away from home, when she sees him. Her ex-husband, Rob, holding hands with a five-year-old girl. A girl that should be hers. Over a decade before, Emily and Rob were exhausted but ecstatic new parents, delighting in the arrival of their longed-for baby daughter, Alannah. But tragedy was just a few weeks away, and in their unfathomable grief, Emily and Rob's marriage fell apart. Emily moved to New Zealand to get away – but returning to Dublin nearly a decade later for her mother's funeral, she finds herself face-to-face with her past.

County Armagh, 1845. Married to the local blacksmith, young Sarah Hamilton spends her days looking after John and his apprentices at the forge, and her happiness is strengthened by the steady love of her husband and the beautiful green landscape of her home on Drumilly Hill. But when tragedy strikes, her life is changed forever. As the crops across Ireland begin to fail and the textile industry struggles to adapt to new methods, Sarah isn't the only one enduring hardships.

A gloriously warm-hearted novel about wonderful hats, the people who buy them - and their remarkable stories. Hats! Hats! Hats! Upbrims, sidesweeps, silks, ribbons and trims all become part of Ellie's life when she inherits the little hat shop on Dublin's South Anne Street. But the city is changing, and Ellie must decide if she wants to follow the hat-making tradition of her mother or accept a generous offer to sell the shop.

Everything changes for Kate, Moya and Romy when they receive word that Maeve Dillon, their mother, is critically ill. It is time to return from Dublin, London and New York to Rossmore and the old stone house overlooking the Irish Sea where they grew up. But ancient jealousies surface as each sister confronts the past and the decisions they have made.

“When I rolled out of bed at the butt crack of dawn, I had no idea my day would start with a missing sheep and end with a dead dude in a crotchless mankini". Armed with her newly issued private investigator’s license, Maggie Doyle is on the case...of a sheep that went missing 22 years ago. When she trips over a dead body on the first day of the investigation, Maggie realizes there’s more to this cold case than a fight over lamb chops.

Kate Cassidy is about to celebrate 25 years of marriage to Paddy. But the secret she has kept all this time is about to be discovered. Erin Harris has always known that she is different from the rest of her family. Over the years she has begun to put the pieces together, and now she has to discover who she really is and where she comes from. Nina Harris has always put her marriage and family before everything. But now she must face up to the truth as her daughter is prepared to run off and search for a woman she doesn't know.

In 2018, artist and activist Erin Darcy launched In Her Shoes – Women of the Eighth, an online project where Irish women anonymously shared the realities of abortion under the Eighth Amendment. Within months, hundreds of stories poured in, breaking decades of taboo and helping shift public opinion before Ireland's historic vote to repeal the Amendment that May. Garnering over 100,000 followers and global media attention, the project became both a national reckoning and a personal act of healing for Darcy, who transformed grief into activism.

From the author of Burial Rites, "a literary novel with the pace and tension of a thriller that takes us on a frightening journey towards an unspeakable tragedy" (Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and Into the Water). Based on true events in nineteenth century Ireland...

Bridget and Josie are leaving rural Ireland for New York, to stay with a distant relative, Catherine, who has found jobs for them. On the journey they meet a young orphaned girl, Julia, who is travelling alone in hopes of staying with her long-absent brother. When they get to the brother's address, he is no longer there, and no one knows where he has gone to. In the following weeks they do their best to search for him, but are unsuccessful as he has a common name, and the police are not particularly interested in finding yet another lost Irish man.

In beautiful Rathmoney House nestled by the wild Irish Sea, Margo sits in her black suit, three strings of pearls at her neck, nodding at those offering their condolences. She never thought she would be here without her beloved husband. All she has left is their beautiful daughter Elsa and a house full of memories. Then, she receives a letter that turns everything she thought she knew on its head....

A widow spends weeks haunting a cemetery, desperate to track down an unknown woman who keeps leaving flowers on her husband’s grave; A daughter searches a foreign city for her father, trying to understand why he disappeared forty-five years ago; A former gay lover of Roger Casement stands among the crowds at his state funeral in 1965, paying silent homage to the closeted world they were forced to inhabit at the dawning of the Irish State. A writer at a book launch comes face to face with the person secretly responsible for his success.

Thirteen-year-old Anna is upset when she is sent to stay with her dad and his new family at Fairy Hill in the west of Ireland. Hearing whispers in the wind, Anna senses she is being watched, but nobody believes her except the mysterious boy down by the lake. When her little half-brother, Jack, nearly gets lost, Anna suspects that someone is trying to steal him away. She wonders if the stories about the old house and the fairies are true. And if they are, could Jack be in real danger?

Brianna Kelly has worked at Ballymacool House and Boarding School since she was a wee girl and will likely die there. Despite a sense that she was made for something more, Brianna feels powerless to change her situation, so she consoles herself by exploring the Ballymacool grounds, looking for hidden treasures to add to the secret trove beneath the floorboards of her room.

Lissadell House, Sligo, 1915. In the Big House, young housemaid Lily feels life is changing for everyone—and she fears for her new friend Sam and his choices. Plans are also being made for Maeve de Markievicz, daughter of the famous Countess, whether she likes it or not. Can Lily help her friend without getting into too much trouble? All the while, Lily knows she has a chance to grab hold of her own special dreams, as long as nothing goes wrong. With friendship they can face anything.

Annie Madden and her husband, Peter, seemed to have the perfect life: two beautiful children, a wonderful home and each other. That was before everything changed. Now Annie must face a different future, after a devastating event casts a shadow over her family and their future. When she is offered the chance to pick up her previous career as a writer, Annie is reluctant. Hollywood bad-boy Senan Donnelly has scared off every other ghost-writer who has tried to tell his story, so why would she be any different?

This latest instalment in the popular series sees Lily finally on her way to realising her dream of becoming a teacher. Nellie's older sister, Johanna, starts walking out with Harry the footman, and is extremely worried when he enlists and goes off to fight in World War I. He send letters to the girls from the front and tells them all about the Christmas Day truce in 1914...but then a telegram comes. Harry is missing, presumed dead. Will he return to Lissadell, safe and sound?

What if something happened long ago that still makes you sad? Graham is Molly and Beth’s favourite uncle, so they really want to help him fix the past – and as the girls know of a mysterious door that can take them back in time, maybe they can! But how can they find who they’re looking for without apps or social media? And what will the girls make of the '60s, where the hairstyles are wild, the slang is weird and no one’s heard of ciabatta?

Twenty essays on Irish women, historical and contemporary, who have defied cultural norms around femininity and achieved great things. The subjects include Irish women from Queen Medb to Eileen Gray, from Constance Markievicz to Sonia O’Sullivan, covering stateswomen, artists, writers, activists and rebels of all kinds. Written by multi-award-winning author and first Laureate na nÓg (Irish Children’s Laureate) Siobhán Parkinson. Perfect for use in schools as well as for leisure listening, this collection celebrates the role of women in Ireland’s changing society.

Inheritance changes everything, as Ella Kennedy soon discovers when her father dies and the hundred-acre farm she has grown up on and run for years in the Wexford countryside is no longer hers. Hurt and angry following a fight with her brother, Ella leaves her home and people she cares for and joins her wild cousin Kitty in Dublin. Exiled in the city, Ella is forced to make a new life for herself like the other country girls. She tries to forget the farm, pushing all thoughts of Sean Flanagan, the neighbour she had loved, from her mind.