Showing results by narrator "Emma Gregory" in All Categories

All is quiet at 125 Gower Street. Sidney Grice is swotting up on the anatomical structure of human hair whilst his ward, March Middleton, sneaks upstairs for her eighth secret cigarette of the day. The house is, perhaps, too quiet. So when a beautiful young woman turns up, imploring London's foremost personal detective to solve the mystery of her father's murder, Grice can barely disguise his glee...

Queen Victoria may sit on the throne and Robert Peel's bobbies walk the street, but London is still haunted by the spectre of Spring-heeled Jack. The demons of vice and poverty rule the capital: ruffian gangs, pickpockets, prostitutes and vagrants clog the streets with their iniquity. But in one particular Gower Street residence – home to the famous personal investigator Sidney Grice – order presides. Until, that is, the arrival of his ward March Middleton and the vicious Whitechapel murder that follows hard on her heels...

All families have secrets. Some protect. Others destroy. Three sisters. A last wish from their dying mother. Can they forgive her? Brenda Smith shouldn’t feel lucky – she’s only got months to live, if that. But knowing this means she’s got one final chance to make peace with the grown-up...

Three novellas to expand and enrich the world of Victorian Gothic: A Spurned Woman follows a reclusive old woman, tired of life. When she is surprised by a young mother, begging help for her stricken child, the old woman reluctantly agrees to return to the village which once wanted to burn her for witchcraft. Bedlam is set between Victorian Gothic Volumes 2 and 3.

The many journals which reported Browning’s untimely death all spoke of her as the greatest woman poet in English literature. The highly respected Edinburgh Review expressed the prevailing view when it said that she had no equal in the literary history of any country: “Such a combination of the finest genius and the choicest results of cultivation and wide-ranging studies has never been seen before in any woman", and the esteem in which she is held has never dimmed with her poetry still widely studied and admired today. Collected here are 16 of her most beautiful, haunting, and renowned poems.

Ricky and Leonora Bates are brother and sister, best friends, allies in a loveless family. They are a constant disappointment to their domineering father. He views Ricky’s quiet bookishness as weakness and Leonora’s feisty intelligence as unbecoming. Then Ricky is sent away to a boarding school in South Africa to “toughen him up”. And Leonora is stuck dealing with her dysfunctional parents on her own. The unthinkable happens. Leonora’s father travels to South Africa to bring Ricky home. Disaster strikes. Her father is shot dead. And her brother is nowhere to be found.

What would you do if your son was sent down? Any parent would want justice – but justice takes many forms. Would you take on his enemies? Run his business, fight his battles? What if you had no choice? In true Karen Woods style, this is an all-action slice of Manchester gangland thriller – showcasing the strong women who fight to keep their families safe even amid the turf wars and underworld feuds that crisscross the back streets of Manchester.

A brother sent away. A sister in a loveless home. A father ruthlessly murdered. Ricky and Leonora Bates are brother and sister, best friends, allies in a loveless family. They are a constant disappointment to their domineering father. He views Ricky’s quiet bookishness as weakness and Leonora’s feisty intelligence as unbecoming. Then Ricky is sent away to a boarding school in South Africa to “toughen him up”. And Leonora is stuck dealing with her dysfunctional parents on her own. The unthinkable happens. Leonora’s father travels to South Africa to bring Ricky home. Disaster strikes.

THAT NIGHT. Lisa remembers the first part of the night: an evening in the pub with her best friend. Then nothing. She wakes up, days later. She’s in hospital. Her best friend is dead. WHAT HAPPENED? Lisa holes up in a remote country cottage, plagued by guilt and flashbacks: how did their assailant know them? Why were they attacked? And what really happened that night? With only vague memories of the event, she cuts herself off from friends and family, spending her days wandering the hills with her dog, Riley.

The woman who has it all. Heather has lucked out. She has a beautiful house, a happy marriage to James Jessop, with two sons, Ben and Harry — and she’s just won the lottery. £29 million! The loyal best friend. Natalie has never quite kept up, but she’s finally in a relationship with a new boyfriend, Nick. She’s been best friends with Heather since they were bullied at school. But will her friend’s new fortune change their friendship? A dream come true turns into a paranoid nightmare.

People can buy your silence, but not your loyalty… Macy Taylor was born in the shadow of Tavistock Square, at the heart of her Manchester estate. It’s got a reputation as a place where bad things happen. But it’s kept her secrets and she’s kept its code of silence. If you need something...

Beverley Wilson has always loved the Beatles, but kissing a poster goodnight isn’t really an option when you’re a 50-something mum of three. So when she decides it’s time to get back into the dating game, she turns to a dating agency for help. But the long and winding road to real love is littered with dating disasters–the pantyhose pervert being the real low point, and in Bev’s opinion, it’s all too much. But meeting fellow Beatles fan Scott Smith changes everything.

Lust, power, revenge: the gripping gangland thriller from Karen Woods – the writer to show you the dark side of Manchester. Two women – one too innocent, one who knows too much. They have secrets, but none as lethal as those they uncover when they get caught up in turf wars between two strip...

Sylvie Armstrong has been running from her past for 20 years - until her mother's death forces her to return to her hometown along with her newborn daughter. Overwhelmed by grief in her childhood home, Sylvie tries to block out the memories that surround her - but then someone leaves a gift on her doorstep: a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket. This locket belonged to Sylvie's best friend, Victoria Preston - and she was wearing it the night she died. Somebody knows what really happened to Victoria, and Sylvie has to know the truth. But is she in terrible danger?

Five years ago Susannah Harper's son, Joel, went missing without trace. Bereft of her son and then of her husband, Susannah has rebuilt her life around helping others. But then, on the last night of Hull Fair, a fortune-teller makes an eerie prediction. She tells her that this Christmas Eve, Joel will finally come back to her. As her carefully constructed life begins to unravel, Susannah is forced to confront the buried truths of her family's past.

Dan's life has fallen apart at the seams. He's lost his house and his job, and now he's going to lose his family, too. All he's ever wanted is to keep them together, but is everything beyond repair? Maria is drowning in grief. She spends her days writing letters that will never be answered. Nights are spent trying to hold terrible memories at bay, to escape the pain that threatens to engulf her. Jack wakes up confused and alone. He doesn't know who he is, how he got there, or why he finds himself on a deserted clifftop, but will piecing together the past leave him a broken man?

Eve Sturridge, a high-flying divorcee and mother of two girls, is head teacher of Ivy House, an Ofsted 'Outstanding' prep school in Sussex. Eve is passionate about her school and its pupils. When Danish power couple Stefan and Anette Sorenson jet in and choose Ivy House over other schools, Eve is justifiably proud. The Sorensons are A-listers who bring an aura of style and power to Ivy House. Zoe is Eve's pretty 17-year-old daughter. Unlike her mother, Zoe's not so keen on school.

This is a story from the Dragon Tales collection.

This is a story from the Dragon Tales collection.

This is a story from the Dragon Tales collection.