Showing results by narrator "Anne Dover" in All Categories

1942. Sixteen-year-old Poppy Percival turns up at Trout's clothing factory to start work as a seamstress. Poppy harbours a secret - one from which she is still suffering. But she's not the only one with a secret. Each of her new friends at the factory is hiding something painful. The war will throw their lives into turmoil but also bring these women closer to each other than they could ever have imagined.

On Easter day in 1918, Frances Kemp looked out at the little thatched village and promised that, one day, she'd come back...Long before Miss Kemp became headmistress of the village school, she had reason to know and love Burracombe. Sent to stay with family, young Frances treasured her summers there and the friends she made. But as she grows up, she admits that there is someone there who is more than just a friend.

Steal a glimpse at the past lives and loves of your favourite villagers in this captivating Burracombe short story. Autumn 1918 has brought young Alice Whiddon to the Tozer's farm to work as a maid. Alice soon falls in love with the little village and with life on the farm. But that's not all she's falling for. Youngest son, Ted Tozer is half promised to young Ivy Prowse, daughter of a neighbouring farmer, yet Alice and Ted feel a powerful bond forming.

Every time Kate Duggan looks in a mirror she's reminded of the night her life changed forever. Kate managed to walk away from the car accident that ruined the lives of her siblings, but questions still remain about what really happened on that dark stretch of road. Since then Kate’s life has been spiralling. On the surface her fiancé Rob is supportive, but the reality is he’s controlling and manipulative and Kate knows she has to get away. So, when Kate begins work at a firm of private investigators, she hopes this is her chance to shake off her guilt and start again.

Best friends Bernie and Molly are just seventeen when they set off from Ireland in 1928, heading for Liverpool. They quickly find jobs and rooms; soon both women are in love with local men. Tragically, though, Bernie is widowed when she's still barely an adult, while Molly has chosen a bad 'un and faces the deepest shame when he deserts her. But this difficult start only reinforces the bond between the women, and gives them the strength to build a brighter future...

When Dot McCann, playing with her pals, decides to hide in Butcher Rathbone's almost empty dustbin, she overhears a conversation which could send one man to prison and the other to the gallows - and suddenly finds herself in possession of stolen goods. Dot lives with her aunt and uncle, abandoned after her parents died. She feels very alone until she meets up with Corky, who has run away from a London orphanage. They join forces with Emma, whose jeweller's shop has been burgled, and Nick, a young reporter who is investigating the crime.

When the Todds move into a flat on the Scotland Road, they are strangers to city life: their previous home was a canal barge. Harry gets a job as warehouse manager and his wife, Martha, works in a grocer’s shop whilst Seraphina trains as a teacher, Angela works in Bunney’s Department Store and young Evie starts at regular school. Then circumstances change, and Seraphina takes a job in Lyon’s Corner House. Customers vie for her favours, including an old friend, Toby....

It was a wartime white wedding but it was not a love match. Annie Cooper married George McCabe for one reason only: she was expecting his child. But Annie was a girl of spirit and determined to make the marriage work. Annie applied herself to that task as she matured into a woman of character and resource. The family prospered even as it grew. She bore George four children, but it was the first who always held her heart in the hollow of his hand. From early childhood, Rance was a problem.

Maddy Kiernan knows her situation is desperate. With her parents dead, her brother Thomas is left as guardian to her and her sister, Carmel, and Thomas, Maddy is all too aware, only cares about himself. When his plans to marry the daughter of the Protestant canal agent backfire Thomas takes off to Liverpool, leaving the girls to fend for themselves against the lecherous agent. Taking the momentous decision to follow their brother, Maddy leaves for Liverpool. Within days the girls are destitute, reduced to living in a cellar, their money gone. Eventually, Maddy finds work as a maid to an old lady....

Emily was only five years old when she was sent away from her ma and pa and her brother, Joe, to go and live with old Granny Edwards. A loving and hardworking child, she goes into service when she is 12 at the house of Roger Francis, whose connections with Emily's own family prove to be closer than she could ever have guessed. Roger's daughter, Deborah, takes a great fancy to Emily, and when Emily has moved to another household in Hull she finds that her new employer's son, Hugo, is to marry Deborah.

January 1936. Sarah, a young executive at a Yorkshire mill, returns home to attend her grandfather's funeral, blissfully unaware of the shock that awaits her when his will is read. The twists and turns of the next few weeks see her meeting an old flame and find her striving to unravel the mystery of a long-hidden family secret. But what of Daisy, the terrified child she meets on the train?

For 10 years Delia has had to fend for herself and her son, Jack, and as a young unmarried mother, life has never been easy. Every new coat and pair of shoes was bought with what little money she could scrape together as a singer on the stage. But when the theatre work dries up, Delia faces a dilemma: continue the search for employment with no knowing whether she'll find the stability and security her son needs or return to the place that should be home...where only spite and hatred await them.

A seemingly sleepy Devonshire village, Burracombe is in fact full of intrigue and drama. Family secrets, budding romance, cruel twists of fate and amazing friendships all play out against the backdrop of the beautiful countryside. It's autumn 1953. The village is delighted when Joe Tozer – who left Burracombe as a young man in 1919 – returns to visit his family.

After Ruth Dixon's mother deserts her on Christmas Eve, her father comes home drunk and commits an unthinkable act. Without money or friends she has nowhere to go, but when he hurts her a second time, she knows what she must do. She is rescued by Jay, a businessman, who takes her to the convent where she meets Sister Madeline. Along with the rest of the nuns, Maddy provides food, shelter and education for orphans. Ruth comes to see her new friends as family, and things are finally looking up.

In 1995, 12-year-old Sidney Parsons was savagely murdered by two boys his own age. No reason was ever given for this terrible crime, and the 'Demonic Duo' who killed him were imprisoned until their release in 2002, when they were given new identities and lifetime anonymity. Online journalist Scott King investigates the lead-up and aftermath of the killing, uncovering dark and fanciful stories of demonic possession, and encountering a village torn apart by this unspeakable act.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of A Place to Call Home by Val Wood, read by Anne Dover. Ellen thought she’d always live in the remote, pretty coastal village where she grew up. After all, her husband, Harry, works on a farm where he’s guaranteed a job and home for life. But when...

Summer 1953. Hilary Napier's life is turned upside-down when Marianne, a beautiful French woman, knocks on her door. Hilary can't help but be struck by Robert, the young boy with her. As she listens to Marianne's sad tale, she realises Robert is her brother’s son. But this is only the first revelation...As the village of Burracombe tries to make sense of the strangers in their midst, there is also much to celebrate. Hilary has her friends to turn to as she tries to find out the facts about her brother's past.

Addy and Prue Fairweather live with their widowed mother Nell, in a flat above her shop. Addy is plain and always in trouble whereas Prue is as angelic as her looks imply. To make matters worse, Nell makes no secret of her preference for the younger girl, increasing Addy's jealousy. On the other side of the coin, Giles Frobisher and his twin sister, Gillian, live in a crumbling mansion in Devon. The family have lost most of their money in the Depression, so Giles joins the Fleet Air Arm.

It is the autumn of 1945 and identical twins Joy and Gillian Lawrence are on their way home to Liverpool, having been evacuated to Devonshire five years earlier. Their mother has been killed in the blitz but the girls hope that with their beloved father’s help they will be able to manage. All goes well until there is a terrible accident and Joy loses her sight. At first she is bitter and resentful whilst Gillian is racked with guilt.

Claudia Muldoon and her sister, Jenny, live with their parents and their gran in her house in Blodwen Street. Both parents have good jobs and the family assume they are settled for life, but then Grandpa Muldoon has a seizure and begs his son to return to Ireland. In Ireland the Muldoons flourish and the girls love the freedom of their new life, though as they grow up, disadvantages become clear. Claudia has to find work, so both sisters return to Liverpool and to their old pal Danny, who welcomes them back with delight.