Showing results by narrator "Annie Aldington" in All Categories

Sapphire Jones doesn’t believe in relationships anymore - not since she caught her husband in bed with another woman. Now Sapphire only sees men on her terms which is why her current lover is younger than her, good looking, doesn’t place any emotional demands on her [so far, fingers crossed] and is great in bed. What more does a girl need? Sapphire puts all her passion into running her own business - a high end lingerie and hen weekend company.

Edwin Spencer has enough problems at school as it is, without strange voices calling him into another dimension! But when he is sucked into the peculiar kingdom of Hysteria on a secret mission he feels very at home. This could be his chance at last to be a hero-even if he does have Perpetua Allright ,school swot, as his sidekick.

The reigning queen of Albert Square, Laila Morse shares her incredible story for the first time. This is a book that will shock, humble, and inspire.

Ella has lived in the East End of London all her life and when her husband determines to move to Epsom to be near the racecourse he frequents and loves, Ella's refusal to join him breaks up their tempestuous marriage. Ella soon loses the will to keep smart, trim, and fit: until her mother steps in to pick up the pieces. It works: Ella gets a job as barmaid in the British Legion club and begins to take pride in her appearance again. When Dennis turns up for a drink one night, he is taken by surprise.

Moira and Jack Taylor own a thriving rag-and-bone business, and have six children. Their contented family life is upset when their eldest daughter, Nora, steals 18-year-old Maggie’s fiancé, Robert, a widower with a young son. Maggie, heartbroken, swears that she will never forgive her sister’s betrayal. The First World War and the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919 bring further tragedy, and the younger generation of the Taylor family embark on their own adventures.

When Janey has to leave her home after her stepfather beats her up, she finds herself in a children's home. She soon settles in, and the friends she makes become her new family. But at 16, Janey has to leave the home and is found a job as a housemaid. She feels abandoned again and the job is awful. Her situation doesn't improve until she meets Christy, a blind woman, and is employed as her companion. When Janey meets Christy's son, Charles, she falls in love with him. But alas, Charles is married.

Raised in the slums in 1850s London, Celia Laws is a rarity, an educated young woman whose creative skills have attracted notice. But with family to care for, circumstances have driven her to pickpocketing. In Celia's harsh world, it's a small step from picking pockets to prostitution. When a young man offers her a fortune to spend a week with him, she takes the money and runs. But Celia's conscience can't allow her to forget the money she stole, and she is soon brought face-to-face with her past…

One summer day Clara Marshall vanished without trace. A few days later, her children, six-year-old Lorraine and five-year-old Janine, also disappeared and were never seen again. Richard Marshall, Clara's heartbroken husband, claimed he had discovered his wife was having an affair with an Australian backpacker and that she had run away with him, taking the children with her, destroying the family for ever.

A young woman's body is found dumped in the Essex countryside. Investigative reporter Riley Gavin recognises her as Helen Bellamy, a former girlfriend of her colleague, PI Frank Palmer. Ex-military policeman Palmer is accustomed to death, but this is different; this is the brutal murder of someone he was once close to. He knows only one way to deal with it: find the killers.

Growing up in a small seaside town, Marcie Brooks dreams of owning a Mary Quant mini-skirt, the Beatles, and escape. Instead she's stuck in a dead-end job selling candy floss to tourists, and with a crazy family. Her grandmother sees ghosts, her step-mother is unable to control her growing family, and Marcie's father is usually in and out of prison or away "working" for East End gangsters. Despite it all, Marcie adores her father. But Tony's light fingers and hard man reputation mean most people give the Brooks family a wide birth. Sometimes Marcie even wishes she had a respectable dad like her friend Rita....

Barbara's first chance comes in 1945. A barrister's daughter, she runs away to marry her sailor sweetheart in secret, ignoring her parent's disapproval. When the marriage falls violently apart, she returns home and tries to rebuild her life. Then a second chance of happiness comes her way.

Rose Paton doesn't think she'll be singing at The White Horse for much longer. After all, she's got good looks, youth and talent on her side. But when mysterious stranger Marcus Bennley asks her to be his birthday present to his sister Marie – by singing at her party – she accepts. It won't lead to greater things, but it will lead to half a guinea. To Rose's excitement, the party is more than she could ever have hoped for.

It is 1930, and the sleepy Hampshire village where Emma Pearson lives with her husband and two daughters is untouched by the Depression. When the villagers are asked to offer a rural holiday to orphaned children from the poorest parts of London, they welcome the opportunity to share their good fortune. John and Tommy, two lads from the charity orphanage, come to stay with the Pearsons for a holiday in the countryside.

It is 1945 and the war is finally over. For sisters Sophie and Maria, though, the upheaval is just beginning. For they have no choice but to leave their beloved home on the Isle of Man. It is a huge wrench for 18-year-old Maria, who can't forget Hans Bonhoeffer, a young Austrian, interned on the island during the war.

When nightmares become reality, how do you find the strength to keep hope alive? When eleven-year-old Danny Stone is kidnapped on his way home from school, panic grips his parents, Martha and Richard. As authorities scramble to find answers, their home in Bristol becomes a battleground of suspicion - until a ransom demand arrives, leaving Martha ready to pay any price. But as Richard hesitates, secrets begin to unravel and Martha fights to untangle her husband's web of deception while the fate of their son hangs by a thread.

It only takes one defeat to topple an empire. With Britain still in the grips of World War Two, Georgina Garrett has her own battles to fight. She has made many enemies over the years, and with every victory she's only grown stronger. But following a bitter betrayal, Georgina must find a way to claw herself out of the depths of despair and back to the top position within London's criminal underworld. She'll do whatever it takes to secure her freedom and defeat those who'd rather to see her dead.

She's out of retirement – and out for revenge! When Georgina Garrett wakes in the night to find intruders in her house, she knows she must do everything she can to keep her children safe. But just when she thinks the ordeal is over, she realises something is terribly wrong. She arrives at her crime-lord husband David Maynard's London house to find a bloodbath. Six of David's best men lie dead and he is nowhere to be found. Georgina may have walked away from the game but she's still the best player on the street.

London, 1941. Keen to do her bit in the war, Connie Allinson joins the WRNS and is posted as a letter censor. Her task: to read and alter correspondence to ensure no sensitive information crosses enemy lines. At first, she is not sure she's up to it, but is soon drawn in by the letters she reads, and their secret... Doncaster, 1967. Bored of her domestic life, Connie wants a job, but her controlling husband Arthur won't hear of it. Looking for an escape and plagued by memories of letters she read during the war, she makes a bid for freedom and starts secretly tracking down their authors.

Born into poverty and hardship, Ruby Skinner's decision to approach the unscrupulous East End villain, Donald McCoy, for help, ends in disaster. In a desperate bid to move her ailing mother to the fresh air of the countryside, she realises that she has made a huge mistake, which will shape the rest of her life. Robert Thornton, a wealthy business man, also had the misfortune of suffering from the under hand dealings with McCoy, and when curiosity forces him to pursue Ruby Skinner, the barriers which divide the social classes of the 19th century are put to test by the power of love.

1813. Haunted by her father's death and tired of watching her mother struggle, Meg Marsh will do anything to keep a roof over her family's head. Even if that means getting involved in a dangerous smuggling operation. When Meg catches the eye of a dashing gentleman above her station, things start to look up, and she can't help but start dreaming of a life away from the shingle and boats of Castle Bay. Blinded by flattery and coin, Meg can't see the danger on the horizon - and the cost just might be her life.