Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

Julia and Lauren are sisters, but definitely not best friends. They rarely even speak to each other. But when Lauren's fortieth birthday is ruined by her latest boyfriend dumping her, Julia feels a sudden and unexpected burst of sympathy, and offers to go with her on the special holiday he'd paid for as a birthday present. Unfortunately the holiday turns out not to be a glamorous hotel in a holiday hotspot, but a self-catering cottage in a tiny village called Deepcombe, in the middle of Dartmoor. And it's January.

For generations, the Barthélemy family tended to the olive trees of Restanques, a sprawling property in Cotignac whose olive oil and almonds were as incredible as the countryside that produced them. But all that changed when war came to France. Robert Barthélemy never returned from the trenches, and without him the farm is beginning to die. His widow has lost the will to live, and only the fierce efforts of their daughter, Jeanne, have kept the creditors at bay.

Hitler’s Girl is a groundbreaking history that reveals how, in the 1930s, authoritarianism nearly took hold in Great Britain as it did in Italy and Germany. Drawing on recently declassified intelligence files, Lauren Young details the pervasiveness of Nazi sympathies among the British aristocracy, as significant factions of the upper class methodically pursued an actively pro-German agenda.

Bestselling author Lucy Pym is initially thrilled to be invited to lecture at Leys Physical Training College. The girls are eager to learn about psychology, her pet subject, and she finds herself inspired by their discipline, humour and determination. However, a tragic accident in the gymnasium reveals a darker side to the school, and unexpectedly Miss Pym finds she must draw on her psychological expertise to trace who, of all these wholesome girls, has violence on the mind.

The brand-new Christmas romance from the Sunday Times best-selling author Heidi Swain! Perfect for fans of Carole Matthews, Sarah Morgan and Cathy Bramley.

Charley would do anything to keep her wages coming in to support her impoverished sisters and nephews -even if that meant working in Italy for the demanding and commanding Duke Raphael Della Striozzi. Raphael couldn’t see how a woman so artistic would be seen dead in her cheap high-street clothes. It was straight off to a designer boutique for her! But it was in Raphael’s bedroom that Charlotte’s complete transformation took place - from shy, dowdy virgin to confident, beautiful...mistress!

Molly Greene loves being married. Exciting adventures lie ahead for her and husband, Dan, that will change their lives forever, but Molly's not sure they're making the right choices. While teetering on the brink of the biggest decision she's ever faced, she sends an impulsive message to the very last person she ought to contact, someone who should have stayed forgotten and is now coming looking for her. When he finds her, there is no turning back. One night is all it takes to threaten everything she holds dear - for good.

Rush hour, London. A packed commuter train is torn apart in a collision. Picking through the carnage, ex-special forces profiler Ziba MacKenzie helps a dying woman who passes on a cryptic message: He did it. You have to tell someone. When a corpse is found bearing the gruesome signature of a serial killer dormant for twenty-five years, Ziba is pulled into the hunt for the perpetrator. As the body count rises it becomes clear he’s on a new spree. But what’s brought the London Lacerator back after such a long hiatus?

Adultery, murder and dangerous love collide in Jessie Keane's gritty debut thriller set in London's East End. Perfect for fans of Martina Cole and Lynda La Plante. For longer than she cares to remember, Annie Bailey has lived in the shadow of her older sister, Ruthie. Now Ruthie has her hands on Max Carter, the much feared head of the Carter family and a top class villain. Seducing Max wasn't a problem, but the guilt, shame and anger of rejection afterwards was.

When Anna Flores' adored older sister goes missing as a teenager, Anna copes by disappearing too and eventually building a life for herself abroad. Thirty years later, the death of her mother finally forces Anna to return home. Tasked with sorting through her mother's possessions, she begins to confront not just her mother's death but also the huge hole Gabriella's disappearance left in her life - and finds herself asking a question she's not allowed herself to ask for years: what really happened to her sister?

Growing up in a poverty-stricken, fatherless household, Dorothy Jordan overcame her humble beginnings to become the most famous comic actress of her day. Beginning her career on the Dublin stage, she moved on to the playhouses of Leeds and York before achieving fame performing at Sheridan's famous theatre on Drury Lane. It was there that Dorothy caught the eye of the Duke of Clarence, later to become King William IV.

Zoe always knew this day would come. After all, no one can live for ever. She may not be ready, but Zoe knows the importance of goodbye. Harriet doesn't know where she fits anymore. It's not in Cornwall with the new family her mum is building, and it's certainly not in the job she hates. Ange was doing fine. Well, she was coping. Like she has been for the past fourteen years because her daughter needed her. Then, the last person any of them expects to see suddenly turns up, and soon it seems the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

How could anyone resist Michael Tennant, with his hypnotic blue eyes and voice like molten chocolate? Jessie Simmons certainly can’t. But Jessie’s a single mum who can’t sing to save her life – there’s no way she’ll ever cross paths with the star tenor. At least that’s what she thinks until she’s unexpectedly invited to take part in a new reality TV show. 

In lucid and energised prose, Emily Mayhew summons the four horsemen of the apocalypse; the collective threat to humanity bearing the names of war, pestilence, famine and death. As they began in Revelations and have remained in human consciousness ever since, spanning time and space and evolving as new scientific discoveries and advancements in technology alter the world.

Twyla Ridley, resourceful, optimistic, has just had her first child. It's what she and her husband, Dylan, have always wished for. However, Charlie is blind. For the first time in her adult life, Twyla feels truly tested. She cherishes her son, showering him with love and boundless affection, but there's a part of her that aches for him to see. So Twyla throws herself into motherhood with a very private agenda, because maybe, if she strives hard enough, she'll be able to find a way to fix him. But is it a risk worth taking?

In a forgotten corner of Paris stands a building. Within its walls people talk and kiss, laugh and cry; some are glad to sit alone while others wish they did not. A woman with silver-blonde hair opens her bookshop downstairs, an old man feeds the sparrows on his windowsill, and a young mother wills the morning to hold itself at bay. Though each of their walls touches someone else's, the neighbours they pass in the courtyard remain strangers. Into this courtyard arrives Edward.

Louise Anderson's heart pounds as she approaches the imposing castello. Only the Duke of Falconari can grant her grandparents' dying wish - but this is the same man who said arrivederci without a backward glance after their night of unadulterated passion.... Caesar can't believe the woman who almost ruined his precious reputation still fiercely fires his blood. Discovering that their union created more than just salacious memories, he agrees to grant Louise's request...in exchange for a demand of his own.

Abbey Carter should be feeling on top of the world. She has the home of her dreams - a picturesque cottage just walking distance from her beloved Primrose Woods. She has a job she adores, great friends and most exciting of all - a wedding dress hanging in her wardrobe ready to be worn. So why does she feel so lonely?

It was clearly no accidental drowning. When a young immigrant girl is found in the watery depths of Holbaek Fjord, a piece of concrete tied around her waist and two mysterious circular patches on the back of her neck, Detective Louise Rick is called to investigate. The girl's name was Samra, and Louise soon learns that her short life was a sad story. Abused by her father, it becomes clear that he would be capable of killing Samra if she brought dishonour to the family.

After trials, tears and a torturous break-up, Kitty Appleby has finally found where she's meant to be. Tumbledown Sandcastle Cottage, in the delightful seaside village of Firefly Common, is home, and Kitty's eccentric band of friends and neighbours are enjoying a glorious summer. There's just one tiny little problem. Sandcastle Cottage doesn't belong to them. And Mavis Mullholland, Kitty's landlord, is on her way home from her round-the-world cruise.