Showing results by narrator "Sarah Lambie" in All Categories

Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë—the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist—is a true classic. It transports us with a deft hand straight into 19th-century Haworth, Yorkshire and crafts an extensive account of Brontë’s life, quoting throughout from letters she sent and received. From her challenging, isolated childhood to her death shortly before the age of 39, newly married and pregnant, the enigmatic author of Jane Eyre is portrayed with enormous care.

Forced by her parents to take holy orders, 16-year-old Suzanne is trapped in a monastic life and endures harrowing physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The depiction of her struggle for autonomy is coated in the mysticism and madness of her environment, as the overwhelming effects of power are laid bare. Diderot, a key figure of the Enlightenment, uses the novel to question the moral authority of the Church and pour scorn on its complicity in oppression and intolerance.

Here young Adeline escapes danger with the La Motte family, finding refuge in the darkness of a decaying abbey, with its hidden passages… but what secrets are held here? Whom can she trust? Threatened and tested, she gradually uncovers her mysterious heritage. Sublime landscapes and psychological tension enrich a thrilling story—which, thanks to this superb audio performance that includes original song settings, can now be enjoyed in the dark for full effect!

Begun in 1797, when William was at the height of his poetic powers, The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals provide invaluable insight into the daily lives of Dorothy and William Wordsworth, William’s friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the incidents that inspired some of his greatest poems. Richly immersive and intimately domestic, the Journals transport the listener to life in the Lake District 200 years ago as Dorothy describes the Lake District countryside, her garden and neighbours, keeping house, going on walks, and the people she meets along the way

For students of Middle English, Andrew and Waldron's The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript has been the key edition of the four Pearl poems for over 30 years. With the changing needs of today's students in mind, the editors produced a complete prose translation of the four poems - the best known of which is "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The near-literal translations are intended to facilitate understanding of the four poems - to lead readers to, rather than away from, the original texts.

French Intelligence Officer Sophie Racine is tasked with travelling into the heart of a warzone in Ukraine. Her mission is to assassinate Sasha Vasilev, a Russian mole who took the French secret service apart piece by piece and gave their secrets to the Kremlin. Ex-SAS trooper and MI6 officer Aidan Snow is also in Ukraine. Sent by British Intelligence, he must extract Mohammed Iqbal, an innocent citizen caught up in the conflict in rebel-controlled Donetsk.

Daisy Turner has worked at Buchanan’s Family Jewellers since the day she finally escaped her troubled home. With a unique talent for matching the perfect piece of jewellery to any romantic milestone, she painstakingly polishes each stunning creation every morning and safely locks them away each night, longing for the day she’ll have a love story to call her own... But everything changes one day in December when the owner announces she is retiring. She will leave the shop to whichever of her three sons creates the perfect piece of Christmas jewellery for Daisy.

Comforted by the gentle hum of the beehives at the bottom of the garden, Grace drains the last of her tea and walks slowly back towards the little hillside house she adores. Her marriage is over, but is it too late to start her life again? Beekeeper Grace thought throwing out her cheating husband would be the hardest thing she ever did. But when she opens the door to a property developer one morning, it’s clear that keeping her beautiful home and garden – her only sanctuary throughout her miserable marriage – will be the greatest challenge of all.

This is the home of her dreams… but is she about to lose it? Free-spirited Flora Dunbar is heartbroken at the news that she must close down her beloved flower shop. As she locks the door for the very last time, the only spark of hope is an offer from Ned, a gorgeous farmer, to come and start a new life on his family farm, Hope Corner. Although Flora's creative spirit clashes with the farm's strict routine, she throws herself into her chores, slowly blossoming as she learns to appreciate the rhythms of life on the land.

When Brooke arrives in Paris at Christmas, it feels like the perfect place to escape after being dumped by her long-term boyfriend. And while her head might be turned by the romance of couples strolling arm in arm along the riverbank, and the air scented with chocolat chaud, her heart remains firmly under lock and key—this trip is going to be about her. Brooke might be able to resist the charms of one persuasive Frenchman who takes her to some of Paris’s most romantic spots, but when a chance encounter leads her to green-eyed Armand.

Poland, 1942. After witnessing the destruction of her hometown in Warsaw, Anna Kowalski joins the Polish Resistance. She is tasked with smuggling as many children as possible out of the Warsaw Ghetto through the sewers and relocating them to safety. Through her work, Anna meets Johnnie Nowak, an RAF pilot who had managed to escape from a prisoner of war camp. He's not safe in Warsaw, so Anna leads him out of the city to protect him...

Julia Blythe is starting again. After blowing the whistle on a fellow surgeon at her hospital, resulting in him being let go, she found herself illegally bullied from the job by her male colleagues who closed ranks against her. No longer willing to endure their campaign of smears and intimidation, she packs her family up and moves to Devon, to start a new life in a new hospital. To Nathan Sloan, who abuses his role as a surgeon as fully and freely as he can, she couldn’t be more perfect.

In the stifling confines of Edwardian Yorkshire, Muriel Hammond is waiting for her life to begin. Marriage, respectability, duty–these are all part of the script–but just as she believes that ‘men do as they like’ while women ‘wait to see what they will do’, she dreams of a life beyond those boundaries. As war transforms the village of Marshington and friends slot into their expected roles, Muriel needs courage to reframe her sad fate as a ‘surplus woman’ and look towards her own independent future.

The impetuous and dashing Marquis of Troon is to marry the disreputable Lady Dilys Powick against the advice of his closest friends. In celebration he arranges a steeplechase event full of prizes, but one of the guests suddenly dies from a heart attack. The Marquis is shocked to hear that he has been named in the will as the guardian of the guest’s daughter! Throw in a kidnapping, crime and a dangerous trip to London, and you will be gripped by this story.

Sophie Johnson thought she had it all: her dream job at The Jane Austen Dating Agency and a swoon-worthy boyfriend, Darcy Drummond. But real life isn't quite so picture-perfect. Darcy's formidable mother is on a mission to derail their relationship, the agency's future hangs by a thread, and Henry Baxter—adorable, infuriating, and unexpectedly distracting—keeps turning up at the worst possible (or maybe best?) moments. With the pressure mounting and her love life teetering, Sophie has to decide: can she keep the business afloat, navigate the drama, and still find her own happily-ever-after?

Tessa Keswick first travelled to China in 1982 and immediately fell in love with its history, culture and landscape. Over the next 30 years, she travelled extensively in China, visiting its temples and landmarks, the sites of its most famous battles and the birthplaces of its best-known poets and philosophers. She also witnessed China's transformation, as hundreds of millions were lifted out of poverty and the country emerged as an economic superpower in waiting.

When Leila Jones loses her precious charm bracelet and a stranger finds it, she has to tell the story of how she got the charms to prove she’s the owner. Each and every one is a precious memory of her life with Jake. So Leila starts at the beginning, recounting the charms and experiences that have led her to the present. A present she never could have expected when she met Jake nearly 20 years ago.

The dashing Duke of Selchester is on his way to visit Lord Upminster at Copple Hall when a stagecoach crashes into his own travelling carriage, buckling its wheel. Worse still, his beloved pedigree stallion, Salamanca, needs re-shoeing. Arriving on foot at the nearest village, he finds a beautiful Verena Winchcombe, who agrees to take him to the local blacksmith. It transpires that she has been awaiting the arrival of someone she calls 'the Odious Duke', who is due at Copple Hall.

Scotland, 1750, just four years after Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Rising of the Clans, it’s hard to know who’s loyal to the English and who is faithful to the Stuarts. And it’s beautiful seventeen-year-old Iona’s perilous mission to ascertain whether the Duke of Arkrae, head of Scotland’s most powerful clan, is a traitor or is he in cahoots with the English. Iona’s mission is to gain the trust of the Duke and his clan by claiming to be the sister he thought to have died as a child. As all around her doubt her claim and call her a "pretender", Iona struggles to hold her nerve.

Imperious, handsome and gallant in battle, the Duke of Kingswood has stolen the hearts of many society belles but he is determined never to marry. To continue the family line, he is counting on his cousin and heir presumptive, Richard, to marry well and produce a son. To the Duke’s horror, Richard falls for society siren and acclaimed beauty Lady Delyth Maulden and disaster turns to tragedy when Richard finds his beloved in the arms of another, shoots him and turns his gun on himself.