Showing results by narrator "Lucy Brownhill" in All Categories

When her beloved father is killed in the Blitz, trainee nurse April Harvey is all alone in the world. Desperate to find the family she craves, she heads to Truro, her mother's hometown. But danger and heartbreak lurk even in Cornwall, and when the American GIs arrive, April finds her life turned upside down as she discovers that some people are not to be trusted. Especially when it comes to her budding romance with Major Crawford Dunbar. As vicious rumours emerge, April fears there will never be a future for them.

Clem is the baker in charge of creating delicious cat-themed treats for the loyal customers of the Catpurrcino cat café. From iced kitten doughnuts to macarons with ears and whiskers, Clem's creations always bring a smile to the face of anyone lucky enough to taste them. But outside of the café's kitchen, Clem struggles with feelings of anxiety and where she fits in. Until Sylvie, the owner of the café, decides to push her out of her comfort zone. The Whisked Away baking competition is a chance for Clem to shine and find her inner confidence.

On the day Nina and Conrad Best move into their new home in picture-perfect Willow Close a body is discovered. Hurrying inside with their belongings, they see horrified neighbours gather by the police cordon - one of the residents has been attacked and brutally killed in the woods. Believing someone must have seen the murderer, the police interview all the residents of the Close. They soon find out that each neighbour harbours their own secrets.

When her husband returns shell-shocked and broken from the Great War and his mother makes her life a misery, Betty Wellow discovers how bitter and hard life can truly be. But it is not until a devastating storm sweeps through their small fishing village and endangers her life that she sees her chance to escape - and takes it. Fleeing to Bristol, she changes her name to Mabel Brook and takes a position as a maid. But tragedy strikes once more after the sudden death of her mistress, and she is cast back onto the streets.

Amy is trapped in a nightmare with Jason, a controlling, violent husband. Then on a short cruise without him, Amy befriends Liz, a young woman traveling alone on her way to meet her birth mother for the first time. Liz looks so much like Amy that they could be sisters. When Amy regains consciousness after a terrible accident that takes the lives of many passengers, she finds that, because of a mix-up in personal effects, everyone believes she is Liz. Only she knows it is Liz who has gone missing, presumed dead.

A miscarriage of justice could have deadly consequences in this taut and pacey psychological thriller. She thought she knew everything about her sister. It seems she was wrong.... DC Jo Boden was 11 years old when her older sister, Sarah, was brutally murdered during her first year at university. Her boyfriend, Nathan Wade, was convicted of the killing. Now, 15 years later, Wade is being released on licence, and documentary filmmaker Briony Rowe says she can prove his innocence....

Michelle McGagh has been writing about money for over a decade. You'd think that would make her a whiz with her own cash, right? Wrong! Spending with abandon and ignoring bank statements were her modus operandi. Just because she wasn't in serious debt apart from her massive London mortgage, she thought she was in control. She wasn't. Something needed to be done ,but rather than cut back here and there, Michelle's approach was more radical.

When the body of 20-year-old Julie Cooper is found - her pockets stuffed full of wilting flowers - in an iron-age hill fort on the edge of the fens, Detective Tara Thorpe and her team are called in to investigate. The evidence points to an illicit affair gone wrong…but is there more to the story? As always at the Cambridge constabulary, the case turns personal. Detective Blake is exhausted after the arrival of a new baby with wayward wife Babette, and Tara is keen to put as much distance between herself and Blake as she can - both at the station and on the hunt for the killer.

It had always been Tabby's dream to work with cats and an inheritance from her beloved nanna has finally made that a reality. Idyllic Castle Street in Whitsborough Bay couldn’t be a better place for pastry chef Tabby to open a cat café with her boyfriend, Leon. But when Leon leaves her in the lurch, the pressure mounts for Tabby. With Christmas fast approaching, she has to open the café on her own – a daunting prospect, especially when she's been hiding her health issues from the ones she loves.

When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there. But an article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright. The girls met working on a cruise ship, and their friendship blossomed as they sailed the seas of South America, until Lotte fell under the sinister influence of an older American couple.

When secret agent Maggie Black agrees to protect the Mayor of London, she thinks she’s in for a boring night of babysitting. But the simple job gets a lot more complicated when an assassin arrives and takes out the Mayor, framing Maggie as the killer. Unable to explain the evidence against her, Maggie is branded a traitor and hunted by the very people she once fought beside.

Maggie Black is settling well into life after being a government assassin. Finally content and deeply in love with her partner, Leon, she is ready to open her own secret agency where she can put her unique skills to use and help those in need - on her own terms. Getting out isn’t as simple as Maggie had hoped, however, and her past comes back to haunt her, putting a stop to any plans for a fresh start. Nina, an old colleague-turned-enemy, is out for blood and returns from hiding in the most devastating way possible.

Annie has been sad for so long that she's forgotten how to be any other way. She's trudging miserably through every day, sheer determination keeping her going. Until she meets Polly. Polly is everything that Annie is not. She's colourful, joyful, happy. Because if recent events have taught Polly anything, it's that your time is too short to waste a single day.

This collection of stand-alone short stories is a treat for new listeners and dedicated fans alike. In each of these 17 stories, an ordinary person takes on an extraordinary journey to a new life, discovering facets and strengths they never knew they possessed. Across a variety of time periods and settings, these stories capture Anna Jacobs' unique style and showcase her mastery of emotional tales.

In our lives we'll meet something like 80,000 people. Most of them just in passing, sitting beside them on a bus, buying a latte from them, overtaking them too fast on the motorway. Others will become friends, lovers, family. Some will stay in our lives forever, and some will be swept away by the flow of life. But we touch all of these people in some way, tiny or huge, making more of a difference that any of us can imagine. Rosie is in a coma, unable to reach out to the world or communicate.

Princess Delia knows her duty: She must choose a prince to marry in order to secure an alliance and save her failing planet. Yet she secretly dreams of true love and feels there must be a better way. Determined to chart her own course, she steals a spaceship to avoid the marriage, only to discover a handsome stowaway.

1941. It is the Second World War, and Louise Keene's small Cornish village is full of soldiers. Among them is the dashing RAF pilot Paul Bolton, who sweeps her off her feet, only to be deployed days later. Desperate not to be another girl pining for her sweetheart, Louise runs away to join the army, never imaging she would end up watching the pitch-black skies of London as a gunner girl....

Eve knows what her colleagues had for lunch last April. She remembers everyone who passes through the care home she works at long after they've gone. Like her museum of tiny treasures, her life is small and manageable. And what if you couldn't even remember your name? 'Adam' is found wandering down the central reservation of the M25. He has no memory of how he came to be there. As Eve works with Adam to help him discover who he once was, her world begins to open up. But when Adam remembers his past, can Eve possibly be part of his future?

Rocky Race is not your average fourteen-year-old. She's determined, ambitious, and the best football player you've ever seen. So, when she gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend a prestigious soccer camp in California, United States, she takes it. But far from home, Rocky suddenly finds herself out of her comfort zone. Fake friends, her own anxieties, and a brand-new world with strange rules all threaten to derail her new life before it's even started-does Rocky have what it takes to succeed?

When her old agency is hacked by an elusive crime syndicate, ex-secret agent Maggie Black is enjoying the carefree life of a civilian. Then she learns that the names of the agency’s agents, past and present, are being leaked by the hackers, one by one until their notorious boss is released from prison. With the government refusing to negotiate with the blackmailers, she is forced out of retirement and dragged back into the perilous life of espionage she swore to leave behind. Her name is on that list, as well as those she cares about most.