Showing results by narrator "Julia Barrie" in All Categories

1945. War has ended, but for sisters Isobel and Flora, the struggles still continue. They've lost their father, had their home destroyed in a bombing raid and now they must go to live with their aunt and her awful husband, Mr Godfrey, in their ancestral home of Splint Hall. From the moment of their arrival, it seems that this is a place shrouded in mysteries and secrets. Who are the strange men who arrive with packages at night? What is the source of the strange blue sparks coming from the ground? And why do the locals seem to hate their family so much?

Married couple Jack and Ali Gardiner move to a self-sufficient spiritual commune in the English Fens, desperate for fresh start. The local village is known for the witches who once resided there, and Rosalind House, where the commune has been established, is a former psychiatric home, with a disturbing history. When Jack and Ali arrive, a chain of unexpected and unexplained events is set off, and it becomes clear that they are not all that they seem. As the residents become twitchy, and the villagers suspicious, events from the past come back to haunt them, and someone is seeking retribution....

The La Fleur restaurant has a slew of unusual phenomena. Bonnet-clad apparitions pass through walls, blood leaks from ceilings and rats besiege the dining room. Experts from the Great Essex Witch Museum are called in to quell these strange sights. But before Rosie Strange and Sam Stone can do their thing, events turn darker. For La Fleur's chef has been strung up and slaughtered like a pig. More oddly, the only witness, the owner's daughter Mary, swears blind a ghost did it.

A heart-wrenching family saga for fans of Dilly Court and Val Wood. Kath walked for so long that she wanted to lie down in the snow and sleep, but she thought of her sister and knew she must go on. Soon the snow was so deep that she couldn't move. She could feel her shoes disintegrating, and her feet were numb. The sky cleared, and a great big moon came out, and there were so many stars. She remembered what her mother had said before she died, that each star was one of her people.

In a beachfront mansion in Martha's Vineyard, Annick and Rebecca relax, safe in the knowledge that their young children are in the care of lifelong friend Tash. But by the end of the afternoon, one of the children will have vanished.... Annick, daughter of an actress and an assassinated president, has spent her life running from the truth of her family's wealth. Rebecca has always done the right thing. Perfect daughter. Perfect wife. Perfect mother. She's beginning to wonder if she'll ever get chance to live for herself.

On the cobbled streets of Bradford in 1931, Lily Briggs does all she can to keep trouble at bay for her and her family. She works hard at Calvert Mill to make ends meet and take care of her parents and younger siblings. Saturday nights at the dance hall and dressmaking with her two best friends keep Lily upbeat, and now there’s a blossoming romance with childhood friend Harry Bainbridge to put an extra spring in her step, too.

Harvey thinks he has the best job in the world: he's the captain of a real live spaceship! Except it's the Toxic Spew - the most dysfunctional garbage ship in the galaxy. The crew get word of a stranded cargo ship full of very valuable Techno-tium. Whoever rescues the cargo gets to claim it. So the crew aims their ship towards the treasure. But they don't bet on running into the Bling Bot pirates from planet Sy-Boorg!

After Chloe and her daughter, Freya, are rescued from disaster by a man, Chloe decides she must find him again to thank him. But instead of meeting her knight in shining armour, she comes across Nadine Caspian, who warns her to stay away from him. The man is dangerous, Nadine claims, and a compulsive liar. Alarmed, Chloe knows that the sensible choice would be to walk away. But she is too curious. What could Nadine have meant?

Annie can’t believe Dominic Carlyle’s claim. How can he be her husband? Why would she have walked out on him and forgotten all about their marriage? To jog Annie’s memory, Dominic insists they move in together: Annie is strangely compelled to say yes - haunted by the memory of a dream in which a man makes love to her - a man who looks just like Dominic.

Emma is 16 years old and in love with Andrew, but he's engaged to Julie, Emma's beautiful elder sister. When their two families go to France on holiday together Emma is perturbed by Julie's casual attitude to the engagement and her interest in Yves Courtelle, another guest at the hotel. Emotions become hopelessly entangled, and for the four young people, the holiday threatens to end in tragedy as they struggle with feelings which are stronger than they are.

Take one woman, add a boss who’s told the world they’re having an affair, and then concoct one very special dish in order to save the heroine’s catering career! Heaven Matthews is trying to pick up the pieces after becoming entangled in her old boss’s scheme to divorce his wife. Making mail order puddings to help stay afloat, she is offered the chance to cater for a special Christmas meal. A Christmas meal for her ex-boss. One that Heaven intends to make very special indeed!

When Harvey Drew unwittingly responds to an alien signal, he is transported to the Toxic Spew by the ship's computer, who promptly loses his return address. Even though none of the crew has ever met an Earthling, Harvey becomes Captain of the stroppy, pizza-obsessed crew, and has to save them from poisonous pink maggots, exploding space-rubbish and a multiple spaceship pile-up. Luckily, Harvey is just the boy to save the day!

Lexi Sturgis is a woman in a man's world, a war correspondent whose life has taken her to some of the world's most troubled regions. Lexi is never happier than when she's dodging bullets, chasing down the leads that other reporters only dream of getting, or swapping stories with her rivals at the bar. She thrives on risk, danger and the thrill of the chase, while keeping everyone else at arm's length - colleagues, friends, and lovers.

A wonderful warm festive treat from Sunday Times bestseller Trisha Ashley. The perfect gift isn't always under the tree... Single mum Cally's life is all about her little girl Stella. She's resigned to the fact that the only romance she's going to get is from the rom-coms she watches, and with her busy job and her daughter, she doesn't have time to even think about love. But life gets very tough when Stella gets sick.

Marry in haste, repent at leisure. But although Lacey’s marriage had gone disastrously wrong, she could hardly regret what it had given her - her beloved daughter, Jessica. For 20 years she had neither seen nor heard of the man who had been her husband and who had hurt her so badly that she had not dared to look for a relationship since. But now he was back in her life, shattering her hard-won confidence and threatening the secure world she had built around her. And, what was worse, Lacey realised that she still loved him.

Eve has been brought up at Croderhay Park by her adoptive parents, Jack and Antoinette Corderhay, along with her younger half-sister, Anne-Marie. As they grow up, Anne-Marie becomes a spoilt, wilful young woman who will stop at nothing to get her own way. During a holiday in Paris, Anne-Marie makes a desperate phone call which results in Eve rushing over to France. What she discovers has life-changing consequences for their family and friends, and especially for Eve herself. It looks as though once again Anne-Marie has taken her happiness with no thought for anyone else.

1902, Bath: When the housekeeper suddenly resigns, 17-year-old housemaid Daisy is left to cope alone with the almost bedridden owner of the house, Montague Pennington, Esq. Monty’s unpleasant relations begrudgingly search for a new housekeeper, as lively Daisy takes charge. However, serious problems arise as a mysterious stranger begins to target the entire family.

It seems that the Penningtons hold dark secrets, and the past cannot be suppressed for much longer.…

Why is Rosamund so paralyzed by Tyler and his secrets?The whole world was once in love with her. Now, married to the dangerously charismatic Tyler, estranged from her conservationist father, despairing of her teenage son's silences, she feels completely alone. Revisiting the almost forgotten world of her Indian childhood may help, but can her family survive the changes she must make to save herself? Ruth Padel, acclaimed for her brilliant nature writing, has set her captivating debut novel in London, Devon and the jungles of India. But at its heart is a family in crisis.

When she's fed up, Enna doodles. This time it's a scribbly, hunchbacked, squatting figure. Just the way she feels, in fact. And then the figure winks at her. It speaks, and jumps off the page. It's alive, with a mind of it's own. Will it be her friend? She needs one. Or will it make things worse? When Enna's little brother vanishes, she has to follow him to the place the doodle comes from - which is a very strange place indeed.

It seemed the clouds that had darkened so much of Maisie’s early life had finally cleared away. Freed at last from a disastrous marriage, she had also become a best-selling author with her very first book - all about Hamilton, the remarkable horse her imagination conjured for solace through the long years of an unhappy marriage. Hamilton proved to be a real guide, philosopher and friend over many years. Now she was to be married again, and Hamilton marked the occasion by taking a wife himself - a mare called Begonia.