Mostrando resultados por narrador "Joanna Stephens" en Todas las categorías

Hours of listening in one collection—books 1-3 of the Mercer’s House series, a collection of traditional Regency romances, drawing room rather than bedroom.

When Mr. Edmund Winterton of Woodside dies, his daughters find themselves penniless and homeless. What can they do? Unless they wish to live on charity, they will have to find genteel employment for themselves. Annabelle becomes governess to the daughters of the recently bereaved Earl of Brackenwood. She has no idea how to teach, but her pupils can learn all they need from books, so how difficult can it be?

Lord Montague Marford is looking forward to a quiet life as clergyman of a rural parish where he can hope to do some good. But sometimes his compassionate nature gets him into trouble, and when a bedraggled young woman turns up on the doorstep to call in a long-forgotten debt, Monty’s sense of honour compels him to offer to marry her. But he soon begins to wonder if he’s made a huge mistake.

The sinking of the Brig Minerva results in many deaths, while for others, the future is suddenly brighter. But it’s not always easy to leave the past behind.... Evie Parfitt is almost 30, penniless, and with no prospect of ever marrying. She has her hands full helping turn a jewel merchant’s willful heiress into a lady able to move in good society. When the sinking of the Minerva leaves her charge an orphan and she selects a notorious rake as her guardian, Evie is determined to protect both of them from his attentions.

Felicia Oakes is the illegitimate daughter of…well, someone or other. A pirate, perhaps, or a spy, or a royal prince…who knows? Her vivid imagination conjures a myriad possibilities, all more exciting than her position as governess to two motherless children. But when their father is drowned aboard the Brig Minerva, Felicia must take them to their new guardian in the North of England, where her life is about to be turned upside down.

Lord Randolph Litherholm has spent a year coming to terms with the death of his twin brother Gervase, the 7th Duke of Falconbury. Now it’s time to set aside his mourning and accept his role as the 8th Duke of Falconbury. It’s not the management of the vast Litherholm wealth that bothers him, for he’s been running the estate for years. No, his reluctance is all due to the marriage that was arranged for his brother, and the expectation that Ran will take on his brother’s bride as well as his title.

Caroline Milburn and her younger sisters live in two cramped rooms, struggling to survive by their skills in lace making and weaving. When their previously unknown grandfather drowns on the Brig Minerva and bequeaths them a cottage in the country, their lives seem set to improve. But where will the daughters of a linen draper fit into rural life, now that they are better off? How will Caroline find husbands for her younger sisters? Why have purses of money been buried in the garden? And why are the neighbours so interested in them?

The dramatic conclusion to the series! Ten years have passed since the sisters of Woodside found happiness. Their grief for their young brother, Jeremy, tragically drowned at the age of 12, has faded. The sadness of losing their home, Woodside, to strangers is but a memory. They no longer wonder just what became of their mother’s fabulous jewels, which should have guaranteed their dowries. They are looking forwards, not back into the past. But the past is not always willing to be left behind.

An out-of-work governess tries to start a school in the village. Deborah Hollingsworth, grand-daughter of a baron, has come down in the world, reduced to acting as unpaid governess for her relations. When even that option closes, what is she to do? She has a secret plan, but until she can achieve her heart’s desire, she’ll start a modest village school to make ends meet, and bring a little happiness to the local children. What she doesn’t expect is to find a lonely young man even more in need of a little happiness.

Michael Plummer has never forgotten the woman he fell passionately in love with a few years ago. He was courting a beautiful heiress, in the hope of rescuing his family from financial ruin and the loss of their home, but it was her companion who won his heart. When she ran away from him, Michael was plunged into despair. Now both women have returned, and he has a chance to correct the mistakes of the past. But does he have the courage to do the right thing this time?

Lord Gilbert Marford is in disgrace. He joined the Hussars to stay out of trouble. Instead, he quarrelled with half his fellow officers, seduced the wives of three of them, got himself shot in a duel, and sustained an injury that might end his career. Now he’s being sent home like a naughty schoolboy, and he’s not happy about it. So when an opportunity arises to run away, he’s not about to let a little snow stop him.

Malcolm Gage walked out of his brother’s life 16 years ago when they both wanted to marry the same woman. Malcolm lost that battle, and he’s never forgiven his brother for it, preferring to live in poverty as a schoolmaster, rather than swallow his pride and go home. But now an unusual condition in a will pushes him back into the family fold. If he can teach his nephew well enough to admit him to the Society of Gentleman Linguists, he will inherit a fortune and will never be poor again. The only catch - he has to stay under his brother’s roof for three months.

Will Fletcher is the eldest son and heir to the family fortune, and although his father is reluctant to relinquish his roots in trade, Will is more than happy to become a gentleman.

Johnny Fletcher is exactly where he wants to be - a Fellow at Cambridge, with a lifetime of scholarly pursuits in front of him. He’s not allowed to marry, but he has no need for a wife when he has his books for company. But his beautiful sister is on the brink of a wonderful marriage to an earl’s son, so he joins his family for a house party at the earl’s estate. At least there will be a decent library he can hide in. But when he intervenes to protect a young woman from unwanted attention, he finds himself caught up in scandal.

When retired math teacher Grace Winters inherits a run-down house on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza from a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. Grace arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan. Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have possibly dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Susannah Winslade is 26 and drifting into perpetual spinsterhood as she tries to care for her sick stepmother, look after her young brothers and sisters, and keep her father sober and solvent. Her brother Henry isn’t much help, either. She doesn’t mind. Once upon a time, she met the perfect man and until someone like him comes into her life again, she’s happy at home, with her wildflower painting for solace. Samuel Broughton has come to Great Maeswood to make a new start as a country physician.

Toby Stephens stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Raymond Chandler’s second Philip Marlowe mystery.Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily.In ‘Farewell My Lovely’, Marlowe has a chance encounter with a not-so-gentle giant outside Florian’s nightclub.

Thirty-year-old widow Louisa Middlehope is determined to escape from her late husband’s family and live life for herself for the first time. The tiny village of Great Maeswood offers her the peace and quiet her heart craves, and perhaps, it might provide a little entertainment, too. But the house she has leased has been empty for a quarter of a century and who knows what secrets it holds?

Poor and widowed, Lucy finds a post as chaperon to two young ladies...It sounds like easy work, well suited to her sociable nature, but the sisters squabble over their suitors, and there are tensions below the surface of the seemingly happy family. Then there is the charming Mr Audley, who is more interested in flirting with Lucy than in discovering where his sisters have disappeared to. And as for Lucy’s uncle, she’s quite convinced he is hiding something. Curiosity is Lucy’s abiding sin, and one day it will get her into trouble.

Connie’s older sisters have managed to find husbands, but now it’s her turn, and she is not sure she wants to marry at all. Having only just escaped her late father’s restrictive regime, she’s reluctant to surrender her freedom to another man just yet. If only she could find one who would fall so adoringly in love that he would do anything for her.