Showing results by narrator "Rachael Beresford" in All Categories

After breaking off her relationship with a female lothario, Jess Taylor decides she doesn't want to expose herself to another cheating partner. Staying at home, alone, suits her just fine. Her idea of a good night is an early one—preferably with a good book. Well, until her best friend, Sophie Harrison, decides it's time Jess rejoined the human race. Trying to pull Jess from her self-imposed prison, Sophie signs them both up for a Still Life art class at the local college. Sophie knows the beautiful art teacher, Diana Sullivan, could be the woman her best friend needs.

Oliver Foxley is an acclaimed movie star. But under the glare of the spotlight his 'perfect' life - and marriage - is starting to crumble. Cara Penhaligon is a struggling young Cornish artist and widowed mother of two children. Life has been harsh to Cara, but meeting Oliver might just give her a second chance at the happiness she deserves. As each begins to heal the other, the pieces of Oliver's frustrating jigsaw puzzle effortlessly fall into place. But as the Cornish summer draws to a close, Oliver faces the toughest of choices, and no one emerges quite as they were at the start.

Jael Hawkins is a troublesome girl. Everyone says so. When yet another relative tires of her, she is banished to Moon Hollow with the family's other black sheep. There, her aunt and uncle make her feel welcome for the first time, and she meets the intriguing Sebastian Westwood, in whom she senses a kindred spirit. But something is not right at Moon Hollow. Wails echo in the corridors at night, and a ghostly figure roams the riverbank in the moonlight.

Yorkshire, 1367. Lady Azalais disguises herself as a minstrel to travel through war-torn France and ransom her father. Her brother plans to marry her to his brutish friend but Azalais, disillusioned with coarse and lustful men, hopes her father will let her become a nun instead. As an impoverished knight, Sir William must fight for his living—unless he can forge a life through his love of song. When offered a mission to protect a talented musician through France, Will seizes the chance to test his dream of becoming a minstrel—a dream that will prevent him from ever marrying.

On the most horrifying night of her life, Charlotte Robinson discovers the murdered body of the mysterious woman who's engaged her as a companion at a remote Cornish manor house. Then, Charlotte finds the hidden note from the dead woman that tells her to flee, to change her name, to not trust anyone or she, too, will be killed. Along with the note is her employer's journal. She speedily packs a valise, the money she's saved, and the dead woman's journal and sets off in the dark of night.

From the very moment Agnes Watkins walked into his life, Fletcher Banks, Earl of Wakefield, has wanted her. Agnes is not just beautiful, she's clever and determined. Despite her uncommon beauty, she refuses to conform to society's standards. She's also the sister of the man who holds Fletcher's career as a spy in his hands. And that makes her completely off-limits.

Returning to the heart of her beloved Cornwall, Kate Ryder weaves another deliciously irresistible tale of desire, jealousy and the search for understanding, set against the stunning backdrop of the glorious Lizard Peninsula. Globally renowned actor Oliver Foxley has made the most difficult decision of all and set the love of his life free, in order to try and bring his family back together. But there's a magnetic pull back to both Cara and Cornwall that Oliver can neither deny nor resist....

Storm clouds gather over Lily and Robert's summer when criminal mastermind the Jack of Diamonds appears. Jack is searching for the mysterious Moonlocket, but that's not the only thing hes after. Suddenly, dark secrets from Robert's past plunge him into danger. Jack is playing a cruel game that Robert is wrapped up in. Lily and Malkin, the mechanical fox, must stay one step ahead before Jack plays his final deadly card.

Cinderella stories captured the imagination of girls in the 1950s, when dreams of meeting the right man could seem like a happy ending, a solution to life's problems. But over the next 50 years women's lives were transformed, not by the magic wand of a fairy godmother, nor by marrying princes, but by education, work, birth control - and feminism.

When 13-year-old Lily's inventor father vanishes on a routine Zeppelin flight, Lily's determined to find out the truth behind his disappearance. But she's not the only one searching for her father; there are silver-eyed men in the shadows who will stop at nothing to find him. With Robert, the local clockmaker's son, Lily travels to London, where they soon discover that she holds the key to the mystery...a mystery closer to Lily's heart than she could have ever imagined.

I watch him watching us, imagining how he would take me. I send him the message with my eyes. This is who I am. I am Veronica Franco. I am a COURTESAN. I court the cultural elite for fame and fortune, giving my body to many. And I'm good. So very good. After all, I was taught by my mother, and mother always knows best. How else to please the future King of France than with the imaginative use of Murano glass? How else to fulfill the desires of all yet keep my sense of self-worth?

An innocent trip to the book store propels Lady Harriett Beresford into danger when a stranger—warning of peril from the Fat Man—collapses on her doorstep. Dead. She rushes to find aid, and when she returns, the dead man is gone, and no one believes her account....

Based on a little-known true story from award-winning author Siobhan Daiko comes a tale of love and survival against all the odds. Set in Hong Kong at the start of the Pacific War. In the spring of 1939, dashing young William Burton and the beautiful Constance Han set sail from London on the same ocean liner to Hong Kong.

Ever since her emergence as a child prodigy Isabelle Bryant has only ever known one love - her violin. Then, aged 32, at the height of her career, the unthinkable happens. What do you do when everything depends on the dexterity of your fingers, only to lose them in a horrifying instant? Devastated and vulnerable in the aftermath of her accident, Isabelle struggles to find new meaning in her life. Her perilous path of self-discovery leads her to Vienna, the historic city home of her musical hero, Beethoven, and into the arms of the man who will become her lover.

In a world of honor and obligation, falling in love can be a dangerous game. Jane Dawson would pay any price to renew her family’s happiness, but is the cost of marrying Lord Litchfield too high? A woman of virtue and honor, she cannot break a promise once given, especially when doing so would ruin those she seeks to protect. But can she ignore the connection she feels to the wild soldier who understands both her duty and her heart?

For Miss Phoebe Lockswell, fashionable London tea parties and balls aren't her style. Instead, she prefers to tinker tirelessly with a clockwork diffuser she's built from scratch. If only she can get the invention to work on command, she might earn her way out of an arranged marriage to a repugnant member of the House of Commons.

Have you ever helped someone out of instinct, because not helping never even occurred to you? Remember how surprised you were at their gratitude? It is easy to feel like kindness and gratitude are becoming rare in the world today, but the truth is that it is all around you - you just need to learn how to see it. Kindness shows you how to do just that, and inspires you to take part with tips, ideas, recommendations, and advice. You will learn to see yourself and your surroundings in a kinder, happier way.

After the battle of Najera, Spain, Garit rescues a damsel in distress, Zhila tries to stab him. Then she persuades him with a kiss and a dagger to take her to France. Now Zhila is faced with an impossible task: she must seduce Garit into destruction without losing her own heart or letting him marry his castle. The wild minstrel dancer must make a stony English knight break all his rules for her, or her little sister will suffer a fate worse than death.

Galanta is only one step away from successfully releasing Santanas. The faeries must either stop her or hope that their allies stand strong in the coming storm. While they seek her out, they are forced to cement old allegiances and create new ones. With this in mind, Orion offers himself as a groom to the treacherous night faeries, asking only that Aethan go in his stead to choose his bride. Meanwhile, Galanta's spell means that while Izzy now remembers Aethan, he has no memory of her.

A lady seeking forgiveness for her past, Lady Viola Haversham is determined to put her past where it belongs. A woman forging a new path in life, Mrs. Ruby Jakeston is tired of others taking care of her. A girl lost and in search of a place to belong, Lady Ellington is on the brink of losing the only home she's ever known. A trio of women holding out hope for three different holiday miracles: Christmas ever more.