検索キーワード： ナレーター "Penelope Freeman" すべてのカテゴリー

August 1937 - Seffy Blake falls in love with Amyas Troy from the moment she sees him on a Cornish beach. But when he disappears, she is forced to face the consequences of their affair alone. In London Seffy makes a new life for herself working as an assistant to journalist Charlie Bradford, and as Europe hurtles towards war, it is Charlie who sees her through her darkest times.

It is Christmas 1937 when sisters Rowan and Thea travel from London to Scotland to visit their dying father. Having lost their mother in a tragic sailing accident when they were young, the two women are accustomed to grief. But they have no idea that their father's death will expose a terrible deception.... For back in London is his wife, Sophie, and their two sons. Neither family knows of the other's existence, and when news reaches Sophie of Hugh's death, her whole world is turned upside down.

Bringing the Keep Fit movement vividly to life in 1940s' London, Pam Evans' family saga will inspire and enthral anyone who has ever dared to dream of a better life. In the middle of a party to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V, in 1935, Mollie Fisher's good-for-nothing husband walks out on his wife and baby girl. Luckily, Mollie has a loving family to turn to for help. Mollie's mother, Marge, is delighted to look after baby Esme while Mollie goes out to work.

Devastated after a miscarriage, Claire has distanced herself from her own life, and from her husband, Rob. Unable to deal with her own reality, Claire becomes obsessed with Daisy, a woman from the past, and as she traces her life, month-by-month, she starts to notice intriguing parallels between their lives....

Emma Brown is a happy-go-lucky child, content to work hard at school, and to play hopscotch with her friends on the pavement outside her house in the run-down Nechells area of Birmingham. As long as everything is all right at home with her Ma and Pa, her little sister Joyce and brother Sid, then life is good. But after Em's mother, Cynthia, has her baby she just doesn't seem to be able to cope.

In 1984, two young mothers meet at a toddler group in Birmingham. As their friendship grows, they share with each other the difficulties and secrets in their lives: Joanne, a sweet, shy girl, is increasingly afraid of her husband. The lively, promising man she married has become hostile and violent and she is too ashamed to tell anyone. When her mother, Margaret is suddenly rushed into hospital, the bewildered family find that there are things about their mother of which they had no idea.

It is 1946: The war is over and three young women face a new kind of life. But peacetime brings its own pressures.... Katie O'Neill's childhood has been dominated by her temperamental mother and by frightening secrets that she barely understands. Innocent, yet hungry for love, she is easily taken in by male charm and is left outcast and alone with her young son. Emma Brown has spent the war at home in Birmingham, longing for her husband Norm to return and meet the son he has never seen. But she soon finds that the joy of homecoming only brings a whole new set of problems.

A sequel to The Hopscotch Summer. Molly Fox has grown up in the back streets of Birmingham at the mercy of her cruel grandfather and her drunken mother. Though she has grown into a tall, beautiful woman, Molly is haunted by terrible family secrets. When she is found lying drunk in a gutter, Molly reaches a turning point. She decides to escape by joining the army as an ATS girl.

The whole world believed eight-year-old Cara killed her younger brother on that fateful night. But she blamed it on a paranormal entity she swears was haunting her house. No one believed her and after two years of treatment in a psychiatric unit for delusional disorder, Cara was shunned by her remaining family and put into foster care. Now she's being forced to return to the family home for the first time since her brother's death, but what if she's about to re-discover the evil that was lurking inside its walls?

Running out on your wedding day never goes down well. When the pressure of her forthcoming marriage becomes too much, Jude bolts from the church, leaving a good man at the altar, her mother in a fury, and the guests with enough gossip to last a year. Guilty and ashamed, Jude flees to Pengarrock, a crumbling cliff-top mansion in Cornwall, where she takes a job cataloguing the Trevillion family's extensive library.

No turkey. No fruit to make a decent pudding. No money for presents. Your children away from home; your husband, father and brothers off fighting. How in the world does one celebrate Christmas? That was the situation facing the people of Britain for six years during the Second World War. From the family whose dog ate the Christmas roast, leaving them to enjoy “Spam with all the trimmings”, to the exhibition of handmade toys for children in a Singapore prison camp, these firsthand stories are by turns tragic, poignant and funny.

But the summer days seemed to go on forever – and British families were determined to make the best of their paralysed country. For evacuated children, this meant freedom that is unimaginable today: discovering wildlife, foraging from orchards and hedgerows and swimming in the streams. Elsewhere, country estates were requisitioned for the war efforts. Caroline Taggart shows us how Britons succeeded in keeping spirits up with this entertaining collection of first-hand reminiscences from people who lived through those six long years.

Educated, beautiful and the daughter of a prosperous merchant, Angelica Lilly has been invited to spend the summer in high society. Her father's wealth is opening doors and attracting marriage proposals, but Angelica still feels like an impostor among the aristocrats of Cornwall. When her brother returns home, ill and under the influence of a dangerous man, Angelica's loyalties are tested to the limit. Her one hope lies with coachman Henry Trevelyan, a soft-spoken, educated man with kind eyes.

Soundings and Choc Lit present the audiobook edition of A Christmas Secret. When Hugo McCreadie steps into Isla Brodie’s pet portrait studio to get a 'Festive Furball Photo Shoot' for his sister’s cat Schubert, he does question his sanity. But he knows the photographs will be the perfect Christmas present for his eccentric sister, Nessa - and he finds himself quite taken with ditzy, animal-loving Isla Brodie, too. Will a Christmas secret from long ago prevent Hugo and Isla’s new friendship from going any further? Or will a certain big, black cat take matters into his own paws?

Soundings and Choc Lit present the audiobook edition of Christmas at Borteen Bay. Christmas is a bittersweet time for Pippa Freeman. There are good memories, of course - but some painful ones, too. Then her mother is implicated in a mysterious occurrence in their home town of Borteen, and Pippa wonders if she'll ever experience a happy Christmas again - especially when a family secret is revealed. But when police officer and old school friend Ethan Gibson offers his support, Pippa begins to realise that even though her life has been turned upside down, a happy and hopeful Christmas isn't impossible....

Jo Docherty and Hattie Contaldo have a vision - a holiday retreat in the heart of the Lake District exclusively for guests of 'a certain age' wishing to stimulate both mind and body with new creative experiences. One hotel refurbishment later and the Best Boomerville Hotel is open for business! Perhaps not surprisingly, Boomerville attracts more than its fair share of eccentric clientele.

From the deserts of North Africa to the waters of Scotland, the Second World War touches the lives of two women from two very different worlds.In Alexandria, Fran finds her world turned upside down as Rommel's forces advance on the idyllic shores of Egypt. The life of luxury and stability that she is used to is taken away as she finds herself having to deal with loss, heartache and political uncertainty.

Anna is over the moon when her sweetheart returns from the front line. As he recovers from his injuries, they make plans to be married, but the horrors of the trenches cast a long shadow. Caring for shell-shocked soldiers brings untold challenges for Grace, and her parents have very different dreams for her future. Meanwhile Dulcie has her sights firmly set on her own happy ending. And yet sometimes we find love where we least expect to. Each of the nurses has her own battle to fight, but they must rally together if they’re to find true happiness.

Three widely separated households - one in Scotland, one in the north of England and one in the south - have known the pain of losing a loved one; losses which, over the years, have shaped the characters of those left behind. But it takes the untimely and suspicious death of Martin Petrie, a stranger from the Scottish Borders mowed down in a hit and run, to untangle the threads that will draw them together in ways they could never have imagined, with results that are far-reaching and fatal.

A nameless victim. An unknown killer. An impossible case for Monika Paniatowski. Before she can even begin to track down the killer of the old woman dumped by the lonely canal, Monika Paniatowski needs to find out who she is - and no one seems to know. Even when her daughter Louisa provides the vital clue, it only makes life more difficult, because the Chief Constable - intent on making Paniatowski's life difficult - refused to let her follow the obvious trail.