Showing results by narrator "Julia Franklin" in All Categories

Lady Celia Cleveden is the picture of pragmatism and sensible behavior, having no interest in uncouth louts or brutish rakes. That is, until the wild prince Ramiz of A’Qadiz rescues her amidst the shifting desert sands. Ramiz offers Celia a place in his harem - a proposal the cultured lady would normally refuse. But with their torrid nights burning hotter than the desert’s midday sun, Celia feels compelled to at least consider the sheikh’s enticing offer.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is known for her themes of female entrapment and patriarchal control, and she gives this a Gothic twist in "The Giant Wistaria". A wealthy young couple and their friends rent a manor house, excited by the prospect that it’s haunted, and they are not disappointed when they all experience the same vivid dream.

The day Maggie Lane dies, she sends her daughter Olivia a letter containing the address of Olivia's first love, Richie Briscoe. Olivia has not seen Richie for over twenty years, not since his desertion of her as a teenager almost destroyed her. Convinced that the note represents an admission of guilt, Olivia sets off for the idyllic seaside village where Richie now lives.

When Bea Hanlon follows her preacher husband, Max, to a remote island in the Pacific, she soon sees that their mission will bring anything but salvation.... Advent Island is a place beyond the reaches of Bea's most fitful imaginings. It's not just the rats and the hordes of mosquitoes and the weevils in the powdered milk. Past the confines of their stuffy little house, amidst the damp and the dust and the sweltering heat, rumours are spreading of devil chasers who roam the island on the hunt for evil spirits. And then there are the noises from the church at night.

The first book in Anna Jacobs' wonderful Backshaw Moss series. 1935. At thirty-six, Bella Porter is dependent on her abusive cousin, acting as an unpaid servant. When a kind relative leaves her a house in the village of Backshaw Moss, Thomas tries to take it from her, but she defies him and...

Lancashire 1934. Three years after her husband's sudden death, Stella comes into some money unexpectedly and decides to make a new start in the country. She settles on Ellin Valley, where she quickly begins to make friends. She falls in love with a cottage in Birch End, but an unscrupulous man...

Brought to you by Penguin. The brand new Railway Girls novel set in Manchester during WWII. Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell, Daisy Styles and Margaret Dickinson. Love is in the air, and together the railway girls can overcome even the hardest of times. Mabel has finally put the past behind her...

When Emily Mattison falls victim to a near-fatal accident shortly after receiving an unexpected inheritance from a distant cousin, her ruthless nephew George seizes the opportunity to take control of his aunt's assets. It's only when Emily reaches The Drover's Hope, the former pub on the edge of the Lancashire moors bequeathed to her by her late cousin Penelope, that she begins to feel safe. She also discovers that love can be found in the most unexpected places. But it's not so easy to escape the clutches of someone as determined as George.

As time ebbs and flows over the summer both Katie Teague and her godmother Mattie Cranford discover their lives are at a crossroads. Mattie shackled to the family wool shop for over 50 years, feels life has passed her by. She dreams of seeing the world and shaking off a lifetime of regrets. When Katie is made redundant, Mattie seizes the moment and asks Katie to move back to her home town of Dartmouth and breathe new life into the rundown wool shop and to her surprise Katie agrees.

The second book in the brand new Backshaw Moss series from million-copy bestseller Anna Jacobs Lancashire, 1930s. When her mother dies, leaving her an old sewing box and a clue to her father's identity, 22-year-old Maisie Bassett is determined to make a fresh start. Changing her name and moving...

Prunella Pearce, Bree, and the other ladies of the Winterbottom Women's Institute are planning to spend Halloween at the Montgomery Hall Hotel murder-mystery weekend—just as the historical venue's past comes back to haunt it. The hotel is now in the incapable hands of Tarragon Montgomery, with its faltering finances overseen by elderly matriarch Cecily. Meanwhile, the local actress hired to play Psychic Selma for the weekend has been replaced by an impostor. But who is she, and what is her agenda?

Manchester, 1940. By day, Betty works cheerfully with her best friend Sally, now the manager of the salvage depot. By night, they both do their bit for the war effort as Auxiliary Fire Service girls. But Betty wishes she could do more. So when Samuel, a kind and gentle young bookseller, needs help sorting out novels to entertain the boys overseas, Betty volunteers. Anything for the troops! But then Sally's home is destroyed, and her surviving possessions stolen by looters. Desperate to help her friend, Betty could never have expected the guilt when she uncovers what really happened.

From the vaults of the British Library comes a new anthology celebrating the best works of forgotten, never-since-republished supernatural fiction from the early 20th century. Waiting within are malevolent spirits eager to possess the living and mysterious spectral guardians - a diverse host of phantoms exhumed from the rare pages of literary magazines and newspaper serials to thrill once more.

The final instalment in the Rivenshaw series set at the end of WWII in Lancashire. Germany 1939, and Christa Sommer boards the Kindertransport, unsure that she'll ever see her beloved mother and father again. Once in England she is taken in by elderly Mrs Pelling, who grows to love Christa as...

From the bestselling and award winning 'master of the spy thriller' comes a collection of riveting short stories. When a man's wife leaves him under suspicious circumstances, he sets off in search for her, unprepared for the guilty secrets he's about to drag back into the light. A man is tempted...

Tells the story of the married life of Nevis Falconer, a young woman novelist, and Simon Quinn. Temperamentally unsuited, they live this superficial existence for three years, until one day Nevis meets Marcus Chard, her American publisher, who has just arrived in London. Soon friendship develops into love. Nevis finds herself caught in a whirl of circumstances over which she has no control.

Sarah's grandfather was a horseman of rare talent - only the exceptional are allowed into France's elite riding academy, Le Cadre Noir. But life took an unexpected turn, and now from a council estate in east London, the Captain hopes to train his granddaughter towards a better life.

When Betty and her best friend Sally discover a baby tucked in a blanket amongst the rubble at the Manchester Salvage Depot, they can barely believe their eyes. As Betty holds the baby in her arms, she feels a familiar longing stir in her chest. Might she and her husband be allowed to care for this abandoned child, and create the family they have always longed for? Sally is shocked when she realises she too has news: she's pregnant and the two friends begin planning for the new arrival.

Summer, 1914. Amy Fletcher’s life is transformed when she meets Edmond Derwent, son of one of the wealthiest families in the small town of Larchbury, and student at Cambridge University. When war breaks out, Edmond signs up as an officer and Amy trains as a VAD nurse. Separated by war, Edmond and Amy share their feelings through emotional letters sent from the front line. But when Edmond is critically wounded at Ypres, their love faces the biggest test of all.

Spring has brought many new beginnings into the world of Persimmon ‘Simmy’ Brown. Not only has her baby arrived, but she and her fiancé, Christopher, have moved to the historic village of Hartsop - and their forthcoming nuptials are only a short month away. But when a former acquaintance of Christopher’s reminds him of an undertaking made a decade previously that he hasn't fulfilled, their lives soon take a sinister turn. Yet even with a young baby to consider, Simmy cannot ignore her instinct to investigate.