Showing results by narrator "Laura Kirman" in All Categories

Times are hard for all on Mulberry Lane as the war rages into yet another year. Desperate times push people into dangerous situations, and the residents of Mulberry Lane are not exempt. Menacing shadows lurk on dark street corners, threatening the safety of those who are alone and vulnerable. When Peggy's twins are born early, Maureen and Nellie are there to lend a helping hand. The mothers of Mulberry Lane stick together despite the grim conditions of war-torn London and a shadowy fear that stalks their lives. Neighbours and friends look out for each other, and new life brings hope and joy to the lane.

The hedonism of London in the Roaring Twenties is a world away from Annabel Tarleton's ordinary country existence. Until a chance meeting with the charming Richard Hansen at a society ball changes her life for ever. Annabel finds herself trapped inside a marriage that behind closed doors is cruel. Annabel has no choice but to flee and will do everything to save herself and her unborn baby. But the very powerful expect to get what they want....

You’ve heard of the Afterlife. Welcome to the Beforelife. There are four of us: Samuel, Lucy, Thomas, and me – Eliza. We came into being the day Becca Valentine was born. We’ve been by her side ever since. What she doesn’t know yet, is that one day she might become our mother. Then two men come into her life. Both seeking her heart. And then we realise: everything rests on Becca’s love story. Because one of the men is Lucy and Thomas’s father. And the other is mine and Samuel’s. And there’s simply no way we can all be born.

Readers can't get enough of this cosy festive love story... 'This book is so moreish - I kept reading and reading and the book only got better as I read on!' ❄️🎄 'I was desperate to read this and it did not disappoint. I loved it!' ❄️🎄 'The premise of this book had me chuckling...

When investigative journalist, Alexi Ellis, falls victim to cutbacks, she and Cosmo, her anti-social feral cat, head for beautiful Hopgood Hall, where they plan to lick their wounds in the boutique hotel run by her old friends, Cheryl and Drew Hopgood. But when she arrives Alexi discovers Cheryl and Drew both distraught. Their close friend, Natalie Parker, who recently settled in the area, has gone missing. Alexi’s sure the woman has just taken a trip somewhere, but she still has a nose for a story and agrees to look into it.

When Nicole finds herself in need of a new start, she instantly thinks of Morwen Island, the beautiful, remote place she lived in as a student. As she settles into island life, Nicole soon begins to feel like her old self. And when a knock on her door brings handsome local Josh, she is instantly attracted to his charming smile. But is she ready to embrace the possibility of love once more? When Josh suggests they investigate the supposedly haunted old house where Nicole lived as a student, she is forced to put her feelings to one side.

Nothing has felt right since Elle rented out her house.... There's a new coldness. A shift in the atmosphere. The prickling feeling that someone is watching her every move from the shadows. Maybe it's all in Elle's mind? She's a writer – her imagination, after all, is her strength. And yet every threat seems personal. As if someone has discovered the secrets that keep her awake at night. As fear and paranoia close in, Elle's own home becomes a prison. Someone is unlocking her past – and she’s given them the key....

The name of your first-born. The face of your lover. Your age. Your address... What would happen if your memory of these began to fade? When Claire starts to write her Memory Book, she already knows that this scrapbook of mementoes will soon be all her daughters and husband have of her. But how can she hold onto the past when her future is slipping through her fingers...?

Amid the sun-soaked hills of southern Italy lies the Romano family olive grove, where Lara lives with her daughter Rose and her granddaughter Bea. Lara has spent a lifetime trying to forget the traumatic events that led to her desperate escape from Dorset seventy years ago. But when she sees Bea—a passionate horticulturalist most at home in nature—being swept off her feet by Matteo, a handsome and charismatic restaurateur, Lara fears her granddaughter is in danger of making the same mistake as Lara did all those years ago.

With her rakish husband Wickham now dead, Lydia remains subdued and consumed by delayed guilt for the selfish behaviour that almost cost her family its respectability. Hoping to ease her sister’s anguish, Lizzy Darcy encourages Lydia to record her earliest memories of life with Wickham…but Lydia can only recall acts of rebellion and scandal and falls into an even deeper slump. But when a new neighbour arrives to Pemberley, Lydia finds herself roused from her gloom – especially when Mr Patrick Shannon has a mystery to solve!

Dedicated local vet Laura cares for the farm animals of the little village of Bramble Heath. But falling bombs aren't the only danger as the war hits close to home. Laura is not afraid to serve her country by caring for animals and protecting the crops everyone relies on. But, just when the country is most in need of food, the farms of the village come under attack. Desperate to figure out who could be doing such terrible things even while German bombs rain down, Laura is relieved when the Ministry respond to her requests for help. But the man they send isn't what she expects.

It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate as the ideal way to turn 40: four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Languedoc-Roussillon. But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair, and that the other woman is one of her best friends. One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one?

The first chapter of a manuscript arrives on Publisher Marina’s desk. She assumes it’s just another novel by another aspiring writer. As the chapters arrive one by one, Marina is convinced they are about her past. There’s only one person who can know everything about the scandal, the trial, and the trauma that nearly broke her. This is one story that should never be told, and Marina is so desperate she will do anything to stop it getting out.

Devastated when her wedding is called off and an injury ruins her career as a violinist, Amber escapes to her parents' holiday home on a beautiful windswept island. The charming cottage is falling apart, and Amber loses herself in the renovations. But then she meets Kai, a seriously ill young boy who loves music. Amber is determined to help him, and as she teaches him to play, she can feel herself coming back to life.

Mrs Mary Williams, a colonel's widow, arrives at Silchester Court with Miss Elizabeth Freemantle, who has been brought up as her sister. But Beth is actually the Duke of Silchester's cousin and he is her guardian. When the duke is called away to his estates in the North, Lord Aubrey, the duke's youngest brother, finds himself designated to oversee the London debut of both his sister, Lady Giselle, and his lively cousin, Beth. Mary is only four years older than Aubrey, but she is more worldly and well-travelled and worries that he might lead Beth astray.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh has invited herself to Pemberley, intent upon bringing about an engagement between her daughter Anne and Colonel Fitzwilliam. But her ladyship has failed to take into account the remarkable improvement in her daughter's health and spirits since the arrival of her new tutor, the charismatic Mr Asquith. Meanwhile, Colonel Fitzwilliam is becoming more enchanted by the widowed Celia Sheffield and is perturbed to learn that her fortune is being contested by an individual in Jamaica - from whence Mr Asquith also hails.

On a snowy December evening, Sam Jermyn steps into the life of bespoke hat maker Ava. Sparks fly, and not necessarily the good ones. Times are tough for Ava - she’s struggling to make ends meet, her ex-boyfriend is a bully and, worst of all, it’s nearly Christmas. So when Sam commissions Ava to make a hat for someone special, she makes a promise that will change her life. She just doesn’t know it yet....

At 30, Claudia's life is stale and the romance with long-term boyfriend Seth has disappeared. Determined to inject some festive spark back into their love life, Claudia and Seth go on their first date in a very long time. But when the night ends in disaster, Claudia suddenly finds herself facing life - and Christmas - alone. Life alone is exciting, scary and full of soon-forgotten exercise regimes and ill-advised attempts at crafting sexy underwear. It's also filling up with dates, surprisingly.

As the war clouds gather over Europe, the Roby family are thankful to have started their new life in Wivenhoe safe from German bombs…for the moment at least. And with the safe arrival of baby Grace, family life at Harbour House seems to be settling down. But Emily Roby finds life stifling. She’s not keen on her new baby sister, doesn’t like her new school and feels as though sometimes her parents still treat her as a baby, but also a grown up when it suits them! Emily’s only friend is Nancy, the new girl working at Harbour House.

With Christmas days away, the land girls of Gosling Farm are full of merriment. Only Lottie feels far from festive cheer after her sister's death. But with the help of handsome vicar and injured veteran Matthew, she begins to feel hopeful once more. Then one frosty night, a German bomber plane crashes nearby. A survivor is missing, injured and in desperate need of help. But this is no ordinary German airman: his capture would change the course of the war.