Showing results by narrator "Eilidh Beaton" in All Categories

Kelsey Anderson is stuck in a rut so big, she’ll need a four-wheel drive to get out. She’s just been made redundant from her dead-end job, and boyfriend Fran is so busy climbing up the career ladder that he’s forgotten how to have fun. She needs to change her life - and fast. She stumbles across an advert for tour guides in Stratford-upon-Avon, and it seems like the perfect way to bring the sunshine back. In an impulsive move, she moves from her small Scottish village to Shakespeare’s birthplace, armed only with a suitcase and her battered copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

It was the toothpaste smeared around the sink that broke my marriage. As I rubbed it away again, I was reminded of everything else I've put up with these twenty-five years. My husband's obsession with his pension, his ability to charm me into every single one of his ideas, never being taken on a romantic date, let alone ravished on the patio (like the woman who lives next door)... small things, but the realisation was huge.

How do we give a voice to those who so often remain unheard? Will You Read This, Please is a frank and impactful collection of twelve stories as told to our best British writers, based on the lived experience of people who have faced mental illness in the UK. Edited by Joanna Cannon, the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, Three Things About Elsie and A Tidy Ending, the stories told here are powerful, resonant and heart-breaking. This is a ground-breaking and unforgettable collection, shining a light on the stigma and isolation of living with mental illness.

When Amy Ashton's world fell apart 11 years ago, she started a collection. Just a few keepsakes of happier times: some honeysuckle to remind herself of the boy she loved, a chipped china bird, an old terracotta pot.... Things that others might throw away, but to Amy, represent a life that could have been. Now her house is overflowing with the objects she loves - soon there'll be no room for Amy at all. But when a family move in next door, a chance discovery unearths a mystery, and Amy's carefully curated life begins to unravel.

Maggie Mackay has been haunted her entire life. No matter what she does, she can’t shake the sense that something is wrong with her. And maybe something is. When she was five years old, without proof, Maggie announced that someone in the remote village of Blairmore in the Outer Hebrides had murdered a local man, sparking a media storm. Now, Maggie is determined to discover what really happened and what the villagers are hiding. But everyone has secrets, and some are deadly. As she gets closer to the horrifying truth, Maggie’s own life is in danger.

Lorna is following her dreams. But can she follow her heart? Lorna Ferguson has dreamt of opening her own bed and breakfast in the village of Glendale for as long as she’d pictured falling in love. Although her love life remains hopeless, Lorna is determined to secure Dove House – the home she imagined living in as a child – to start this new venture with her family. Along with brother Adam, Lorna starts restoring the house to its Art Deco glory.

Claudia thought she knew how this summer was going to go. Turns out, she didn’t have a clue... It’s been two years since Claudia arrived on the beautifully rugged Cornish coast with nothing but a suitcase to her name. She’d walked out on the husband who had never loved her, ditched the corporate job she’d never wanted and vowed that no gym membership card would come within ten feet of her ever again. Swapping boardrooms and cocktails for a little shop right at the end of the beach road should have been a bit of a shock.

Thea’s having a bad month. Not only has she been made redundant, she’s also discovered her husband of nearly 20 years is sleeping with one of her friends. And he’s not sorry - he’s leaving. Bewildered and lost, Thea doesn’t know what to do. But, when she learns the great-uncle she barely knew has died and left her his huge collection of secondhand books and a house in the Scottish Lowlands, she seems to have been offered a second chance. Running away to a little town where no one knows her seems like exactly what Thea needs.

It’s the start of a new term at the School of the Good Sisters and Hanna, Edie and Calla are ready to enjoy everything their extraordinary school has to offer. But they soon realize that Something Is Most Definitely Up when their beloved Headmistress Good Sister June disappears―and nobody knows where she’s gone. It’s time for Hanna and her friends to set out on an adventure to bring Good Sister June home. As they travel across the country following a trail of clues, they will learn about the power of family, friendship, and a well-timed slice of Victoria Sponge.

Steph Garvey has been married to husband Si for 24 years. She thought they were soulmates until recently. Si is worried about middle-age spread and money. He’s also aware things aren’t right with Steph. But Si has forgotten the art of romance. Their son Tom has finished Sixth Form. He knows where he’s going regarding a career, but not quite so sure where he’s going regarding women.

It’s been a long time since the Hardwicke family left their home in Midtown, Essex, to go on holiday. But thirteen-year-old Galen has wanted to see the wild dolphins in Scotland’s Chanonry Point for as long as she can remember, and her mother Christine – a lone parent since her beloved husband Charlie left - is determined she gets her wish. When DC Saul Anguish is called to the scene of a shooting at the home of an ex-police officer in Midtown, he quickly discovers that this is the first of a trail of killings by a damaged young couple.

Calla North and her mum, Elizabeth, live a life that’s far from normal. There are days when the power is cut off and Calla has to do her homework by candlelight; there are others when curious strangers want to talk to Elizabeth about her research on ducks. When Elizabeth says yes to a once-in-a-lifetime trip to save a small brown duck, she sends Calla to the best place she knows: The School of the Good Sisters.

Florist Daisy is loved-up and blossoming. Boyfriend Dominic has proposed marriage! However, Dominic isn't in any rush to buy a ring, and meeting the parents is looong overdue. What is the problem? After all, Daisy's mum has already bought her big hat and wants to know the wedding date! Then careless words plant seeds of doubt and, like weed, Daisy's concerns begin to multiply. Is Dominic hiding something?Meanwhile, sexy ex Harry is back on the scene and begging Daisy for a reconciliation.

A historical romance set partly in the 1940s, the beautiful and emotive Margot & Me tells the stories of two teenage girls over the course of 50 years. Fliss's mum needs peace and quiet to recuperate from a long illness, so they both move to the countryside to live with Margot, Fliss's stern and bullying grandmother. Life on the farm is tough and life at school is even tougher, so when Fliss unearths Margot's wartime diary, she sees an opportunity to get her own back.

Dear Lily, It’s me, Joy, your older sister. I thought I’d start a new tradition of letter writing - now that we’re long distance. On the plane over here, I began to cry. I think the magnitude of it finally hit me, after everything that happened. I’m sorry for abandoning you - I’ve always been a buffer in your shouting matches with Mum. But I had to leave, Lily, I had to. Anyway, I’m here now. I want to learn to laugh again and to find someone to love who will love me back. Wish me luck, little sister. Love, Joy x

After her mother dies, grief-stricken Cora discovers she has been left a cottage, a crumbling shelter on a mysterious Scottish island. The moment Cora arrives on the windswept isle of Seal, she falls under its spell and is drawn to brooding Innes, back on the island to confront his past. As Cora begins to trace her mother's roots, she learns Gealach Cottage has a dark, turbulent history. Another young woman has sought refuge here, fleeing terrible danger, and waiting for her lover to return. What became of her?

Esme Cassidy had two dreams growing up: to be a famous film star, and to own Drumblair Castle. Sadly, overly cautious parents put paid to a career in front of the camera, instead encouraging her to study towards a ‘proper job’, and Lady Olivia MacBain is the current custodian of ‘her castle’. After graduating and a year travelling, Esme returns home broken-hearted and throws herself into her new role as Lady Olivia’s PA at Drumblair Castle. At least she’s living at the castle in one of the estate cottages with her housemate and friend, handsome, yet quirky, groundsman Judd.

In Highland Scotland in 1850, Catrìona lives life to the rhythm of seasons and Gaelic songs, until a dramatic change of circumstances forces her to fight for everyone and everything she loves. Years later Rose, an artist, who's trying to make sense of her fractured family and her own restlessness, searches among ruins in a deserted landscape.

Inspired by the true history of the SS Great Britain, Starboard is about the friendship, heroism and bravery that you can find in others, whether they’re made of flesh or iron. It’s about taking control of your own life and going on epic adventures. But most of all, it’s about finding out who you really dare to be, when you’re completely out of your depth.

One family across two generations. A marriage marred by trauma and infidelity. Lives marked by death, divorce and a shattered family. A dark secret at the heart of a tragedy. Now the Pengelly family reunites around the sickbed of David, a beloved husband and father, to confront the emotions and the secrets that have divided them over the years.