Showing results by narrator "Willow Nash" in All Categories

Two best friends. One big lie. The best bake-off EVER. Bella Bradley is the queen of television baking – a national treasure. Her Christmas specials have been topping the ratings for years and her marriage to Peter ‘Silver Fox’ Bradley is the stuff of Hello magazine specials. But this year things are going to be different. For Amy Lane, Bella’s best friend from school, life hasn’t held quite the same sparkle. And when Amy’s husband walks out three weeks from Christmas, it seems their lives are further apart than ever.

It is 1910. Elizabeth Pennington should be the rightful heir of Bath’s premier department store through her enterprising schemes and dogged hard work. Her father, Edward Pennington believes his daughter lacks the business acumen to run his empire and is resolute a man will succeed him. Determined to break from her father’s iron-clad hold and prove she is worthy of inheriting the store, Elizabeth forms an unlikely alliance with ambitious and charismatic master glove-maker Joseph Carter.

The menopause for many women is a daunting time of change, of unexpected health challenges, of rollercoaster emotions and unprecedented shifts in how we feel physically and emotionally. But we emerge wiser than before, and stronger than we know. For many, the years immediately post-menopause bring other seismic changes too - empty nests, re-evaluated careers, losses and gains as individual as we are. The decade that takes us from our early 50s to early 60s is a time for us to take stock, to power ahead, to decide who we are and how we want to live as we face the future.

A lovely day out takes a dark turn when a complaining customer is found dead... Luckily amateur sleuth Belinda Penshurst is on the scene – and ready...

Testosterone Rex is the powerful myth that squashes hopes of sex equality by telling us that men and women have evolved different natures. Fixed in an ancestral past that rewarded competitive men and caring women, these differences are supposedly recreated in each generation by sex hormones and male and female brains. Testosterone, so we're told, is the very essence of masculinity, and biological sex is a fundamental force in our development. Not so, says psychologist Cordelia Fine.

In stark contrast to her own childhood during the last days of the Raj in India, the spectacular beauty surrounding their home, Rathgarven in Ireland, has proven to be a happy place for Kathleen O'Sullivan and her husband, James, to raise their four children. But Kathleen is no stranger to heartbreak, and when the family is faced with losing everything, she knows they will need to adapt to survive. Even if that means leaving their beloved home and moving to Australia to start afresh.

Rose Gregory has suffered a devastating blow, a double bereavement from which months later she is still reeling. Sanctuary and rest are prescribed by her doctor. But when she arrives at her refuge, a dank and decaying monastery, she finds it is not the haven promised. Despite the veneer of calm contemplation, the monastery turns out to be a hotbed of intrigue and disharmony. Rose witnesses bullying and cruelty and ultimately in defence of the vulnerable turns to violence herself.

Faith Watkins loves Christmas, which is why she’s thrilled that her new hotel in the Lake District will be open in time for the festive season. But what she didn’t bank on was her first paying customer being someone like Adam Hunter. Rugged, powerfully built and with a deep sadness in his eyes, Adam is a man that Faith is immediately drawn to - but unfortunately he also has an intense hatred of all things Christmassy. As the countdown to the big day begins, Faith can’t seem to keep away from her mysterious guest: just what happened to Adam Hunter? And why does he hate Christmas?

Pear Tree Farm in Cornwall, owned by the kind-hearted Nessa Vivian, is known for taking in lost souls, and ex-soldier Crispin Davies is certainly one of those. But the once sleepy caravan park is now a thriving business, and far from the peace and quiet Crispin was craving, he soon finds himself roped into helping out with a short-notice Christmas festival, organised by Nessa’s sister, Lowena. But despite Crispin’s initial reluctance, his involvement in the festival serves to throw him together with Ashley Spencer, an American woman and fellow lost soul.

Constance Wilde's marriage has ended. Oscar is in prison and she has fled to Italy with their children to escape London gossip and public disapproval. Here she reflects on her marriage to Oscar, the confusing difference between his private and public self and whether she always knew that their marriage was founded on a different kind of love. Despite her family's warnings, her frustration with her impossible husband's spending and drinking, his affairs and his prison sentence, Constance remains loyal and loving.

Lady Jane Lovelace has conceived the idea of approaching the most notorious man about town, Lord Charles Welbourne, with a most unique proposition. But when he counters her offer with a condition that he thinks will halt her impudence, much to the surprise of both, she accepts. A novel of passion and intrigue, The Westerby Inheritance is the first volume of this new and emotionally charged romantic saga all played out against a backdrop of elegant 18th-century society.

It is 1910 in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Fourteen-year-old Rosie Waterhouse lives with her father, Sam, well-known as the local poacher, in a cottage on the Thornsby Estate. The land is owned by William Ramsey, a harsh and heartless man, determined his only son, Byron, should marry well and produce an heir. Rosie is quick to learn the tricks of her father’s trade and it’s when she’s poaching fish from the estate’s stream that she meets Byron.

Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows flees her home and family and heads for a five-star spa resort. All she wants is space and time to think, far from everyone she knows. Instead she gets a shock in the middle of the night when she is given the key to a room that's already occupied - apparently by a father and daughter, who are equally shocked to be woken by a stranger. Back at reception, Cara gets an apology and the key to a new room, and she imagines the drama is over....

The wonderfully nostalgic and heartwarming new novel from the Sunday Times top-ten best-selling author of The Beggar Maid. Born out of wedlock when her mother was only fourteen, Lucy Pocket has spent all her life in the care of her disreputable but charming grandmother, Eva. They dodge from one poor lodging house to another, always in debt and resorting to theft in order to exist. Until her wealthy paternal grandfather buys her from Eva, determined to bring Lucy up to be a lady.

Hiding out in the gents' toilets backstage is not the way Sasha imagined bumping into her significant ex. Especially when that ex is notoriously damaged, famously wild rock god Nate Munro! She has a massive favor to ask him, but one glimpse of his sinfully dark eyes and all she can think about is that he's seen her naked! Nate's used to women doing anything to get his attention, but he never pictured bubbly schoolteacher Sasha as the groupie type - she's far too sweet!

London, 1920. When 14-year-old Victoria Keats is thrown out of her home by her violent father, it seems likely she will starve until two strangers provide her with no-strings-attached help. As Vicki's life improves, she can't help but fixate on the mystery of these good Samaritans, but tracking them down may be more life changing than she thinks.

Tobi and Ella's childhood in East Berlin is shrouded in mystery. Now adults living in London, their past is full of unanswered questions. Both remember their family's daring and terrifying attempt to escape which ended in tragedy, but the fall-out from that single event remains elusive. In contemporary Germany, Aaron works for the archive, making his way through old files, piecing together the tragic history of thousands of families. But one file in particular catches his eye; and soon unravelling the secrets at its heart becomes an obsession.

Bath, 1912. When Miss Pennington sends Amelia Wakefield to study the department stores of New York, she couldn't be more excited. Meeting Amelia on board the Titanic, Samuel can't help wondering what painful history has made the beauty so reserved. But he already has too many responsibilities for love. Ruby Taylor’s priority has been making sure her little brother is safe. But when that means accepting Victoria Lark's offer of sanctuary, Ruby's secrets are under threat of being revealed....

Christmas should be the happiest time, but at Pennington’s dramas are seething beneath the surface. For Cornelia Culford, a divorce hearing looms where she could lose custody of her sons to her unfaithful husband. For Stephen Gower, being head of security at Pennington's is the perfect refuge from a tragic past at Scotland Yard. But soon Joseph Carter and Elizabeth Pennington beg him to help solve the murder of Joseph's first wife, now that the killer has struck again.

Nessa Vivian is determined to keep her parents' business afloat, but Pear Tree Farm near the backwater Cornish village of Polgarth didn't do well as farm, and it's not faring much better as a camp site. Maybe it’s due to Nessa's habit of taking in troubled runaways, like ex-soldier Crispin, for next to nothing. Or perhaps her highly strung sister, Lowena, is right - caravans named after Beatles' songs and homegrown pears are not enough to turn the farm into a tourist haven.