Showing results by narrator "Laura Kirman" in All Categories

The war continues to rage, but for now, Harbour House continues to keep the Roby family safe from harm. Not so for new lodger Richard Stoneleigh. As one of the few men who can captain a ship, Richard is called to help with the dangerous evacuation of troops from Dunkirk – it’s a perilous voyage that almost costs Richard his life…

The women of Mulberry Lane anxiously wait for news. Peggy doesn’t know if she’ll ever again see Able, the American father of her twins, while a very odd letter from estranged husband, Laurie, threatens to set the cat among the pigeons. Rose can’t stop loving Jimmy, while Tom can’t stop loving her. Will Gordon ever again be the man he once was? Can he be a proper husband to Maureen, and if he can’t, what will become of their marriage?

She is the perfect assassin. A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers. Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits. Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her and the one she answers to. She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness. Eve Polastri is the woman who hunts her. MI5, until one error of judgment costs her everything.

Wallis Simpson is known as the woman at the center of the most scandalous love affair of the 20th century, but in this surprising new biography, best-selling author Anna Pasternak redeems a women wronged by history with new information revealed by those who were close to the couple - presenting Wallis as a convenient scapegoat to rid England of a king deemed unworthy to rule.

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.

Part of a remarkable family that produced three acclaimed female writers at a time in 19th-century Britain when few women wrote and fewer were published, Charlotte Brontë has been a great source of inspiration to writers, especially women, ever since. Now, in Reader, I Married Him, 20 of today's most celebrated woman authors have spun original stories using Jane Eyre as a springboard.

After her elder brother’s mysterious death, Rebecca Hunter vows to expose the man she believes responsible: Mr. Lewis Browning - known by the locals as the Midnight Devil and by Rebecca as her new guardian. Summoned to his reclusive country estate to await her London season, Rebecca plans her own secret investigation among the darkened corridors of the mysterious Greybourne Hall. Yet Lewis Browning is not as she once imagined, and his motivation is horribly unclear.

Young Elizabeth Stuart was thrust into a life of wealth and splendor when her godmother, Queen Elizabeth I, died and her father, James I, ascended to the illustrious throne of England. At 16 she was married to a dashing German count far below her rank, with the understanding that James would help her husband achieve the crown of Bohemia. Her father's terrible betrayal of this promise would ruin "the Winter Queen", as Elizabeth would forever be known, imperil the lives of those she loved, and launch a war that would last for 30 years.

After five years abroad, Charity Halliwell returns to Loxby Manor, the home of dear friends—and her lost love. No longer a young girl, she is now haunted by a painful secret and the demise of her dreams. She hopes to find a place of healing and happiness, but instead she encounters a darkness lurking in the shadows of the once-familiar house. Then her friend, Seline, disappears the very night of her arrival, and Charity is determined to uncover the truth. Her only hope is the man who broke her heart.

When Lizzie Summers is jilted at the altar, she’s left completely heartbroken. But then she receives news that she has inherited a beautiful chateau in Provence, and it seems like the perfect escape. Upon arrival, she discovers she is now the proud owner of...a crumbling ruin. A decrepit chateau – with nothing but dust and a goat for company. Intending to head straight back to the airport, Lizzie instead gets caught in a freakish summer storm and finds herself trudging through a vineyard for help. Bedraggled and furious, she enlists the help of her nearest neighbour, the enchanting Luc.

Jane Tennison has worked hard to become the first female detective ever posted to the infamous Flying Squad, or 'the Sweeney'. But the Dirty Dozen is a notorious boys' club, and Jane's new colleagues make it clear that they don't think a woman is up to the dangers of the job. Dealing with some of London's most ruthless armed criminals, who think the only good cop is a dead cop, is no joke. Determined to prove she's as good as the men, Jane discovers from a reliable witness that a gang is going to carry out a massive robbery.

The truth changes everything. For years Jess believed that Joe - the father of her child and the only man she ever loved - had abandoned her during her greatest time of need. That belief nearly destroyed her. Seventeen years later, when cleaning out her mother’s house, Jess unpacks a box of cards and letters hidden in the attic and makes a discovery that changes everything about life as she knows it. Shaken but empowered, Jess - and her two stalwart best friends - set out on a remarkable journey to follow a set of faded postmarks around the world.

Elizabeth Roby lives a content and privileged life in London with husband Jonathon and children, Emily and George. But with the outbreak of war, everything changes. Jonathon informs his family that they have to move from their smart London home to the riverside town of Wivenhoe and their new home Harbour House, where Jonathon will do his duty for his country as part of the Admiralty at the shipyards. But Elizabeth is devastated. How will she start a new life in a place she hardly knows, surrounded by strangers?

In seven days, Maggie’s son, Max, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens...she loses her child. For the last 12 years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged 15, she gave birth to two sons before Max, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her. She cannot let it happen again. But she has no idea how to stop it. And the clock is ticking....

Maureen Jackson knew life as a trainee nurse wouldn't be easy, but she didn't expect her hospital to be badly bombed on her first shift. Plus Maureen still has her family and friends in Mulberry Lane to keep her busy - she's needed as much there as she is by her patients. Running the pub on the corner of Mulberry Lane, Peggy Ashley is used to taking in all sorts of waifs and strays. But the arrival of a dashing American captain has got tongues wagging about Mulberry Lane's favourite landlady....

Kings and Queens of England is an entertaining account of the larger-than-life characters that have ruled England through the ages. It follows the fascinating history of monarchs from the first Saxon kings to the Windsors of the present day. Author Nigel Cawthorne paints vivid portraits of a mixed bunch of rulers ranging from the drunken and debauched merry monarch Charles II to the idealized domesticity and colonial ambition of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Jodie Jackson is leaving her London life, her career and her husband behind. She'd like a chance to turn back the clocks, but she'll settle for some peace and quiet on her brother Bill's houseboat. But from the moment Jodie steps aboard her new home, it's clear she'll struggle to keep herself to herself. If it isn't Marilyn, who cleans for Bill and is under strict instructions to look after Jodie, then it's Ned, the noisy sculptor on the next-door houseboat. Ned's wood carving is hard on the ears, but it's made up for by the fact that he's rather easy on the eyes.

In this “outstanding debut thriller” (Booklist, starred review), Helen’s idyllic life—handsome architect husband, gorgeous Victorian house, and cherished baby on the way—begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class. There, she meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be who doesn’t seem very maternal: she smokes, drinks, and professes little interest in parenthood.

England, 1811: When Elizabeth Trelawny flees London, she has more than one reason to run. And when her carriage, pursued by her would-be fiancé, is caught in a storm, she quickly accepts the help of a dark stranger. ABut Rowan Curnow is not exactly a stranger. He’s not quite a gentleman either. Class disparity once kept him from courting Elizabeth, even if it didn’t keep him from kissing her. The couple elude their pursuers and reach Bastion Point, Elizabeth’s future inheritance. But in the very act of spiriting her to safety, Rowan has jeopardized Elizabeth’s inheritance

Belgium, July 1939: Simone Lyon is the daughter of a Belgium national hero, the famous General Joseph Lyon. Her best friend Hava Daniels, is the eldest daughter of a devout Jewish family. Despite growing up in different worlds, they are inseparable. But when, in the spring of 1940, Nazi planes and tanks begin bombing Brussels, their resilience and strength are tested. Hava and Simone find themselves caught in the advancing onslaught and are forced to flee.