Showing results by narrator "Julie Maisey" in All Categories

Against the chaotic backdrop of World War II, Grace Murphy is working as a midwife in Doncaster Royal Infirmary with her two friends, Clodagh and Patsy. In between delivering babies and tending wounded airmen, the girls endure bombing raids, rationing and the hardships and heartbreak that war brings. But in the faces of the new babies she welcomes to the world, Grace always looks for hope, as she dreams of a time when the war will end.

As the Japanese begin their assault on Singapore, Sarah Fuller is forced to leave her parents and fiancé, Philip, behind. The long journey to England is fraught with danger, and Sarah and her sister Jane don’t even know if their great-aunt is alive, let alone waiting for them. They arrive in Cliffehaven, on the south coast of England, and here Sarah must find work to support them both. When the Women's Timber Corps takes over the local estate, Sarah enlists as a lumberjill.

As a primary school teacher, Ava Lam is familiar with the 'buddy bench': a rainbow painted bench where sad or lonely children can sit to show they need a friend. But are buddy benches just for kids? Ava might have assumed so—until she finds herself sobbing her heart out on a park bench and a kind stranger sits down next to her. The stranger, Dr Sam Stone, has a house, an impressive job and he's even training for a marathon. But whilst Sam appears to have everything figured out, it seems he needs a sympathetic ear just as much as she does.

When photographer Kate O’Donnell takes off for London from swinging Liverpool she has two things in mind: to make a career and to track down her brother, who made the same trip earlier and has disappeared. But a job turns out to be easier to find than Tom, who has left behind a dead flatmate and some very suspicious cops. When Harry Barnard of the vice squad catches up with Kate, Tom’s future looks grim.

As friends gather for a hen weekend, they are all smiles, but cannot hide the web of tension that bubbles beneath the surface. The group was forever broken by the devastating loss of their childhood friend, Becca. The prettiest and most powerful of them all, her absence lies at the heart of this fractured friendship. Now, decades later, someone wants to expose the truth about what happened, and will stop at nothing to reveal the secrets long since buried.

The book focuses on the 1978 disappearance of Genette Tate. The 13-year-old schoolgirl vanished while out delivering newspapers on her bicycle in the Exeter countryside; no trace of her was ever discovered. With new and rarely seen comments from family, police and inside the courtroom, the story links her case to the earlier abductions of April Fabb (also 13), Christine Markham (9) and Mary Boyle (6).

It is 1966, and things are changing in the close-knit Napier Road. Stephanie is nine years old, and she has plans. But everything changes when Stephanie strikes up a relationship with Mr Man, who always seems pleased to see her. When Dawn goes missing in the woods during the World Cup final, no one appears to know what happened to her - but more than one of them is lying.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Virginia Nicholson's Millions Like Us: Women's Lives in the Second World War. A special multi-voice recording featuring five actresses that bring to life the hundreds of personal testimonies, diary entries and books that make up this superb study. Read by Patience Tomlinson, Annie Aldington, Rachel Bavidge, Julie Maisey and Georgina Sutton.

1946. The war is over, but a bereft Sheila Hodges is left parentless and alone in London. With nowhere else to go, she heads to Worthing to reconnect with her grandmother and cousin Veronica, known as Ronnie. Ronnie and Sheila are given the opportunity to run their grandfather’s business, a local garage. Ronnie’s ne’er-do-well brother Leslie is furious - as the man of the family, he believes the business is rightfully his. But their grandmother is adamant that Leslie is not to be trusted.

On the face of it, Emma and Nina have very little in common. Isolated and exhausted by early motherhood, Emma finds her confidence is fading fast. Nina - sophisticated, generous, effortlessly in control - seems to have all the answers. It's easy to see why Emma is drawn to Nina. But what does Nina see in her?

Lauren Miller has served six years behind bars for a crime she did not commit. Now, with her life in tatters, she is determined to bring those who framed her to justice. Journalist Nate Black is intrigued by Lauren’s story. Is she the innocent victim she claims to be, or is there more to her past? Eager to learn more, he offers to help Lauren clear her name and bring the real villains to justice. But with millions of pounds still missing, Lauren remains the prime suspect...and the main target in an increasingly deadly game.

In 1974, Liz Harvie – born Claire Elaine Watts – was given up for adoption by her birth mother Yvonne. Claire was just eight weeks old when her adoptive parents took her in – and renamed her Elizabeth. Although brought up in a ‘perfect’ household, the emotional – and physical – trauma of being taken from her biological mother would never leave Liz. She constantly wondered: what does my real mum look like? Will she come back for me? Why did she abandon me?

Meet Annie Valentine: stylish, savvy, multi-tasker extraordinaire. As a personal shopper in a swanky London store, Annie can be relied on to solve everyone's problems...except her own. Because as a busy single mum to two kids, Annie’s realised there’s a gap in her life as well as her wardrobe. But with her heart still hurting from losing the love of her life, Annie’s discovered that finding the perfect partner is turning out to be so much trickier than finding the perfect pair of shoes!

Single mum Rory doesn’t believe in love. She’s got far too many real problems to deal with. She’s just bought a tumbledown house. Her mother is generally behaving like a wicked witch, insisting on calling her Aurora and generally interfering in her (admittedly pitiful lack of) love life. And her 16-year-old daughter has finally grown out of Disney princesses and discovered dating....

When Polly signs up to an art retreat in the Lake District, it's an escape from the stress of recent months, when a stalker preyed on her and her friend. It's also an opportunity to find out more about her family history: Polly believes her biological mother once lived here, at Lakeside House. But things quickly turn sinister. The previous owners supposedly took their own lives here, years before – and the glamorous new owners are now receiving disturbing threats. Someone is sabotaging Polly's artwork. The five other guests on the retreat all seem to be hiding something.

Liverpool 1950. When Evie Kilgaren takes over the running of the back office at Skinner and Son's haulage yard, she has no idea she is walking into a hive of blackmail, secrets and lies. Her fellow co-worker and childhood nemesis, Susie Blackthorn, is outraged at being demoted and is hell-bent on securing the affections of local heartthrob Danny Harris. Grace Harris, a singer on the D’Angelo transatlantic ocean liners, is returning home, engaged to be married. But Grace is harbouring her own shocking secrets and something valuable her fiancé very desperately wants back.

1910 Liverpool Docks. Ruby Swift is a hard-working, straight-talking woman of substance who does not suffer fools gladly. But when tragedy strikes on a bitter Christmas Eve, Ruby and her beloved Archie take matters into their own hands when a trusted employee’s house is mysteriously engulfed by flames and lives are lost. Orphaned by the fire, Ruby welcomes heartbroken 16-year-old Anna Cassidy into her home and family, but circumstances conspire against them, and she is unable to save Anna's 12-year-old brother Sam Cassidy, who is sent by the church to Canada as a Homeboy.

You're on your honeymoon at an exclusive couples-only resort. You receive a note warning you to 'beware of the couple at the table nearest to yours'. At dinner that night, five other couples are present and none of their tables is any nearer or further away than any of the others. It's as if someone has set the scene in order to make the warning note meaningless - but why would anyone do that? You have no idea. You also don't know that you're about to be murdered.

December 1940: All that Audrey Barton wants is her family together for Christmas. But the war changes everything.... The Barton family bakery in Bournemouth has been at the heart of the town for generations: Audrey and Charlie Barton have never been rich, but their bread and cakes – and their love and advice – have enriched the lives of others in the town for many years. When war breaks out, it doesn't take long for trouble to arrive on the bakery doorstep.

Years ago there was a silent witness to an act of evil. Now a twisted killer is on the loose, fuelled by revenge. Called to the brutal murder of a priest, it is immediately clear to DCI Claire Winters that the victim's death was prolonged, agonising...and motivated by a lust for revenge. The killer has been clever; there are no clues, no leads. But Claire Winters has never let a killer remain on the streets.