Showing results by narrator "Julie Maisey" in All Categories

When torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, old wives' tales also come swirling to the surface. For centuries Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And there he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem.

Archaeologist Carmen Nero and former conman Cesco Rossi are in Herculaneum on the trail of the lost texts of Ancient Rome, possibly stored deep underground in the Villa of the Papyri.

Tired of being underestimated, Annie Valentine is determined to prove to everyone that she can make her life a success. Her job as a personal shopper is brilliant, but she’s now intent on setting up a shoe and handbag empire of her own. To get there, she’ll do anything and go anywhere—the handbag factories of Italy are calling! But what started out as a fun after hours project is getting slightly out of hand. Because Annie is working around the clock to bag the perfect bargain, and her family life and relationship with adorable Ed is feeling the strain.

1943. A German aircraft crashes into a house in Worthing, and causes complete devastation to the local community. Three strangers meet for the first time that day - Pip, Stella and Lillian. Lillian's little girl, Flora, has been hurt in the crash and is rushed to hospital. As she comes through her ordeal, she finds her mother and her two new ‘aunties’ by her bedside.

Anna Fekete returns to the Balkan village of her birth for a relaxing summer holiday. But when her purse is stolen and the thief is found dead on the banks of the river, Anna is pulled into a murder case. Her investigation leads straight to her own family, to closely guarded secrets concealing a horrendous travesty of justice that threatens them all. How long will it take before everything explodes?

Following the death of her father, Ruby Swift and husband, Archie, finally move back into Ashland Hall. As the Great War rages, fathers and sons take the king's shilling and head off to fight the unknown enemy, not knowing what horrors lie ahead. With Ned Kincaid in the navy, Archie signs up to the volunteer constabulary and nurses Anna Cassidy and Ellie Harrington enlist to do their bit for king and country. It’s not long before the true cost of war is brought closer to home.

Pregnant, Mary Jane Starlings secret wedding to Paddy Redfern ends in disaster when her fiancé is murdered on the way to the church. Paddy’s wayward twin ‘Red’ intercepts Mary Jane and warns that they must flee Ireland for fear of reprisals from her family, never to return. Too young and terrified to question Red’s motives, Mary Jane, is hurriedly escorted to Liverpool where she quickly discovers Red’s good Samaritan act is a sham when he abandons her homeless and destitute.

Tammy and her mother, Grace, are desperate to escape Tammy’s violent bully of a father. But when an unforeseen tragedy strikes, mother and daughter must flee Scotland in the dead of night. To survive the severest of penalties, they leave behind everything they know and love – including one another. Under new identities, Tammy and Grace must start afresh. Tammy joins the services and there she meets a dashing officer who begins to break her guard down. But can the course of love ever run smooth with Tammy unable to reveal her true self?

Southern Sweden, 1990. Five lifelong friends gather for a last farewell to their childhoods and each other at an abandoned quarry. The mood is effervescent, but under the surface tensions run deep as not everyone is ready to let go—or be left behind. When dawn breaks, only four remain alive. The police rule the death a tragic accident, but not everyone is convinced, and the incident remains an open wound in the community.

Shadowed by the Malvern Hills, the village of Wychehill is no rural paradise but an uneasy mix of embittered farmers, escapees from the city, and a pub with a reputation for drug dealing. Called in to investigate an unsettling series of road accidents, Merrily Watkins stumbles into a barbed tangle of alienation, murder...and the fatal pursuit of an archaic secret.

Facing challenges in your relationships, career, health or well-being? Worried important life goals seem to be slipping away? Whether you're faced with day-to-day irritations or facing a larger setback, sometimes life can test your strength and endurance. But there is a simple and effective way to building your resilience in the face of adversity, making sure that you can bounce back from them stronger than ever before and go on to achieve your goals and lead a happier, more fulfilled life.

Liverpool, 1935. Monica Savage is delighted when new neighbours move in next door and she and Joan Copperfield quickly become firm friends. While Monica's father has a good job as a guard on the railway, Joan's family are harder up, with her sailor dad Billy mostly off at sea and restless when he's home - Mersey View is no substitute for the exotic places he sails to.

Louise has had to watch her husband, Andrew, start a new family in the four years since he left her. The ‘other woman’ is now his wife - but Louise isn’t ready to let Caz enjoy the life that was once hers or to let go of the man she still loves. As Louise starts to dig into Caz’s past, the two women’s pretence of civility starts to slip. But in trying to undermine each other, they discover more about the man they both married. And when Andrew is murdered at a family party, both women are found standing over the body. It’s always the wife. But which one?

Hannah loves festive surprises. But the arrival of a handsome stranger on Christmas Day is much more than she bargained for... Snow is falling heavily on Holly Way. Inside her cottage, Hannah is trying to fake some holiday cheer. Freshly dumped, just in time for Christmas, her sister and niece have come to share the day with her and she owes it to them to put a brave face on things. But as they sit down to open their presents, they are interrupted by a knock at the door.

Last night my son, Shay, sneaked out of the house and didn’t come home. He promised not to go to the illegal party in the woods. But someone’s been attacked and Shay has gone missing. The police want to know if he saw what happened. I’m worried he could be involved. After all the trouble he’s been in lately, mixing with the wrong crowd, coming home beaten up and scared, I thought we’d put it all behind us. Trouble is, Shay resents me moving my new boyfriend into the family home. I found all sorts on his laptop, including a half-written email warning me not to trust David.

She’s hit the big time...hasn’t she? Personal shopper, Annie Valentine, is presenting her own popular TV fashion series. But despite this being Annie’s dream job, success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and suddenly Annie is feeling the pressure! Especially as boyfriend Ed is left at home looking after their brand-new twin babies, whilst Annie comes to terms with fame. And as Annie gets more and more sucked into the celebrity showbiz world, she feels like she’s losing more and more of who she really is. Could the big break she’s always wanted, actually be a big mistake?

When Annie Valentine lands her dream job in the heart of fabulous Manhattan, it’s a pinch me moment. She’s finally made it to the city that never sleeps and will look a million dollars doing it! And this time, Annie is going to make it a family affair and take her teenage daughter Lauren with her to show her the fashion highs and lows and to have a bit of other and daughter bonding...what could possibly go wrong? But back home in London, husband Ed faces a scandal at work and knows, in his heart, he needs Annie back.

Personal shopper Annie Valentine is about to hit the big time: presenting a glamorous TV makeover series! This is it for Annie and her little family. No more scrimping and saving, finally all her hard work has paid off. But life in the spotlight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Soon, Annie discovers this is TV on a shoestring and her budget is zip. But more than this, Annie feels as though the women she should be helping to look fabulous, go away feeling all the more like fashion failures!

Liverpool, 1953. January sees the dawn of the Queen Elizabeth’s coronation year as the mothers of Reckoners Row unite in preparation for the celebration of the new queen. Meanwhile Evie Kilgaren is dreaming of her summer wedding to Danny Harris, but trouble looms for Skinner & Sons with a new rival trying to put them out of business, but no one knows why. Ada Harris is summoned to the bedside of her estranged husband, who, in his dying moment, confesses to a deadly secret—he knows who really murdered Evie’s mam, Rene, all those years ago and the consequences are far reaching.

In 21st century Britain, what does it mean to be working class? This book asks 24 working class writers to examine the issue as it relates to them. Examining representation, literature, sexuality, gender, art, employment, poverty, childhood, culture and politics, this book is a broad and firsthand account of what it means to be drawn from the bottom of Britain's archaic but persistent class structure.