Showing results by narrator "Wren" in All Categories

Whilst living in exile on St Helena, Napoleon exerted an extraordinary influence on young Betsy Balcombe. How did she get from Napoleon's side to the Australian bush? Betsy Balcombe as a young woman lived with her family on St Helena. They befriended, served and were ruined by their relationship with Napoleon. To redeem the family's fortunes, William Balcombe, Betsy's father, betrayed Napoleon and accepted a job as the colonial treasurer of NSW, bringing his family with him.

The beautiful redheaded Tiana Weston sets out to visit her inheritance in Dorset with high hopes. It had been her parents’ dream to restore Castle Rose to its former glory as it is now a dilapidated ruin and only a small part is fit to live in. But Tiana soon discovers that enthusiasm and determination alone do not pay the workmen or keep property developers at bay and soon she is faced with a dreadful dilemma. Her handsome and aristocratic next door neighbour Richard, the Earl of Austindale, also faces considerable problems.

The beautiful Vanessa Shotworth was being made extremely unhappy at the way she was being treated by her stepmother while her beloved father was away in India with his Regiment. When she was late for breakfast because she had been out riding on a lovely summer’s morning, she was humiliated by her stepmother by being told to scrub the kitchen floor or she will not be given anything to eat. Vanessa then decided to run away to her relatives in the North of England, having elicited the help of the faithful family butler, Bates.

Wry, moving, beautifully observed and politically astute, this latest audiobook from one of New Zealand's finest chroniclers pinpoints universal truths through very NZ lives. Life isn't always like it appears in the movies. In 1952 Irene Sandle takes her young daughter to Motueka. Irene was widowed during the war and is seeking a new start and employment in the tobacco fields. There, she finds the reality of her life far removed from the glamour of the screen.

Can money buy you happiness? Impoverished Lady Viola and her twin brother David Northcombe find that their fortunes change dramatically when their entrepreneurial father dies unexpectedly, leaving them a vast fortune that will change their lives forever. Returning home to England, still reeling from their dramatic change in circumstances, fate seems to have smiled on them when the handsome, but impoverished, Duke of Glentorran dramatically rescues them from the perils of the sea off the coast of Scotland. Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime.

The old music box has been handed down through Leo's family for hundreds of years. An astounding secret is hidden beneath its gleaming black lid. Now it is Leo's music box, and although he respects the rules, his cousin Mimi Langlander does not. When the rules are broken, Leo's life is changed forever as he and Mimi plunge together into a thrilling quest in the fantastic world of Rondo.

In this sequel to the critically acclaimed and bestselling The Key to Rondo, Mimi and Leo return to Rondo and join in a quest to find a mysterious missing wizard. They are haunted by fears of the gloriously wicked Blue Queen and this time face an even more ancient and mysterious danger - the terrifying cloud monster known as the Strix! Studded with funny characters, this rollicking adventure story is also full of belly laughs. There's more to Rondo than meets the eye.

After Della had been orphaned she came to live in the country with her uncle, Lord Lainden, who rented a delightful house on the estate of his great friend the Duke of Marchwood. She was blissfully happy with her uncle and rode the Duke's horses every day. But a cloud was gathering on the horizon in the form of Jason, the Duke's only son and heir. Jason had returned to his ancestral home having led a very dissolute life in Paris and his father was desperate for him to settle down, make a good marriage and continue the Ducal line.

Eugenia Dovedale's father had been High Steward to the Marquis of Buckbury and after her father's unexpected death, Eugenia had to leave "Paragon" the family's beautiful and much loved cottage on the estate. She and her mother now lived uncomfortably with her Great-Aunt Cloris in London as they could not afford anywhere else. Mrs Dovedale maintained strong hopes of her daughter making a good marriage and improving their position.

The beautiful Princess Vasila, an orphan, who has been looked after by Baroness von Bergstein in a Grace and Favour house, is astonished when an Equerry arrives to take her to Windsor Castle to see the Queen. She is not told until she arrives that Prince Gadelov of Saralovia, which is a small Balkan State, has appealed to Queen Victoria to give him a Royal British wife so that he can be protected from the grasping Russians. When the Queen tells Vasila that she is to marry Prince Gadelov immediately, she is horrified and very frightened.

When Madelina Winston, a beautiful American heiress, arrives in England, she has at first only one thought on her mind, to try and trace her late father’s English family. Her stepmother, Mrs. Winston, has other ideas. Madelina might have beauty and a fortune, but as far as Mrs. Winston is concerned she lacks the crowning glory of life, an English title. Mrs. Winston knows that there are many impoverished aristocrats hoping to marry money and wastes no time in setting about finding a likely candidate for Madelina’s hand.

The Duke of Laverdale is ambitious to be appointed Master of the Horse and the new Queen Adelaide is determined that behaviour at Court should be moral after the licentiousness of King George IV. The Duke therefore ends his affaire de coeur with the enchanting Lady Sybil Mersham and drops his ballet dancer mistress as well. Up to now he has been determined not to be married, but he now decides to become respectable and find a suitable bride as befits his standing.

The beautiful Ilena Foringham not only helped her father, who was a senior Member of Parliament, with his speeches but she also assisted Lord Witherington with his. She had always found him a tremendous bore, but when he eventually proposed marriage to her she knew that this was something that she could not bear and that she could never be happy with him. As Ilena realised that her parents also wanted her to marry Lord Witherington, she knew that she had no option but to run away.

The beautiful Lola Fenton lives happily in a small cottage in the depths of Worcestershire, but she is suddenly orphaned when her father and mother are killed in a railway crash. Her uncle, the Earl of Kencombe, comes to the funeral and then tells her that, as she has no money, she will have to come and live with him. He obviously has no wish for her to do so, but feels that it is his duty as her legal Guardian.

King Martiza of Salamos has fallen asleep when he suddenly becomes aware that something is moving in his room. To his astonishment he finds that it is Princess Veria who has come for his Coronation which is to take place the very next day. She, as her father has died, is now ruling the State of Kavolana which is a smaller Balkan country bordering on his.

The beautiful Belinda Lanwick has not attended the dinner party given by her cousin as she is still in mourning following the death of her beloved father. However, when the guests were leaving, she saw Lord Ian Cheddington and thought him exceedingly handsome. She knew that he was one of the most sought after young men in London and was considered the most eligible bachelor in the Social world. It is then that she overhears an indiscreet conversation between her cousin and a Countess.

The second book in this brilliant series from best-selling author of The Ancient Future, Traci Harding. Throughout the Universe, the secret of life is pursued to the death.... Taren Lenox and Lucian Gervaise land on a utopian planet of immortal psychics. It shares an orbit with their lost planet, Maladaan - inhabited by a race that cannot abide psychism. Their saviours believe Taren and Lucian to be incarnations of their great ancestors, come to help them remove the alien planet from their star system.

Sol is a gifted but also terrifying six year old; his mother believes he is destined for greatness. He has a birthmark, like his dad, his grandmother and great-grandmother. But when they all make an unexpected trip to Germany, terrible secrets emerge about their family's story during World War II. Perhaps birthmarks are not all that has been passed down through this family.

The adventure of a lifetime...or two, or three. When Sara is gifted a beautiful antique chair as a wedding present, she is completely unaware that it is one of a unique pair. On the other side of the world, the chair's twin is presented to a reclusive artist, Jon, as a birthday gift. The two new owners are thrust into a mind-expanding adventure through the ages - medieval East Anglia, Scotland, France and India.

Major Michael Moore has been playing a very dangerous part in the Great Game in India where he foils a plot to kill the Viceroy who tells Michael he is now a marked man and that he must return to England immediately. To his astonishment on his way home he reads in a newspaper that following the death of his grandfather he has become the Duke of Grangemoore.