Showing results by narrator "Sarah Durham" in All Categories

Our home was always our sanctuary. As a barrister, I work long hours with tough people. Coming back to Damien and our teenage daughter Ellie was heaven. But lately, Ellie has been distant, missing her curfew and never answering her phone. Tonight, as I watch the blue flashing lights across the street as a young girl is wheeled into an ambulance, I feel a growing sense of dread: Is my daughter guilty?

Fifty-two-year-old Michelle Banks is struggling to keep all the plates spinning. She’s a perimenopausal district nurse, caring for elderly parents. Her husband is wasting their money on children’s TV memorabilia, her teenage daughter is riddled with anxiety and her 16-year-old son is behaving secretively. Alexa is the only one who knows how much Michelle is juggling. Listening in via four smart speakers, she also knows that it’s about to get even worse. So, when Michelle pleads for help, Alexa decides to go rogue.

Your daughter isn't answering your calls. She's not replying to your messages. You rush to her house. She's slumped in the basement, dying and alone. You desperately call for help. She whispers a single word. Someone is keeping secrets. And it must be someone you know.

I sit little Mila down at my kitchen table with a glass of milk and a plate of cookies. She smiles shyly at me and I reach out to ruffle her hair. Leaving her alone for a moment, I dash upstairs, closing my eyes as I take a deep breath. What have I done? Mila isn’t my child. I should never have taken her home. But what choice did I have? Painting a smile on my face, I head back down to the kitchen.

Alison is a marriage mender. Her job is to help couples who fear they have reached the end of the road. So when her husband's ex, Lydia, arrives on the doorstep demanding to see her son, Alison thinks she can handle it. But what Alison doesn't realise is that Lydia is the one person who has the ability to destroy their happy family. And sometimes the cracks run too deep to ever be repaired.

When I got pregnant, Will and I didn’t have a clue what we were signing up for. It turns out that there’s loads we weren’t warned about. But even if I feel like I’m waiting for my motherhood powers to come in the post, at least I’ve got Will. Our old life - festivals, sambuca shots, an actual sex life - might be a distant memory, but we can get through anything together, can’t we? At least that’s what I thought until, one day, Will walked out on us.... If I’m on my own (apart from Siri, obviously) can I do this whole parenting thing?

* THE NEW FIENDISHLY CLEVER MYSTERY FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SMASH-HIT BESTSELLER THE APPEAL * 'Brims with Hallett's signature wit. Her best book yet' - PETER SWANSON 'Devilishly additive. I loved every line' - LOUISE CANDLISH 'The modern Queen of Crime does it again' - IAN MOORE The answer is...

Emily, Carl and Jules have all ‘gone before their time’. After dying on the same day in Halifax, West Yorkshire, they each wake up in a room in a hotel on the outskirts of town. They’re instructed to meet in the basement headquarters of film production company ‘End Credits’, where no-nonsense producer Suzi tells them their lives have been secretly filmed and they must edit their own biopic before they are able to move on.

From the moment I first see Doctor Drew Devlin, I want him to be mine. Drew is the perfect man–he’s charming, handsome and wealthy. And I need the security that comes from being with someone like him. I’m at my lowest point and I have nothing to lose; this is my chance to escape my troubled past. So I’m going to stop at nothing to ensure that Drew marries me…

Emmeline Ashworth has never known real want. As the grocer’s daughter, she has warm meals, a solid roof, and a father who dotes on her. She’s always understood she is luckier than most, but nothing prepares her for the day a half-starved young woman runs into the shop, desperate for help. The girl – Lily - is bruised and ragged from the slums that sprawl at the edge of town and opens Emmie’s eyes to the harsh realities of life for some in Wakefield.

Brought to you by Penguin. The gripping new thriller from the bestselling author of Breathless, based on her own extraordinary ultra-running experience. It’s the ultimate test of endurance: two-hundred-and-fifty miles in the brutal heat of the Sahara, with only the supplies you can carry on...

Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family - and is the most unhappy creature in the world. Anne Turner has wit and talent - but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution. When these two very different women meet in the strangest of circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked.

London, October 1940. As German bombers increase their nightly raids on the capital, the Blitz Girls must be braver than ever to protect innocent lives and keep the fight against Hitler alive. As each night becomes more dangerous for the Blitz Girls, will they have the strength to help each other through and keep the light alive in the darkness?

Friends for over 30 years, Kerry and Pat’s worlds came crashing down when their teenage sons were both diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses within weeks of each other.

When Grace’s husband passed away, there was no guidebook for the 27-year-old widow. Crippled with heartbreak, she was also clueless. Was she allowed to wear denim? Should she be shrouded in a black veil? What about T-shirts printed with Tom’s face? Three years later, things look a little different for Grace. She’s adopted two precious girls, and she’s learned some life lessons.

This is not a taste, nor an anti-taste, manual. This is an interrogation of the importance we place on seemingly objective ideas of taste in a culture that is saturated by imagery, and the dangerous impact this has on our identities, communities and politics. This book is dedicated to understanding the industries of taste. From the food we eat to the way we spend our free time, Olah exposes the shallow waters of 'good' and 'bad' taste and the rigid hierarchies that uphold this age-old dichotomy.

From the outside, Emma has the dream life–a loving husband, a beautiful house, two gorgeous children. But something is keeping Emma awake. Scratching at her sanity at 1am. She’s tried so hard to bury the past, to protect her family. But witching hour loves a secret–and Emma’s is the stuff of nightmares . . .

I know I want to marry Sam the moment I meet him. After I lost my beloved mother so suddenly, this charming, softly spoken architect with his deep-brown eyes is just the fresh start I’ve been searching for. I’m delighted to be expecting our first child before we’ve even had a chance to plan a honeymoon. I want our family to work, so I try to ignore his long work trips. I turn a blind eye to the private calls he takes, and I listen to his excuses about why the money keeps disappearing from my bank account.

Set deep in the Yorkshire Dales, Diane Allen’s A Child of the Dales is a sweeping novel of family, deceit, separation and love. Abandoned as a baby on the steps of a remote inn, Ruby Blake has been raised by the innkeeper’s wife, Martha Metcalfe, unknowing of the family searching for her...

London, 1944. Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While the world remains at war, in East London Clara has created the country's only underground library, built over the railway tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station. Down here a whole community thrives: with hundreds of bunk beds...