Showing results by narrator "Penelope Freeman" in All Categories

The May Day celebrations are underway and offer some light relief from the daily hardships and a glimmer of hope for a brighter future for the folk of Norton Dene. Conscientious Sister Edith Harrison has her fortune told and a handsome, tall dark stranger is predicted to be on the horizon for her affections. Imagine her surprise when a mysterious stranger arrives in town with a hidden agenda that will upset those at Orchard Manor House. It seems like there are some ghosts from the past that need to be put to rest.

When Lizzie Stevens was eighteen, life took a wrong turn. While her best friends Harriet and Anna went interrailing across Europe, Lizzie stayed behind—shunted into a dusty bank job and a sensible life that never quite got back on track. Now sixty-four, freshly divorced from terminally dull Freddie and wondering how she ended up here, Lizzie is unexpectedly reunited with the friends who left her behind. This time, she's not missing the train. Their plan? A gloriously reckless rail adventure across Europe.

Your next perfect listen from Jill Mansell, Sunday Times bestselling author of MAYBE THIS TIME. Not to be missed if you love the novels of Katie Fforde and Milly Johnson. Daisy MacLean runs the country house hotel owned by her flamboyant father, Hector. When she hears who's about to get married...

Dot Brightmore has never been one for lists. But now she's been given one of her own, by the love of her life, with whom she's finally been reunited. Dot's list has just two words on it: Marry me. The problem is, Dot can't get married. Because what Dot hasn't yet told anyone is that she's still married. To a man she hasn't seen in years. But her beloved Mabel isn't a woman who can be stopped easily. After all, her own last list helped her find Dot again.

She is a servant girl... When her father becomes ill, Emily Carter finds herself sent into service at Priorsfield Manor in order to provide the family with an income. He will be the Lord of the Manor... Emily strikes up an unlikely friendship with the daughters of the house, as well as Nicolas, son of the Earl. But as the threat of war comes ever closer, she becomes even more aware of the vast differences between upstairs and downstairs, servant and master...If you like Downton Abbey you’ll love this!

Sophia Gregory has lost her sparkle.... Recently single and about to turn 60, Sophia doesn’t recognise the old woman staring back at her in the mirror. How has life passed her by? A quiet holiday in beautiful Rhodes is the perfect chance for her to find herself. Until she meets the Old Ducks! Juliette, Kim and Anita are three friends who are determined not to grow old gracefully! Bold and brash, they are Sophia’s worse nightmare, until they make her an honorary member of The Old Ducks’ Club!

Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow, always’. But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: ‘Find D’. Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.

But the summer days seemed to go on forever – and British families were determined to make the best of their paralysed country. For evacuated children, this meant freedom that is unimaginable today: discovering wildlife, foraging from orchards and hedgerows and swimming in the streams. Elsewhere, country estates were requisitioned for the war efforts. Caroline Taggart shows us how Britons succeeded in keeping spirits up with this entertaining collection of first-hand reminiscences from people who lived through those six long years.

Bristol 194. As the clouds of war grow bleaker both at home and abroad, the Tobacco Girls are determined to do their bit for king and country. To that end Maisie Miles and Bridget Milligan become voluntary ambulance drivers. As well as coping with the frequent air raids, Maisie is kept on her toes with three new junior employees, one of whom is particularly testing. Bridget’s heart becomes torn between family loyalty and Lyndon O’Neill III, the man she loves. Meanwhile Phyllis Harvey has joined the WAAF, opting to serve overseas whilst trying to escape her past.

It's the final year of training for three young nurses at The Nightingale Hospital. Helen is at a crossroads in her life as she battles with her domineering mother over both her love life and her future career. Dora can't stop loving Nick, who is married to her best friend, Ruby. Millie is anxious about her fiancé, sent to Spain to cover the Civil War, and things only get worse when she encounters a fortune teller who gives her a sinister warning.

In Talyton St George, vet nurse Tessa Wilde is on the way to her wedding...It should be the happiest day of her life. But then her car hits a dog, and though the dog is saved, her wedding is not. Animal welfare officer and part-time firefighter Jack Miller spends his life saving animals and people. As one of Tessa’s oldest friends, he feels he has the right to rescue her from a marriage that can only end in tears.But does he? Tessa is sure she doesn’t need rescuing, least of all by Jack.

As the war takes its toll, the Nightingale nurses must do their bit for king and country... Dora is the devoted mother of twin babies, but, determined to help the war effort, she goes back to work at the Nightingale Hospital. More used to nights out in the West End, Jennifer and Cissy volunteer in the hope of tending to handsome soldiers. They soon find out that nursing isn’t quite what they were expecting.

Anna is over the moon when her sweetheart returns from the front line. As he recovers from his injuries, they make plans to be married, but the horrors of the trenches cast a long shadow. Caring for shell-shocked soldiers brings untold challenges for Grace, and her parents have very different dreams for her future. Meanwhile Dulcie has her sights firmly set on her own happy ending. And yet sometimes we find love where we least expect to. Each of the nurses has her own battle to fight, but they must rally together if they’re to find true happiness.

Newly single at sixty, Elin Anderson decides it’s finally time for an adventure of her own. With her marriage to tedious Tom now officially over, Elin plans to visit the family she hasn’t seen in years. First stop: Australia! But going home is harder than Elin thought. Everywhere she turns Elin sees brightness and colour, which only makes her own life seem even more drab and beige. How has she let herself fade away? Determined to have some fun, Elin reluctantly agrees to join The Silver Surfers – a group of seniors who travel the coast, only caring about their next big adventure.

Three very different girls sign up as trainee nurses at a big London teaching hospital in 1934. Dora leaves her overcrowded, squalid working-class home for a better life. But has she got what it takes to keep up with other, better-educated girls? And will her hated stepfather ever let her go? Helen is born for the job; her brother is a doctor, her all-powerful mother a hospital trustee. But will Helen’s secret misery be her downfall? An aristocratic rebel, Millie’s carefree attitude will find her up in front of Matron again and again. Will she ever care enough to make a nurse? Or will she go back to the glamorous life she was born to?

It’s the perfect wedding: tropical sunshine, glamorous guests, a beautiful bride and a handsome Hollywood millionaire. But the day is about to take a shocking turn. Lisa Costello has all the expensive clothes and exotic vacations that come with dating a rich man. But her relationship with Josh Steen is a sham. Yet nothing could have prepared Lisa for the morning after their decadent wedding in Thailand. Josh is dead – and it looks like Lisa killed him.

The day we lost Josh, a part of me broke. He was only three-and-a-half years old. His twin, Ruby, suddenly an only child. But then I see him too. A boy with Josh's same pale blue eyes, the silvery-white hair that falls across his forehead in exactly the same way. I know I have to listen to my rational brain, that this must be my grief messing with my mind. But I can't let go of the feeling that something is going on. Who is this boy? And does someone know more than they're letting on?

Divorced and on a deadline, bestselling novelist Bea Pinkerton has a serious case of writer's block. With her agent breathing down her neck, Bea will do ANYTHING to avoid writing another word. So an invite to a reunion with her old school friends at a beautiful chateau in France is Bea’s perfect chance to escape. Surely here, relaxing with old friends and drinking cold fizz, Bea will find inspiration? But as soon as Bea arrives, she realises this is not going to be the peaceful getaway she anticipated.

Whispers in the servants' hall, scandals in the drawing room - at Ashmore Castle, everyone has something to hide... England, 1904. Christmas at Ashmore Castle should be a time of celebration - but scandal arrives with snow. The Earl's uncle returns from Italy with a beautiful young bride on his...

SOLO is a delightful romantic listen from bestselling author Jill Mansell, not to be missed by readers of Lucy Diamond and Cathy Kelly. Mad about a man who's dangerous to know? Surely it's better to go solo... When Tessa Duvall, a struggling artist, reluctantly agreed to accompany her best...