Showing results by narrator "lesley Mackie" in All Categories

At 16, Rachel O’Brian finds herself alone in the world and accepts a home with an old friend of her father’s, but she is unprepared for his wife’s malice. The younger Maxwells welcome Rachel to their Ayrshire farm, especially Ross, but he too has earned Gertrude Maxwell’s spite. When Ross disappears Rachel is dismayed to find herself destitute and expecting his child. How will past secrets revealed help the two find each other again?

1895. With five children as well as her husband Sandy to care for, Katy Fraser’s life is always fully occupied. Yet, Katy longs for something else. And when the new minister moves into the manse he agrees to take her on as a housekeeper. Soon she is given a rare opportunity to fulfil her dreams, but Sandy begins to resent her new-found confidence... Eight years later, Katy and Sandy’s brood are fast growing up.

1920s. When her father dies, Ellie Douglas has little option but to go into service. Her position takes her out of the life of Frank Rafferty - childhood friend and now a member of one of Glasgow's notorious gangs - and into the world of Evander Tait - son, heir and black sheep of the Tait household. These two men dominate Ellie's entire life. No one approves of her friendship with Evander and the bond she shares with Frank is misunderstood by everyone.

When sisters Lynette and Monnie accompany their father, Edinburgh widower Frank Forester, to the Highland village where he is to be a youth hostel warden, they find the change from city life traumatic…until they find jobs, new friends – and love. Handsome fisherman Torquil captures Monnie's heart, while Lynette, after a fiery start, falls for stern but vulnerable hotel manager Ronan. When Frank, too, finds unexpected happiness with Ishbel, of the village shop, all promises well. But storm clouds gather, and there are choices to be made…

In the years following the end of World War II, life at the Glens of Lochandee is tough. Many families in the village have been bereaved, and rationing is affecting business. Nevertheless, Conan Maxwell’s new garage is doing well, and he and business partner Nick are hoping to expand. But how will their partnership survive their differing ambitions? Conan’s young sister, Bridie, is faced with a dilemma. Is her desire for Nick going to pull her away from her other great passion - her animals and farm?

Living in the Stationmaster's cottage at Partick, Carrie Burgess leads a charmed life, cushioned from the world of poverty surrounding it. Her only real problem is her mother, who thinks Ewen Livingstone, the railway labourer Carrie's in love with, a poor catch; Matt Campbell, a clerk, seems a much better prospect. Carrie's father dies suddenly and his wife and daughter are forced to move out of their home. Money is tight.

Intelligent, ambitious Elinor Rae, maid at an exclusive ladies’ club in the idyllic Primrose Square, dreams of a better future. Encouraged by her kindly manageress, Elinor enrols in an evening course, where she soon falls for her handsome tutor, Stephen Muirhead. But it is her attraction to charismatic Barry Howat that turns her life upside down. Breaking Stephen’s heart is bad enough, but when Barry signs up to the war effort and reveals his true feelings, Elinor is devastated.

In 1930s Scotland, families are starving and thousands of farms lie derelict. But Fairlyden has survived thanks to Logan Fairly’s skill as a cattle breeder and his wife’s thriftiness. At 17, their daughter Kirsty is fiercely proud of her father, but her brother Luke has no interest in farming – and his fear of animals results in tragedy. Responsibility for Fairlyden is thrust on Kirsty just as the Second World War breaks out. But even in the face of all adversity, Kirsty retains her determination to keep the farm that has been the pride of the Fairlys for generations.

. She is content there until, suddenly, she must make decisions that will change everything. Fraser Kyle, the owner of the florist’s, proposes marriage. Should she accept, or renew her childish love for Mark Lindsay the doctor from the orphanage who first showed Shona the Handkerchief Tree that inspired her?

When attractive redhead Lorna Fernie is taken on to play saxophone in a post-war Glasgow dance band, she is at first over the moon – especially when she and likeable trumpet player Rod Warren fall in love. But then disaster strikes. Things go wrong between her and Rod. He leaves her life, she loses her job, and it only when she forms her own band – the Melody Girls – that the future gradually brightens.

Wanting to support her family through the depression in 1930s Glasgow, Jean Logan is seduced by the glamour of the city's many palais de danse. Working as a paid dancing partner, she is taken on by the new and sophisticated Luxor and it seems that all her dreams have come true. But she soon finds herself drawn into the sinister world that lurks behind the club's dazzling façade and learns, to her own great personal cost, that not all that glitters is gold.

While her mother is at home giving birth, 11-year-old Isa must look after her younger siblings, but when her little sister is killed in an accident on a train line she carries the guilt through the rest of her life. As Isa grows up, more tragedy strikes. Yet there is only so much Isa can endure over the years, and discovering her husband’s affair is the final straw. Believing she has failed as a sister, a daughter, a wife and a mother, she makes an irrevocable decision....

In 1906, Beth Jamieson is a little girl of eight, with honey gold curls and the sweetest nature. Her father is Mistress Fairly's right-hand man and when Nick's wife dies, Sarah Fairly treats Beth as her own.

Janet Scott loves books and learning and is happy living at the schoolhouse where her grandfather is the dominie. When her grandfather dies suddenly, everything changes, and she is sent to work for farmer Wull Foster. Life with no one to protect her is tough. So when philanthropist Josiah Saunders, an old friend of her grandfather's, takes her in, they both relish the companionship.

Pleasure is the highest good: the group who called themselves the Cyrenaics embrace the hedonistic principle until the death of one of their members from an overdose. Sobered, the group went their separate ways. One headed for Canada, another disappeared and a third was believed to have committed suicide - at least until his body turns up in the wreck of a car swept up on the Solway mud flats.

Growing up on a farm in the north of Scotland could be both rewarding and challenging. Now best-selling author Jane Yeadon recounts her childhood before her nursing adventures started, in her own unique and entertaining style. Telling Tales recounts how Jane learned about her place in the scheme of things - the hard way. Poignant and touching, this nostalgic account of life on the farm recalls a way of life which was so recent but now is all but forgotten.

Liz MacMillan has wanted to be a nurse ever since her baby brother died of scarlet fever but her domineering father won't allow it. With the outbreak of war, nursing becomes a patriotic duty and Liz gets her chance, together with her new friend Helen Gallagher, whose large, Irish-Catholic family provides a striking contract to the constraint of the MacMillan household. Working in Glasgow's Western Infirmary, one of the other students, Mario Rossi, touches Liz's heart.

Grinding poverty and violence are on everyday part of life in Glasgow's slums during the 1920s. But Josie Collins, whose mother's death has left her alone with her abusive father, has a dream that she'll become a reporter for one of the city's newspapers. But then disaster strikes when Josie reaches sixteen. Forced to give up her unwanted baby, she starts a new life under her mother's maiden name.

In 1960s Scotland, the farming industry is on the brink of huge changes, becoming more mechanised and less dependent on manpower, but at Lochandee it’s a time of hope and promise. Ross and Rachel Maxwell are proud of their expanding family. Daughter Bridie and her Nick are happily married and working hard to build up their own farm, and eldest son Conan’s transport business is prospering.

1935: The Depression bites; beautiful Lindy Gillan dreams of getting away from her boring life in Edinburgh’s impoverished Old Town. At least there is dear Neil, a young writer from the same tenement block, whom she has known for years. But when handsome Rod Connor walks into the shop where Lindy works one day, her world is turned upside down.

Soon she has a difficult choice to make between two men - but once made, will she live to regret it? A new arrival, unexpected opportunities, and war clouds on the horizon all have unforeseen repercussions for Lindy, leading to much soul-searching and heartache before she can hope to find lasting happiness.