Showing results by narrator "Charlie Sanderson" in All Categories

Barbara was 12 when she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital Aston Hall in 1971. From a troubled home, she'd hoped she would find sanctuary there. But during her stay, Barbara was systematically drugged and abused by its head physician, Dr Kenneth Milner. Somehow, eventually, she started to campaign for answers. This is a shocking account of how vulnerable children were preyed upon by the doctor entrusted with their care.

Mill mistress Verity Hardcastle and her husband Oliver welcome their long-awaited twins: gentle, golden-hearted Briony and spirited, stormy Blaise. From the beginning, their children seem destined to pull in different directions—but the Hardcastles stand united, proud stewards of Lockwood Mill and its tight-knit community of hardworking girls. As the winds of change sweep through Yorkshire—from the rise of the suffragette movement to the shadow of war—the mill stands firm. But cracks begin to show, not just among the mill girls, but within the Hardcastle family itself.

Sarah Forsyth has spent most of her life in fear. After overcoming the hurt and heartbreak of a horrific childhood, Sarah managed to build a new life for herself as a nursery nurse. Then, one day, she spotted a newspaper advert for a job in a crèche in Amsterdam. Excited by the prospect of a fresh start abroad, she eagerly signed up. But within minutes of stepping off the plane in Amsterdam her life began to fall apart.... There was no crèche and no job. That night, at just 19 years of age, her life - her real life, her life as Sarah Forsyth - ended.

Charlotte—The Cutting Girl—comes from a family of high achievers. Her father is a politician, and her mother is a senior medical officer. When she moves from her prestigious boarding school she is groomed by a girl two years her senior, spiralling into a cycle of drugs, self-harm, and sexual abuse. When she goes missing, five other girls do, too. A nationwide media campaign sets out to track them down, but can Charlotte ever escape the gang behind the abduction and abuse?

Slave Girls, a new series by bestselling author Louise Allen, reveals a shocking modern-day scandal of County Lines–the single most dangerous form of systematic child abuse prevalent today.

Jess and Tracy Beaker are the perfect team. Jess thinks Tracy is the best mum ever (even when Tracy shouts at her teachers). Tracy is fun and daring, but she also works hard to give Jess the family home she desperately wanted when growing up in the Dumping Ground. Their flat might be a bit mouldy. but it’s their happy home. But when Sean Godfrey - Tracy’s rich new boyfriend - comes onto the scene, Jess is worried things are going to change.

The third volume in the best-selling Wideacre trilogy. Set in the 18th century, they launched the career of Philippa Gregory, the best-selling author of The Other Boleyn Girl and Three Sisters, Three Queens. Meridon, a desolate Romany girl, is determined to escape the hard poverty of her childhood. Riding bareback in a travelling show while her sister, Dandy, risks her life on the trapeze, Meridon dedicates herself to freeing them both from danger and want.

Eighteen-year-old Beth Sutton is abducted and held prisoner in a basement. Dependent on her captor for everything, she slowly builds a relationship with the man responsible for her imprisonment. But her abductor is guilty of more than just kidnap, and she has the evidence to prove it. If she escapes from the basement, Beth's toughest challenge will be dealing with the memories. How will she ever overcome her trauma?

“Unrelentingly eerie . . . packed with subtle, skin-crawling suspense . . . When it comes to crafting an immersive atmosphere of fear and unease, Foxlowe is a delicious slice of darkness.” —NPR An astonishing literary debut about a young girl’s coming of age in the haunting, enchanting...

When little orphan Annie finds herself liberated from the workhouse and taken to a smart home on Swan Lane, she thinks her fortunes might finally be turning around. While grateful to the Lilburn family, she soon realises they have problems of their own. Grieving the loss of their young daughter a number of years earlier, Maggie Lilburn adopted two children from the workhouse: a newborn baby, who she thought would be the answer to her family's woes, and Annie.

Ana, who lives in a small Oxfordshire village, came from Liverpool carrying a secret. Her life is now on the straight and narrow, though, and she has a blossoming career as a policewoman. But when a vigilante starts to practice their own kind of justice on her watch, and then a body is discovered in the woods, Ana's contentment is shattered as the past comes flooding back to haunt her. Soon Ana must make a choice—turn her back on the girl she used to be . . . or embrace the bitterness and rage she has buried for so long.

Emma and I did everything together—including getting kidnapped. As teenagers, we were both taken but only I survived. I promised myself that I would tell my story, and Emma's story, when the time was right. Life is good. I have a home, a dog, and a woman who loves me—but I'm a complete fraud. Worse still, someone knows it. One way or another, I'll find the person who is threatening me.

Tinder, Hinge, Bumble – thirty-something journalist Saffie has tried them all but now she's wondering whether it's time to throw in the towel and give up on love for good – and she's not alone... Saffie's boss Tamara has been single since her divorce four years ago, but at forty-five, running her own magazine and with three kids at home, she doesn't feel she has the time, energy or confidence to go through the dating mill again. Meanwhile, Saffie's best friend Milo has just been dumped – again. A hopeless romantic with terrible taste in men, this is his fourth break-up in six months.

After losing everything in a devastating house fire, the cracks in Justin and Megan's marriage are starting to show. A move to the country should be the fresh start they desperately need, but the old lodge on the Treloar estate, with its crooked chimneys and dark foreboding walls, is more sinister than Megan ever imagined. She tries to make the best of it for her husband's sake, but the house is haunted by the secrets of Justin's past.

Nina has the most magical job in the world, matching customers with their perfect Christmas tree. Working at Christmas Tree Farm is always fun and full of laughter but the weight of past tragedy bears down on her. Her admirer is a great distraction, but is he the right man for her? Holly is just trying to be a normal teenager, having to deal with the mean girls in her class. But then the most handsome boy at school takes an interest in her. Have all her Christmases come at once?

Doggerland was the prosperous and powerful kingdom that connected Britain to Europe eight thousand years ago. But from great beginnings it now lies drowned, lost forever far below the cold waves of the North Sea. Who were the people who lived in Doggerland? And what happened to those who survived the tsunami that caused the kingdom’s disappearance?

Ruben is a successful salesman. Roz hates her boring admin job. Ruben owns his own home. Roz still lives with her nasty mum and dad. One is a serial killer, the other desperate to learn the trade. When high-school misfits Ruben Jones and Roz Smith's paths cross later in life, they see something in the other no one else has and they team up to form a friendship based on the one thing they have in common – murder.

It's the heatwave summer of 1976 and 14-year-old would be poet Jackie Chadwick is newly fostered by the Walls. She desperately needs stability, but their insecure, jealous teenage daughter isn't happy about the cuckoo in the nest and sets about ousting her. When her attempts to do so lead to near-tragedy—and the Walls' veneer of middle-class respectability begins to crumble—everyone in the household is forced to reassess what really matters.

Travel to Charing Cross Road in London and join sales assistant Jemma, bookshop owner Raphael and Folio the cat in three spellbinding cozy mysteries.

Kate Hardy's world seems to be making some kind of sense at last. The Sardine's finally safe from her idiotic ex, things seem to be going well with Mike and she's looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the important people in her life. Mike's buying her beloved lighthouse and is due to get the keys any day now. Kate just wishes she could muster the courage to ask him what his plans are for the old place–instead of changing the subject every time he brings it up. And then there's Bernard–who's come all the way from Canada.