Showing results by narrator "Claire Morgan" in All Categories

When duty calls, East End girl Minnie Wolton isn’t afraid to do her bit. She’s excited to be joining the ATS girls and although she knows life at the barracks will be tough, she’s not one to quit! She just hopes the other girls are all good sorts. With her husband away fighting, Eileen Ruffel is glad of the break from her unhappy marriage. She just wants to make a success of the ATS girls and maybe find happiness too. Along with the other girls, Minnie and Eileen strike up a firm friendship. The training is hard, but they are determined to prove they are the best new recruits.

It's not just hems that are frayed in Applewell... Gracie rescues old clothes and cast-offs from Applewell's charity shop, making them into cute and fresh outfits, which she then sells in her little shop. Turning a profit is hard at the best of times, let alone when new arrival Lucas appears... After running away from the village in his teens, Lucas has finally returned to an uncomfortable amount of fanfare and gossip. His job requires him to streamline homeless charity, UnderCover, and his plans to do so risk putting Gracie out of business.

Lily and Tom travel the county with Ma Hawker, enthralling crowds with their amazing collection of curios. Always on the lookout for new wonders, Lily is tricked into buying a worthless bag of rubbish. But hidden within is a special piece of scrimshaw. A young woman called Flora Meriweather is desperate to buy the scrimshaw, hoping it can help her solve a mystery surrounding her late mother. But someone else also wants to get his hands on the scrimshaw and ensure that secrets stay hidden in the past. Can the curio collectors help the truth come to light?

Astrid Atomic, a 6-year-old human person, goes to bed every night like every other 6-year-old human person. But unlike many other 6-year-olds she doesn’t stay there. The minute the lights are off and the coast is clear the Space Cadet siren goes off, her uniform goes on, and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - WHOOSH! - she blasts off on board the spaceship Stardust! Along with her best pal's Beryl, Professor Quackers and Zoink, Astrid is given her mission from The Chief - to clean up the Milky Way! But when a nearby alien is in trouble and with giant snaliens around, things aren't likely to go to plan!

June 1942. Grace Sinclair never meant to sign up to the ATS, but when her parents made it clear she had to marry a man she hated, Grace ran away to the safety of the army. But with her cut-glass accent and upper-class ways, Grace finds it hard to fit in with the other girls and begins to think she has made a terrible mistake. Things get worse for Grace when she meets dashing Squadron Leader Chris Holloway who shares sad and shocking news about Grace’s brother. Heartbroken, Grace confides in fellow ATS girl Ruth who offers her a shoulder to cry on.

Charlotte knew nothing of her parents except that they'd died when she was a child. And when her aunt's will leaves no provision for her, Charlotte must leave the only home she's known for the uncertain protection of an uncle she's never met at his manor house, Plas Melyn. Plas Melyn seems cold and unwelcoming, but when acts of violence that can only be directed at her occur, Charlotte has to wonder why anyone would want to kill a poor orphan.

Jessie Price has travelled the drovers' roads from South Wales to London's Smithfield Market and becomes a milkmaid in London. Her ambition to own her own dairy grows, and she is helped by young Albie. Meanwhile, Non Jones is miserable when Caradoc leaves her and their son to go to London on the drove, and when she receives news of a terrible accident, her world falls apart. Jessie is devastated when Albie is arrested and sent to Newgate prison. She knows that he is innocent and will rely on Non to speak for him in court.

Cambridgeshire - March 1939. As the clouds of war begin to gather in Europe, the Talbot family of rural Blackberry Farm will be torn apart, just as so many families all over the world will be. Life will never be the same again. Whilst in London, the Salmons family will feel the pain of parting and loss. Brought together by war, the two families become intertwined and, as the outlook looks bleak, they must draw on each other’s strength to fight through the hard times.

Gwenllyn Lyons has been raised by her grandmother in the Wye Valley. One afternoon, they come across a man lying injured by the river bank. They nurse him, but nothing seems to help him regain his lost memories. Gwenllyn realises that she can't imagine what it would be like without this man in her life. As her love for the mysterious stranger grows, she cannot help rejoicing when she realises he feels the same way about her. Gwenllyn's only fear is that some day his past may come to haunt them - a different life, where another woman might be waiting for him. 

Young Charlotte Mortimer loves her job teaching the poor children in the local school and she is happy with her steadfast fiancé, Luke. Then, one day, a terrible mining explosion rocks the town, and, suddenly, everything Charlotte thinks she knows is thrown into doubt. The arrival of wealthy businessman Justin Harvard complicates things further. Charlotte must marry him to save the school she loves even if it means sacrificing everything else that is dear to her. There are secrets and lies at every turn to challenge her; will she ever make it as a bargain bride?

When her beloved father dies, Manon Jenkins is left homeless and alone. She longs for Caradoc Jones, son of a famous Welsh cattle drover, and, in desperation, she accepts a job as chaperone to Caradoc's spoilt sister Georgina, and joins the drovers on the road to Smithfield market in London. Non struggles to be accepted by the other women on the journey, as they walk long miles over rugged terrain. One heady, star-filled night, Caradoc finally becomes her lover, but she is devastated when he refuses to marry her.

It is the year AD 454. The Roman Empire has withdrawn from Britain, throwing it into the chaos of the Dark Ages. Mai has been kept safe by her father and her sister, Haf. But when Saxon warriors arrive at their farm, the family is forced to flee to the hills where British warlords lie in wait. Can Mai survive in a dangerous world where speaking her mother tongue might be deadly, and where even the people she loves the most can't be trusted? 

Lowri Vaughan is in need of refuge - where better to find it than Badgers Brook? Rumours abound that her father is a fraudster, maybe even a murderer, but while he is indeed locked up, Lowri and her mother know he’s an innocent man. Some gossip-seeking townsfolk work on currying Lowri’s favour, hoping she will drop her guard. Sorting those who can’t be trusted from those who can is tough work for Lowri, but that’s perhaps the least of her worries....

Married life hasn't been easy for Hope Murton - her mother-in-law, Marjorie, is overbearing and critical, and Hope's husband, Ralph, refuses to stand up for himself. Eventually Hope persuades him to move out and to set up a new home at Badgers Brook with their small son, Davy. Soon they are beset by tragedy when a road accident leaves Ralph confined to a wheelchair. He takes the only way out he can think of, leaving Hope destitute. Desperate not to return to her mother-in-law's house, she turns to friends for help, including local Trader Peter Bevan. 

Shattered by the discovery of her husband's affair, Liv knows they need to leave the chaos of New York to save their marriage. Maybe the road trip they'd always planned, exploring America's national parks - just the two of them - would help heal the wounds.

Charged with drama and beauty, this memorable collection by a master storyteller weaves a magical world of possibility and power from female myths of physical renewal, creation and change. It is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shapeshifting women of our native folklore. Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia, Sharon Blackie brings to life women's remarkable ability to transform themselves in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances.

For years Seren James has yearned for a child of her own. Married to a man who has little care for her, she longs for something to fill the emptiness within - and fears that she is almost out of time. When Seren meets a woman who says she can help, she thinks her dreams have come true. But the locals suspect Anwen of witchcraft, and any association with her may taint Seren too.  

Limpet, Steffan, and Jared. Three best friends crammed into a clapped-out rust bucket of a car on a whirlwind road trip to forget their troubles and see out the end of the summer. But no matter how far they drive, they can't escape the hidden secrets and slow-burning romance that could upset the balance of their friendship - perhaps forever.

Her heart belongs to the five children she has raised, all of them orphans from the Welsh-English war. Her beauty as enchanting as her magic, the proud Wynne ab Gruffydd, Seeress of Radnor, would wage war to protect her children, regardless of the cost to herself. When Sir Cleve FitzWarin is dispatched to Wales to reclaim his liege lord’s orphaned offspring - and secure the handsome riches that come with his success - he meets Wynne head-on and quickly finds himself ensnared in her magical trap.

When her parents passed away and her older brother went missing in America, Lady Meriel Traherne had to leave her beloved estate in Wales to escort her rebellious younger sister to a school in France. She had no idea of the dangers she would encounter in this foreign land, and she certainly never expected the help of Sir Anthony Davies, the kind of fashionable gentleman she had always despised....