Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

1862. Growing up in a small seaside town on the Isle of Wight, free-spirited Eveline Stanhope feels trapped by the weight of expectation from her well-to-do family. Her mother and two elder sisters would rather she focus her attention on marrying well, but Eveline wants more for herself, and the arrival of the railway provides just the cause she’s been searching for. Driven by the cherished memories of her late father, Eveline is keen to preserve the landscape he loved so much and becomes closely involved with the project. 

He needed a make-believe lover.... It was such a strange request - Gray Chalmers asking Stephanie to pose as his lover to help him resist the attractions of a beautiful but married woman. Gray knew Stephanie, knew she didn't even like being touched. Yet he insisted she come back to the village to play the part of the femme fatale. Gray had never pried into the bitter marriage Stephanie had endured to his cousin. He'd offered only comfort in the 10 years since its tragic ending. So, while she hated the pretence, she couldn't refuse. 

In the little hamlet of Lark Rise times are changing and Laura is growing up. Although she must attend the nearby village school, she would far rather read and make up stories in her head. Real-life excitement comes, however, when she and her beloved younger brother Edmund are allowed to walk on their own to the grand market town of Candleford to stay with their relatives one summer. There, Laura discovers the joys of the shops, the ways of boy-talk with her cousins and the secret world of 'Bookworms Ltd' with her Uncle Tom, before an offer arrives that will determine her future.

Karen could be excused for crying on her birthday, especially as it’s the first one since her husband got on a plane to the States and never came back. Then there’s the fact that her workmates were practically bribed to attend her birthday meal. But when a restaurant double booking leads to her sharing a table with single dad Elliot and his daughter, things start looking up. 

When Jenny Simpson returns to the seaside town of Borteen, her childhood home, it’s for a less than happy reason. But it’s also a chance for her to start again. A new job leads to her working for Carver Rodgers, a man who lives alone in a house that looks like it comes from the pages of a fairy tale - until you see the disaster zone inside....

When her life in London falls apart, Elodie Bright returns to Hartsford Hall in Suffolk, the home of her childhood friend Alexander Aldrich. There, she throws herself into helping Alex bring a new lease of life to the old house and its grounds. After a freak storm damages the Hall chapel and destroys the tomb of Georgiana Kerridge, one of Alex’s 18th-century relatives, Elodie and Alex find a connection in the shocking discovery brought to light by the damaged tomb. 

A link had been forged the day Claire saved the heir to the desert kingdom of Omarah from assassins. Otherwise, she wouldn't have agreed to masquerade as the infant's mother - and Raoul D'Albro's unwanted wife. Raoul was prejudiced against Claire. And as long as his eyes burned with contempt for her, Claire felt shielded from his powerful masculinity. 'Even if you were my type,' he assured Claire coldly, 'your evident greed and the fact that you have a lover would be sufficient to kill my desire for you.' Raoul was wrong - in this and more!

In Australia, Simone has been widowed for four years and is ready to make a more interesting life. Her friends are driving her mad introducing her to eligible men; her busy daughters are just the opposite, wanting her available for babysitting. When she is offered a house swap with a couple in the UK she takes it, not without some trepidation. In the UK, Russ has just taken possession of his new house and wants only peace and quiet after a few months of rehab following a serious injury. Can these two help one another avoid meddling friends and relatives and build new lives?

Lara Perryman has spent her whole life travelling for her busy corporate job, so it's a relief when she takes early retirement and settles in a leisure village in Wiltshire. She quickly makes friends with the other residents and finds herself entangled in the ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies of her new community. 

December 1838. A storm is raging outside Kenilworth Hall. Inside, Lord Kenilworth's wife is in agony in the middle of a difficult labour. Lady Kenilworth doesn't survive the birth, but, against all odds, her baby daughter does. Baby Storm grows into a headstrong and adventurous child, close to her sister, Eloise, and their neighbours at Chislestone Manor - her best friend, Cissy, and Cissy's handsome older brother, Hunter, who has promised to marry Storm when she's older. 

For NHS Nurse Lucie Burrows, it's time to put the past behind her and embrace Greek life. Finally free from the UK restrictions, Lucie is excited for the summer of 2021. When her best friend, Gavin, finds the perfect Greek island getaway, Lucie is sure that this holiday to Corfu is going to be one to remember. But when a landslide puts the village into a local lockdown, Lucie is thrown together with Michalis Andino, the super sexy village doctor. It's not quite the escape she had planned, but things could certainly be worse. 

Forty years of feminism and still women do the majority of the housework. Why? In fact, while women are making slow but steady gains on gender disparities in the workplace, at home the gap is widening - in the UK, the average heterosexual British woman puts in 12 more days of household labour per year than her male companion, while young American men are now twice as likely as their fathers to think a woman's place is in the home. And when 'having it all' so often means hiring a nanny or cleaner, is it something to aspire to?

Amory Ames is travelling to New York, excited to be a bridesmaid at her childhood friend Tabitha’s wedding, but with Prohibition in full swing, her husband, Milo, is less than enthused. When a member of the wedding party is found murdered on the front steps of the bride’s home, the happy plans take a darker twist.

In Amy's case, a husband might come in handy...but with no chance of a refund on the honeymoon, she's jetting off on her own. Except no one seems willing to leave her alone. If it's not nosy hotel guests, it's movie stars desperate to exchange suites. How's a girl supposed to wallow in misery when, under protest, she's dragged off to shop till she drops, or to film premieres or intimate picnics?

A breathtakingly tense thriller from the author of The Wrong Girl, about one woman's determination to defend what's hers - and how quickly a straightforward plan can spiral out of control. Perfect for fans of Katerina Diamond's The Secret and Fiona Barton's The Widow. Shortly after Christmas, a message arrives at Sophie's house, scrawled across her own round robin newsletter: 'He's going to leave you. Let's see how smug you are then, you stupid bitch.'

Six Award-Winning Authors have contributed new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Silver Bells. Listeners will love this collection of six historical romance novellas, all centered around the Christmas season.

When Zoe and Win move into their new home it's meant to be a fresh start. But pushed to the back of a cupboard is a suitcase - inside is a wedding dress, letters and a diary all belonging to a woman called Libby. Zoe follows Libby's trail across Europe, but when Libby's story takes a darker turn, Zoe becomes increasingly obsessed with discovering what really happened all those years ago.

Saul Parenti has always been glad that he's second in line in the Arrezzian monarchy. He can concentrate on his business empire - and the delights of his new wife, Giselle...but when his cousin is killed, Saul must ascend to the throne. Instead of pursuing their own dreams, Saul and Giselle must now make their lives about pomp and protocol. But the secret traumas of Giselle's past have scarred her deeply; she never wants to be a mother - and that leaves her marriage in crisis, because her royal duty is to produce an heir....

Mattie Cameron thinks she's got it all figured out: she's got an impressive career in London, a gorgeous boyfriend and brilliant friends....

Shortly before Christmas, Professor James Lowell is found brutally attacked in his rooms at Walsingham College, where Anna Hopkins works as an administrator. Baffled as to why anyone would wish to harm such a gentle, scholarly man, Anna discovers that Lowell had a connection with her fellow dogwalker Isadora Salzman, who knew him as an undergraduate in the 1960s, a comember of the so-called Oxford Six. It turns out that Isadora has been keeping a surprising secret all these years.