Resurrecting buried scandals, audacious hoaxes and private tragedies, Emma Donoghue has written a sequence of short stories about peculiar moments in the history of the British Isles. Here artists mix with poisoners and countesses rub shoulders with cross-dressers, vicars and revolutionaries; the Second Coming is proclaimed in Scotland; and a miniature girl becomes a tiny skeleton in a London museum.

The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. Royal Tudor blood ran in her veins. Her mother was a queen, her father an earl, and she herself was the granddaughter, niece, cousin and grandmother of monarchs. Beautiful and tempestuous, she created scandal, not just once, but twice, by falling in love with unsuitable men. Fortunately, the marriage arranged for her turned into a love match.

The Lost Tudor Princess

1990, Blackpool. Thirty-three-year-old Helen Burnside is shocked when she learns that her beloved Great Aunt Alice has died of a sudden heart attack, and even more surprised when she is bequeathed her Yorkshire cottage. Although they were close, Alice was an enigmatic figure, estranged from most of her family. What led to the long-held animosity between Alice, her mother, Ada and her sister, Lizzie, and why did she leave Blackpool for Yorkshire all those years ago? Moving into Alice's cottage, Helen uncovers a series of devastating family secrets. But as she pieces together the truth about her aunt's life, it seems her own life is about to go in a life-changing direction.

Ivy Rose

A Wing and A Prayer

Victoria was a very pretty girl, but with three sisters even prettier than she, Victoria had developed a bit of a complex about her looks. So when attractive Alexander van Schuylen made it clear he liked her, she really didn't expect much more from him. How could she, when he was so impressed with her sisters' beauty? But if his feelings for Victoria actually did run deep, she could be in danger of losing him – entirely through her own fault.

Victory for Victoria

A captivating story of two young women, bound together by the tragedy of two very different wars. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Maureen Lee. With the end of the First World War, Rose is looking forward to welcoming home her beloved husband ,Alfie, from the battlefields. But his return is not what Rose had expected. Traumatised by what he has seen, the Alfie who comes home is a different man to the one Rose married. As he struggles to cope with life in peacetime,Rose wrestles with temptation as the man she fell in love with seems lost forever. Many years later, Jess returns from her final tour of Afghanistan. Haunted by nightmares from her time at the front, her longed-for homecoming is a disaster and she wonders if her life will ever be the same again. Can comfort come through her great-grandmother Rose’s diaries? For Jess and Rose, the realities of war have terrible consequences. Can the Poppy Factory, set up to help injured soldiers, rescue them both from the heartache of war?

The Poppy Factory

The thrilling story of the French princess who became an English queen, from the best-selling author of The Agincourt Bride. Perfect for fans of The White Queen. Even the greatest of queens have rules – to break them would cost her dearly… King Henry V’s new French Queen, Catherine, dazzles the crowds in England but life at court is full of intrigue and her loyal companion, Mette, suspects that the beautiful Eleanor Cobham, protégée of the Duke of Gloucester, is spying for him. Catherine believes herself invincible as she gives birth to an heir, then tragically King Henry is struck down by fever. Unable to outwit those who seek to remove the new king from her care, Catherine retires from court, comforted by the King’s Harper, Owen Tudor. At the secluded manor of Hadham a smouldering ember bursts into flame and Catherine and Owen Tudor become lovers. But their love cannot remain a secret forever, and when a grab for power is made by Gloucester, Catherine – and those dearest to her – face mortal danger…

The Tudor Bride

"Not for the faint of heart! Shocking and terrifying, it will chill you to the bone." Tess Gerritsen Perfect for fans of Karen Rose and Karin Slaughter, this is an atmospheric and nerve-jangling crime thriller. Lovers of CSI, this one is for you. Ella, sweet Ella, I dream of you at night and wake in a cold sweat. You were meant to be mine. You can’t even begin to imagine all the things I want to do to you. When the time is right, I will come for you. And that is only the beginning of my revenge… When Ella Porter opens the mysterious letter, a mix of fear and desire spreads through her. She’s always been the quiet, ladylike good girl, not the sort to inspire a stalker. The letters are a reminder of another time and a shocking secret. Someone is watching Ella. Wanting her. Promising to do things to her: tempting things…terrifying things. Desperate to protect her family Ella will do anything to discover the truth. Even if it means joining forces with the one man who could be her greatest threat – a twisted killer watching every move she makes….

I’ll Be Watching You

The inspiration behind the powerful new film starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson, this is the story of Dido Belle, whose adoption by an aristocratic family challenged the conventions of 18th century England. In one of the most famous portraits in the world, a pretty girl walks through the grounds of Kenwood House, a vision of aristocratic refinement. But the eye is drawn to the beautiful woman on her right. Pointing at her own cheek, she playfully acknowledges her remarkable position in eighteenth-century society. For Dido Belle was the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain and a slave woman, adopted by the Earl of Mansfield. As Lord Chief Justice of England he would preside over the notorious Zong case – the drowning of 142 slaves by an unscrupulous shipping company. His ruling provided the legal underpinning to the abolition of slavery in Britain. From the privileged yet unequal lives of Dido and her cousin Elizabeth, to the horrific treatment of African slaves, Paula Byrne – the bestselling author of ‘The Real Jane Austen’ – vividly narrates the story of a family that defied convention, the legal trial that exposed the cruelties of slavery and the woman who challenged notions of race at the highest rank.

Belle

From the internationally bestselling author of A Woman of SubstanceThree generations of beautiful women and their journey from rags to riches Audra is an impoverished children’s nanny from Leeds who sacrificed everything for her only daughter. Christina is a talented art student who won world renown as a fashion designer – yet who has known pain and heartache. Kyle is a rebellious young woman who chafes against her mother’s success – and in whom her grandmother’s spirit of duty and sacrifice is reborn. Moving from the Yorkshire Dales, through London, to the glamorous world of haute couture, this classic novel sparkles as it entertains.

Act of Will

When orphan Theodosia's only remaining family lock her out of their seasonal celebrations, she thinks she'll be spending Christmas alone in her bedsit – until she meets physician Hugo Bentinck. But Hugo may be waiting a while for Theodosia to admit her love for him, as she mistakes his sister for his intended wife, and an interfering aunt and nosey landlady all play a part in holding up their happy ever after!

A Christmas Romance

Set in England when Vikings are on the brink of invasion, this is an epic tale of seduction, war, and unrequited love from an outstanding new voice in historical fiction In 1002 AD Emma, a young Norman girl, must take her place as bride to England’s King Æthelred, a ruler who is looking for nothing more than a political pawn to protect his shores and bear his next child. But Emma soon realises that her new role comes with danger: the seductive Elgiva, mistress to the King, will stop at nothing in her battle for the circlet of gold. Amidst the turmoil of a kingdom under threat and a forbidden love, both women will fight for the King’s attention, a king whose haunted past is as dark as the portent in the night’s sky. And the one who rises will become the most powerful woman in the kingdom.

The Emma of Normandy

Shadow on the Crown

Set in the beautiful city of Venice, a captivating novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Summer at the Lake. Venice has been Lydia's home for many years, a place where she has found peace and fulfilment. Then one day she glimpses a young man's face in the crowd that threatens to change everything. He's a heart-stopping reminder of a dreadful secret she believed she had banished to the past... As a young child, Lydia and her sister were sent to live with grandparents they'd never even met before. It was a cruel and loveless new world for them and it forced Lydia to grow up fast. She learned to keep secrets and to trust sparingly, and through it all she was shadowed by grief and guilt. Now, twenty-eight years later, Lydia is persuaded to leave behind the safe new life she has created for herself and return to England to face the past. And maybe her future. The perfect escapist listen for fans of Santa Montefiore and Katie Fforde.

Tell it to the Skies

In June 1952, a woman was murdered by an obsessive colleague in a hotel in South Kensington. Her name was Christine Granville. That she died young was perhaps unsurprising, but that she had survived the Second World War was remarkable. She was one of Britain’s most daring and highly decorated secret agents, and the intelligence she gathered was a significant contribution to the Allied war effort.

The Spy Who Loved

London, 1867. As Inspector Ben Ross of Scotland Yard walks homeward one Saturday night, the fog that swirls around him is like a living beast. After it has lifted a woman lies murdered in Green Park. Allegra Benedict was the beautiful Italian wife of an art dealer. As Ben begins his investigation, his wife Lizzie looks into Allegra's private life and uncovers more than one reason why someone might want her dead...

Lizzie Martin Mysteries

A Better Quality of Murder

Polly Flint was the kind of girl who was always "seeing" mysterious things. So it was hardly a surprise when she began to pick up odd echoes and reflections after she moved into her aunt's house. But it soon becomes clear that the inhabitants of a nether world were asking Polly for help... As soon as she arrives in Wellow, Polly Flint knows there is magic in the place. And she should know because she is an unusual girl who can see things others can't. The story goes that if you put your ear to the ground on Sundays you could hear the church bells of the missing village of Grimstone. But Polly Flint seems to be able to call up the village that had disappeared from the face of the earth - and the people who lived in it, as they slip in and out of time.

The Secret World of Polly Flint

MI5 intelligence officer Liz Carlyle has just been despatched to Northern Ireland. In Belfast, Liz and her team are monitoring the brutal breakaway Republican groups who never accepted the peace process and want to continue their 'war'. Intelligence is focused on the shady Fraternity, with links to drug-running, arms-dealing and organised crime. It is a perilous group to become involved with. Especially if your informant turns tail...

Present Danger

September 1613. In Belvoir Castle, the heir of one of England's great noble families falls suddenly and dangerously ill. Within a few short weeks he will suffer an excruciating death. Soon the whole family will be stricken with the same terrifying symptoms. The second son, the last male of the line, will not survive. It is said witches are to blame. And so the Earl of Rutland's sons will not be the last to die.

Witches

The year is 1562. Lady Catherine Grey, cousin of Elizabeth I, has just been arrested along with her husband Edward. Their crime is to have secretly married and produced a child who might threaten the Queen's title. Alone in her chamber at the Tower of London, Catherine hears ghostly voices; echoes, she thinks, of a crime committed in the same room where she is imprisoned…

A Dangerous Inheritance

Lizzie Martin, lady's companion, has been sent from London to the New Forest to comfort a young woman whose baby has tragically died. A sad enough task, but things take an even darker turn when a rat-catcher is found murdered, and the young woman is discovered beside the body, crying and covered in blood. Not knowing where else to turn, Lizzie calls upon her friend Inspector Ben Ross to solve the horrific crime.

A Mortal Curiosity

High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years and it seems like the perfect retreat. But for her grandmother, Freya, a nurse who stayed here during Spain's devastating civil war, the house evokes terrible memories. Emma is drawn deeper into Freya's story: one of crushed idealism, lost love, and families ripped apart by war.

The Perfume Garden

The first full-scale biography of Mary Boleyn, one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. In this astonishing and riveting biography, Alison Weir’s extensive research gives a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore.

Mary Boleyn

It is 1864 when Lizzie Martin takes up the post of companion to a wealthy widow who is also a slum landlord. Lizzie is intrigued to learn that her predecessor disappeared, supposedly having run off with an unknown man. But when the girl's body is found in the rubble of one of the recently demolished slums around the prestigious new railway station at St Pancras, Lizzie begins to wonder exactly what has been going on...

A Rare Interest in Corpses

Acclaimed historian Alison Weir looks into the life of the first Tudor queen, revealing the woman behind the image Elizabeth of York would have ruled England, but for the fact that she was a woman. One of the key figures of the Wars of the Roses, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, she married Henry Tudor to bring peace to a war-torn England. In Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen, Alison Weir builds a portrait of this beloved queen, placing her in the context of the magnificent, ceremonious, often brutal world she inhabited.

Elizabeth of York

Lizzie and Ben return to investigate a brutal murder in this Victorian mystery When Mr Thomas Tapley, a respectable but down-at-heel gentleman, is found bludgeoned to death in his sitting room, his neighbour Inspector Benjamin Ross of Scotland Yard rushes to the scene. Little is known about the elusive man., until his cousin, Mr Jonathan Tapley, QC, comes forward and exposes the truth of Thomas’s tragic past. As the list of suspects begins to mount, Ben can't help wondering how much of the truth is really being revealed…

A Particular Eye for Villainy

Drawing on letters and diaries, some of which have never been published before, this book will reveal Jane Austen’s bond with a family servant, the amateur playwright Anne Sharp, how Charlotte Brontë was inspired by the daring feminist Mary Taylor, the transatlantic relationship between George Eliot and the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the underlying erotic charge that lit the friendship of Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield – a pair too often dismissed as bitter foes.

A Secret Sisterhood: The Hidden Friendships of Austen, Bronte, Eliot and Woolf

Touchy Subjects is about things that make people wince: taboos, controversies, secrets and lies. Some of the events that characters crash into are grand, tragic ones: miscarriage, overdose, missing persons. Other topics, like religion and money, are not inherently taboo, but they can cause acute discomfort because people disagree so vehemently. These stories are about the spectrum of feeling that runs from awkwardness through embarrassment to shame.

Touchy Subjects

A sweeping story of divided family, buried secrets and a love that will never die from the number one bestselling author of Songs of Love and War. Ellen Trawton has run away from London to the sweeping landscape of Connemara, hoping to find a place she can cut off all contact with the past. But beneath the wild beauty of the Irish landscape lie secrets which have been hidden for years… Conor Macausland cuts a dark, lonely figure. His young wife, Caitlin, died tragically at the old lighthouse, and her loss has devastated him. But when he and Ellen meet, a connection sparks between them. Ellen soon realizes that Conor’s past is not all it seems, and there’s more to her family history than she knew too. As the secrets are finally revealed, the truth must be told… Praise for Santa Montefiore: ‘This is Santa Montefiore at her best –overflowing with deliciously poignant moments. If you love a heartfelt, epic trilogy this is for you. I loved it and can’t wait for more’ -- Dinah Jefferies, author of The Tea Planter's Wife, on Songs of Love and War ‘Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore. Everything she writes, she writes from the heart’ -- Jojo Moyes ‘A multigenerational banquet of love: falling in, falling out, rediscovering, rekindling. The Beekeeper’s Daughter features sophisticated, irresistible backdrops and brilliantly drawn characters.’ -- Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Matchmaker, on The Beekeeper's Daughter ‘I raced through this feel-good romantic story, which spans continents and decades’ -- Fanny Blake ? Woman & Home on The Beekeeper's Daughter ‘Santa Montefiore is the new Rosamunde Pilcher’ ? Daily Mail ‘A superb storyteller of love and death in romantic places in fascinating times’ ? Vogue ‘A gripping romance . . . it is as believable as the writing is beautiful’ ? Daily Telegraph ‘Anyone who likes Joanne Harris or Mary Wesley will love Montefiore’ ? Mail on Sunday ‘One of our personal favourites and bestselling authors, sweeping stories of love and families spanning continents and decades’ ? The Times

Secrets of the Lighthouse

Sharon Kendrick crafts sizzling romances that hold readers in a constant state of page-turning bliss. True, Constantine Karantinos has only the faintest memory of a romantic dalliance with a waitress named Laura. But when he learns she's mothered his heir, he summons her to Greece, where she insists on paying her way as his housekeeper. Finding her stubborn willfulness the ultimate aphrodisiac, Constantine determines to win her over in the bedroom-again and again and again.

Constantine's Defiant Mistress

MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle is summoned to a meeting with her boss Charles Wetherby, head of the Service's Counter-Espionage Branch. His counterpart over at MI6 has received alarming intelligence from a high-placed Syrian source. The future of the whole of the Middle East is at stake and the deadline for action is drawing ever closer...

Dead Line

A riveting account of the Wars of the Roses, from the beloved and bestselling historian Alison Weir The war between the houses of Lancaster and York was characterised by treachery, deceit and bloody battles. Alison Weir's lucid and gripping account focuses on the human side of history. At the centre of the book stands Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, and his wife Margaret of Anjou, who took up her arms in her husband’s cause and battled in a violent man's world.

Lancaster and York

A heartrending tale of love and tragedy during The Birmingham Blitz. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Annie Groves. For Kathy O’Malley, life has not been easy with her husband, Barry, out of work and with two children to feed. Then when war breaks out in 1939, many of the local men enlist, including Barry, leaving the women to cope as best they can. The years that follow are full of hardship: rationing, nightly air raids and endless shifts working at the local munitions factory all take their toll on Kathy who longs to feel the strong arms of her husband around her once more. When she meets Doug, a handsome American GI, she is drawn immediately drawn to him but determined to honour her marriage vows. But after she receives a telegram informing that her husband is missing, presumed dead, she makes a decision that will have consequences, not just for herself, but for the lives of all those she loves too…

Love Me Tender

‘Drew me straight in and kept me hooked.’ Linda Finlay‘Really touching, a gently gripping mystery.’ Kerry BarrettBeneath the surface lie forgotten secrets… A village destroyed It’s the summer of 1935 and eleven-year-old Stella Walker is preparing to leave her home forever. Forced to evacuate to make way for a new reservoir, the village of Brackendale Green will soon be lost. But before the water has even reached them, a dreadful event threatens to tear Stella’s family apart. An uncovered secret Present day, and a fierce summer has dried up the lake and revealed the remnants of the deserted village. Now an old woman, Stella begs her granddaughter Laura to make the journey she can’t. She’s sure the village still holds answers for her but, with only days until the floodwaters start to rise again, Laura is in a race against time to solve the mysteries of Stella’s almost forgotten past. Haunting and evocative, The Drowned Village reaches across the decades in an unforgettable tale of love, loss and family. Readers love Kathleen McGurl ‘Another fabulous dual timeline story’ ‘Haunting’ ‘Had me gripped from the start’ ‘I literally could not turn the pages fast enough’ ‘Captivating’

The Drowned Village

The second book in Bracewell’s outstanding Emma of Normandy series, set in 11-century England, when Vikings are on the brink of invasion. 1006 AD. Queen Emma, the Norman bride of England’s King Æthelred, has given birth to a son. Now her place as second wife to the king is safe and Edward marked as heir to the throne. But the royal bed is a cold place and the court a setting for betrayal and violence, as the ageing king struggles to retain his power over the realm. Emma can trust no one, not even the king’s eldest son Athelstan, the man she truly loves. Elsewhere Viking threats to the crown are gaining strength, and in the north the powerful nobleman Ælfhelm is striking an alliance with the Danes. His seductive daughter Elgiva, former mistress to the king, is forced to act as a pawn in his plan, and is given as wife to a Viking Lord. Can King Æthelred finally listen to Athelstan, whose plan to strengthen the kingdoms’ ties will put off the Viking threat once and for all? Emma must protect her only child without abandoning her noble position. And her inner conflict, between maternal instinct and royal duty, will be played out against the dramatic and bloody struggle for Britain’s rule.

The Price of Blood

1960. Having been firm friends ever since they met in a Blackpool boarding house five years before, Val, Cissie and Janice are all now happily married, preoccupied with their growing families. But the new decade will bring change for all three families. Val and Sam's son's behaviour is causing concern, and Val finds it hard at times to love him as she should. Running a thriving cafe in Harrogate, Janice and her husband Phil decide to expand into the restaurant business: have they bitten off more than they can chew? Meanwhile Cissie's life is thrown into jeopardy when she encounters an old flame...

Pastures New

The ‘bonkers’ book that 'it is impossible not to be moved by' DAILY MAIL A joyful and hilarious tale of some very spirited septuagenarians as they overcome innumerable obstacles to save their beloved mutt from a heartless exterminator in a land where bureaucracy reigns above all else. Perhaps you’re not a member of the Azov House of Culture Elderly Club? Perhaps you missed the talk on the Cabbage Root Fly last week? Galina Petrovna hasn’t missed one since she joined the Club, when she officially became old. But she would much rather be at home with her three-legged dog Boroda. Boroda isn’t ‘hers’ exactly, they belong to each other really, and that’s why she doesn’t wear a collar. And that’s how Mitya The Exterminator got her. And that’s why Vasily Semyonovich was arrested. And Galina had to call on Zoya who had to call on Grigory Mikhailovich. And go to Moscow. Filled to the brim with pickle, misadventure and tears, Galina Petrovna’s Three-Legged Dog Story will leave you smiling at every page.

Galina Petrovna’s Three-Legged Dog Story

Touching true stories from the heyday of the Butlin’s holiday camps. ‘When I got to the camp I felt as if I’d suddenly walked into Utopia – it was so colourful, so warm, so friendly. There were lights across the roads, there were banners fluttering in the breeze… There seemed to be laughter coming from every building.’ With grey post-WWII skies hanging low over Britain, factories lining the streets and smoke stacks dotting the horizon, there was one way that ordinary families could escape: the ever-cheerful holiday camps of Butlin’s. When Billy Butlin founded his holiday camps in 1936, they were bastions of community spirit and havens of luxury. Here, for one week, wives and mothers were freed from the toil and drudgery of housework, children ran free through the grounds, fathers and husbands hung up their work clothes. Ever-helpful redcoats were on hand all hours of the day, dinner halls ready with plentiful food for old and young alike, bars stocked to quench any level of thirst, ballrooms waiting to be flooded with shiny shoes, rustling dresses and peals of laughter. And, as the sun went down on another exhausting, happy day, a chorus line was ready to sing holidaymakers back to their beds. Rich in period detail and highly evocative, Wish You Were Here! follows the lives of seven of the camps’ key figures through the highs and lows of the holiday season: from redcoats searching for stardom to young families who returned year after year, to pensioners who rediscovered an inner youth. The laughter and tears, the loves and losses, and the fun and friendships that have lasted a lifetime – it's all here. Funny, moving and heartwarming, they are tales of swimming pools and sing-a-longs, Glamorous Grannies and bicycle rides, and of a community spirit that burned brightly in a much-loved British institution.

Wish You Were Here!

From the bestselling author of The Disappeared and Unwanted comes the newest thriller by the Queen of Scandi Crime A man, wearing his daughter’s wedding ring, is found in front of his fireplace, a bullet hole in his chest. A funeral director searches desperately for his brother – a man who doesn’t seem to be missed. A woman struggles to protect her children and her life as her husband turns ever more dangerous. Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht believe that these three cases are totally unrelated… until they uncover a connection between these three people that changes everything. Soon Bergman and Recht are pulled into an escalating series of events where old sins return to haunt all involved. And someone is leaving them taunting messages… but who, and why? Kristina Ohlsson has already sold nearly a million copies worldwide. Now discover for yourself what makes her one of the world’s favourite crime writers. Praise for Kristina Ohlsson, the Queen of Scandi Crime: 'Kristina Ohlsson has managed to achieve what many before her have only attempted: to take the Swedish crime novel to a new and unexpected level' Arne Dahl 'The writing is tense, dense and very atmospheric. The stories sharp and impossible to let go. Kristina Ohlsson is a true queen of Scandinavian crime.' Mons Kallentoft 'Kristina Ohlsson is a rising star of Scandinavian crime fiction' Sunday Times 'Superbly crafted, and with a set of police detectives who are all too human, it seeps into your subconscious, as only truly good thrillers can do' Daily Mail ‘Expect Ohlsson to join Nesbo on most readers' can't-miss lists’ Booklist (starred review)

The Flood

Told with warmth and humour, The Ever Open Door is the story of a hard working, down-to-earth community in a small Yorkshire town during the Second World War and its aftermath. Burly steelworker Jim Butler and his wife Sally are quite content in their little house on Potters Row. Jim's only complaint is that Sally is too soft hearted for her own good, always at the beck and call of any neighbour, friend or even stranger. Sally, on the other hand, accuses Jim of being a soft touch for anyone after a drink or two at the Rising Sun. Both accept that neither will ever change and they love each other and their daughter Daisy deeply. Theirs is a close-knit family in a close-knit community where gossip - both good and bad - abounds and neighbour looks out for neighbour and friend for friend. And when Sally's generosity leads to an inheritance it should mean a change of life for the better, instead it brings danger and difficult choices for them all...

The Ever Open Door

They loved. They lost. They lived. In the small Yorkshire town of Cottenly - dominated by the steel works and surrounded by beautiful countryside - Isaac Stanford lives with his wife Emily and their three lovely daughters, known locally as the Stanford lasses. Alice, the eldest, lives only for her work as a secretary and chapel on Sunday. Fair and loving Lizzie is content with her job making umbrellas - until she falls in love with George Crossman and all she desires is to be a wife and mother. And headstrong Ruth, the merry one, is intent upon marrying handsome charmer, Walter Wray, despite warnings from friends and family. Already emotionally damaged by a traumatic childhood, Alice struggles to lead a normal life. Poor but happy with her ever increasing family, with the onset of war, Lizzie faces the threat of losing all she holds dear. And Ruth soon realises she has made a terrible mistake in her marriage as she becomes trapped in a life of poverty and violence. As the years pass each sister is forced to confront her greatest challenge ...

The Stanford Lasses

Perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and Nancy Revell, a feel-good, uplifting and funny saga set in post war London from Sunday Times bestseller Pip Granger. "A colourful, deeply nostalgic evocation of Soho in the Fifties, drawing heavily on the author's own childhood." -- CHOICE "She brings the East End to life" -- BARBARA WINDSOR "Lovely book - enjoyed it immensely. Very funny and very accurate of London in the 1950s." -- ***** Reader review "A brilliant, amusing, unputdownable book." -- ***** Reader review ********************************************** THE WAR MAY BE LONG OVER BUT LIFE IN SOHO IS ANYTHING BUT CALM... 1956: Lizzy is working in Soho when Peace, the daughter of her employer Bandy Bunion's estranged sister, comes to stay. Peace is a beautiful sixteen-year-old part-Chinese girl who has run away from boarding school and who has no intention of going back. Having lost her own daughter - Rosie's best friend - to leukaemia two years previously, she feels a special bond with Peace. She also feels that life has been rather quiet recently; but things are about to change dramatically... When Peace goes missing a second time, and no one knows where she's gone, it looks as though there's only one thing to do. Lizzy asks TC - her new man and a policeman - to help her find Peace, and the first place they must visit is the dock area in Limehouse... No Peace for the Wicked paints a picture of 1950s Soho so authentic you feel as though you are there...

No Peace For The Wicked

When seventeen-year-old Mary O'Connor collapses one Sunday in church she is taken to live with Dr Roberts and his wife in a beautiful Yorkshire village for her health. Though initially employed as a maid, Mary soon becomes the daughter the couple were never able to have. With Britain at war, unable to remain idle, Mary finds employment in the local steel works but when her fiancé Tom Downing is killed in action Mary is convinced it is retribution for their night of sin during Tom's Christmas leave. However, Mary grows to love Jack Holmes, a local miner. They marry and move into a humble terrace house with little but their love to keep them going. As the years pass Mary is determined to achieve success for herself and her family. She sets up her own dressmaking business and it seems as if she has finally found peace of mind. But the business starts to dominate her life until tragedy once more threatens to destroy all she most cherishes...

Christmas Past

Lucy Gabbitas has just left school and is excited about joining her sisters at the local umbrella factory. But then her beloved father dies of lung disease leaving Lucy and her brothers and sisters broken-hearted. With barely enough to make ends meet, the family receive no sympathy from their tyrannical mother, Annie, and their first Christmas without him holds little comfort and joy. Things seem to be looking brighter for Lucy when she meets John Grey and falls in love. That is until Annie becomes seriously ill and dies, and Lucy is forced to put her family first. But despite their continued hardship and despair, Lucy resolves to turn their home into a happy one for her brothers and sisters, and for the family of her own she dearly hopes for. And she is determined to make Christmas a joyous occasion for them all once more...

A Family Christmas

The brand new thriller featuring Investigative Analyst Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht of the Stockholm police. On a cold winter's day, a pre-school teacher is shot to death in front of parents and children at the Jewish Congregation in Stockholm. Just a few hours later two Jewish boys go missing on their way to tennis practice. A heavy snowstorm hits Stockholm and the traces of the perpetrator are few and far between. Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht are faced with one of their toughest challenges ever as they hunt for a killer that seems as merciless as he is effective. The leads in the investigation are many and diverse but in the end they all point to the same place: Israel. Someone or something called the Paper Boy keeps popping up in the police investigation. But who was he really? And could he possibly have resurfaced in Stockholm, now claiming new victims?

The Chosen

Fifteen years ago, a teenage girl is assaulted and raped as she picks flowers for a Midsummer's Eve ritual. Cut to the present, and a man is killed in a hit and run. He has no identification on him, he is not reported missing nor wanted by the police. At the same time, a priest and his wife are found dead in an apparent suicide. Fredrika Bergman, along with Alex Recht's federal investigation unit, is assigned to the seemingly unconnected cases. The investigations lead to a clandestine people-smuggling network: a new player on the international human smuggling market operating out of Bangkok. As the police slowly uncover the shocking hypocrisy behind the network, they begin to find a trail that runs all the way back to the 1980s, to a crime that went unreported, but whose consequences will reach further and deeper than anyone ever expected.

Silenced

'When the film begins she has no idea what she is about to see. Nor does she realise what devastating consequences this film and the decisions she then makes will have on the rest of her life.' The body of a young woman is found carved up and buried in a forest glade in an innocuous Swedish suburb. Alex Recht and his team in the Stockholm Police soon identify the body as belonging to missing student, Rebecca Trolle, but as his team continues to excavate the site, they soon find that someone has been returning to the same spot to bury their victims year after year, decade after decade. Investigative Analyst Fredrika Bergman is assigned the task of delving into Rebecca's private life. But little does she know that her enquiries are about to uncover evidence that will put her actions under scrutiny from Internal Affairs, and will throw her private life into turmoil. And what does the case have to do with the elderly children's author living in a care home . . . who has never spoken a word to anyone since she arrived years ago? Kristina Ohlsson has already sold more than 830,000 copies worldwide. Now discover for yourself what makes her Sweden's favourite crime writer.

The Disappeared

A moving story of three women thrust together in the heat of war, determined to help their country… New Year's Eve, 1940: Evie Chase, determined to make a difference to the war effort, joins the ATA, the civilian pilots who ferry Tiger Moths and Spitfires to bases across Britain. Two other women nervously join up: Stella Grainger and Megan Jones. Billeted in a tiny cottage, they must learn to live and work together. Brave, beautiful and fiercely independent, they find romance, confront loss, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime.

The Beauty Chorus

Berlin 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a nineteen-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie takes off her yellow star and vanishes into the city. Always on the move, never certain who could be trusted and how far, it was her quick-witted determination and the most amazing and hair-raising strokes of luck that ensured her survival.

Gone to Ground

God was everywhere, once. Prayer was part of public life; places of worship marked our landscape. Equality is the new deity now, and much of Europe is already becoming a no-God area. In this short essay, Christina Odone explores whether God is no longer welcome in the West, and whether religious followers have been silenced in our newly secular society.

No God Zone

Brilliant and mercurial Will Tye suffers a life changing accident. The terrible event ripples through three generations of the complex Tye family, bringing to light old tragedies and dangerous secrets. Each member of the family holds some clue to the chain of events, which may have led to the accident and each holds themselves to blame. Most closely affected is Will's cousin Cecelia, whose own life will change forever, depending on how she responds to such unbelievable and shocking truths…

Cousins

RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB CHOICE Luke Livingstone is a lucky man. He’s a respected solicitor, a father and grandfather, a pillar of the community. He has a loving wife and an idyllic home in the Oxfordshire countryside. Yet Luke is struggling with an unbearable secret, and it’s threatening to destroy him. All his life, Luke has hidden the truth about himself and his identity. It’s a truth so fundamental that it will shatter his family, rock his community and leave him outcast. But Luke has nowhere left to run, and to continue living, he must become the person – the woman – he knows himself to be, whatever the cost.

The New Woman

relevance|desc

publishdate|desc

publishdate|asc

rating|desc

title|asc

author_lastname|asc

BookBeat gives you access to 1 million audiobooks right on your mobile. Find your next favourite by browsing through our top lists and categories.

Do you like to read books? Discover 1 million e-books at BookBeat. Pick and choose from different genres, such as best-sellers, crime, romance, non-fiction and much more!

Get access to 1 million e-books on your phone. Browse and find your next favorite read today!

On our Bookshelf - Audiobooks

With BookBeat you can explore more than 1 million audiobooks and e-books on your mobile or tablet. Try for free and enjoy a world of stories at BookBeat.

BookBeat - Audiobooks and e-books directly in the mobile. Try for free!

Unless you're out on an adventure, it's better to sign up at the website of {country}.

You can browse and find the most popular authors and books in the BookBeat app here. We’ve got a great selection of various authors and genres, this list will definitely inspire you to a great reading experience in the app!

{AuthorName} books - BookBeat

{NarratorName} as narrator - BookBeat

Are you on the hunt for your new favourite narrator, or do you have a favourite that you want to listen to even more? We've got you covered! We've gathered all of the most popular narrators and the books they’ve narrated here.

Search - BookBeat

Title

Person doing dishes and listening to BookBeat

Narrator

Maggie Mash

Get started with BookBeat today

About us

Follow us

Help and contact

Information

BookBeat

Download BookBeat