Showing results by narrator "Elaine Claxton" in All Categories

The seat of the Trelawney family for over 800 years, Trelawney Castle was once the jewel of the Cornish coast. Each successive Earl spent with abandon, turning the house and grounds into a sprawling, extravagant palimpsest of wings, turrets and follies. But recent generations have been better at spending than making money. Now living in isolated penury, unable to communicate with each other or the rest of the world, the family are running out of options.

Adam Craig is fourteen when he meets Brid near an isolated Celtic stone in the wild Scottish Highlands—he is fascinated by her exotic, gypsy-like dress and strange attitudes. They become friends, and, in time, passionate lovers. She leads him, unsuspecting, into the sixth century, where she has mastered the ancient mysteries and dangerous magic of the Druids. In her obsession with Adam, Brid is seen as a traitor by her people, only escaping death by following Adam to Edinburgh, when he leaves home to study medicine.

People are like flowers. If you give them the right environment in which to grow, they bloom. 'It put a spell on me' Lesley Pearse, Sunday Times Bestseller 'Charming' Katie Fforde, Sunday Times Bestseller With nothing but time on her hands, retired nurse Rose Lanyon finds herself drawn to the...

Six stories starring Alison Uttley's best-known character, Little Grey Rabbit. Since their first publication over 80 years ago, Alison Uttley's Little Grey Rabbit stories have become classics of children's literature. Enjoy the following adventures on this special audio collection: The Squirrel, The Hare and the Little Grey Rabbit, How Little Grey Rabbit Got Back Her Tail, The Story of Fuzzypeg the Hedgehog, The Great Adventure of Hare.

England, 1459: Cecily, duchess of York, is embroiled in a plot to topple the weak-minded King Henry VI from the throne. But when the Yorkists are defeated at the Battle of Ludford Bridge, Cecily’s family flee and abandon her to face a marauding Lancastrian army on her own. Cecily can only watch as her lands are torn apart and divided up by the ruthless Queen Marguerite. 

'The quintessential beach read - if fun, pacey and beautifully written books about complicated friendships are your SPF of choice' PANDORA SYKES, SUNDAY TIMES STYLE 'Fabulously stylish and funny' DAILY MAIL 'Absorbingly astute' HEAT 'Hugely entertaining . . . thought-provoking and touching. I...

Looking out from Moon Cottage, Susan Hill records the sights and smells, the people, gardens, animals, births, festivals and deaths that mark the changing seasons in the small Oxfordshire community.

Join Katie, Eva and Alex on their adventures, as they're whisked away to a magical woods alive with animals, where they're no longer girls but animals. This collection contains the first six books of the series: A Magical Beginning, To the Rescue, Lost and Found, The Birthday Party, Save the Day and An Enchanted Wedding.

Survival means fighting back. Set across Sunderland and New York in the late 19th century, A Woman of Courage is a heartwarming saga by Rita Bradshaw, author of the bestselling Believing in Tomorrow. It's 1890, and Josie Gray is an innocent and beautiful fifteen-year old when Adam McGuigan, the...

‘[I] absolutely loved this fictional take on some of the most legendary women of Hollywoods Golden Age! Perfect for books clubs.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ NetGalley Reviewer For fans of Fiona Davis, Kathleen Tessaro and Taylor Jenkins Reid in the most enlightening and exciting bookclub read of the...

Immaculate Forms examines all the ways in which medicine and religion have played a gatekeeping role over women's organs. It explores how the womb was seen as both the most miraculous organ in the body and as a sewer; uncovers breasts' legacies as maternal or sexual organs - or both; probes the mystery of the disappearing hymen, and asks, did the clitoris need to be discovered at all?

'You read her, laughing, and want to do your best to protect her characters from any reality but their own' New York Times It is 1945. When peace breaks out at last, familiar wartime routines are interrupted, and the residents of Barsetshire seem as disconcerted as they are overjoyed. As the...

Jack Middleton likes to imagine himself a country squire. At weekends he retires to Laverings Estate with his wife, Catherine. He may be pompous, and they may seem ill-matched, but the couple are devoted to each other. When Jack's widowed sister, Lilian, and her two stepchildren arrive to spend...

Barsetshire in the latter years of the Second World War is a peaceful and gossipy place, but there has been one lively change. A girls' school, evacuated from London, has taken over Harefield Park. Miss Sparling seems to be the perfect headmistress: she dresses as a headmistress should and is an...

As the war continues it brings its own set of trials to the the village of Northbridge. Eight officers of the Barsetshire Regiment have been billeted at the rectory, and Mrs Villars, the Rector's wife, is finding the attentions of Lieutenant Holden (who doesn't seem to mind that she is married...

'You read her, laughing, and want to do your best to protect her characters from any reality but their own' New York Times Mr Marling, of Marling Hall, has begun to accept - albeit reluctantly - that he will probably never be able to pass his wonderful old estate on to his children. The Second...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the most astonishing child prodigy in the history of music, is felt by many people to be the greatest composer who ever lived. Dominated and shaped by a highly intelligent but frustrated and ambitious father, his story sees the development of a unique genius, from precocious and often endearing childhood to liberated fulfillment, unexpected poverty, and a tragically early death. Generously illustrated by Mozart’s music, from his fifth to his final year, this portrait-in-sound reveals a fascinating yet elusive character, drawing richly on the words of the composer himself and those who knew him.

Brahms is one of the best loved yet most controversial of all the Romantics. Almost uniquely, his works have never suffered the slightest period of eclipse. Profoundly emotional yet governed by an iron discipline, the music, like the man, is a fascinating, entertaining, often deeply moving blend of opposites. He had a gift for friendship and a capacity for love far beyond the ordinary, yet no man could be ruder or more hurtful.

London, 1888. Abandoned by her mother at the age of seven, Jerusha Carey is no stranger to being left behind. Eleven years later she is married to Dan Applebee, an older, reliable farmer from Kent. Jerusha believes she has finally found the security she has always craved. But then disaster strikes. Kent, 1904. Two years after the sudden death of her husband, Jerusha is alone once again. But the arrival of the enigmatic Joe Finch, a traveller seeking work on the farm and a home for his daughter, sets Jerusha's life on a new path, giving her hope for her future.

The life of Franz Liszt was as daring and spectacular as his music. Famed throughout Europe as the greatest pianist of the nineteenth century, he was one of the most original and prophetic composers who ever lived. Beautiful in youth, glowering in age, his high-profile love affairs were the talk of the town wherever he went and his generosity to young musicians was legendary. In this account of his epic life, actors’ readings combine with plentiful musical excerpts to paint a living portrait of a highly complex man.