Showing results by narrator "Julia Franklin" in All Categories

Dark-hearted Sheikh Prince Jamil al-Nazarri commands his kingdom effortlessly…less so his difficult little daughter! Exasperated, he hires an English governess, hoping she’ll instil some much-needed discipline.... Lady Cassandra Armstrong is the most unconventional governess Jamil has ever seen! With her siren’s body and impulsive passion, Cassie is as innocently alluring as she is forbidden.

Poor Viv has begun to look like the sofa she sits on most of the time.... This is a debut novel from actress and audiobook reader Julia Franklin. ‘I’ve read somewhere between 300 and 400 novels as audio books over the last 25 years,’ she says, ‘so I thought it was time to have a go at a novel of my own.’ The result is Turn Up for the Book, a romantic comedy that begins with the breakup, one Christmas, of a marriage.

Grandmother Ruth Sutton writes to the man she hates more than anyone else on the planet: the man who she believes killed her daughter Lizzie in a brutal attack four years earlier. In writing to him Ruth hopes to exorcise the corrosive emotions that are destroying her life, to find the truth and with it release and a way forward. Whether she can ever truly forgive him is another matter - but the letters are her last, best hope.

Iron-strong discipline had enabled Jay Courtland to reach the top against all odds, first as a professional footballer and then as a businessman - and he had always adhered to the rules strictly. Even in his private life he always made it clear at the outset that the ground rule was “no commitment” - which was exactly what he told Vanessa when they first met.

Thinking of her young son, Arabella dons the mask of Miss Noir for her first night at Mrs Silver's House of Pleasures and smiles prettily at the next gentleman who enters.... Dominic Furneaux, Duke of Arlesford, is stunned to see that the woman who shattered his heart has fallen so low. He offers her a way out - by making her his mistress!

A poignant imagining of Thomas Hardy’s relationship with his last muse. A celebrated author, in the winter of his life, awaits a visit from a beautiful young actress – the leading lady in a staging of his most famous tragedy. But his wife is troubled. An anxious and sickly woman, she watches the growing intimacy between her husband and the young woman, and becomes tormented by the idea that they will betray her.

Living in Victorian Oxfordshire, Poppy Woods has suffered neglect and cruelty from her very first breath. Illegally adopted by the tight fisted and merciless Sidney Woods and his wicked wife, life in the quiet hamlet of Hurst is a daily challenge for Poppy, softened only by her caring neighbours, the Greenfield family, who keep a watchful eye over her. Ella Greenfield is like a true sister, and a childhood love for Arthur Greenfield blossoms.

Having been recently widowed in her 40s, shy Jane Redfern finally plucks up the courage to go on holiday alone. Embarking on a 10-day coach trip to Germany, the last thing she anticipates is to meet someone new and fall in love. But gradually she finds herself drawn to a fellow passenger, Shropshire farmer Dave Falconer, who has also lost his partner. In the stunning Black Forest, her friendship with Dave looks set to blossom. But riddled with guilt at having to leave her cantankerous 85-year-old mother in a retirement home, Jane finds it impossible to imagine a new life with someone else. And there’s something Dave hasn’t been telling her....

Imagine being married for 28 years with three children, a lovely house and a husband who travels a lot - but you still love each other. Or: imagine being happily married for 17 years. You have one daughter and your husband travels a lot. One day you get a call that turns your world upside down: your husband is dead. You go to the funeral…and meet his other widow…

The Dangerous Lord Darrington is not a man to be welcomed into a house of unprotected women! He may be an earl, but even in the wilds of Yorkshire Beth Forrester has heard tales of the incorrigible rake that make her toes curl… Unexpectedly hosting such a scandalous celebrity is only the first of Beth’s problems. Now the wicked Lord Darrington has found out about the dark secret she will do anything to protect. How to buy a rake’s silence? There is only one way - with her body!

Carrie Tollman awakes in the middle of the night with an intruder gazing down at her. He tells her he's killed before and he'll kill again. One word about what's happened, and he'll be back. Carrie is one of two carers looking after Enora Andressen's favorite scriptwriter. But Pavel is now paralysed, as well as blind, and it falls to Enora to track down this terrifying presence at Carrie's bedside.

Fearsome, eccentric and unpredictable, Patience Collier was an actress whose perfectionism shone through in her every performance, and who worked alongside many of the most celebrated actors and directors of her time. Drawing on material from Collier's extensive archive of diaries and letters as well as interviews with many of those who worked with her, The Performer's Tale paints an involving portrait of a gifted and eccentric woman weaving her way through the 20th century, mixing with artists, leftists and numerous figures from world of entertainment.

Written in the form of two letters, 'Dear Mr. Editor...' showcases Christianna Brand’s skill for crafting inventive plots with a limited cast of characters. In this story, a woman receives a letter from an editor requesting a submission for an anthology of horror stories. Keen to provide an original piece, she plans to kill her sister for the perfect plot.

In Minor Key, John Harvey returns to his old favourites - DI Resnick, jazz and Nottingham - explaining why they interest him before launching into a set of stories, hitherto uncollected. Unsurprisingly, jazz, Resnick and Nottingham feature. This limited edition collection ends with a set of John Harvey's poems about jazz.

Like a princess in a fairytale, Grace Hamilton has been showered with blessings: professional success, a happy marriage, and she even lives in a beautiful castle. But the only thing she really wants – her heart’s desire – is the one thing she can never have. Her sister, the beautiful Susannah, has made a mess of her life. Like a reverse Midas, everything she touches turns sour. But fate puts Grace’s future in Susannah’s hands, changing the balance of power between the sisters forever.

GP Lizzie Browne moves from London to a small coastal town looking forward to a quiet life, but when she finds a murdered patient on her first day it seems that perhaps Stibbington is not so quiet after all. DCI Adam Maguire and colleague Steve Grayson welcome this break from their normal routine, except that there seems to be no apparent motive for anyone to kill a harmless young dropout. But Lizzie’s peace is to be further shattered when a second body is found in her own garden.

Cathy Gordon has made a discovery. Adopted at birth, she finds out at the age of twenty-eight that she has a grandfather. But when she arrives at a cricket match to meet Frank, there is no trace of him - only an alarmingly sexy man called Nick. Heading off to Frank's home in leafy Oxford, she...

Stella Ainsworth has settled for suburban peace with a pedantic husband, a dissatisfied daughter and a clutch of beloved grandchildren - who all take her presence in their lives for granted. Then Cameron Keene, her boyfriend from her teenage years who'd left for America to become a rock icon of the '60s, returns to England. Much to Stella's astonishment, Cameron announces in an interview that his most famous song, which became a legendary love anthem across the world, was written about Stella and that he has come back to find her.

Summer, 1914. Amy Fletcher’s life is transformed when she meets Edmond Derwent, son of one of the wealthiest families in the small town of Larchbury, and student at Cambridge University. When war breaks out, Edmond signs up as an officer and Amy trains as a VAD nurse. Separated by war, Edmond and Amy share their feelings through emotional letters sent from the front line. But when Edmond is critically wounded at Ypres, their love faces the biggest test of all.

Richard and Christine Clay have been married for decades. Their relationship has stood the test of time despite Christine appearing passive while her husband is unmistakably dominant - at times bullying and controlling. Nurse Florence Shaw has seen Christine at the surgery a number of times with minor complaints over the past year, none of which has led to a serious diagnosis. But when Florence hears that the couple appear to have entered into a suicide pact, she is shocked, though not surprised that Richard has survived.