Showing results by narrator "Julia Franklin" in All Categories

Juliet Joyce has been happily married to Rick for 25 years. But with two children who treat the house like a hotel, a mother who's moved in with them and a father who's announced a radical life change, Juliet and Rick have little time for themselves, let alone romance.

Carla's 50th birthday is approaching when her world is turned upside down. Discovering her husband is having yet another affair and following her mother’s death, she is in need of an escape. Finding an envelope addressed to her mother’s estranged sister Josette in the south of France gives Carla the perfect plan. Seizing the moment, she packs her bags and heads to Antibes to seek out the enigma known as Tante Josette. But as the two women begin to forge a tentative relationship, family secrets start to unravel, forcing Carla to question her life as she has always known it.

In 1960, Kate Freeman, daughter of the inimitable Rose Webster, goes to London to follow her dream of becoming a photographer. But Kate has a long journey to take before she can realise her ambition. The era that was dubbed "a time of peace" proves to be anything but, as Kate's family and friends cope with tragedy, upheaval, and the tears and laughter of family life. The comfort of loved ones and the support of friends goes a long way.

The railway girls have survived unsettling times, and while the bombings might have eased, their own turmoil has only just begun. With Christmas fast approaching, will their wishes come true?

Glamorised, mythologised, and demonised - the women of the 1920s were determined to reinvent the way they lived. Flappers focuses on six women who between them exemplified the range and daring of that generation’s spirit. Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka were far from typical flappers. Talented, reckless, and wilful, with personalities that transcended their class and background, they rewrote their destinies in remarkable, entertaining and tragic ways.

When Pixie Sampson's husband tragically dies, she inherits the beautiful Château Quiltu in Brittany, Northern France. But unbeknown to her, she also inherits a mysterious lodger, Justine Martin and her four-year-old son, Ferdie. Heartbroken and with her adventurous mum, Gwen, in tow, they travel to France to put the château on the market but are soon drawn into a quest to seek the château's secrets. Who is Justine? Why is she living at the château? How did she know her husband?

The joyous Christmas novel from the Sunday Times top-ten bestselling author of A Family Recipe and The Beach Hut 'A glorious story full of hope, heartache and Christmas magic' Cathy Bramley 'Wise, insightful, beautiful written and sprinkled with Christmas joy - I adored this book' Milly Johnson...

When twins Annie and Lauren attend their older sister Chelsea's 40th birthday party at the Dorchester Hotel, they wonder why their lives are so different. Chelsea's husband is twirling her round the dance floor, while Annie's husband has gone fishing and Lauren's lover is at home with his wife and children.

After tragically losing her husband, Nicola Jacques and her teenage son, Oliver, relocate to his father’s family's Olive Farm in the hills above the French Riviera. Due to a family feud, Oliver has never known his fathers’ side of the family, and Grandpapa Henri is intent that Oliver will take over the reins of the ancestral farm and his rightful inheritance. Determined to keep her independence from a rather controlling grandpapa, Nicola buys a run-down cottage on the edge of the family's Olive Farm and sets to work renovating their new home and providing an income.

Brought to you by Penguin. A brand-new page-turning historical saga from the bestselling author of A Shilling for a Wife, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin Manchester, 1867 Mara longs for a peaceful life free of violence and poverty. But she has married into the O'Hara family...

Monte Carlo means different things to different people - a billionaires' playground where dangerous secrets hide. For Nanette Weston and her then fiancé, F1 racing driver Zac Ewart, their dream life came to an abrupt halt three years ago following a car accident which Zac walked away from but left Nanette being airlifted back to the UK, never to return or see her fiancé again. But when her friend and employer Vanessa asks Nanette to look after her children in the Principality for a few months, Nanette knows she has no choice but to return.

Winter has arrived in the town of Windermere and has brought with it the death of Frances Henderson, the best friend of Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's mother. Simmy must cope with the loss of an important figure from her childhood as well as the confusion at being bequeathed something in Frances' will. When Frances' husband is violently murdered, Simmy must face the fact that the family she was once so close to as a child holds some dark secrets.

Meet Patience Portefeux, 53, an underpaid Franco-Arab judicial interpreter for the Ministry of Justice who specialises in telephone tapping. Widowed after the sudden death of her husband, Patience is now wedged between university fees for her two grown-up daughters and nursing home costs for her ageing mother. She’s laboured for 25 years to keep everyone’s heads above water.

Newly single and unemployed, Cleo Moon ups sticks and moves to the gloriously rustic hamlet of Lovers Knot. With its host of mad but delightful neighbours, she very soon feels at home, especially when she finds The Most Beautiful Boy in the World slumped on her doorstep - the drop-dead-gorgeous and achingly-upper-class Dylan Maguire. But when she is given the taxing task of organising the annual Harvest shindig, things start going horribly wrong for Cleo.

Two lives. Two families. One tragedy. Lauren Scott is bright, talented and beautiful. At eighteen, she is the most precious gift in the world to her mother, and has a dazzling career ahead of her. Oliver Lomax is a young man full of promise, despite the shadow his own, deeply troubled, mother...

Left as a newborn in a box outside Stoke City Football ground, her grandparents took her into their home. But instead of finding a sanctuary, Nicky was subjected to horrific sexual abuse throughout her childhood. In 1951, when Nicky was six years old, her glamorous-looking estranged mother arrived on the doorstep to 'rescue' her. But Nicky's hopes of a safe and loving family were very soon smashed, and her world became darker still. 

On midsummer's day, Phoebe Bowler - star-sign demon - should have returned home a happy new bride. Instead, she's been jilted at the altar. In need of sympathy, she could turn to her neighbour, Rocky Lancaster, but with problems of his own he's turned into Mr Grumpy. That is until Essie Rivers arrives on the scene, and then Phoebe and Rocky's paths seem destined to collide with a very big bump. Essie knows far more about astrology, personology, numerology - any "ology" you care to mention - than Phoebe.

July 1914. Britain is in turmoil as WW1 begins to change the world. While the young men disappear off to foreign battlefields, the women left at home throw themselves into jobs meant for the boys. Hiding her privileged background and her suffragette past, Constance Copeland signs up to be a Clippie on the trams in Staffordshire, despite her parents' disapproval. Constance, known as Connie, soon makes fast friends with lively fellow Clippies, Betty and Jean, as well as growing closer to the charming, gentle Inspector Robert Caldwell.

Returning from a much-needed holiday, Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown discovers that life in the Lake District is, as ever, far from relaxing. Before she can enjoy the idea of being the future Mrs Chris Henderson, her fiancé discovers the body of his friend, antique dealer Jonathan Woolley, brutally strangled in a house in Grasmere. Enlisting the help of her friends and amateur detectives Ben and Bonnie, the investigation appears to ask more questions than it answers as historical grudges against the dead man are revealed. It seems that many people had a reason for wanting him dead.

As Christmas approaches, Alice, Edith and Marg continue to face hardships growing up on one of the poorest streets in Blackpool. Penniless, their friendship has helped them survive this far, but it'll take more than that to see them through the dark days that lie ahead.... Newly married Alice receives shocking news about her pregnancy that threatens the future she's always dreamed of. Marg is struggling to care for her ailing mother and ensure her little sister receives the education she deserves. Edith is grieving the loss of her family while preparing to marry her sweetheart.