Showing results by narrator "Annie Aldington" in All Categories

Nellie Welche’s life changes for ever when she’s proposed as companion to Princess Sophia, daughter of mad King George III and Queen Charlotte. Taken into the heart of the family, Nellie is privy to the innermost secrets of the wayward House of Hanover. From the first rumblings of the French Revolution to the beginnings of the railway age, Nellie charts their story as she and Princess Sofy support each other through the ups and downs of their extraordinary lives.

After escaping the grip of the workhouse, Lily has kept her fiancé's business afloat while he is away fighting on the Western Front. Still battling on, she's now doing her bit for her country as an auxiliary nurse - but one thing above all else continues to weigh heavily on her heart: her long-lost sister. Born just before her mother died, the scandal was hushed-up and the baby spirited away. But now, at last, there is hope Lily could find her little sister for she has a clue to go on: the name of the notorious baby farmer who bought the child all those years ago. Mrs Jolley.

Whitechapel in the 1930s was not an easy place to be brought up, and when the war came, those with nothing were hit the hardest. Queenie watched her family struggle and learned her lessons the hard way. When she was a little girl, there was one thing Queenie knew - she was going to get out of this.... And then tall, dark and handsome Alfie Butler walks into her life and gives Queenie her ticket out. One rushed wedding later, the real trouble begins. As the Krays make their mark on the East End, Queenie realises what it takes for an East End girl to really succeed.

In 1950, after her marriage went badly wrong, Dolly Taylor returned to Rotherhithe from America. She is now helping her best friend, Penny, to walk again after she contracted polio. Not able to have children of her own, Dolly envies Penny for having a beautiful baby daughter, Gail. Penny's husband, Reg, has set up his own business as a builder and offers Dolly a job in the office. Tony, who was engaged to Dolly before the war, also works for Reg and is still pursuing his childhood sweetheart.

When Poppy Robbins is targeted by a blackmailer threatening to reveal secrets from her family’s past, she turns to the mysterious Edward Taverner for help. Taverner proposes an escape to his country manor, and to maintain a respectable appearance, he asks her to pose as his fiancée. She reluctantly agrees, but then finds herself trapped, unwelcome and alone in a threadbare mansion. Has her engagement secret put her in greater danger, or will it change her life forever?

Malice is book three in the best-selling Rina Walker series, following Harm and Threat. London, 1964. Gang warfare is breaking out, and Rina Walker's struggle to survive amid the battles and betrayals of a gruesome cast of racketeers and gangsters requires all her considerable skills as an assassin. Playing one side off against the other to protect those she loves, Rina is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse where her life is just one of many at stake....

Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Ronnie Biggs, the Krays.... All have become folk heroes, glamorised and romanticised, even when they killed. But where are their female equivalents? Where are the street robbers, gang leaders, diamond thieves, gold smugglers and bank robbers? Queens of the Underworld reveals the incredible story of female crooks from the 17th century to the present.

London, 1940. After her fiancé breaks off their engagement, Evelyn decides to do her part for the war effort by signing up for construction work on Waterloo Bridge. Grieving after her little boy dies in an air raid, Gwen is completely lost when her husband sends their younger children to the countryside for safety. Enlisting as a construction worker, she is partnered with cheerful Evelyn. The two women strike up a heartwarming friendship.

The final thrilling showdown between the Mitchells and the Butlers. This is Kimberley Chambers at her heart-stopping best! One of them has a gun to his head. Who will pull the trigger? When king of the underworld Vinny Butler goes into business with respected villain Eddie Mitchell, it's a match made in East End legend. Friends and family are treated like gold, enemies like rats - it's the life. Then mysterious packages arrive, dead creatures and threats. Someone is out for revenge.

Molly Dawson, now a respectable married woman, lives with her husband, head gardener Charlie, on the Woodchurch Manor estate, where they have brought up three delightful daughters. Her life appears idyllic...but she has suffered the torment of a secret since she was 18 years old. When George Smith - a young stranger fresh out of the Navy - appears at the estate's annual garden party, Molly's life is set to change again....

Clara Fitzroy refuses to conform to convention. Her reckless behaviour has devastating consequences and an ill-judged liaison threatens to destroy everything she's hoped for. Clara has to make a decision that will change her life. Will she make the right one? She asks Daisy Carter, the hotel housekeeper, for help, but Daisy has problems of her own. A family relationship brings grief and heartache and a well meaning action ends in disaster. A life-changing moment, a heartbreaking choice.

London, 1941. The East End Angels - Frankie, Bella and Winnie - are settled into life as ambulance crew members at LAAS Station Seventy-Five. The threat of air raids and other atrocities are a constant worry, but life continues regardless, and the weight of responsibility weighs heavy on each of them. Frankie's grandfather is unwell, and she promised him she would always look after Ivy, her stepgrandmother, but things between the two women are becoming increasingly strained. And then Frankie discovers something that turns everything she thought she knew about herself on its head.

The close, loving family life Rose has known is shattered when the country goes to war. Rose resolves to do her bit so, aged 16, she leaves home to train as a nurse in London. There she finds freedom, excitement and a different way of life. A brief encounter with a soldier opens her eyes to romance, but is he the man she thinks he is? Can first love survive long separation or will Rose discover that her heart belongs to another? When the war brings searing loss and heartbreak, can Rose find the strength to look to the future?

When Janey has to leave her home after her stepfather beats her up, she finds herself in a children's home. She soon settles in, and the friends she makes become her new family. But at 16, Janey has to leave the home and is found a job as a housemaid. She feels abandoned again and the job is awful. Her situation doesn't improve until she meets Christy, a blind woman, and is employed as her companion. When Janey meets Christy's son, Charles, she falls in love with him. But alas, Charles is married.

When Nell Draper leaves the workhouse to care for the five-year-old son of Lord Eversham, a wealthy landowner, she has no idea of the heartache that lies ahead of her. Robert can't speak. He can't tell her what makes him happy or sad. Nell has to work that out for herself. And not everyone is happy about Robert's existence. Can Nell save him from a desolate future, secure his inheritance and ensure he takes his rightful place in society?

Like most in London's 1920s East End, Joan Baldwin has her crosses to bear. Her greatest by far is her husband: a violent drinker and gambler. When he perishes, Joan is surprised by her sudden freedom. She finds a housekeeping job in Kent, and when her employer dies, leaving her 200 guineas, Joan is able to start her own dressmaking business. Then she meets Eric Roussel, a charismatic businessman, and it looks like happiness will finally be hers. But is he a little too slick to be trusted?

Life's been hard for Marcie Brooks, but when she marries Michael Jones things start to look up. Not only has he given her daughter, Joanna, his name but they now also have a son. The family's finances are on the up too, with Michael opening his first nightclub. However, when he refuses to do business with Paddy Rafferty, an Irish gangster, Michael soon finds him on the wrong side of the law.

Becky, Bernie and Rose - three best friends from very different backgrounds - are working hard to establish themselves in prewar Spitalfields. Becky, the daughter of a Jewish tailor, wants to become a nurse, but her father has more traditional plans for her. Aching to leave the East End and travel the world, Bernie feels trapped by her vast family of poor Irish dock workers. And then there is Rose. Tiny and thin, she lives with her drunken mother and a revolving selection of surrogate fathers who exploit and brutalise them both.

Inquisitor Greyfax and a retinue of incorruptible Grey Knights are sent on a mission by the reborn Primarch Guilliman to recover the Eye of Night, a fabled artefact of Ruin that could weaken the Great Rift. It will be no easy task as Greyfax – with the aid of a long dead inquisitor – must journey into the Eye of Terror itself and challenge a traitor of a truly ancient pedigree, the crone Moriana.

Interior designer Kat is broke and desperately needs this commission restoring the Edwardian mansion of Fownhope Priors, but her employer Scott's wife and mother-in-law are a nightmare. Yet when they are killed in suspicious circumstances, and she is the last person to see him, she can't help but be drawn in to the family's feuds. Where has Scott Hawkesmoor vanished to? Is it back to Yorkshire where his wife and mother-in-law died? Or is it somewhere far stranger? And how can she ever explain it to anyone–especially the police–let alone how she knows?