Showing results by narrator "Helen Keeley" in All Categories

A couple drive from London to coastal Provence. Anya is preoccupied with what she feels is a relationship on the verge: unequal, precarious. Luke, reserved, stoic, gives away nothing. As the sun sets one evening, he proposes, and they return to London engaged. But planning a wedding does little to settle Anya’s unease. As a child, she escaped from Sarajevo, and the idea of security is as alien now as it was then. When social convention forces Anya to return, she begins to change. The past she sought to contain for as long as she can remember resurfaces....

The Great Plague has London in its grip. As the summer heat rises, red crosses mark the doors, wealthy citizens flee, and only the poor remain to face the march of death. Ambitious and attractive, Bess Bagwell is determined her carpenter husband, Will, should make a name for himself and schemes to meet Samuel Pepys, diarist, friend of the King and an important man in the Navy shipyards. But Pepys has his own motive for cultivating Bess, and it’s certainly not to benefit her husband. With pestilence rife in the city, all trade ceases.

The place: Seawings, a beautiful art deco home overlooking the sweep of the bay in Midtown-on-Sea. The crime: the gilded Holden family—Piper and Gray and their two teenage children, Riva and Artie—has vanished from the house without a trace. The detective: DS Saul Anguish, brilliant but with a dark past, treads the narrow line between light and shade. One late autumn morning, Piper’s best friend arrives at Seawings to discover an eerie scene.

Brittany, France. Archaeologist Ariadne Walker has never believed local legends of the lost underwater city of Ys or the story of the water witch: the princess of Ys who cursed her lover when he betrayed her. And when her fiancé Simon drowns, following a trail of treasure he believes leads to Ys, Ari’s whole life shatters. Walking alone on the cliffs with her grief, Ari is approached by a mysterious masked figure. But when the figure removes the mask, Ari’s heart almost stops beating. The figure has Simon’s face, but disappears even as she stands frozen in shock.

1915. Patrolling is the last thing on the minds of Women's Police Service recruits Annie, Maggie and Poppy right now, because Annie and her fiancé Richard are about to get married. She's been waiting for this day her whole life, but when it finally comes it brings only heartache and Annie doesn't know if she can go on. The influx of soldiers to the capital means that the WPS's work is more important than ever, though, and Annie's country needs her. She and the girls are posted to the bustling heart of the city and she hopes the new job will distract her from her sorrow.

Thea's loathsome stepbrother is trying to trick her out of her inheritance of her parents' beautiful house in the seaside town of Brighton by means of a will which Thea believes to be forged. Anna is pregnant and grieving, her fiancé lost at sea. Her violent father drives her from the family home in the backstreets of Bermondsey, and her fiancé's upper-class relatives cruelly reject her. Daisy is in search of independence, running from a man she doesn't want to marry. Together the three girls set up Thea's home as a guest house and embark on a mission to outwit her stepbrother.

A contemporary, emotional, but ultimately feel-good, festive up-lit novel for fans of Jenny Colgan, Debbie Johnson, and Holly Martin. Kate Potter used to love Christmas. A few years ago she would have been wrapping her presents in September and baking mince pies on Halloween, counting down to the countdown to Christmas. But a few years ago, everything was different. That was before Kate's husband went away with the army and didn't come home. Now she can hardly stand December at all. Kate's lonely.

In the chaos of the magical assault on Pelias, Wren has been swept far from home. She is now a prisoner, in the heart of enemy territory. At least she has the man she loves beside her, keeping their passion alive during the cold nights in this unfamiliar place. Or so she thought… Finn has changed since returning to his father’s kingdom. Instead of serving the princess he’s proven his loyalty to time and again, he is keeping her under guard in a tower. Desire still lights up his eyes when he looks at her. But is he enamoured by Wren, or her power?

In his work as a speechwriter to senior politicians and business leaders around the world, Philip Collins has become well versed in understanding what it is that makes a speech great. When They Go Low, We Go High explores the ways in which the most notable speeches in history have worked, analysing the rhetorical tricks to uncover how the right speech at the right time can profoundly shape the world.

With her little brother missing in action, gardener Megan Taylor runs from her grief to take a job at Foxfield Hall - a centuries-old place full of myths and folklore - restoring the wild maze in the overgrown gardens. Throwing herself into shaping the tangled ivy, Megan soon becomes drawn into the mystery of Lady Eleanor Fairfax, the Hall’s most famous resident.... The villagers say she disappeared without trace at the Harvest Festival in 1939, leaving behind a grieving father and a heartbroken fiancé.

On a cold, dark February morning, Chris and Leah Hills stop for coffee at an isolated service station a stone’s throw from the Welsh Borders. While Leah heads inside, Chris locks the car and goes in to order their drinks. She shouldn’t be long - after all, they’ve only stopped to stretch their legs. Minutes pass. Chris waits and waits, but Leah doesn’t come back. When Sergeant Mel Daley and her boss, Detective Inspector Harry Baker, arrive to begin a search for the missing woman, their investigation calls everything into question.

A revelatory book about death and mourning by a psychotherapist faced with sudden bereavement. When Juliet Rosenfeld’s husband dies of lung cancer only seven months into their marriage, everything she has learnt about death as a psychotherapist is turned on its head. As she attempts to navigate her way through her own devastating experience of loss, Rosenfeld turns to her battered copy of Freud’s seminal essay 'Mourning and Melancholia'.

As friends gather for a hen weekend, they are all smiles, but cannot hide the web of tension that bubbles beneath the surface. The group was forever broken by the devastating loss of their childhood friend, Becca. The prettiest and most powerful of them all, her absence lies at the heart of this fractured friendship. Now, decades later, someone wants to expose the truth about what happened, and will stop at nothing to reveal the secrets long since buried.

In the middle of a snowball fight, aspiring vet Fliss is whisked away to the Antarctic! Surrounded by penguins, Fliss marvels at the sight of these beautiful animals huddling together to keep warm. Then a snowstorm blows in, separating a chick and its injured mother from the group. Fliss is determined to return her feathery friends to their colony, but the icy waters are full of dangerous creatures, and Fliss isn't used to the harsh environment. It's going to take a lot of quick thinking, and waddling, to reunite them.

A heart-warming and uplifting story about love, loss and finding the strength to say goodbye, from the author of The First Time I Saw You. Jennifer Jones' life began when her little sister, Kerry, was born. So when her sister dies in a tragic accident, nothing seems to make sense any more. Despite the support of her husband, Ed, and their wonderful children, Jen can't comprehend why she is still here while bright, spirited Kerry is not.

Your Chinese Horoscope for Each and Every Year is a helpful and informative guide on Chinese horoscopes. Built on the long-standing success of Your Chinese Horoscope, this new book gives insights into each of the Chinese signs as well as special success tips to help listeners make the most of their sign. The book also contains inspirational quotes for each sign as well as a section in each chapter concerning relationships and how signs relate to one another.

Alison is more alone than she's ever been. She is convinced that her ex-husband Jack is following her. She is certain she recognises the strange woman who keeps approaching her in the canteen. She knows she has a good reason to be afraid. She just can't remember why. Then the mention of one name turns her life upside down. Alison feels like she's losing her mind...but it could just lead her to the truth. We all go a little mad sometimes....

Natalie recognises the man in the supermarket queue. He was accused of a horrific crime. She sat on the jury that let him walk free. The trouble is, she thinks he lied. She thinks he's a guilty man. And now, weeks later, here he is...in her neighbourhood. Should she walk away and forget her suspicions? Or should she follow him? Strike up a conversation? Invite him into her home? Into her bed?

On a balmy evening in late March, Kata hosts a party on her husband's superyacht. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of famous people, while uniformed staff flank a red carpet on the landing dock. This night marks the attainment of something she's wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But some around Kata are full of resentment and closer to home than she could have ever imagined.

1916. Poppy is being transferred to an enormous new munitions complex in Gretna, on the Scottish border. Even though it means moving far away from her best friends, Maggie and Annie, she is excited for the challenge. As a member of the Women's Police Service, it's her job to maintain law and order so that the factory workers can safely carry out their vital war work. She soon makes friends and even starts to open herself up to the possibility of love. But then she sees something in the dead of night, and suddenly the dangers of the war are no longer far away on distant shores.