Showing results by narrator "Wren" in All Categories

Lord Springdale is becoming increasingly irritated and tired of being told by his grandmother that he must marry and produce an heir to his illustrious title and estates. She keeps on telling him that, as he is the last of his line and at the age of twenty-seven, he must find a suitable wife and settle down. After a number of affaires de coeur with attractive married ladies, he is not in the least attracted to debutantes and so avoids their pushy mothers like the plague.

The beautiful Joanna West’s parents had been killed in a very nasty road accident and as she is the only child she inherits her father and mother’s house in the County of Huntingdonshire. When she sees the condition of her house, she realises at once that it will need a great deal of money to be spent on it to make it as warm and cosy as her mother had done.

The Duke of Lavenham learns from a letter that the beautiful Lady Penelope who he finds fun and amusing, is telling her friends that she is going to marry him. The Duke is horrified as he has no intention of marrying anyone for many years to come and he hurries to visit Penelope to discuss the matter with her and tell her that he has no intention of marrying anybody. As he is leaving the house, a young girl sobbing hysterically jumps into his carriage and begs him to take her away.

The Earl of Rockhaven calls on his friend the Vicar, the Reverend Simon Wolverham, to ask if his beautiful daughter, Lucinda, will pretend to be his own daughter, Muriel, who is away in Scotland staying with her aunt. Fortunately the girls have similar looks and Lucinda could easily be taken for Muriel. The Earl explains to the Vicar that a certain Baron Schlesinger and his son, Kurt, from Germany have invited themselves to luncheon at his nearby ancestral home and are insistent that his daughter is present for the occasion.

Charles Arram, the son of the Marquis of Arramford, their next-door neighbour. Because the Earl is so rich, he is afraid that his daughter, who at eighteen is exceedingly beautiful, will be pursued by fortune-hunters. Malvina is horrified at the idea. Her father is suddenly summoned to Scotland and Malvina decides she will travel with her Nanny to Paris, where she will be able to see Charles Arram without him knowing he is being spied on. During the journey Malvina meets the brother of one of her French school friends and he tells her of the extraordinary parties that are given in Paris by the courtesans.

The Marquis and Marquise de Castillon, together with their young son Jean-Pierre, were forced to flee France for England when the French Revolution broke out in 1789. Jean-Pierre was educated at Eton and only returned to Paris when Napoleon came to power. It was not long before he joined Napoleon's Army, survived the Retreat from Moscow and was badly wounded at the Battle of Waterloo. Whilst in hospital, he became friends with Colonel Hubert Dawlish who was in the next bed.

"Get away from me. As far as I am concerned, David, you are dead to me and this entire family!" The handsome Viscount Kennington has never enjoyed a good relationship with his father, the Earl, but he loves his grandparents and they love him. But when a family scandal is aired after the sudden death of the Viscount's grandfather, the Marquis, the family feud grows worse. The Viscount retreats to the huge mysterious house in Devon left to him by his grandfather.

"No, Papa! I cannot believe that you no longer want me here." When Marina Fullerton's beloved mother dies in a tragic riding accident, she is horrified when her father sends her away from the family home in Harley Street, saying he is unable to bear her near him. She finds herself packed off to stay with family friends in Paris, chaperoned by her faithful maid, Ellen. Soon Marina finds herself captivated by her French host's good-looking son - but is he what he seems?

Protected by loving parents, young, beautiful and happy, Lady Ravina Ashley has the world at her feet. Unused to harsh words, she is taken aback when a stranger at a ball in London takes her to task for her behavior towards a clumsy suitor. But Ravina hopes that one day she will fall madly passionately in love and refuses to think of marriage to anyone until then.

Davina is the younger daughter of Lord Shelford and she has fallen for an actor who did not meet her father's approval. He has banished her from London to his newly acquired country seat, Priory Park, where Davina felt lonely, but not for long. She soon meets the Delverton brothers who live nearby, and also their mysterious companion, Jed Barker. There are dark secrets surrounding Priory Park and the Delverton family, but Davina cannot help becoming attracted to the handsome Lord Delverton despite his indifference to her.

Charles, Lord Hartley, was at his wits end. He had spent a fortune on his cousin John, and still the embittered John demanded more money. Charles knew he needed an heiress and he became swiftley attracted to Cliona, who had recently moved in to the neighbourhood. He did not know that she was an heiress. When he found out, he felt there was no way that he could approach her with honour. But Cliona, a spirited girl, had her own ideas.

Wry, moving, beautifully observed and politically astute, this latest audiobook from one of New Zealand's finest chroniclers pinpoints universal truths through very NZ lives. Life isn't always like it appears in the movies. In 1952 Irene Sandle takes her young daughter to Motueka. Irene was widowed during the war and is seeking a new start and employment in the tobacco fields. There, she finds the reality of her life far removed from the glamour of the screen.

Josie and Jack Raeburn run riot in their father's isolated house. But as his behavior becomes more unpredictable, they are forced to leave and face a world for which they are unprepared. Jack's love for Josie has always been her safety net. However, as his world grows wilder and more dangerous, she finds herself struggling: should she escape his control, or help him? It is only when they are united again in the company of Jack's rich girlfriend Lily that she understands what she must do.

Shenda, the beautiful daughter of Lord Linbury, finds herself all alone when he dies. She finds a letter he has written to his friend, the Duke of Wellington, asking him to look after and protect her. The Duke is in Paris having just won the Battle of Waterloo and Shenda travels nervously to Paris to meet him and he quickly realises that as she is young and innocent, he cannot have her to stay in his own house. He, therefore, takes Shenda to nurse one of his young Officers who has been badly wounded at Waterloo. Captain Ivan Worth, as he calls himself, is really the Marquis of Kenworth.

Major Michael Moore has been playing a very dangerous part in the Great Game in India where he foils a plot to kill the Viceroy who tells Michael he is now a marked man and that he must return to England immediately. To his astonishment on his way home he reads in a newspaper that following the death of his grandfather he has become the Duke of Grangemoore.

Dorina's father had been an industrialist, an inventor and a genius who trained her to be his heir, sending her abroad to learn many languages. While she was in France she learned that he had died and she must now take over his business. But she does not feel ready, especially as she knows he has been trying to design a horseless carriage. For a while she keeps his death a secret, to give herself time to learn, and goes to work for his great rival, the Earl of Kennington.

Twelve-year-old Ming Qong is convinced that girls must have changed the world, even if they are rarely mentioned in history books. So when Ming gets the chance to go back in time, she imagines herself changing destinies from a glittering palace or an explorer's ship. Instead, she ends up in Australia in 1898, living a tough life as Flo Watson on a drought-stricken farm.

Since childhood, Chantel has idolized her older sister, Jett, a superstar performer. But she's seldom seen her Hollywood-based sibling. More on the shy side, Chantel is perfectly happy with her own modest singing career and quiet Missouri hometown life. But when their mother dies and Chantel's world is upended, she hopes that moving to Los Angeles will give her a fresh start - and a chance to know Jett better. But the truth is, she doesn't know Jett at all.

There is nothing for it - we will have to marry for money! The Strathcarrons have lived in splendour in Lednock Castle in Scotland for many generations, but the family fall on hard times when their fortunes become depleted. An American guest, Larry Harwood, comes to stay and persuades the Earl of Strathcarron to travel to New York with him to make his fortune, leaving his wife, his son, Ewen and daughter, Moira, to the mercies of fate. Six months later the Earl returns a broken man, having lost the entire estate to the American's creditors.

Boomtown Los Angeles, 1929: Into a world of movie lots and speakeasies comes Xas, stunt flier and wingless angel, still nursing his broken heart and determined only to go on living in the air. But there are forces that will keep him on the ground. Forces like Conrad Cole, movie director and aircraft designer, a glory-seeking king of the grand splash who is also a man sinking into his own sovereign darkness. And Flora McLeod, film editor and maimed former actress, who sees something in Xas that no one has ever seen before, not even God, who made him, or Lucifer, the general he once followed.