Showing results by narrator "Rosalyn Landor" in All Categories

In his heyday, during the 1960s and early 1970s, B. S. Johnson was one of the best-known novelists in Britain. House Mother Normal: A Geriatric Comedy is Johnson's most richly characterised, humane and sympathetic work. Eight residents in a home for the elderly sit down to dinner, along with the House Mother herself, and each takes it in turn to relay the proceedings of the evening from their own, individual perspective.

Jack had two dying wishes: that his wife scatter his ashes somewhere "exotic", and that she not give up on life once he was gone. He intended to spur her on to new adventures, but despite clinging to her red suitcase, Geraldine Verne hasn’t left the house for three months. It takes an accident for Geri to accept help from her friends, but when Meals on Wheels arrive she is mortified. Yet heartbroken volunteer Lottie brings with her more than cottage pie and custard. Like Geri, she too is struggling to cut loose.

In the spring of 1918, the Spanish flu epidemic spreads, killing millions of soldiers and civilians across the globe. Overwhelmed by the constant flow of wounded soldiers coming from the French front, battlefield nurse Bess Crawford must now contend with hundreds of influenza patients as well. However, war and disease are not the only killers to strike. Bess discovers, concealed among the dead waiting for burial, the body of an officer who has been murdered.

Lady Rebecca Marshall fulfills her mother's fondest wish when she becomes a maid of honor at the court of Queen Victoria. Having been disappointed two years ago when the Duke of Norford's heir Raphael Locke married another woman, Rebecca's mother sees this court appointment as a golden opportunity for Rebecca.

Rosamund prides herself on her matchmaking skills. After meeting Marcus Worthing, Earl of Somerville and her older sister's childhood best friend, she knows she's found the perfect fiancé...for her reclusive sister. Unfortunately, she's spending far too much time thinking about the man.

Benjamin Waverley, second son of the Duke of Townsend, knew he'd never marry. How could he? The moment some unsuspecting female took his name, the world might find out the despicable secret his family had been keeping and he'd be ruined. As far as he was concerned, his lot was cast. He would play the rake and that would be that. Until his father forced his hand in a marriage he knew would destroy not only him but his brilliant and beautiful bride.

Petra Rutherford is certain she isn't the first dreamy-eyed girl that devilishly handsome Baron Granville of Ashton has loved and left behind. But when her brother's political ambitions place her before him once more, she's determined to give Guy Granville his own taste of torment. What better way to best a scoundrel than by luring his interest - before bringing things to an abrupt, embarrassing end? The only flaw in her gem of a plan is her still powerful attraction to the dazzling nemesis....

Crash has never let the circumstances of his birth, or his lack of a last name, bother him. His associations may be unsavory, but money, friends, and infamy open far more interesting doors than respect ever could. His sole regret? Once lovely, sweet Daisy Whitlaw learned the truth about how he made his fortune, she cut him off. Daisy's father is dead, her mother is in ill health, and her available funds have dwindled to a memory. When the local parish announces a charity bequest to help young people start a trade, it's her last chance.

For Miss Elizabeth Smith, sharing her first kiss with the charming Lord Derek Creswell is nothing short of a dream come true... that is, until she is spotted by one of the most influential gossips of the ton. With scandal nipping at her heels, to avoid total social ruin, Elizabeth must present a fiancé by the end of the Season. But when the viscount proves reluctant, Elizabeth is forced to employ a seduction of a different sort.

Adrian Hunter, the son of a duke's daughter and a black abolitionist, is determined to do whatever his family needs - even posing as a valet to gather information. But his mission spirals out of control when he's accused of dastardly intentions and is forced to marry a woman he's barely had time to flirt with. Camilla Worth has always dreamed of getting married, but a marriage where a pistol substitutes for "I do" is not the relationship she hoped for.

The Cabot sisters had shocking plans to rescue their family from certain ruin, and now Prudence Cabot is left standing in the rubble of scandal. Now regarded as an unsuitable bride, she's tainted. Yet this unwilling wallflower is ripe for her own adventure. And when an irresistibly sexy American stranger on a desperate mission enlists her help, she simply can't deny the temptation.

No one ever accused Kerr Macalister of being a nice man. Everyone would agree, however, that when he makes up his mind about something, no one will change it. Which is why everyone knows Isobel MacKinnon will end up his wife. Isobel spent most of her childhood in love with tall, dark, and deadly Kerr. It wasn't until she was 15 and failed to entice Kerr into kissing her that things turned sour. Now, Kerr is the one trying to entice her. But Isobel knows how to hold a grudge and won't be swayed unless he proves his love.

At first blush, Widdershins is a conventional haunted house story involving an unsuccessful writer who moves into an empty house in hope that isolation will help his failing creativity. His sensitivity and imagination are enhanced by his seclusion, but his art, his only friend, and his sanity are all destroyed in the process. It can be interpreted as narrating the gradual possession of the protagonist by a mysterious, possessive feminine spirit, or as a realistic description of a psychotic outbreak culminating in catatonia and murder, told from the psychotic subject’s view.

Laird Gavin MacKinnon is a changed man - and not for the better. Ever since his young son, Ewan, disappeared two years ago, Gavin has grown callous and bitter. Scouring the countryside, his search leads him to a mysterious woman who maintains the boy is hers. He decides to take them both and ask questions later. Deirdre MacIntyre will go with the brooding laird if it will keep her son safe. Gavin has to admit that she has a bond with Ewan, and things aren't adding up. When Deirdre's clan comes to claim her under threat of war, Gavin has a choice to make: fight for her or let her go.

Lady Charlotte Sinclair has long given up her dreams of happily ever after. Years ago, a tragic accident claimed the life of her beloved fiancé, but somehow she found the strength to go on - as an independent woman with a secret double life that has earned her millions. Lately, however, she has begun to yearn for something more... While setting out to play matchmaker for her mother, Lady Charlotte meets a rugged, handsome stranger who saves her from a thief in the street, but her heroic rescuer soon turns out to be more mysterious than any man she has ever known.

An explosion and fire at the Ashton Gunpowder Mill in Kent has killed over a hundred men. It's called an appalling tragedy - until suspicion and rumor raise the specter of murder. While visiting the Ashton family, Bess Crawford finds herself caught up in a venomous show of hostility that doesn't stop with Philip Ashton's arrest. Indeed, someone is out for blood, and the household is all but under siege.

How does an innocent lady find herself forced to wed a royal spy who seduced her – by mistake? For Lady Rebecca Marshall, a whirlwind of passion and excitement begins when, to her mother’s great delight, she becomes a maid of honor at the court of Queen Victoria. Rebecca’s mother sees this appointment as a golden opportunity for Rebecca to make a good match. At court, Rebecca innocently steps into the rivalry between the queen’s spymaster and the noblewoman in charge of the maids.

A young family must leave their comfortable London life for a house in the country when their father is taken away unexpectedly. Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis spend their days at the nearby train station, befriending the station master and porter and many of the passengers. Waving goodbye to the departing London train each day and sending their love to their father who is detained there, they strike up a friendship with a kindly old man who may be able to help them get their father back.

The Marquess of Chatton and his neighbor Fenella Fairclough have known each other all their lives. They refused to marry each other years ago when their parents demanded it, and they won't concede now - even if circumstances have brought these former enemies much closer than they ever could have anticipated....

The fighting has ended, the Armistice signed, but the war has left wounds that are still agonizingly raw. Battlefield Nurse Bess Crawford has been assigned to a clinic for amputees, and the Welsh patients worry her. She does her best to help them, but it’s clear that they have nothing to go home to, in a valley where only the fit can work in the coal pits. When they are released, she fears that peace will do what war couldn’t - take their lives.