Showing results by narrator "Jilly Bond" in All Categories

The debauched celebration of the cabaret era. The magical ascent of cinema. The deprivations of World War I and the build up to World War II. Set against the rise and fall of Berlin and the innovations in art that accompanied it, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite brilliantly weaves together the story of orphan girl Lilly Nelly Aphrodite's remarkable journey from poverty to film stardom.

Early on a grey November morning in 1941, only weeks after the German invasion, a small Ukrainian town is overrun by the SS. Deft, spare and devastating, Rachel Seiffert's new novel tells of the three days that follow and the lives that are overturned in the process. Penned in with his fellow Jews, under threat of transportation, Ephraim anxiously awaits word of his two sons, missing since daybreak. Come in search of her lover, to fetch him home again, away from the invaders, Yasia must confront new and harsh truths.

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

A humorous and heartwarming story about a little sister, a big sister, a cat, a dad and…a new girlfriend!Bitsy, or ‘Jelly Baby' as she's sometimes called, has been doing just fine living with Dad and big sister Em since Mum died. The housework may not always get done, and dinners might not always be at the table, but none of them ever minded! Until one day Dad brings home a girlfriend - and everything changes. Now it looks like it might be down to the Jelly Baby of the family to keep it from falling apart.…

They whisper her name in the ballroom’s shadows – the Marquis’s mistress! It will take all of Alice Sweetly’s acting skills to play this part: smile until it no longer hurts, until they believe your lies, until you believe. If the Marquis of Razeby thinks he can let his mistress go easily, he is so very wrong. Each night she appears before a rapturous Covent Garden audience, taunting him with her beauty.

Taran, the evil mermaid Queen, is determined to get her hands on the silver pearl that will make her more powerful than ever. Only Lizzy, Kes, and their friends from the undersea world can stop her. But when Taran takes a very special hostage, Lizzy and Kes are faced with a terrible choice. Must they give up the precious pearl!? Or do they have the courage to challenge Taran and defeat her?

In this hilarious sequel to the hugely popular Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Sally Stick and her shaggy best friend Fetch discover plenty more mysteries to solve. Like, is there a beaver loose in the town? Who is the handbag thief? And, most importantly, why does Uncle Bob's house always smell of biscuits? Somehow, despite the accidents, misunderstandings and general confusion that dog the hapless pair wherever they go, they always get results. And they have a lot of fun along the way!

Another thrilling adventure for Anna Fehrbach. 1953: Anna Fehrbach, now happily married, is enjoying her Bahamian hideaway. Its been three years since the Russians last attempted to arrest her for her attempt on the life of Joseph Stalin, and she's beginning to believe that her archenemy, Lavrenty Beria, has abandoned the chase. But when Anna is lured into one last job for the CIA, she is plunged back into the Russian orbit....

When in March 1938 Germany invades Austria, all anti-Nazis are immediately rounded up and imprisoned. Prominent amongst these is liberal editor Johann Fehrbach, his Anglo-Irish wife, and his two daughters. But the elder of the girls, seventeen-year-old Annaliese, is separated from her parents and taken into Gestapo custody.

When a bomb goes off in the West End, Home Secretary Victoria Osborne has a desperate sense of having failed to protect the public. A young Muslim reporter, Ahmed Khan, also has a deep-seated sense of anger and responsibility. He persuades his editor to let him go back amongst childhood friends in Leeds to try to find information.

September 1940. England is at war once again and London has become an ever-fragile place for widowed Livia Ripley and her two young daughters, Polly and Eliza. When Livia meets charismatic publisher Hugo Ballantyne, she is hopeful that her life is about to change for the better. But as clouds gather in the clear autumn sky, the wail of the siren heralds the arrival of the Luftwaffe.

The thrilling sequel to Angel in Red - Anna Fehrbach is an MI6 operative in the heart of the Nazi establishment who has just found out about the Final Solution, but convincing her British employers proves next to impossible... Meanwhile, she must organize the assassination of Hitler's probable successor who also happens to be Annas lover. But will Annas nerve of steel hold out as those around her fall to pieces?

When recently widowed Kat writes to her four old school friends, inviting them to live with her on a cocoa plantation in the South Pacific, they swap icy pavements and TV dinners for a tropical breeze and an azure-blue ocean. Leaving behind loneliness, dead-end jobs and marriages that have gone sour, they settle into the Women's House, surrounded by palms and cocoa trees and locals with the puzzling habit of exploding into laughter for no discernible reason. Each of the women has her issues to resolve and secrets to keep.

In war time, the rules of love change…1854. Britain is fighting a gruesome war. There has been no news of Lucy Gray since she eloped with handsome and impetuous Captain Charlie Harvington and embarked with him to the Crimea. Dorothea Gray will risk anything to heal the rift with her little sister and bring her home safe. She determines to join Florence Nightingale and the other courageous women travelling to the battlefield hospitals as nurses.

The thrilling sequel to Angel of Vengeance - In 1943 Nazi Germanys defences are crumbling, and Heinrich Himmler is taking steps to ensure his survival. He employs beautiful but deadly Anna Fehrbach to courier large sums of money across the border into Switzerland. What Himmler does not know is that Anna has for four years been a double agent, working for the British SIS and the American OSS in her determination to bring the Nazis down...

Sebastian, Duke of Hasford, has a title, wealth, privilege, and plenty of rakish charm. Until he discovers the only thing that truly belongs to him is his charm. An accident of birth has turned him into plain Mr. de Silva. Now, Sebastian is flummoxed as to what to do with his life - until he stumbles into a gambling den owned by Miss Ivy, a most fascinating young lady, who hires him on the spot. Working with a boss has never seemed so enticing.

When the writer, Oxford scholar, and photographer John Jameson, visits the home of his vicar friend, Daniel Baxter, he is entranced by his youngest daughter, Daisy. Jameson charms her with his wit and child-like imagination, teasing her with riddles and inventing humourous stories as they enjoy afternoons alone by the river and in his rooms. The shocking impact of this unusual friendship is only brought to light when, years later, Daisy, unsettled in her marriage, rediscovers her childhood diaries in an old toy chest.

Thaddeus, the new Duke of Hasford, holds his new title reluctantly, but his sense of duty is strong. Task number one: find a wife and secure an heir. He thinks he’s found the perfect choice in Lady Jane Capel - until her sister Lavinia bursts onto the scene. Vivacious, rebellious, and strikingly beautiful, Lavinia is determined to keep him away from her shy, sweet sister. And she’s also determined not to think so much about his broad chest and strong thighs.

A story about love, loss and starting again. Widower Henry Drummond is marking time, drifting towards retirement, until he accidentally saves a life. His daughter, Maddie, is at a wedding with the love of her life. But he is the groom, and she is not the bride. They both decide they need to change their lives, preferably with soulmates by their sides. But, as Henry's mother tells him, 'Love is a complicated business, and it is not for the easily discouraged'.

It was easy for society to overlook Lady Ida Howlett; they found her bookish, opinionated, and off the marriage mart. But little did they know that behind a calm exterior beats the heart of an adventuress, one who, determined to discover her runaway sister’s whereabouts, steals a carriage and sets off on a daring mission. Then she discovers she’s not alone! Bennett, Lord Carson, is inside, and he refuses to leave.