Showing results by narrator "Anne Dover" in All Categories

1930, Yorkshire. Intrigued by a mysterious letter from a stranger offering important information, private investigator Kate Shackleton arrives in the mill village of Saltaire. At nearby Milner Field mansion, overshadowed by its reputation for misfortune and untimely deaths, she expects to meet the letter writer, Ronnie Creswell. Kate soon hears the shocking news that Ronnie has been killed. At first his death appears to be a tragic accident at the mill, but soon it becomes clear that Ronnie's demise was no mishap.

It is the autumn of 1945 and identical twins Joy and Gillian Lawrence are on their way home to Liverpool, having been evacuated to Devonshire five years earlier. Their mother has been killed in the blitz but the girls hope that with their beloved father’s help they will be able to manage. All goes well until there is a terrible accident and Joy loses her sight. At first she is bitter and resentful whilst Gillian is racked with guilt.

For Amelia and her brothers and sisters, the grim past which their mother, Emily, had endured seemed very far away. As pretty as a picture and now learning to be a teacher in York, Amelia looked forward with pleasure to becoming acquainted with the young men clamouring to get to know her, and especially the two gentlemen who had come all the way from Australia to meet her family. Ralph Hawkins, bringing with him his friend Jack - a handsome half-aboriginal Australian who was determined to make a good living for himself - arrived in Hull looking for his roots.

Living on the edge of the beautiful Norfolk Broads with her father, the only ripple in Tess Delamere's calm life is the disturbing dream about her dead mother which haunts her. She yearns to know more, but the arrival of a new stepmother heralds the end of Tess' hopes that her father might divulge the past. As she grows up, Tess slowly starts to put together the pieces herself. But the outbreak of war brings tragedy and upheaval, changing Tess' priorities....

When Laura Page returns to the remote Holderness village of Welwick, it is to try and discover the mystery of her mother Susannah’s early life. Now a local property owner in Hull, Susannah never speaks of her childhood, when she was brought up with the terrible stigma of bastardy – of being nobody’s child. Born into poverty, living in a tiny labourer’s cottage with her father, Susannah’s mother had caught the eye of the local landowner’s son.

Lottie and her mother, Louella, share a house in Victoria Court with Mr Magic and his son, Baz. Lottie is a child star, dancing and singing at the Gaiety Theatre; Louella acts as Max Magic's assistant. But a road accident causes Lottie to lose her memory. Then Lottie meets a boy with golden-brown eyes who calls her "Sassy" and accuses her of running away. It is after this meeting that the dreams start, dreams of another life, almost another world.

It's 1848, and preparations are underway for Annie Gibson's wedding to Bilsden's wealthy millowner, Frederick Hallam. But not everyone is as pleased as they are. Frederick's daughter, Beatrice, is horrified at the prospect of a new attractive stepmother arriving at the house on Ridge Hill. Even Annie's own family feels threatened. The only person who seems pleased is Tom, Annie's brother. Soon, however, real troubles begin to pile up for the Gibsons.

Can two friends find hope in hard times? Ruby and Grace have grown up in the poorest slums of Hull. Friends since early childhood, they have supported each other in bad times and good. But their families are bound together by more than friendship, and secrets from the past threaten to make their lives even more difficult. The local cotton mill has provided work for Ruby and Grace since they were nine years old, and now, years later, both girls find themselves the objects of attention from the mill owner's sons.

The Batleys and the Caldwells owned neighbouring farms on the beautiful, wild Northumbrian coast. But there all similarity ended, and enmity began. For between the two families raged a violent and bitter feud. Into this stormy atmosphere came Linda Metcalfe, an agricultural student, who became involved in the tensions between the two households on her arrival. Employed by Ralph Batley, Linda soon found herself unwittingly a part of the feud, and began to feel a strange admiration for Ralph, who made it painfully clear that he didn't need her on the farm or in his life.

When Lucy's parents are killed in a train crash, her kindly uncle steps in to look after the little girl - to the initial apprehension of his wife and her son. However, Lucy's sweet, spirited charm slowly wins over her new family, and as she overcomes the trauma of her childhood, she grows up inspired to become a doctor, just like her father. But studying medicine in London takes Lucy far from her home in Hull and the people she loves, and she has to battle to be accepted in a man's world.

Through the double clamour of Big Ben and the shrill sound of the bell rang a revolver shot. A financier is found shot in the House of Commons. Suspecting foul play, Robert West, a parliamentary private secretary, takes on the role of amateur sleuth. Used to turning a blind eye to covert dealings, West must now uncover the shocking secret behind the man's demise, amid distractions from the press and the dead man's enigmatic daughter.

Yorkshire, 1913. Beth Beaumont enjoys her life as a rhubarb farmer's daughter. Although not thinking of marriage, when Beth meets village miner Noah Jackson, she is suddenly very aware that Noah is a man who could change her mind. But a disaster at the coal mine changes their lives forever and Noah's love for Beth is put at risk.

Tragedy strikes a small Yorkshire mining town when Sarah Wild’s husband dies in a terrible accident. Widowed and destitute, Sarah is forced to remarry to save her daughters, Mary-Anne and Eliza, from the workhouse. But her new husband is a violent drunk, and when Sarah tragically dies too, Mary-Anne and Eliza are orphaned. Unable to rely on their drunken stepfather, Mary-Anne and Eliza are left to fend for themselves. They are determined to stick together, but life becomes complicated when Mary-Anne, the eldest, falls pregnant with the child of a married mine owner.

Liverpool, 1940. There comes a moment in every child’s life when they must learn to stand on their own two feet. For 15-year-old Ellie Lancton, that time has come all too soon. The death of her mother and the increase in air raids leaves Ellie alone and in grave danger. It’s not long before she is forced to leave her beloved Liverpool behind and cross the Mersey to seek refuge in the countryside. But as the war takes comforts away, so too does it bring new opportunities: for work, new friendships and perhaps a little love....

It is 1937, and Alice, Edith and Marg continue to face hardships every day, growing up on one of the poorest streets in Blackpool. Penniless, their friendship has helped them survive this far, but it'll take more than that to see them through the dark days ahead. Alice is coping with a violent father. Marg is left reeling after a dark secret about her birth comes to light and threatens to destroy the life she knows, and Edith is fighting to protect her alcoholic mother from the shame of their neighbours and keep her brother on the straight and narrow.

On her deathbed, Lucy Fallow's mother makes her twelve-year-old daughter promise to look after her four younger siblings and keep house for her father and two older brothers. When the Fallow menfolk lose their jobs they take work wherever they can. But it's not long before they are working on the wrong side of the law and under the watchful eye of Tom McKenzie. Meanwhile, through the hardship Lucy begins to form a relationship with Jacob McKenzie, the boy next door, and one evening they dance cheek to cheek in the moonlight and know that one day they will marry.

As WWI begins, no family, including the Neylers, will be left untouched, and by the time the war finally finishes, nothing will ever be the same again. Ted and Tina Neyler's children are growing up, doomed to be drawn into the Great War: Frank will be scarred forever by one terrible day in the trenches while Louis, the charming optimist, returns unscathed from the war to find that his wife and mistress have met up and that his misdemeanours are inexorably catching up with him.

In 1995, 12-year-old Sidney Parsons was savagely murdered by two boys his own age. No reason was ever given for this terrible crime, and the 'Demonic Duo' who killed him were imprisoned until their release in 2002, when they were given new identities and lifetime anonymity. Online journalist Scott King investigates the lead-up and aftermath of the killing, uncovering dark and fanciful stories of demonic possession, and encountering a village torn apart by this unspeakable act.

The fourth book in Anna Jacobs' beloved Ellindale series. Lancashire, 1934. When Tam Crawford is unexpectedly bequeathed some money, he can finally realise his dream of settling down in the beautiful village of Ellindale. Tam knows he can be impulsive - his nickname isn't Crazy Tam for nothing! - but this time he is determined not to be ruled by his big heart and hot head. Yet somehow, within just one day, he has taken on a fiancée and two children to keep them out of the poorhouse - or worse.

There were plenty around Fellburn who said Maggie Rowan was as plain as a pikestaff, a woman consumed with jealousy at her sister's good fortune in marrying well. But Maggie Rowan, with her dogged determination to succeed, had two raging ambitions beneath a cold and forbidding exterior: to become the mother of a child whom she could love and to escape from the life of the miner's cottage to one of the big houses on Brampton Hill. When she marries the easy-going Chris Taggart, her marriage is planned shrewdly and without sentiment.