Showing results by narrator "Anne Dover" in All Categories

Happily married to the Reverend Simon Norwood, Fiona Norwood's happiness should be complete. But Fiona has a secret in her past, and she can never forget the baby girl she gave away at birth. Meanwhile, Debbie Hargreaves has known since she was a little girl that she was adopted. Her parents are kind and loving and she has a happy home life. Despite that, once she reaches her teenage years, Debbie determines to find out about her birth mother. But is the past sometimes best left alone?

Industry in Yorkshire is booming and the cities are expanding. But this growth comes at a price: a valley in Nidderdale is doomed to be dammed and flooded to quench the cities' thirst. Rachel Garnett is determined to fight for her lovely valley and their way of life. Working against her is a young engineer, Roger Beckwith, who is planning a reservoir that will swamp the parish of Firby. Rachel works at Firby Hall, an Elizabethan mansion that will be demolished when the reservoir is built.

When a couple renovate a beautiful 17th-century house in the Cotswolds, they discover the ghosts of the Civil War are still in residence. As Guy and Ruth delve into the property's history, uncovering both joy and sorrow, the house finally relinquishes its secrets, revealing how closely the family from the past is intertwined with the present-day owners. Why do they seem so familiar? Have they perhaps met before?

Nell Goodman is a good daughter. Her job in the local brewery is the only thing keeping her and her mother afloat. But with her mother becoming increasingly eccentric, Nell is starting to feel the burden of her responsibilities. When Nell goes to George Wilmot, the brewery's owner, for help he offers her a job as a live-in servant. She begins to grow closer to Devlin, George's son, and it looks like Nell's luck is finally changing. An unwelcome discovery and tragedy mean that things suddenly change.

Liverpool, 1958: nursery nurse Irene Miller falls for her friend Peggy's handsome older brother, Marty. But he is trapped in an unhappy marriage. Meanwhile, Irene's friend Peggy is desperate to marry her long-term boyfriend, Pete, but Peggy's staunchly Catholic parents would never accept a Protestant son-in-law. When her mother decides to remarry, her brother heads off to sea, and she loses her job, Irene feels utterly alone in the world. An unexpected job offer from America offers her a lifeline.

Driftwood House, neglected and desolate on the edge of Dartmoor, is love at first sight for Simone. Persuading her husband to buy it is only the beginning of her battle as the dark secret hidden within its walls comes to light. Can they restore happiness and harmony to the old house? What is the ghostly presence trying to tell them?

The Second World War is dominated by heroic tales of men defending their country against a formidable enemy, but what about the women who also played their parts in fighting for freedom? Eileen Younghusband was just 18 when she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). She quickly demonstrated her keen intellect and mathematical skills, playing a crucial role in Fighter Command's underground Filter Room.

Maddy lives with her grandmother in a tumbledown farmhouse in the Yorkshire Dales. The house has been in the family for generations, but her grandmother is struggling to cope. She is determined that no matter what happens, the two of them will not be forced into the workhouse. Though life is tough, Maddy manages to gain a scholarship to the local school. As war is declared, Maddy and her friends join up, leaving the beautiful Dales for the dangerous work of manning the Ack Ack sites.

When Sally Westwood moves into a large Victorian house that she has been left by a stranger, she is unaware that her benefactor died at the hands of her grandson, who is expected to inherit. The house holds a secret that Sally must reveal before she and her husband are out of danger. Mystery and intrigue surround them. The story goes back to the previous century, revealing something that is hidden in the house. Something that a man would kill to get his hands on.

"I dragged my heels all the way to the mill. ‘I can’t do it!’ I sulked. Mother sighed and shook her head. My heart sank. Of course, I’d seen the mill hundreds of times before, but now it was different - now, I was going in. I’d never seen a place so depressing; I wanted to cry." With tales from hardworking Audrey and mischievous Maureen to high-spirited Doris and dedicated Marjorie, The Mill Girls is an evocative story of hardship and friendship from when cotton was still king.

Billie Challinor's mother dies during an air raid, but the child grows up confident that in her jazz musician father, Chas, she has the best dad in the world. They seek refuge from the London Blitz by moving to Leeds, where kindly landlady Liz Morris befriends them: the scarred, wisecracking man who isn't afraid to overstep the mark if the cause is a good one and his clever and resilient little girl.

Steal a glimpse at the past lives and loves of your favourite villagers in this captivating Burracombe short story. Autumn 1918 has brought young Alice Whiddon to the Tozer's farm to work as a maid. Alice soon falls in love with the little village and with life on the farm. But that's not all she's falling for. Youngest son, Ted Tozer is half promised to young Ivy Prowse, daughter of a neighbouring farmer, yet Alice and Ted feel a powerful bond forming.

Paddington station, nine a.m., rush hour. As the crowds ebb and flow, time suddenly stands still for two people: Fern and Elliott, ex-lovers who parted twenty-five years before and never expected to see each other again. But here they are, face to face, and the connection is as powerful as it was the day they first met. Their lives have moved on - to marriage, children and divorce - yet neither has stopped regretting the day that drove them apart. Fern gives Elliott her number and they tentatively arrange to meet.

Mr Darcy and Elizabeth now have two children, Miranda and Edward. Miranda is a model daughter, well attuned to life at splendid Pemberley and, were it not for her sex, would make a perfect heir. Edward, alas, would not, and as he and his grandmother, Mrs Bennet, fall into the clutches of those who are not what they seem, awful questions arise about the succession at Pemberley - must the entail be broken and Edward disinherited, ending the Darcy line on the estate?

On Easter day in 1918, Frances Kemp looked out at the little thatched village and promised that, one day, she'd come back...Long before Miss Kemp became headmistress of the village school, she had reason to know and love Burracombe. Sent to stay with family, young Frances treasured her summers there and the friends she made. But as she grows up, she admits that there is someone there who is more than just a friend.

Back in 1950 Pamela Rhodes became one of the first policewomen in the country. But the force's new female recruits faced a sceptical public in rural Yorkshire and even before they stepped out on the beat there were the prejudices of older male officers to overcome. Yet from the first Pam was thrust into the front line. From runaway bulls to investigating ladies of the night and cases of vice, her innocent eyes were quickly opened.

Gussie, Ned, and Jannie are not quite siblings, but they share a fiercely close and affectionate family bond. In their bohemian Cornish home, with a famous and distinguished artist as their father figure, they glory in their unusual upbringing and their unconventional, loving family life....Until one day a terrible tragedy destroys the foundations of that family, and they have to learn to cope on their own.

Viv's marriage to David was not a conventional one, but when he died - in an accident for which she blamed herself - it was as if her whole world had collapsed around her. She escaped by running, mainly around the nearby lake, which was once a popular place of recreation but was now desolate and deserted. It became both her refuge and her dread.

After the death of her mother during childbirth, Beth is left to care for her father and two older brothers. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she leaves the family home in a Yorkshire mill town to live with her aunt. A tragic accident leaves her in the colourful world of the Romany Gypsies, where she gives birth to her son, Joshua. She keeps his birth secret, but when he is falsely accused of murder many years later, she is forced to reveal her secrets to save him from the hangman’s noose.

Local Whitby girl, Colette Shipley has become fascinated by the mysteries of the new art of photography and begins to create a record of her scenic home town with its tall ships and twin lighthouses, street urchins and weathered old fishermen. One day she encounters Arthur Newton who shares her passion for the town's unique atmosphere. Colette and Arthur begin a friendship that develops further. However, unbeknown to Collette, Arthur is also married with a young child. Arthur has tried to be content with his steady job at the railways and his marriage to his childhood sweetheart Rose.