Showing results by narrator "Julie Maisey" in All Categories

Sara and her family needed a fresh start after a tragedy that ruined many lives. They have found peace since arriving at their new home in the Kielder Forest National Park 12 months ago. That is, unless you count the dark cloud that has settled over them, and the crippling tension behind closed doors. Sara tries to pretend everything is normal, but in reality, she is haunted by a devastating truth about one of her children.

January 1941: As Charlie Barton tiptoes silently out of the house one cold winter morning to go off and fight for his country, his wife, Audrey, is left to run the family bakery on her own. Times are tougher than ever, but at the Barton Bakery in Bournemouth, Audrey is determined as always to serve the town with love, loaves and cakes, even as the town is reeling from the struggles of the Blitz. Audrey’s brother, William, has returned from battle with serious wounds. His fiancé, Elsie, is waiting for wedding bells, but William is a changed man, and will her hopes be in vain?

December 1940: All that Audrey Barton wants is her family together for Christmas. But the war changes everything.... The Barton family bakery in Bournemouth has been at the heart of the town for generations: Audrey and Charlie Barton have never been rich, but their bread and cakes – and their love and advice – have enriched the lives of others in the town for many years. When war breaks out, it doesn't take long for trouble to arrive on the bakery doorstep.

Cathie Kinrade is all too used to hardship. Growing up in a fishing community on the Isle of Man in the 1930s, she sees her dad and brothers set sail daily on dangerous seas while her mam struggles to put food on the table. Cathie has little hope of better for her own future until a chance encounter gives her the opportunity to change her fortune for ever. Fiercely determined, Cathie leaves behind home and family for Liverpool, a bustling, modern city full of possibility.

The phone call to the police arrives at dusk from an isolated farmhouse, 50 miles from the city. A terrified woman's voice pleads for help. But a violent storm rages in the area, and the first available patrol only succeeds in reaching her hours later. It is too late. Something perturbing has happened, something which leaves the investigators in the dark. Just one person is able to reveal the message hidden behind this act of evil, but this person is no longer a policeman.

It is 1966, and things are changing in the close-knit Napier Road. Stephanie is nine years old, and she has plans. But everything changes when Stephanie strikes up a relationship with Mr Man, who always seems pleased to see her. When Dawn goes missing in the woods during the World Cup final, no one appears to know what happened to her - but more than one of them is lying.

After a trophy-laden and record-setting club and international career, England’s greatest ever goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, could rightly look forward to an equally successful post-playing career. But a gambling habit forged in his playing days soon spiralled into a gambling addiction: a silent, self-destructive and ruinous obsession that destroyed relationships, his mental health and very nearly himself.

Rather than going cold turkey or fighting against the finely calibrated, billion-dollar barrage of demands for our attention that ping up on our phones, we need to know how to strike a healthier balance with our devices. If we can understand the ways in which our phones affect every area of our lives, from our concentration to our body image, then we can start making the small shifts that will add up to ensure our technology is working for us, not the other way around.

Louise Leighton’s life has fallen apart, all because of one fateful night. Her husband is an adulterer, her sister is his mistress and soon Louise will lose everything she owns. But she never imagined she would lose her daughter. Eighteen-year-old Brooke Leighton is missing. It’s up to Louise and the Metropolitan Police to find her. But can Louise aid the investigation without mentioning the night where all of her troubles began? If she mentions that night, she will incriminate Brooke for heinous crimes. But if she doesn’t, she may never find her daughter....

Uppsala, Sweden. Inspector Ann Lindell has little time to enjoy her new relationship with journalist Anders Brant before he leaves on an assignment, and she is called upon to investigate the disappearance of a young woman, Klara Lovisa Bolinder. When Lindell's colleagues discover the body of a murdered homeless man, the evidence suggests that Brant could be involved.

Shadowed by the Malvern Hills, the village of Wychehill is no rural paradise but an uneasy mix of embittered farmers, escapees from the city, and a pub with a reputation for drug dealing. Called in to investigate an unsettling series of road accidents, Merrily Watkins stumbles into a barbed tangle of alienation, murder...and the fatal pursuit of an archaic secret.

As friends gather for a hen weekend, they are all smiles, but cannot hide the web of tension that bubbles beneath the surface. The group was forever broken by the devastating loss of their childhood friend, Becca. The prettiest and most powerful of them all, her absence lies at the heart of this fractured friendship. Now, decades later, someone wants to expose the truth about what happened, and will stop at nothing to reveal the secrets long since buried.

Liv has a lot of secrets. For her, home is the picturesque town of Ålesund, perched on a fjord in western Norway. One night, in the early-morning embers of a great party in the basement apartment she shares with two friends, Liv is watching TV, high on weed, and sees a python on an Australian nature show. She becomes obsessed with the idea of buying a snake as a pet. Soon Nero, the Burmese python, becomes the apartment's fourth roommate. As Liv bonds with Nero, she feels extremely protective, like a caring mother, and she is struck by a desire that surprises her with its intensity.

A beekeeper herself, she gives insight into the activity in the hive and describes the bees' natural order and habits. She explores the myths of the past and how and when they were replaced by fact. For example, the heated discussions that broke out in the 18th century when it was discovered that the hive was ruled by a queen, not a king as had been the belief since Aristotle.

Cleethorpes – 1940. As the new year dawns, the show at the Empire comes to an end and it’s time for the girls to move on. All the seaside girls have their own battles to fight. And while they figure things out it’s time for them to do their bit for the war and keep Britain smiling.

Last night my son, Shay, sneaked out of the house and didn’t come home. He promised not to go to the illegal party in the woods. But someone’s been attacked and Shay has gone missing. The police want to know if he saw what happened. I’m worried he could be involved. After all the trouble he’s been in lately, mixing with the wrong crowd, coming home beaten up and scared, I thought we’d put it all behind us. Trouble is, Shay resents me moving my new boyfriend into the family home. I found all sorts on his laptop, including a half-written email warning me not to trust David.

Lucy has been desperate for a new heart for as long as she can remember. But getting the call to say a donor has been found will be a bittersweet relief, because for her to live, someone else must die. Julia, Helen and Phoebe have been fast friends for all their lives, through Helen's unplanned pregnancy, the sudden death of Phoebe's mother and Julia's desperation to conceive with her much younger husband. Yet a deep friendship can hide many secrets....

Born at the turn of the twentieth century, Mae Strickland is only a few days old when her mother suddenly dies. Her aunt Maggie brings Mae up together with her own children, Eddie and Alice, and the girls become like sisters. In spite of Mae's unhappy start, life feels full of promise. Then, as the First World War looms, everything changes. While the local men - including young Eddie - leave to fight, Mae and Alice train as field nurses. As they travel to the front line in the wake of family tragedy, nothing can prepare them for the hardship that lies ahead.

Three years ago, Danny 'Abs' Abbingdon, star of Laid in Essex!, was living the dream. And then, on the night of the party, everything changed. It was supposed to be an intimate gathering. Just a few close friends in a remote cottage in Wales. But one thing led to another and the party spiralled out of control. Then a local girl was reported missing, presumed dead. Abs and his friends had been the last to see her alive.

Heavily in debt and earning peanuts as a 'trolley dolly', Saskia Swann desperately needed to get her life back on track. After a chance meeting, she landed a job as cabin crew - but this time on a private jet. Suddenly, she found herself transported into the glittering world of oligarchs and billionaires where the hostesses wear Prada, seven-course meals are served on fine china, the bodyguards carry guns and the mile-high shenanigans not only take place in luxury cabins, but in the cockpit itself.