Showing results by narrator "Julie Maisey" in All Categories

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.

Paige Dawson: the mother of a murdered child and wife to a dead man. She has nothing left to live for...until she finds her husband's handgun hidden in their house. Why did Ryan need a gun? What did he know about their daughter's death? Desperate for the truth, Paige begins to unearth her husband's secrets. But she has no idea who she is up against, or that her life isn't hers to gamble - she belongs to me.

In 1974, Liz Harvie – born Claire Elaine Watts – was given up for adoption by her birth mother Yvonne. Claire was just eight weeks old when her adoptive parents took her in – and renamed her Elizabeth. Although brought up in a ‘perfect’ household, the emotional – and physical – trauma of being taken from her biological mother would never leave Liz. She constantly wondered: what does my real mum look like? Will she come back for me? Why did she abandon me?

He gazes at the bodies. Young men, probably in their early thirties. The wooden flooring around them has been stained dark red. He wonders what kind of monster could have done this. And why. As a murder detective in the Met Police, D.I. Matthew Denning is used to seeing the very worst of humanity. But when a young woman's body is discovered in an East London churchyard, her face obliterated by blows, he is plunged into his most shocking case yet.

As a primary school teacher, Ava Lam is familiar with the 'buddy bench': a rainbow painted bench where sad or lonely children can sit to show they need a friend. But are buddy benches just for kids? Ava might have assumed so—until she finds herself sobbing her heart out on a park bench and a kind stranger sits down next to her. The stranger, Dr Sam Stone, has a house, an impressive job and he's even training for a marathon. But whilst Sam appears to have everything figured out, it seems he needs a sympathetic ear just as much as she does.

Cat Cleary is a 16-year-old Irish 'slummy' arriving in Liverpool to seek her fortune. Joe Calligan, a young steam-packet deckhand, thinks she's the loveliest girl he's ever seen and hasn't the heart to tell her that Liverpool is full of people tramping the streets looking for work. And then Cat sees the White Empress, a huge luxury liner. In that moment her ambition is born - to be chief stewardess. In spite of her poverty, her lack of education, her family background, Cat Cleary sets about realising her incredible dream.

A natural on a horse since he was able to walk, and imbued with a pure love of riding, Declan Murphy became one of the most brilliant jockeys of his generation before his world came crashing down at the final hurdle of a race at Haydock Park. His skull shattered in 12 places, he was believed to be dead, the last rites were read and the Racing Post published his obituary. Miraculously, and the word is not used lightly, he survived and defied medical thinking in recovering to the extent that 18 months after his fall, he was able to saddle up for one more race.

Pam Evans' family saga brings postwar London vividly to life as, amid rationing and food shortages, a young girl finds a passion for growing her own vegetables. It is February 1945, and April Green and her cousin, Heather, wonder if the war will ever end. Then the local pub in Chiswick takes a direct hit, and April's father is killed in the blast. Life without him is hard to bear, and April and her brother do all they can to help, particularly when their mother announces she is pregnant.

It's been a good few years since Molly and Bernie left their native Ireland and settled in Liverpool. Now they're both being courted by fine young men, and the future looks bright. But 1945 is rapidly approaching and soon war is changing everything - destroying homes and lives, and snatching away long-held dreams.... The beautifully evoked backstreets of Liverpool are the perfect setting for a tale of grit, friendship - and love.

When Daniel Davenport saves Maddie Lockett and her young brother, Tom, from drowning, an immediate bond is forged between them. But Daniel is an aspiring doctor and son of a wealthy manufacturer whilst Maddie is a potter’s daughter from a poverty-stricken area of the Potteries. Even a friendship between the two could be frowned upon, let alone anything more....

Callie Devereux has it all - a successful career, a beautiful home and an attentive, loving partner. Until one day, she wakes up to discover that the man she thought she loved has taken everything from her, leaving her penniless. Desperate to get answers, Callie goes after the man she once trusted and discovers a world built on secrets and lies. Jack Carlisle has never heard of the man Callie Devereaux claims to have once loved, but he has a good idea who it is - his business partner and old friend, Logan Armitage.

Lori works illegally in a rented flat in central London, living in fear of police raids which could mean losing her small daughter and her dream of a new life. Freya is a student who finds she can make far more money as an escort than she could in an office; life, after all, is already a tangle of madness and dissociation. And Paula is a journalist whose long-term campaign against prostitution has brought her some strange bedfellows. After a shock change to the law, with brothels being raided by the authorities, lives across the country are fractured.

Two weeks before her wedding, a stranger stops Amy in the street and warns her she’s in danger. Then that night, Matt, her fiancé, doesn’t come home. Desperate, Amy calls the police - but when Matt fails to emerge, she’s forced to call off her wedding day. Then another man is reported missing, by a woman called Fiona - a man meeting Matt’s description, who was about to leave his fiancée for her. He was supposed to be moving in with her - but instead, he’s vanished.

Lucy Winters’ parents have always been there for her. Loving, gentle and kind they have given her everything she could have wished for. Now, estranged from her husband, she has moved to the country to take over their thriving auction business. The moment she begins to prepare for her first sale she knows she’s made the right decision. And she dares to hope that at last she is living the life she has always dreamed of.

Paramedic Abi Quinn is hailed as a hero by the patients she saves with the London Ambulance Service, but a secret she’s kept since she was a teenager now threatens to shatter that perfect illusion. When her daughter Rose goes missing while studying at Brighton University, and ghosts from her past return to haunt her, Abi’s caught in a race against time to untangle the web of lies she set in motion over 20 years ago.

Patty Jenkins has come a long way from her poverty-stricken days in Brownlow workhouse. She now has a coveted position in the kitchens at Freeman's Department store in Liverpool and even the prospect of advancement. For Patty has always enjoyed baking, and her flair for it has caught the attention of the store owner, who intends to have her create elaborate cakes and pastries to serve at afternoon tea to Freeman's clientele.

After her mother's death, Dora is sent to live with her father and his other family. But Dora is mixed race and illegitimate, two facts that see her treated as little more than a servant by her stepmother and half siblings. This doesn't stop the son of the house abusing his position, and Dora finds herself on the streets and pregnant....

Liverpool, World War II. Monica Eustace and Joan McDonald met as next-door-neighbours living in Mersey View in Liverpool. Their friendship is a close as ever, though they're married now, and sharing Monica's grand house on the other side of the city. But war clouds are gathering, casting a shadow over the happy future they dream of with their young husbands. Meanwhile, in London, Joan's half-sister Bella is overwhelmed with the glitz and glamour of the city while she's training as a singer - but will she forget her friends back home?

Alice Granger is no ordinary survivor. She has a tale to tell, a story of revenge. Alice feels driven to protect the innocent from dangerous men. Men like her father. Men who hurt children. Predators who prey on the innocent. And there’s nothing Alice won’t do to make them pay. Alice wants to make them suffer as their victims did. But the police are one step behind. And as the net closes, Alice’s life spirals out of control, the lines between good and evil becoming ever more blurred as she attempts to escape capture.