Showing results by narrator "Emma Handy" in All Categories

Robert Poste's child is back at Cold Comfort Farm. But all is not well. Flora finds the farm transformed into a twee haven filled with Toby jugs and peasant pottery, and rooms labelled 'Quiete Retreate' and 'Greate laundrie'. It is, Flora winces, 'exactly like being locked in the Victoria and Albert Museum after closing time'. Worse, the farm is hosting a conference of the pretentious International Thinkers Group - a group made up of the 'sadistic owl' Mr Peccavi, loathsome Mr Mybug and the overpowering Mrs Ernestine Thump.

Following their father's death, Cass and her sister Sid will do whatever it takes to keep their family's dive school afloat. It used to be the go-to destination in Cornwall for those keen to explore the ocean's hidden depths. But when Cass returns from a long trip, she's shocked to discover how bad things have become. The business is in decline. Sid's new boyfriend has far too much control over the accounts - and her sister. Then, Cass discovers a body in the water. And as more girls go missing, she wonders just how far someone will go to keep their secrets buried.

The title story tells of a typical Christmas at the farm before the coming of Flora Poste. It is a parody of the worst sort of family Christmas: Adam Lambsbreath dresses up as Father Christmas in two of Judith's red shawls. There are unsuitable presents, unpleasant insertions into the pudding and Aunt Ada Doom orders Amos to carve the turkey, adding: 'Ay, would it were a vulture, 'twere more fitting!'

When an acrimonious songwriting couple are facing threats from notorious gangster Brannigan, will a song save the day? Sometimes the hour can seem long when you're radio staff - so what happens when Chicago snow traps you in the building completely? A new manager plans to change the whole format of the show, but a deep-voiced celebrity could use his charm to stop the manager in his tracks. And when the station is threatened with closure by the League of Decency, Katharine Hepburn herself comes to the rescue with her inimitable style.