Historical Romance Saga

Bram Deagan has a thriving trading business, a growing family - and a gift for matchmaking. His dearest wish is to see his friends Dougal and Mitchell happily married, too. In England, Eleanor Prescott has been widowed and often thinks of Dougal McBride, the ship's captain who was a true friend to her. Does she dare return to Western Australia to find him? Jacinta Blacklea is also a widow, desperate to protect her young son. When she hears of a man in Australia looking for a wife, she determines to grasp Mitchell Nash's invitation with both hands.

Bram Deagan dreams of bringing his family from Ireland to join him in Australia, where he now runs a successful trading business. But when a typhus epidemic strikes Ireland, it leaves the Deagan family decimated. And, with other family members scattered round the world, it is left to Maura Deagan to look after her orphaned nieces and nephew. Forced to abandon her own ambitions, and unsure whether she is ready to become a mother-figure to three young children, Maura recognises that their only hope is to join Bram in far away Australia.

In 1858 Annie Hallam has at last found complete happiness. She has three healthy babies and adores her husband, Frederick. After years of struggling to make a living in the small Lancashire town of Bilsden, Annie knows she deserves to sit back and enjoy her life - after all, she's not yet 40, and still in her prime.

For childhood friends Leo Kelly, Jane Devlin, and newly ordained "Packy" Keenan, the summers they spent at the lake together were times of pure magic. And no summer was more enchanting than the summer of 1948 - until a tragic car wreck killed two of their friends.

Eva Kershaw thought she would never marry and is happy living a quiet life with her dear friend Alice. But Alice is ill, and her nephew, Gus, has thrust himself into their household. Alice's dearest wish is that Eva should not make the same mistakes she did, and she alters her will so that Eva and Gus are strongly compelled to marry. Eva obliges to fulfil her dead friend's wishes. But Gus is not all he seems to be: he is not Alice's kind nephew but a robber, a confidence trickster, and not even Gus Blake. And Eva is in terrible danger....

Ismay Deagan has one wish in the world - to leave Ireland and join her brother, Bram, in Australia. However, her father has other ideas and orders her to marry their vicious neighbour Rory Flynn, even though she loathes him. But after Rory brutally attacks her Ismay realises she has to escape. So, disguising herself as an impoverished young widow, she sets sail for Australia, hoping to be reunited with her brother. When she meets Adam Treagar on the ship, she finally starts to believe her dreams of future happiness may come true....

Rediscover one of the greatest love stories of all time with this new audio edition of Pride and Prejudice, masterfully narrated by actress Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton, Doctor Who). Pride and Prejudice's prolific status as a beloved story is thanks to its dynamic, ever-evolving central characters, as well as the strength of the wit and satire wielded by Austen. It is a love story, yes, but it is also a profound critique of Georgian high society and the plight of women. Without a male heir, the Bennet daughters risk losing their home and their income when their father, Mr Bennet, passes.

A Year of Broken Promises continues the story of James and Mary McGrother, a young Irish fisherman and his wife, who were the main characters in A Pocket Full of Shells. Even with the famine years behind them, tragedy and hardship does not stop. Promises made in good faith are broken along with the hearts of those making them. A solicitor, a constable, and a secretive organization all play parts in determining the fate of a young couple whose only desire is to provide for their family and live a simple life.

It’s 1837, and immigrating to a small New Zealand fishing village is an opportunity for Ida Lange’s family to build a better future. Yet for Ida, raised in a strict, religious, tight-knit German community, so much is still forbidden to a woman. Yearning for the poor day laborer she shared books with as a child, Ida is now trapped in a dire marriage to a man of her father’s choosing.

Liverpool, 1939. Bella Rogers thought her life was just starting; she can’t wait to get married to her childhood sweetheart, Bobby. But when war is declared and Bobby is called up, his letters stop, leaving Bella heartbroken and alone. Then her family is torn apart by tragedy when her angelic 5-year-old sister dies from a terrible illness. They can barely afford a funeral, but the church is packed with the entire community, devastated for their loss. Grieving for her sister and lost love, Bella finds a job at the Bryant and May factory, making matches.

'A heart-warming and affecting tale' – Woman's Weekly Homecoming for the Chocolate Girls is the heartfelt and dramatic conclusion to this gritty family saga about love, war and chocolate. 1946: The war might be over, but for the Gilby family there are still battles to be fought at home...

In 1894, while penniless 19-year-old Tom Bridger works at a Michigan furniture company that fuels his ambitions, he falls in love with beautiful, sophisticated Antonia Dalzell. But his real talent is inventing machines. He’s secretly working on an electrical replacement for the horseless carriage. So is his friend, engineer Henry Ford. With America still a bit player on the burgeoning automotive stage, Tom dreams of creating a company to rival the dazzling car manufacturers of Europe.

Balthazar and his siblings are living the good life in the utopian community of Canoga, New York, where they have a degree of sexual and intellectual freedom few men—and even fewer women—have ever known. But sadly, all good things must come to an end. When their father dies, the Hale siblings discover two disheartening truths. First, they have an older brother none of them knew existed. Second, this stranger is not only the heir to an English dukedom, he's also their new legal guardian.

Gravedigger John Gascoigne lives in Downfell Hurst with his wife, Florrie, their three children and his mother, Gran. John is a deep thinker but extremely taciturn - a man of few words and many grunts. Which is why everyone is alarmed when he's hit on the head by a cricket ball, and it suddenly seems as if the words won't stop. What's more, he says he is talking to Saint Christopher - only no one else can see the saint, and they're beginning to worry John's not quite right in the head.

Can a Mail Order bride find love with two husbands? It doesn’t take long for Julie Baptiste to realize she yearns for more than the non-stop engagements and niceties dictated by New York high society. So, she decides to do something bold and answers an advertisement for a mail-order bride in Gold Sky, Montana. Ex-Union soldiers Forrest Wickes and William Barnes have been inseparable since the War. They share everything, including the desire to find a wife. A woman who is willing to marry them both and provide the isolated town with a much needed teacher.

1912. As the steamship Carpathia takes the survivors of the Titanic to New York, a woman desperately searches the decks for her baby, thrust into the arms of another passenger as a lifeboat left, and now nowhere to be found. 2022. When archivist Jackie finds a notebook containing the stories of women saved by the Carpathia amongst an auction lot, she uncovers the story of a missing baby, a mysterious silver bracelet, and a journalist determined to share the truth with the world.

1871. When Fergus Deagan's wife dies in childbirth, she makes him promise to take their family to Western Australia to join his brother Bram, also to marry again. She's right. His young sons and newborn daughter do need a mother's love, and he needs something different. Disowned by her father for becoming pregnant, Cara Payton bears a stillborn baby. She's in deep despair until a plea to wet-nurse a motherless baby gives her life new purpose.

Mrs Tim goes to the Highlands of Scotland and is involved in a plot to rescue a naval officer from the toils of a siren; but, alas, the best laid plans "gang aft agley". The characters are skilfully drawn, from the fierce Mrs London, with her heart of gold, to the garrulous Mrs Falconer, whose muddled stories of her girlhood make excruciatingly funny reading.

On a bright summer's day, old Miss Clare, now retired from teaching, awaits the visit of her oldest friend, Emily Davis. In between, she recalls the events in their 70-year friendship and country life in England during that time.

All Airel ever wanted was to be normal, to disappear into the crowd. But bloodlines can produce surprises, like an incredible ability to heal. Then there's Michael Alexander, the new guy in school, who is impossibly gorgeous... and captivated by her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she can hear the sound of pages turning, and another, older story being written. It is the story of an ancient family, of great warriors, of the Sword of Light, and the struggle against an evil so terrible, so far-reaching, that it threatens everything. Airel knew change would be an inevitable part of life.