The Secret Mother
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Narrated by:
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Katie Villa
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Written by:
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Shalini Boland
About this listen
"Are you my mummy?"
Tessa Markham returns home to find a child in her kitchen. He thinks she’s his mother. But Tessa doesn’t have any children.
Not anymore.
She doesn’t know who the little boy is or how he got there.
After contacting the police, Tessa is suspected of taking the mystery child. Her whole life is turned upside down. And then her husband reveals a secret of his own….
Tessa isn’t sure what to believe or who to trust. Because someone is lying. To find out who, she must confront her painful past. But is the truth more dangerous than Tessa realises?
An absolutely pause-resisting psychological thriller with a twist that will make you wonder if you can ever trust anyone again. If you loved Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and The Sister this book will have you hooked.
©2017 Shalini Boland (P)2017 BookoutureYou may also enjoy...
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Love love love!
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WOW!
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Another Good Shalani Boland!
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What a Suspenseful story!!!
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Wow…. Amazing
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Love love love!
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Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs saying the words every mother dreads. The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl. After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law, Diane, finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over. But then her perfect family starts to fall apart....
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WOW!
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The Other Daughter
- Written by: Shalini Boland
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- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink, plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare. Holly is taken by a stranger and never found. Nine years later, Rachel is living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to keep things together since the traumatic day when she lost her eldest daughter.
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Another Good Shalani Boland!
- By Anonymous User on 2021-02-14
Written by: Shalini Boland
-
The Family Holiday
- Written by: Shalini Boland
- Narrated by: Katie Villa
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The white-washed Italian villa is perfect. I thought it might feel odd, living in a stranger’s house for the summer, but as my husband and children swim in the infinity pool, I start to relax. And then, in the back of a wardrobe, I find something that shatters everything.... Sparkling green eyes, square jaw, lopsided smile. A young man with his arm around a beautiful woman. The picture is old and faded, but I’d recognize him anywhere. The man is my husband.
-
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What a Suspenseful story!!!
- By Anonymous User on 2023-08-09
Written by: Shalini Boland
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The Millionaire's Wife
- Written by: Shalini Boland
- Narrated by: Katie Villa
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Anna Blackwell opens an email from an unknown sender, the shocking image attached shatters her perfect world. A woman has been killed. And Anna knows who did it. The past is catching up with her. Is it her turn next? To protect herself and her husband, Will, she must tell him the terrible truth about her first love. But as the secrets of her life unravel, Anna begins to realize that she is not the only one who has been living a lie.
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The Best Friend
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When Louisa Sullivan takes her little boy to his first playdate at a new friend’s house, she doesn’t realize life is about to change for her family. Because she’s about to meet Darcy Lane. Darcy is a woman who has everything—a dream house, a powerful husband, and enviable wealth. She’s the perfect wife. The perfect friend. The perfect liar.
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Good Story
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The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist
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Kirstie Rawlings is jolted awake by a child crying. Racing upstairs to check on her newborn, she is plunged into every parents’ worst nightmare. She hears an unknown voice in the baby monitor, saying: "Let’s take the child - and go." Is someone trying to steal her little girl? In the bedroom, her daughter is safe asleep in her cot. Is the voice coming from a nearby house? But there aren’t any other children living on her quiet country road....
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So anticlimactic
- By Anonymous User on 2021-11-08
Written by: Shalini Boland
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My Little Girl
- A Totally Gripping Psychological Thriller Full of Shocking Twists
- Written by: Shalini Boland
- Narrated by: Katie Villa
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Seven-year-old Beatrice has gone missing. Her mother Claire’s whole world has been turned upside down in just one moment, and she can’t stop shaking. She’s desperate to find her precious daughter, but nothing about the day she disappeared makes sense.
Written by: Shalini Boland
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The Girl She Wanted
- Written by: K.L. Slater
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What was my sister doing standing over Florence’s cot in the middle of the night?I trust my sister, Carrie, with my daughter’s life. But then she’s accused of a terrible crime. Carrie lives under our roof, she pushes my daughter on the swings, she takes her out for ice cream. You might ask, why do I let her? Why would I risk my darling baby? How could I let my sister stay? Because I have a dangerous secret too. One that only Carrie knows about. And if that secret gets out, I could lose my little girl....
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Enjoyed
- By Anonymous User on 2022-12-29
Written by: K.L. Slater
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The Silent Bride
- Written by: Shalini Boland
- Narrated by: Katie Villa
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Alice and Seth are a perfect love story: the handsome doctor and his beautiful fiancée. They’re wealthy, well liked and made for each other—the envy of all their friends. Alice can’t wait for the day of their dream wedding. But when she arrives at the altar, she doesn’t recognise the man waiting to marry her. When this stranger insists he’s Seth, her husband-to-be, the entire congregation seems to agree. Even her parents try to persuade Alice to go through with the wedding.
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Underwhelming
- By Anonymous User on 2023-09-17
Written by: Shalini Boland
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The Couple Upstairs
- An Addictive Psychological Thriller with a Gripping Twist
- Written by: Shalini Boland
- Narrated by: Katie Villa
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Our new home was supposed to be a chance to leave our past behind. But was moving here the worst mistake of our lives? All our friends and family were gathered, glasses raised to toast our fresh start. It should have been a night for happiness and celebration. Zac and I had worked so hard for this: our first home together, just minutes from the sea. But the dream quickly turned into a nightmare.
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Wouldn’t recommend, boring read.
- By Anonymous User on 2021-11-15
Written by: Shalini Boland
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The Girl from the Sea
- Written by: Shalini Boland
- Narrated by: Katie Villa
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Mia James is washed up on a beautiful, sun-drenched beach, she has no idea who she is or what happened to her. She doesn’t even recognize her own face–until her boyfriend, Piers, comes forward, providing her with an identity. Piers is handsome and attentive, Mia’s home is huge and stylish, and her friends are eager to help her fill in the blanks. As Mia steps into the perfect life she was living before her accident, she should feel lucky to be alive. But she struggles to adjust, lost for words around people she is meant to know and love, grasping for clues about who she is.
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Dragged on a wee bit
- By Anonymous User on 2024-08-10
Written by: Shalini Boland
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The Marriage Betrayal: A totally gripping and heart-stopping psychological thriller full of twists
- Written by: Shalini Boland
- Narrated by: Katie Villa
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Faye Townsend has planned the perfect summer trip for her family. But returning to the small seaside town her husband grew up in does not go to plan - the rain pours, and the long days become stifling. And then the unthinkable happens.... Her husband, Jake, and her six-year-old son, Dylan, go for an early morning walk along the beautiful, windswept clifftops. They don’t come back.
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unsure why there are low ratings - great read!
- By Anonymous User on 2023-05-22
Written by: Shalini Boland
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The Visitor
- Written by: K. L. Slater
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Holly never thought she'd move back to her hometown, but then something terrible happened. She doesn't know if she can recover. But she knows she can never tell another soul. People say her neighbour, David, is 'different'. He doesn't go out much, and never after dark. But in David, Holly finds just what she needs: a friend. Someone who's always there. No-one knows Holly's secret or where she lives. She has left the past behind. So why does she feel as though she's in terrible danger?
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Why can't people be kind?
- By Anonymous User on 2022-08-05
Written by: K. L. Slater
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The Nursery
- Written by: Sue Watson
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Then: Morning light shines into the nursery, casting shadows across the pale pink walls and wooden cot in the middle of the room. She opens the door expecting to hear the soft coo of her daughter, Sofia, stretching herself awake. But the room is silent. The cot is empty. Her little girl has vanished. Now: Twelve years have passed, but Emily will never forget the night her life changed forever, and she’s happy to have her daughter back beside her. A teenager now, Sofia started asking questions about when she was a baby.
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A good listen!
- By Anonymous User on 2023-05-07
Written by: Sue Watson
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Closer
- Written by: K. L . Slater
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
I know my daughter better than I know myself, and if there’s one thing I know for sure at this moment it's that Maisie is not okay. My ex-husband, Shaun, and I are still friends. We would do anything for our beautiful little girl, Maisie. But now Shaun has moved in with Joanne, and suddenly Maisie has a brand-new family. And there’s something not quite right about it.... I know Joanne isn’t everything she says she is. Yet no-one will listen. I need to discover what she’s hiding. Because if I don’t, my daughter will be in terrible danger.
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Easy thriller for a lazy afternoon..
- By Anonymous User on 2019-02-18
Written by: K. L . Slater
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The Ex
- Written by: S.E. Lynes
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It’s hard meeting your ex after so much time apart. You remember the tears and accusations, the desperate look on his face as he punched the wall, but you try not to show it. You smile politely, even while your heart beats faster. You watch as he looks down into the stroller, at the beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed baby kicking his little legs in the sunshine, whose innocent smile lights up your world. You see his face change. You know what he’s thinking. The next day he calls. His voice is shaking. He wants the truth. Is it his child?
Written by: S.E. Lynes
What the critics say
‘Absolutely addictive and brilliant with an end I didn't see coming. This is one book you have to read and it gets 5 huge stars from me!!!!’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
‘Wow, wow, wow! What a fantastic book! The book starts with a bang… from page one and believe me, it doesn’t let up throughout the book and keeps you gripped until the very end!’ Stardust Book Reviews, 5 stars
‘Oh yes, yes, yes, yes this was my kind of read, I really have taken this and added it to my top 10 this year, it’s a screaming from the rooftops fantastic read, if you love a good thriller… if you love to stay up all night reading because you simply can't switch your mind off from a book, this is it, you found it, don't look any further… so fast paced it leaves your breathless. One of the best psychological thrillers that I have read that has shocked me, left me dribbling for me and wanting more from this author.’ Read Along With Sue, 5 stars
What listeners say about The Secret Mother
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 2024-04-19
Wow!
I cant stop thinking about this book - wow! I think this author is brilliant.
She’s able to keep you gripped and make you feel the raw grief and fear of her characters.
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- Anonymous User
- 2023-08-23
Wow…Loved it
I just love the way Shalini Boland writes. This book was a fantastic listen. Great story and kept you interested all the way through.
Beautifully narrated by Katie Villa.
Never boring and a wonderful story. Loved it.
I highly recommend this book.
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- Anonymous User
- 2018-09-08
Great Story!
At first I wondered why i ordered this, but i trusted the good reviews and they were right! Very good story! Finished in 2 days, couldn't get enough.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 2019-02-11
Kept me wanting more/predictable
I love this narrator! She's fantastic with conveying emotion. Once I started this, I couldn't stop. I did figure out the twist early but I still listened to the end.
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- Anonymous User
- 2024-04-12
Great story and narrator easy to understand
This story had me guessing all the way until very end. Good book. Well worth it this time!!
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- Anonymous User
- 2024-12-07
Terrific!
Another great book by Shalini Boland. I enjoyed the mystery and was surprised as the story progressed and started to make sense. Excellent narration as always by Katie Villa.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-12-05
Great story but...
Great story. A little hurried at the end but still good. This is my 2nd Boland book and i absolutely love it.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-07-04
great listen
Thank you it kept me on my toes.
I loved the ending.
looking for her next book.
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- Anonymous User
- 2020-10-06
Lead boring
Struggled to finished. I knew the ending half way through. Lead was un sympathic and boring. I thought she was not a strong character
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