Showing results by narrator "Patience Tomlinson" in All Categories

Wiltshire in 1901: Kathleen's family are determined to force her into marriage with a violent man. In desperation she runs away and finds what consolation she can for her lost dreams. Then tragedy strikes, and Kathleen seeks refuge at Honeyfield House, where a charitable bequest has created a hiding place for families in trouble. Nathan fought in the Great War and is now using his gift for finding lost people as a detective. Taking on the job of finding Kathleen, he is shocked to discover a woman he can love, not the vicious female he was led to expect.

Ten years ago, a missing person story causes a furore in Kent - and the national media. A beautiful young woman with a promising career as a singer walks home alone from a party and is never seen again. There is no evidence, forensic or otherwise, and no-one is ever arrested. A decade later Libby Sarjeant is talked into inspecting a derelict hotel in her home village of Steeple Martin. The body of a young boy is discovered - but is it anything to do with the mysterious disappearance from more than 10 years ago?

When a woman's body is found on the local golf course after an illicit New Year's party, news quickly spreads, and Libby finds herself being tracked down by locals desperate to share information about the victim, Jackie Stapleton. But things are never that simple in Libby's world. Whilst everyone had an opinion on Jackie, it seems nobody really knew much about her. Libby's chum DCI Connell is being more tight-lipped than usual, and even with her friend Fran Wolfe's help, discovering a motive for the killing is frustratingly difficult.

Colin Hardcastle has arranged for two men to meet and discuss the sale of a house. But when Nick Nash - the owner of the property - doesn't show, Colin cannot begin to imagine the events he has set in motion. Perplexed, Colin tells his friends in Steeple Martin, piquing the interest of Libby Sarjeant - and the Reverend Patti Pearson, who finds Nash's name strangely familiar....

'You don’t mean you're going to divorce him?' Miss Spanner said with horror. A sophisticated, emotive novel, Chatterton Square concerns the complex web of relationships between two neighbouring families, the Blacketts and the Frasers. Framed by the advance of the Second World War, the subtle mechanics of marriage and love are laid bare through the observation of three of the marital options open to the mid-century woman: unmarried, separated, miserably married.

On 6 June, 1944, Britain woke up to a profound silence. Overnight, 160,000 Allied troops had vanished and an eerie emptiness settled over the country. The majority of those men would never return. This is the story of that extraordinary 24 hours. Using a wealth of first-person testimonies, renowned historian Max Arthur recounts a remarkable new oral history of D-Day, beginning with the two years leading up to the silent day that saw the UK transformed by the arrival of thousands of American and Canadian troops.

From the summer of 1938, British women from all walks of life joined the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS). This disparate band of women came together for the common good - to help serve and protect their communities. By 1941 a million women had enrolled. These brave and dutiful women played a vital role in Britain's victory. The positive impact of the WVS on wartime society was universally acknowledged. They were instrumental in implementing the large-scale evacuation of children from bomb-targeted cities, in the care of the wounded, and in keeping those in war service fed.

When frumpy Jo Hill lands a position as a PA at Gloss magazine, it's the job of her dreams - but it soon becomes a nightmare. As a mousy secretary with a passion for giant bags of Maltesers and comfy shoes, Jo doesn't fit in at the uber-chic office. But she has a plan.

“The end of the old world”, people said about the long, hot summer of 1914. That summer Aunt Tilly comes to stay with her brother, the Rector, and his four lively daughters in the sleepy Sussex village of Ashden. Aunt Tilly’s visit sparks off a chain of events which threatens to split Ashden apart. Agnes Pilbeam, the Rectory palourmaid, and her sweetheart, Jamie, find themselves bewilderingly caught up. Then, in August, the lamps go out all over Europe, and war bursts open the straitjacket of rural village life.

It’s 1993 and the small seaside town of Kingshaven is looking picture perfect when the peace is suddenly shattered by the blast of a bomb that has lain hidden since the war. It is not the town’s only long-buried secret. In London, graduate Cat Brown sees the story unfolding on the news. In Rome, Iris Quinn feels the tug of the place she ran away from 30 years before. In the now crumbling Palace Hotel, disturbing memories are triggered for grande-dame Liliana King.

This riveting conclusion of Grace Winslow's fight for freedom carries her from England to America's Deep South. After learning that her husband, Cabeto, is on a South Carolina plantation, Grace dons a sailor's disguise and boards the only ship headed for America - a detestable slave ship. When her secret is discovered, Grace is locked up in the hold. In South Carolina, Grace is bought immediately, but soon sold to a man who is not a slave keeper.

Dear Mr Bigelow is an enchanting selection of weekly 'pen-pal' letters written between 1949 and 1961 from an unmarried woman working at the Pier Approach Baths in Bournemouth, to a wealthy American widower, living on Long Island, New York. Frances Woodsford and Commodore Paul Bigelow never met, and there was no romance - she was in her forties when he died aged ninety-seven - yet their epistolary friendship was her lifeline.

Barbara Bosgrove is looking forward to the annual Harvest Ball. Her widowed father will be her escort, but it is not long before George Kennett seeks her out for a dance. George vows to win Barbara’s hand in marriage and begins a slow and steady courtship. Little by little, Barbara is won over. Worn down by several years of marriage to the unfaithful George, Barbara feels she has lost all the vitality of her youth. But her old friend Simon is not prepared to let Barbara lose sight of the woman she really is.

Slavers burst into Grace Winslow's life with guns blazing and tear her family apart forever. She watches in anguish as her husband is led in chains aboard a tightly packed slave ship bound for America. An old enemy has a more sinister plan for Grace and prepares her for a different kind of servitude in London. But Grace will not be enslaved. And she will not give up on the man she loves. In her determination to be reunited with her husband, she finds God reaching out to her.

The eleventh book in the Libby Sarjeant series of British murder mysteries which features a retired actress as the female sleuth and is based in the picturesque village of Steeple Martin. Libby Sarjeant is invited to look into the provenance of a jewelled Anglo-Saxon reliquary which has appeared on a website. The nuns at St Eldreda's Abbey are curious, as it apparently contains a relic of St Eldreda herself.

On the ancient marshlands of Somerset - a place of mists and magic - a girl grows up in the shadow of the English Civil War, knowing that one day she will inherit the rich estate which belonged to her late mother. Her father, a stern but loving Puritan, once a distinguished soldier in Cromwell's army, fears for his daughter in the poisonous aftermath of the war, and for her vulnerability as an heiress. But above all he fears and misunderstands her scientific passion for butterflies.

1990. On the luxurious private island of Angel Cay, four privileged students toast the end of their exams. Self-assured Miles, clever Grace, talented Alex and beautiful Sasha have the world at their feet. But one dark night will change their perfect lives forever. As the friends move into glamorous careers – fashion, music, politics – each tries to put the past behind them. But no matter how far their stars rise, they cannot escape the dreadful truth.

When they met at a motorcycle club in 1912, Elsie Knocker was a 30-year-old motorcycling divorcee dressed in bottle-green Dunhill leathers, and Mairi Chisholm was a brilliant 18-year old mechanic, living at home and borrowing tools from her brother. Little did they know that theirs was to become one of the most extraordinary stories of the First World War.

No one at Gad’s Hall could admit what they knew about the room in the attic. The locked room that held the Thorley family’s most shameful secret. The terrifying room that had once been the living tomb of a beautiful young woman possessed by the darkest evil. Years had passed but the relentless diabolic force abided – waiting until it could once again possess an innocent and inflict its horror upon the living. It was a force countless centuries old. It was simply a matter of time before it would strike again.

The fake diamond in Dilys Holland's engagement ring implies that all is not well with her marriage. And Bea Abbot has already clashed with Dilys's husband, the bullying Benton, when she refuses to help him rescue his ailing company. But matters are about to turn a great deal worse when Dilys tries to commit suicide. Or does she?