Showing results by narrator "Julie Maisey" in All Categories

Ex-dancer Emily Williams turned her back on popular dancing show Strictly Dancing with Celebs to help those in need. Now the only dancing she does is teaching lonely pensioners to waltz. She's certainly not star-struck when Hollywood heart-throb Blake Harris is sent to her at short notice for community service and has no desire to babysit the arrogant actor with his bad-boy antics. But Emily's reasons for abandoning her dancing passion means she understands the Hollywood wild child more than she'd like to admit.

London, 1914. Sick and injured servicemen are returning home and Lizzie Kellaway and her godmother Margaret Penrose are determined to do their bit to help them. With Lizzie's beautiful singing voice and Margaret's talent for the piano, concerts in hospitals and convalescent homes offer the perfect opportunity to lift the spirits of men who have suffered so much. When Polly Meadows's fiancé rejects her and leaves for the war, she doesn't hesitate before travelling to London to be with her childhood friend, Lizzie.

Summer by name and summer by nature - that’s how people describe Evelyn’s happy, outgoing daughter. Even if her favourite time of year is actually Christmas! But Summer has gone through more than any eight-year-old ever should, and that’s part of the reason Evelyn is leaving everything behind to return to her childhood home in the village of Broclington. But then Evelyn receives the news that every mother dreads, and it’s local vet Jake Macpearson who comes to the rescue.

Lauren Miller has served six years behind bars for a crime she did not commit. Now, with her life in tatters, she is determined to bring those who framed her to justice. Journalist Nate Black is intrigued by Lauren’s story. Is she the innocent victim she claims to be, or is there more to her past? Eager to learn more, he offers to help Lauren clear her name and bring the real villains to justice. But with millions of pounds still missing, Lauren remains the prime suspect...and the main target in an increasingly deadly game.

After a trophy-laden and record-setting club and international career, England’s greatest ever goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, could rightly look forward to an equally successful post-playing career. But a gambling habit forged in his playing days soon spiralled into a gambling addiction: a silent, self-destructive and ruinous obsession that destroyed relationships, his mental health and very nearly himself.

When Katerina Murphy agrees to take part in Celebrity SOS, a reality TV show where celebrities have to fend for themselves in the Alaskan wilderness, she’s up for the challenge. But then she locks eyes with fellow contestant Finn Drayson and realises that the show is going to push her further from her comfort zone than she ever imagined. After all, Finn wasn’t just Katerina’s co-star in the school play where she discovered her acting confidence, he was also her first love - and the first boy to break her heart.

Cathy is glad to have her husband back now the Great War is over. Struggling to keep the peace, Cathy has her work cut out for her, as the pair seem unable to see eye-to-eye. Surviving with four children on Greg’s meagre wages is hard enough without their rows. When Cathy’s sister, Mary, comes back into her life, her heart is filled with hope. But the storm clouds of war are gathering once more on the horizon....

Sisters Mary and Cathy Ward couldn’t be more different. Fiercely independent Mary is determined to leave the mean streets of Liverpool, whereas Cathy is happy with the life she has. But when both girls fall for the same man, conflict threatens to push them apart, and as they are caught up in their own troubles, Liverpool erupts in the Bloody Sunday riots.

1936. Polly's guardian angel has to work overtime when her large family is forced to move from the countryside they love into central Liverpool. Money is desperately short, and with her mother working and her father sick, Polly is easily led astray by the handsome Sunny Andersen. But soon war looms, and Sunny joins the navy to train as a signaller. After the horrors of the May Blitz, Polly, too, decides she wants to help her country and goes into the WRNs. She hears that an old pal, Tad Donoghue from the Dublin slums, is now in the Royal Air Force.

Louise Leighton’s life has fallen apart, all because of one fateful night. Her husband is an adulterer, her sister is his mistress and soon Louise will lose everything she owns. But she never imagined she would lose her daughter. Eighteen-year-old Brooke Leighton is missing. It’s up to Louise and the Metropolitan Police to find her. But can Louise aid the investigation without mentioning the night where all of her troubles began? If she mentions that night, she will incriminate Brooke for heinous crimes. But if she doesn’t, she may never find her daughter....

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.

Few things promise us greater happiness than our relationships - yet few things more reliably deliver misery and frustration. Happy Relationships delivers an expert programme that returns joy to that troubled relationship in your life, be that with a partner or a loved one. Life coach and NHS therapist Sam Owen calmly takes us through the key issues of our relationships from the trigger points to the joyous moments.

1946. The war is over, but a bereft Sheila Hodges is left parentless and alone in London. With nowhere else to go, she heads to Worthing to reconnect with her grandmother and cousin Veronica, known as Ronnie. Ronnie and Sheila are given the opportunity to run their grandfather’s business, a local garage. Ronnie’s ne’er-do-well brother Leslie is furious - as the man of the family, he believes the business is rightfully his. But their grandmother is adamant that Leslie is not to be trusted.

London 1964. At 3:00 a.m. on a chilly autumn morning, Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard is called to a club in Greek Street where a young girl has fallen to her death from a top-floor window. But was it a tragic accident or something more sinister? Meanwhile, Kate O’Donnell, Harry’s photographer girlfriend, receives a call from her Liverpudlian ex, pleading for her help. His new squeeze, Marie Collins, set off for London in the hope of getting a recording contract, but she’s not answering her phone. Where is she?

Rejected by her family and plagued by insomnia, Rose Shaw is on the brink. But one dark evening she collides with a man running through the streets, who quickly vanishes. The only sign he ever existed - a journal dropped at Rose's feet. Catapulted into a dark world of fear and obsession, she begins to dedicate her sleepless nights to discovering what happened to Finn Matthews, the mysterious author of the journal. Why was he convinced someone wanted to kill him? And why, in the midst of a string of murders, won't the police investigate his disappearance?

Facing challenges in your relationships, career, health or well-being? Worried important life goals seem to be slipping away? Whether you're faced with day-to-day nervous energy or experiencing a more crippling sensation of anxiety-induced panic attacks, sometimes life can test your nerves and stress levels. But there is a simple and effective way to facing your fears - both real and imagined threats, and making sure that you can bounce back from them stronger than ever before and go on to achieve your goals and lead a happier, more fulfilled life. 

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....

England, 1942: 23-year-old Betty runs away from Bristol to make a new life for herself. Betrayed by her husband, Betty flees to the seaside town of Bournemouth, where she has fond memories of childhood holidays. There, she finds a small family bakery in desperate need of a new shop girl.... At the Barton Bakery, Betty finds a sanctuary with shopkeeper Audrey Barton, but Audrey is fighting battles of her own. Her husband is at war and in grave danger, she is heavily pregnant and her customers are horrified by the demands imposed by rationing.

Bea has grown up part of a large, boisterous Kent family. But she hasn't heard from her soldier sweetheart in months, and her mother is controlling her life. She needs to take charge of her future. Edie inhabits a world of wealth and privilege but knows only too well that money can't buy happiness. She wants to be like Winston Churchill's daughter, Mary, to make a difference. Joan can't remember anything of her past or her family, and her home has been bombed in the Blitz. Desperate, she needs a refuge.

In 21st century Britain, what does it mean to be working class? This book asks 24 working class writers to examine the issue as it relates to them. Examining representation, literature, sexuality, gender, art, employment, poverty, childhood, culture and politics, this book is a broad and firsthand account of what it means to be drawn from the bottom of Britain's archaic but persistent class structure.