Résultats lu par "Melanie Crawley" dans Toutes les catégories

Growing up, Joanne suffered at the hands of a violent boyfriend and controlling relatives, as her mother lapsed into a downward spiral following the break-up of her marriage. But the consequences of her mother's lifestyle turned out to be worse than Joanne could ever have imagined. She already knew about the baby buried in a shallow makeshift grave next to the family plot. But when Joanne came across a red plastic bin in her mother's wardrobe in 2009, she realised that the family home held an even more sinister secret.

Louise has trouble on her hands from the first moment that 5-year-old Billy Blackthorn comes to stay. He is one of more than 20 children taken into care from a single family, and erupts into the Allen household with a volatility that is frightening and disturbing in equal measure. It is only as Louise begins to uncover the secrets of Billy's dark past that she begins to understand what made his family 'untouchable'.

Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes. Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago.

When a spark ignites between Nina and Gabriel, they spend a weekend together at Nina's isolated beachside home. Soon after, Nina receives some terrible news: Gabriel's body has been found, and she's been named a prime suspect. Soon, Nina's only choice will be to lean on the people she's kept at arm's length—to help prove whether she is a victim or a monster.

A young girl's life is shadowed by secrets and lies. When Willow arrives in the Allen household, curious things begin to happen. Who is the strange child dressed in outlandish clothes who refuses a mobile phone? What are the mysterious allegations that have been made about her?

A woman who was sexually abused by her own father and later gave birth to his daughter is now running a support group which spans 30 countries and has tens of thousands of supporters. Stace Don, now 36, was taken into foster care as a baby after being neglected by her parents. For seven years, she lived an idyllic life, believing her foster parents were her real parents. But a chance encounter with her natural father, Nigel Taylor, shattered her happiness and she was later moved from her foster home, away from the family she loved.

Ashley is a young single mum raising her daughter, Eden, and working hard to do the very best job she can - until one night she can't find a babysitter and makes the decision to leave Eden home alone for a couple of hours, asleep inside a wardrobe. It is an action that begins a terrible downward spiral for both of them. When Eden arrives at experienced foster carer Louise Allen's home, she has entered the care system because her mother is in prison. Eden is five years old and will not speak to any human.

Abby's Story is the second book in the Thrown Away Children series by author and foster mum Louise Allen. She doesn't want this baby. She can't look after this baby. She will never be able to love this baby. Little Abby's life begins badly, then just gets worse. Now foster mum Louise and her family must help her deal with the truth of her past to give her the chance of a future.

Named after the lager that christened her at birth, Stella's life is characterised instability and neglect. Her teenage mother abandons her in the first few weeks of her life, and left in the 'care' of her father, she ends up lying deserted in a house with no food, no water, no clothes and no warmth. She eventually lands in the care of foster carer Louise, who is determined to change her life for the better.

Sara is about to spend a week in a villa with people she barely knows. Sara’s daughter Liv, her boyfriend and his parents have invited Sara on their holiday. After what happened, she’ll jump at any chance to spend time with Liv. She tries to be the perfect guest, and while the Forrests seem like the perfect family, something isn’t right. By the end of the trip, someone will be dead. Lies will tie the rest of them together. But who can lie the best?

Legend has it that when Caesar’s general arrived on Portuguese soil in the first century CE, he claimed to have discovered a country blessed with a mild climate and a beautiful coastline, but whose inhabitants were ungoverned and ungovernable. Today, the Portuguese are still impulsive, set in their ways, and resistant to change, yet they are ever charming, romantic, and nostalgic, with an unshakable loyalty toward family and friends.

They were the Boleyns, once one of England's most powerful family. Anne Boleyn captured the hand of Henry VIII, and now we see the rise and fall of their family fortunes through the eyes of the eldest Boleyn daughter, Mary. Mary Boleyn is overshadowed in history by her sister, Anne, but it was she who first caught the eye of Henry VIII, setting the stage for her family's dramatic rise to power - and ultimate fall from grace. Although Henry set her aside as his mistress, Mary still navigated the dangerous waters of the Tudor court while forging ahead to find a life.

Parents Angelina and Ben exist in enviable luxury: not just wealth, success and a gorgeous home, but a loving relationship and beautiful twin babies to complete the perfect family. But having it all means that you have the most to lose. And when cracks begin to appear things fall apart at a shocking pace; and it's twins Max and Mia who suffer the most. Money isn't enough to paper over the problems in this extraordinary and heartbreaking story. It is a foster-caring experience like no other, and one which tests Louise's emotional strength to the core.

Michelle and Andy are thrilled to be fast-tracked into fostering and are quickly paired with 7-year-old Milo – whom they hope will complete their family, making a ‘pigeon pair’ with their older daughter, Grace. But Milo tears through their home like a raging tornado, destroying a beautiful interior – and their lives.

The moor is a difficult place for a young woman to grow up in the eighteenth century, and life for Hettie Gale is no different. Abused by her father and abandoned by her family, she builds a new life for herself and her young son. But when she’s assaulted by men who lie about the encounter and accuse her of a heinous crime, Hettie is sentenced to death. In the present day, Alice receives news that her cousin has gone missing from her cottage on the moor, where Alice spent many of her childhood summers. Wanting to help find Fleur, she heads to the village.

Eve is clearing her father’s house when she finds an old cassette player and a box of tapes. Though grieving, she smiles at the spark of nostalgia. One tape is labelled ‘Eve’–in her mother, Angela’s, scrawled handwriting. She disappeared for good more than ten years ago. The tape whirrs. A voice crackles. ‘My name is Angela’. Tears fill Eve’s eyes at the familiar voice–at the thought her mother recorded this message just for her. But the next words make her heart pound.

When Sky and her older sister Avril were taken into care, the social workers knew this was a case like no other. Raised by unhinged parents who hoarded compulsively, creating horrific conditions no child should live in, the two girls arrived at foster carer Louise's home, neglected, malnourished and indoctrinated. Louise had to draw on all of her experience as one of Britain's leading foster carers to rehabilitate and change the course of their lives.

Newly arrived on the sun-drenched shores of Croatia, Claire Thomson’s life is about to change forever when she starts working at a local bookshop. With her cousin Vedran, employee Luna and Karmela, a professor, they form an unlikely book club. But when their first book club pick – an engrossing cosy crime – inspires them to embark upon an investigation that is close to the group’s heart, they quickly learn the value of keeping their new-found friends close as lives and stories begin to entwine.

Verona, 1947. Textile historian Marianne Baxter comes to post-war Italy with one thing on her mind: three pristine Victorian dresses once owned by the famous poet Christina Rossetti. Hidden away in a trunk for nearly a century, they were recently discovered at the Fondazione Museo Menigatti and Marianne’s expertise is needed before they go on exhibit. Still grieving the loss of her husband, the trip is also a reason for Marianne to start over.

Emma is so happy to have moved from the city to her husband’s small hometown. James was strangely reluctant at first – but she convinced him their little cottage is the perfect place to settle down. The perfect place to give their six-year-old son a new life. But then a woman at the school gates asks Emma if she is really married to ‘that man’. ‘Which man?’ Emma asks. The woman replies…