Showing results by narrator "Rebecca Courtney" in All Categories

Imagine nine women meeting. Tea and cake are on the coffee table. They’ve come together to share their love of books. They are friends. They trust each other. It’s a happy gathering. What could be more harmless? Scratch the surface and look closer. One is lonely, one is desperate and one of them is a killer. When the body of a woman is discovered on a Cambridge common, DCI Barrett and DI Palmer are called to investigate. But the motive behind the crime isn’t clear...and it all leads back to a book club.

Lydia's not exactly Living Her Best Life. She never imagined she'd be here at 30 - newly single, a job that's going nowhere and her friends all winning at life when she's still barely taking part. So she jumps at the chance of a free holiday and jets off to sunny Spain. Then, out of the blue, she bumps into her childhood friend, the handsome and charming Danny Whittaker. She's always had a crush on him and they soon enter into a passionate holiday romance. But this relationship could be more than just a fling.

In a house full of history and secrets, the past will not stay where it belongs.... Lou has always loved Hill House, the derelict manor on the abandoned land near her home. As a child, the tragic history of its owners, the Mandevilles, inspired her dream to become a history teacher. But in her late 20s, working in a shop to pay off student debts, life is passing her by. That changes when a family disaster sends Lou’s life into a downward spiral, and she seeks comfort in the ruined corridors of Hill House.

Orphan Kitty Pattison is young, naïve and ready to do her bit for the war effort when she volunteers with the Red Cross and pledges to help those most in need. It’s one of the most nerve-wracking moments of her life, but then she meets fellow volunteers Joan Norfolk and Trixie Dunn, and a bond of friendship is forged in the fire of life on the wards during the Blitz.

Our human nervous system has the power to cope with high stress but not when it's been ground down by the relentless stimuli of today’s world. Over time, these persistent demands leave us burnt out because our nervous system is stuck in survival mode. In this mode, we have reduced capacity for rational thinking and less capacity to care. Dr. Claire Plumbly draws on polyvagal theory and her professional insights as a trauma therapist working with clients experiencing anxiety, trauma and burnout to give you tools to thrive amidst the challenges of modern life, at work, at home.

Dottie and Mary forged a friendship over a bag of penny sweets when they were eight years old. They've shared everything together since then. Now, at seventeen, they're both shopgirls working at Woolworths. As they go out in the world in pursuit of love and happiness and life becomes more complicated, the simplicity of their childhood dissolves. The heady excitement of first love will consume them both, but the pain of unintentional betrayal will test their friendship.

It’s the 1st of December and Milly Arnold is facing a miserable Noel. Newly single, the last thing she wants to do is join her settled sister and her young family for the first of their traditions: the writing of the Christmas lists. However Milly’s nephews have other ideas and insist she write a list of her own (with illustrations to help Father Christmas decipher her terrible handwriting). Milly duly makes a request for a bunch of roses, some chocolate and a new pair of shoes. She doesn’t expect to get any of it. However, that very day, a box of chocolates appears....

Dottie Perks has forged a new life for herself in London, with a new job and a loving boyfriend. She's safe, happy and loved. What more could she ask for? But when Dottie visits her home in Brighton, the last person she expects to see is her first love, Ralph Bennett. As old feelings come rushing to the surface, Dottie struggles to deny the strong chemistry between them. She can't throw away everything to be with Ralph...can she?

Fibromyalgia is characterised by fatigue, muscle aches, wandering chronic pains, depression, and anxiety. It often develops slowly, usually over several years. This book will help you to understand the symptoms of fibromyalgia and provides tools you can use to feel better.

Parenting an autistic child as a neurotypical adult can be challenging but it doesn't need to feel impossible! This essential guide will help you reshape your approaches to parenting. Packed with lived-experience insight and easy-to-follow advice this transformative guide will change how you view the behaviour of your autistic child and challenge you to rewire your thinking to see the world through the autistic lens. This guide challenges the common misunderstandings surrounding autistic behaviour, such as emotional dysregulation in public settings or meltdowns at mealtimes.

Brighton, 1930: Maureen O'Connell is a carefree girl, but war is looming, and life will never be the same again. Jack and Nelson have always been dear friends to Maureen. Despite their different backgrounds, they've seen each other through thick and thin. The candle Maureen's always held for Jack burns bright, but just as she's found love, war wrenches them apart. With Jack no longer by her side and Nelson at war, can Maureen look to a brighter future?

As the Second World War rages on, nurse Kitty Pattison’s life takes a nomadic turn as her work with the Red Cross sees her traversing the country, moving from post to post. With her best friends Jo and Trixie also scattered across the UK, and her soldier sweetheart Michael off on the continent undertaking medical missions he can’t discuss, the war takes its toll and long days are followed by sleepless nights interrupted only by nightmares of what she’s seen on the wards.

England, 1924. Nell Potter pens successful romantic mysteries as the enigmatic Margot Evangeline, but off the page, things aren’t quite so wonderful. Nell, tormented by a terrible ordeal in her past, can’t settle, and her writing is coming less and less easily. When she receives an invitation to Hill House, a stunning Georgian manor deep in the countryside, it feels like a chance to escape her troubles. Hill House is as beautiful as Nell could have ever imagined but, it turns out, not exactly restful. It seems the manor has its own secrets.

Emma’s husband is in prison. Emma’s husband claims he is innocent. Emma’s husband is a liar. And he’s not done with her yet.

Louise Bridges has the perfect life. A loving husband, Patrick. Two adorable children. A comfortable home. So when PC Becca Holt arrives to break the news that Patrick has been killed in an accident, she thinks Louise’s perfect world is about to collapse around her. But Louise doesn’t react in the way Becca would expect her to on hearing of her husband’s death. And there are only three plates set out for dinner, as if Louise already knew Patrick wouldn’t be home that night.

As a librarian, Imogen read a lot of books, but none of them covered real life on the Riviera. Her holiday with tennis ace Nicky and the whole glamorous coterie of journalist, playboy, photographer was a revelation. But the path of a jet-set virgin in that lovely wicked world was a hard one. Imogen began to wonder if virtue really was its own reward....

London, 1765. Lady Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before. Three months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this was not his intended victim…

Kathleen Hey spent the war years helping her sister and brother-in-law run a grocery shop in the Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. From July 1941 to July 1946, she kept a diary for the Mass Observation Project, recording the thoughts and concerns of the people who used the shop. Among the chorus of voices she brings us, Kathleen herself shines through as a strong and engaging woman who refuses to give in to doubts or misery and who maintains her keen sense of humour, even under the most trying conditions.

As an overworked NHS psychiatrist, Dr Clancy Mclean is used to dealing with mental illness. But she is stressed - trying to balance her career and the needs of her only child, Rowan. And she has her work cut out trying to keep her patients well. She knows two of them are psychotic and becoming overwhelmed by their voices. If they act on them it could prove disastrous. Rowan is troubled. Her boyfriend is abusive but she doesn’t want to end the relationship - she’s too scared of being lonely. Can she find someone else to keep her company?

After five long years of endless warfare, Red Cross nurse Kitty Pattison has seen her share of heartbreak and loss. And now, with her beloved fiancé Dr Michael McCarthy recuperating from a head injury across the ocean in Canada, and her dear friends Trixie and Jo scattered to the four corners of the war effort, it’s harder than ever to battle through the heavy-hearted moments that mark the passing days. But as she tends to the lost and wounded, Kitty finds a resilience of spirit within herself she never thought imaginable