Showing results by narrator "Penelope Freeman" in All Categories

War is frightening, but so is the man who would possess her. HONG KONG - 1941 One sultry evening at the Victoria Hospital for Women, Dr Rowena Rossiter is off-duty and in search of fun. With the world on the brink of war, she meets two men, Connor O’Connor, a rough Irish soldier and Kim...

Three very different girls sign up as trainee nurses at a big London teaching hospital in 1934. Dora leaves her overcrowded, squalid working-class home for a better life. But has she got what it takes to keep up with other, better-educated girls? And will her hated stepfather ever let her go? Helen is born for the job; her brother is a doctor, her all-powerful mother a hospital trustee. But will Helen’s secret misery be her downfall? An aristocratic rebel, Millie’s carefree attitude will find her up in front of Matron again and again. Will she ever care enough to make a nurse? Or will she go back to the glamorous life she was born to?

Your next perfect listen from Jill Mansell, Sunday Times bestselling author of MAYBE THIS TIME. Not to be missed if you love the novels of Katie Fforde and Milly Johnson. Daisy MacLean runs the country house hotel owned by her flamboyant father, Hector. When she hears who's about to get married...

Violet Silverwood loves her life by the sea in East Sussex, but as a widow with grown-up children, she’s ready for a new sense of purpose – and more fun! So, along with her outspoken best friend Marigold and their surprising new neighbour Iggy, Violet launches ‘The Seaside Singles’...

Black Country Orphan is a moving story of the courage and strength of women, by the Sunday Times bestselling author Annie Murray. The early 1900s: Cradley Heath, a town in the Black Country near Birmingham and centre of the world’s chain-making trade. Lucy Butler, a young girl crippled by a...

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER A heartbreaking read of loss and hope from Laura Pearson The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first… Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you...

In 1984 two young mothers meet at a toddler group in Birmingham. As their friendship grows, they share with each other the difficulties and secrets in their lives: Joanne, a sweet, shy girl, is increasingly afraid of her husband. The lively, promising man she married has become hostile and...

___________________________ 1940. The height of the Blitz. In London, eighteen-year-old Susan Banks longs to do her duty in the war. Her secret ambition is to learn to fly - to serve her country and realise her dream. But she knows it is out of the question for a girl like her; a foundling...

1901. When the Earl of Stainton dies in a tragic hunting accident, Giles, the eldest son of the noble Tallant family, must step forward to replace him as the head of the family. But Giles has avoided the Castle and his stifling relatives for years, deciding instead to forge his own path away from the spotlight. Now, he must put aside his ambitions and honour his duty to the family.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of A Shilling for a Wife by Emma Hornby, read by Penelope Freeman. Sally Swann thought life couldn't get much worse. Then a single coin changed hands. A dismal cottage in the heart of Bolton, Lancashire, has been Sally’s prison since Joseph Goden...

But the summer days seemed to go on forever – and British families were determined to make the best of their paralysed country. For evacuated children, this meant freedom that is unimaginable today: discovering wildlife, foraging from orchards and hedgerows and swimming in the streams. Elsewhere, country estates were requisitioned for the war efforts. Caroline Taggart shows us how Britons succeeded in keeping spirits up with this entertaining collection of first-hand reminiscences from people who lived through those six long years.

Texan honey Sally Lassiter, English rose Jane Morgan, and Jordanian Helen Yanna meet at an exclusive girls' school and become best friends. They form a bond that will never be broken...Years later, the three girls are grown-up, co-founders and millionaire co-owners of the exclusive Glamour chain of stores. They are fabulously wealthy, instantly recognisable, adored, and revered. Or are they? The Glamour empire is on the verge of collapse and the three women are embroiled in a bitter feud.

A heartwarming 1930s hospital saga of love, secrets and second chances from BESTSELLING author Lizzie Lane. Perfect for fans of Rosie Goodwin, Jean Fullerton and Katie Flynn! ✨'A gripping saga and a storyline that will keep you hooked!' - Bestselling author Rosie Goodwin When a mysterious...

Best friends Jana and Eva are carefree eight-year-olds in Prague – until Nazi occupation tears them apart. As their mothers are taken away and the girls face the horrors of war, survival becomes all that matters. In Theresienstadt, two desperate women make unimaginable sacrifices to one day find their children. But will love and hope be enough to help them reunite?

Brought to you by Penguin. Don't miss the unforgettable new story of one woman's grit and perseverance from Sunday Times bestselling author, Val Wood. In 1860’s Yorkshire, a woman’s fortune belongs to her husband – regardless of a so-called-gentleman’s character… When Lydia Mercer’s...

She longed to be reunited with her family. The compelling new novel from the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Workhouse Girl. Eleven-year-old Stella Barry is forced into service when her family find themselves living hand-to-mouth. Leaving her mother and younger brother and sister...

To the student nurses at The Nightingale hospital, the ward sisters are heartless and frightening, with impossibly high standards. But the sisters have troubles of their own...Dora, the student nurse is struggling with her heartbreak over Nick, the man who got away. A new arrival on the ward brings the chance to put a smile back on her face. But can she really get over Nick so easily? Dora's fellow student Millie is also torn between the two men in her life.

It's Christmas 1941, and the nurses at the Nightingale are facing their toughest winter yet. With shortages everywhere and every news bulletin announcing more losses, the British people are weary and demoralised, and The Nightingale Hospital is suffering too. Millie is recently widowed and dealing with the demands of her family's estate. It's not long before her old world of the Nightingale begins to beckon, along with a long-lost love.... Jess is struggling with her move from East London to the countryside.

It's the final year of training for three young nurses at The Nightingale Hospital. Helen is at a crossroads in her life as she battles with her domineering mother over both her love life and her future career. Dora can't stop loving Nick, who is married to her best friend, Ruby. Millie is anxious about her fiancé, sent to Spain to cover the Civil War, and things only get worse when she encounters a fortune teller who gives her a sinister warning.

London, 1914. While young men enlist up and down the country, the Nightingale Hospital has its own set of new recruits.... Anna Beck is the daughter of the best baker in Bethnal Green. Her German father built the business out of nothing, but as the shadow of war descends, his fate is at the mercy of their neighbours. Meanwhile Katie Carlyle has always wanted to become a doctor. She fought hard to get into medical school, and even now she faces prejudice from her fellow students as well as the tutors. Can she prove them wrong?