Showing results by narrator "Laura Brydon" in All Categories

It's 1991, and Rita is looking forward to her return to Manchester after a few years in Greece with her husband Yansis. But once back she finds a cuckoo in the family nest – a dope-smoking 'businessman' called Leroy. Worse, he is her sister Jenny's boyfriend, and father of her unborn child. Rita and Yansis retreat to stay with friends Julie and Vinny, now living in a comfortable suburb of the city. But Rita is anxious to find out just what hold Leroy has over her family, and she'll stop at nothing to find out.

Housewife Nancy never dreamed that she’d end up in Vickers steelworks factory, but when husband Bert is called up to serve, she needs to put food on the table for her two young children. Betty’s sweetheart, William, has joined the RAF Reserves, so she can’t sit around and do nothing - even if it means giving up her ambitions to study law at night school. Young Patty is relishing the excitement the war brings. But this shop-girl is going to have to grow up quickly, especially now she’s undertaking such back-breaking and dangerous work in the factory.

When Jennifer goes up to Cambridge University with her head full of the Romantic Poets, she never dreams that she will find her very own Byron. But then she meets gorgeous actor Laurie Lewis, and finds herself living a real-life love poem. Fifteen years and two children later, Jennifer and Laurie's relationship is starting to feel more like an epic tragedy. After a series of revelations turn her world upside down, Jennifer will do anything to keep her family together—even if it means moving hundreds of miles away to Laurie's childhood home in Westenbury, Yorkshire.

Alisha Alva just wants teachers to treat her like a normal human being. Yes, her (super cool) mum has mental health issues she calls her Letters. And yes, staying up late helping Mum on Bad Nights sometimes means it's hard to keep her eyes open in school. But surely if Alisha acts like a very normal, perfectly proper girl, her head of year, Miss Penn, will finally leave her alone. Oh, and don't forget the aliens. Last term, Alisha and her friends, the Late Crew, met extraterrestrials. Now, a new out-of-this-world creature is following Alisha.

Astrid Webb is missing. The police have found her car crashed near the woods, the driver's door open, the seat spotted with blood. But there's no sign of Astrid herself, a sick woman who rarely left her house, who surely couldn't have left the scene of the accident without help. Her husband Bryan is sure that she's alive - after all, this isn't the first time she's vanished, only to reappear without explanation. But as the days pass, Bryan starts to look like a suspect in his wife's disappearance, perhaps in her murder.

Robyn Bloom thought Ash Barnes was the love of her life – until one day he announced he was leaving her to fly halfway across the world. Months later, Robyn is struggling to move on – but then she has a brainwave: The Never Have I Ever Club. Her handsome next-door neighbour Will helps her bring their fellow Yorkshire villagers together for some carpe-diem-inspired fun.

Bloomsbury presents It Happened Like This by Vicky Foster, read by Laura Brydon. A searing, inventive memoir that interrogates misogyny, heroism and women’s power in an often-unsafe world through the lens of Vicky’s Foster’s own traumatic background. How do you get close to people when the...

The most life-affirming and uplifting story you will read this year. Perfect for fans of Jill Mansell, Fiona Gibson and Clare Pooley. What would Lily Bennett do? This is the question Lydia Grey finds herself repeatedly asking ever since she discovers Lily’s bucket list at the bottom of her...

Love, Rosie meets A Walk to Remember in this second chance romance that rekindles a long-lost love and unearths buried secrets. ‘A big, emotional punch of a novel about first love’ LAURA WOOD ‘The whole thing tore my heart to pieces and put it back together’ LUCY VINE ‘Tender, vivid...

‘Brilliant . . . entertaining.’ ANN CLEEVES Summer can be murder out on the sun-scorched Yorkshire Fells. When the body of eighteen-year-old Tyler Prasad is found up on lonely Skye Moss, Detectives Leo Donovan and Shan Young are called in to investigate. Tyler lies dead in a bone-dry ditch...

Bestseller Julie Houston’s warm, uplifting and funny novel about forbidden love, friendship and family is perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Fiona Gibson and Cathy Kelly. Every book in the Beddingfield series can be read as a standalone. The Yorkshire village of Beddingfield is home to the...

Timeless romance from the best-selling author of Tuppence to Cross the Mersey. With over 3 million copies sold around the world, Helen Forrester’s hard-hitting and gripping fiction set in post-war Liverpool continues to move readers. Peggy Delaney was a Lancashire girl born and bred, beginning...

Detective Claudia Nunn has never seen anything so beautiful—or so horrifying. The intricate drawing is sent to her at work. It shows a man, naked on a bed. His arms are bound, his face contorted in agony, a huge blade stuck deep in his back. Gory? Certainly. Something to worry about? Not likely. Police get sent weird stuff all the time. Until Claudia is called to a crime scene that exactly recreates the drawing.

⭐ The unputdownable new thriller from Mandy Byatt that will leave you reeling after the final twist… ⭐ She knows him better than anyone. She doesn’t know him at all… Lottie and Nick once had a dream marriage, but a series of failed IVF attempts has left Lottie feeling insecure, and her...

Sergeant Ali Wren and her springer spaniel, Police Dog Wilson, return in another mystery set in the charming but secretive town of Heft. When a pride of peacocks escapes from the local stately home and makes itself comfortable in a quiet cul-de-sac, Ali expects a day of feathers, fuss, and phone...

Detective Claudia Nunn’s colleague DS Dominic Harrison has been leading the case against a dangerous serial killer, who hunts his victims using a dating app. But now his own wife has gone missing. Then a large pool of blood is discovered in their garage. And Dominic is the prime suspect. Is Dominic being framed by a serial killer, or will Claudia expose an even uglier truth?

Winter, 1939. As December draws nearer and with her family facing their first Christmas without Bert, Nancy is desperately trying to keep up her children’s spirits and her own. Young Patty should be excited to be spending her first festive season with sweetheart Archie, but why does she worry he’s keeping something from her? Betty is missing her beloved William as he continues his RAF training, but she’s determined not to sit around wallowing.

Widowed early in World War Two, heartbroken Helen Harrison decides to leave her domineering mother determined to rebuild her shattered life. Her godmother, Pearl, offers her work in a fashion wholesaler. When the showroom is robbed, she meets DC Kershaw and he inspires her to join the Women's Auxiliary Police Corps. Helen throws herself into the work, dealing with evacuees, the destitute and vulnerable. A series of tragic events makes Helen realise there's still something missing in her life, and soon she will have to choose between two very different men vying for her heart.

With their city under fire, can they find hope in each other? 'Rich, evocative and spellbinding' KATE THOMPSON 'A heartwarming tale of courage, friendship and hope' MILLY JOHNSON *** In December 1940, the Blitz has reached Sheffield, but Steel Girl Hattie is more concerned about the war brewing...

Scrabble fan Jo always seems to pick the wrong guys. Now she's moved to the Yorkshire village of Hebbleswick, and decided to give dating one last chance. This time, there's a catch: she will only date men whose names would score highly in her beloved word game. After Tarquin (16 points) proves just as disappointing as the rest, she meets low-scoring local doctor Ras (3 points). Her rules mean she can't date him—but when he asks her to organise a Scrabble festival with him, she can't say no.