Showing results by narrator "Penny Andrews" in All Categories

Meet Reverend Annabelle Dixon…. Charming, slightly gauche, very tall, this 30-something vicar has just been appointed to the pastoral St. Mary’s Church, in the picturesque village of Upton St. Mary, Cornwall, England.

Every Christmas Lizzie promises herself that things will change. And yet here she is again at the beginning of December, and nothing is different. Her girls have grown up and left home, her husband, Henry, is slumped in front of the TV and she is alone in the kitchen, seeking refuge in the cooking sherry and talking to her Gary Barlow calendar. She’s also been very diverted by handsome new neighbour Marcus, and she knows she shouldn’t be. So when best friend Ann suggests a weekend away in the country, Lizzie jumps at the chance.

Ranging from the biggest international economic depression in modern history, through a world war to dramatic economic and social change, our series will provide you with detailed insight and address the key arguments across the core events and protagonists.

Ruby Matthews has a plan - 12 jobs in 12 months, until she finds the one of her dreams.... After an unexpected redundancy, Ruby begins to question her priorities. Inspired by a quote from Kahlil Gibran about loving your work, she launches her mission to find the ideal job. Her year of gainful (and sometimes painful!) employment includes nannying for clients in the South of France, dealing with embarrassing ailments in a Harley Street clinic, waiting tables in a buzzy Soho cafe and meeting the celebs of years gone by in a home for retired actors. 

Rose Marlowe is a hard-working nurse, a loving wife, and a merciless killer. Or so she says. Despite her confession, it is hard to believe that this beautiful, kind woman could have killed her vulnerable patient in cold blood. Down-on-his-luck true crime author Theo Hazel is convinced that there's more to what happened than Rose is telling, and so decides to visit her behind bars to write her story. His first surprise comes when Rose reveals that the victim was not a stranger to her.

Italy, 1937. In a tiny village in rural Lombardy, Graziella Ponti is born into a loving family. Though they are not rich and life is full of challenges, Graziella and her family are content and safe, surrounded by the tightly knit community of Pieve Santa Clara. But when the shadow of World War Two falls across the village with the arrival of Nazi soldiers, nothing in young Graziella’s life will ever be the same again.

Lara doesn’t have a back-up plan. So when her safe-bet boyfriend Lucien dumps her for her best friend, Lara’s world implodes. Life after the break up stretches bleakly ahead, lonely evenings on the sofa with only a bottle of wine and her grey cat Fluffy for company. Down the road, Theo loves his job as a jazz musician, giving other people great nights out before coming home in the early hours and unwinding with his loyal cat Satchmo. What they don’t know is that it’s the same cat.

Lizzie Donavue went from being the sister of his best friend to the girl Nick Templeton most wants to kiss. On her birthday, he finally summons up the courage to make his move. But it looks like Nick’s missed his chance when he discovers that Lizzie has been offered a modelling contract, which will take her away to the glamorous fashion scenes of New York and Los Angeles. 

Reverend Annabelle Dixon is back! A vicar with a taste for sweets and a nose for crime, Annabelle seems doggedly distracted from her impending wedding to Inspector Nicholls, much to the dismay of her wedding organiser, Philippa.

For as long as she can remember, Sadie’s grandparents have run the waffle house on the pier at Sea Salt Bay. With its pretty painted chairs, sweet smells and the warm advice of her beloved grandparents, the waffle house is like a second home. But when Sadie’s grandfather dies, leaving her grandmother without an anchor, Sadie must make a difficult decision. She quits her job and moves back home, determined to keep things going. The trouble is, she knows nothing about running a business, and learning at a million miles an hour with a shop full of hungry people isn’t easy. 

Shattered dreams and broken promises. Caught between love and loyalty. Friday is bookish and plain, but she has secretly loved her childhood friend for years. The impossible happens when gorgeous Nick proposes, making her dreams come true. Only he isn’t behaving like a man in love. Disaster strikes when Friday learns Nick was forced into offering for her to save him from an unsuitable liaison. Her happiness in tatters, she breaks off the engagement. Can Friday’s true worth oust the attraction of her rival’s incomparable beauty?

Charles Lindsay, the Earl of Coventry has big plans. None of them include a wife. His club is his main concern, and the men who he's come to respect. He's one of the wickedest rogues in the ton and he makes no apologies for it. That all changes when he meets Lady Abigail Halsey.... All the ladies in town adore Coventry, but none of them manage to capture his heart. Can Lady Abigail achieve a feat no other lady has and make the earl fall?

A renovation. In the countryside. Just over an hour's train ride from London. An ideal family home. Sold unseen. At auction. Married couple Al and Liz Greenaway love London, but when they discover an impressive country property for sale. A fine house. Once. Solitary, romantic, isolated, and quiet. So quiet that, for the first time in years, Liz can hear her own thoughts as long buried memories emerge. And there's an echo in them, a whisper... For someone else in the house, memories are emerging too.

In the quiet seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, the police appear to be doing little to find Zara. Her friend Janie decides to make it her mission to track her down. It’s the "swinging sixties", and Janie fears that Zara may be mixed up with drugs, alcohol, or worse. As Janie explores the strange circumstances of Zara’s disappearance, she starts to question the truth about Joel’s death.

Beth Williams leads a lonely existence, going to work, then returning to her flat to watch TV, eat, and sleep – the same routine on repeat, day after day. It’s a loneliness she nurtures, finds comfort in, even, except at Christmas, a time of dread. Then comes an invite, an offer from an old friend, to join him for "The Damned Season" at his house on an island off the coast of Anglesey, for Christmas with a difference. Intrigued as well as desperate, Beth accepts, arriving there a few days before Christmas Eve.

Janet’s first love arrives out of the blue after 30 years. Those were simpler times for them both. Sunny childhood beach holidays, fish and chips and big copper pennies clunking into one armed bandits. The Wells family has run the Cromer Pier Summertime Special Show for generations. But it’s now 2009 and the recession is biting hard. Owner Janet Wells and daughter Karen are facing an uncertain future.

After her fiancé left her, Ali and her daughter Grace enjoyed living in what became known as 'the Single Mums' Mansion'. However, with her best friends Amanda and Jacqui moving on, it's time for Ali and Grace to make their own way. Thankfully, a chance conversation leads to them moving into the infamous South London gated community known only as The Mews. In The Mews everyone lives in each other's pockets, and curtain twitching is an Olympic sport.

When a young boy running through the woods unearths a buried human bone, a cold case is soon re-opened. And Reverend Annabelle Dixon, with her insatiable appetite for mystery and crime, simply can’t leave it alone.

Italy, 1950. The dawn of a new decade brings with it the promise of lasting peace and prosperity as the hardships of war are consigned to the past. In Pieve Santa Clara, a tiny village in rural Lombardy, Graziella Ponti, now a teenager, lives a simple life with her widowed mother and aunt. But Italy is transforming around Graziella at great speed and, as her childhood gives way to the start of her womanhood, she must learn to navigate this ever-changing new world.

Kenna Jackson is stressed. London is sucking the life out of her, and there’s no way to escape the rat race. When an opportunity presents itself out of the blue, she decides to take it. After all, it’s change she craves. Drumlin Castle has stood for 10 centuries and no doubt will stand for 10 more. Set in the heart of the Aberdeenshire countryside, it’s witnessed the best of life…and the worst. Not much is known of Rohaise, who once lived there, only that she was a fiery redhead, the mistress of the Laird, and that she lost her life defending both him and the castle.