Showing results by narrator "Penelope Freeman" in All Categories

Wartime secrets threaten one woman's life in the latest thrilling drama from the author of The Gunner Girl and The English Agent. World-renowned war artist Dame Laura Knight is commissioned to paint propaganda portraits of factory girls and is sent to the ordnance factories in her hometown of...

Welcome to Fox Bay Hotel, where family fortunes rise and fall. 1920, Bristol. Helen Fox is happily married to the love of her life: charming former playboy Harry. With their three children, glamorous lifestyle and extravagant parties, they have the perfect life. But after a tragic motorcycle accident, nothing will ever be the same.... Helen is forced to leave their home and move to the Fox family's hotel on the Cornish coast - where she discovers her perfect life has been based on a lie.

England, 1912 is a place of rigid rules. A chance meeting between scullery maid Lizzy Parker and heiress Evie Creswell is about to break them all . . . Their meeting leads to more than an enduring friendship and a new job for Lizzy - it draws her into a world of privilege and intrigue and...

A compelling wartime novel of love, loss, and remembrance from the best-selling author of The Shopkeeper's Daughter. August 1914. With the approach of war about to bring tragedy and heartache to families all over England, Elsie longs to do her duty for king and country. She heads to London to act as an interpreter for thousands of Belgian refugees. But although she enjoys her work, she longs to do more.

Cornwall, 1793. As the French Revolution threatens the stability of England, so too is discontent brewing in the heart of Celia Cavendish. Promised to the brutal Viscount Vallenforth, she must find a way to break free from the bounds of a life stifled by convention and cruelty. Celia enlists her neighbours, Sir James and Lady Polcarrow, in the hope of escaping her impending marriage and making a new life for herself.

DCI Monika Paniatowski has a bitter personla history with Chief Superintendent Kershaw, but that is not the only reason she doesn’t want the investigation into the sudden – and probably violent – disappearance of his wife, Elaine, landing on her desk. Why should all the resources be channelled into this one case?Why doesn’t somebody take an interest in the disappearance of a young prostitue called Grace Meade?

Esme Colborne is about to marry Richard Trevannion. When she finds out she is adopted - from a working-class family - she cannot allow Richard to marry so far beneath his station. Fleeing the life she knew, she starts working as a ‘decoy woman’, testing British undercover operatives who may otherwise reveal secrets in a moment of weakness. However, she still has feelings for Richard. Will she be brave enough to risk having her heart broken all over again?

Fearless Felicity Penrose thrives on adventure: she's one of the most experienced female sailors in the world. But one day, in the middle of the 1950s, her boat is found abandoned. Fliss has mysteriously vanished, tragically leaving behind her husband and baby girl. Nearly 30 years later, Emma's world is rocked when she is approached by journalist Mike Bond with an extraordinary revelation: that Fliss was seen in America after she was presumed drowned.

Dover, 1864: Violet Rayfield leads a happy life with her family in a beautiful terrace on Camden Crescent. But Violet’s seemingly perfect world is shattered when her father makes a decision that costs her family everything. Now Violet must sacrifice all she holds dear, including the man she loves. As Violet strives to pick up the threads of her existence, a series of shocking revelations leaves her feeling even more alone. But where one door closes, another opens, and the embroidery skills Violet perfected while a young woman of leisure win her vital work.

February 1941. The world is at war, and Joyce Cooper is doing her bit for the war effort. But as the Blitz takes hold of London, Joyce is called upon to plot the devastation that follows in its wake. Night after night, she must stand before her map and mark the trail of loss and suffering inflicted upon the homes, families and businesses she knows so well. February 1974. Decades later, from her basement flat, Joyce watches the world go by above her head.

It is April 1939 and unaware that the German war machine is advancing towards the Channel Islands, seventeen-year-old Meg Colivet and her sister are enjoying a holiday in Oxford with their aunt. Here Meg meets charismatic German undergraduate Rayner Weiss and the couple fall passionately in love...

A BRAND NEW utterly heartbreaking emotional family drama of love, loss and grief. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Kate Hewitt and Susan Lewis. 💔 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This has to be one of my best reads for 2026' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Possibly one of the best books I have ever read'...

Cornwall, 1911. Freya Penhaligon is eagerly awaiting the return of her beau, the historian Tristan MacKenzie, but the surprise arrival of her mother on the same coach brings uneasiness and suspicion to more than the Penhaligon family. When Tristan proposes marriage to Freya it feels like the beginning of a new life for her and an excuse to shake off their troubled past; but not all his family are pleased with the news, and Freya finds herself viewed with hostility and mistrust.

Brought to you by Penguin. The first brilliant WWII novel by Emma Hornby, bestselling author of A Shilling for a Wife Bolton, Lancashire: 1940 A family torn apart by war, held together by a secret . . . Janie and her husband James have a strong, loving marriage. A move from an inner-city slum to...

The stirring second instalment in Terri Nixon's Penhaligon Saga series. 1910. Anna Garvey and her daughter are still running the Tin Streamer's Arms in Caernoweth, Cornwall, and it finally seems like she has left her tumultuous history behind in Ireland. Meanwhile, Freya Penhaligon has blossomed and is now the object of increasing affection of Hugh, the elder son of the wealthy Batten family.

Julie Monday enjoys a rare moment of happiness when at the age of eight she visits the Essex seaside and meets eleven-year-old Harry Walker. Ten years later, they meet again. Fated to be together, they marry just before the outbreak of the Second World War. But it’s now 1939, Harry has enlisted, and Julie must face the blitz alone with their son. Travelling back from work one day, Julie is caught in the chaos of a direct hit.

Bath, 1852. As a girl, Nancy Bloom longed to be part of Bath's Theatre Royal. When a man promised her parents he could find a role for Nancy in the theatre, they believed him. His lie and betrayal led to her ruin. Francis Carlyle is a theatre manager, an ambitious man always looking for the next big thing to take the country by storm. A self-made man, Francis is now rich, successful and in need of a new female star. Never in a million years did he think he'd find her standing on a table in one of Bath's bawdiest pubs.

Primavera Blackstone has found contentment in a small Spanish village by the sea. A fiercely protective single mother, she doesn’t appreciate an offer of marriage. Nor does she welcome the arrival of a blast from her past, retired cop Ricky Ross, now a private detective and working for Jack Weighley, millionaire owner of a budget airline. Primavera teams up with Ricky to investigate a series of mystery assaults on Jack’s aircraft. Are they mere acts of vandalism, or the sinister work of Catalan extremists?

1930, Liverpool. Reformed con-artist Leah Marshall has long yearned for the thrills of her former life. Now she has the chance to relive it all as an exciting new 'game' beckons, but she soon discovers the rules have changed. One slip-up and she could lose everything. Back in Cornwall, the Foxes are making their own difficult decisions. An old agreement has turned sour, putting the hotel at risk once more and the children have grown and are embarking on their own, sometimes perilous, paths.

When Olivia Elliott decides to spend the summer on the remote Morwen Island where she grew up, she can't help but wonder if returning home is a good idea. After all, she still remembers the heartbreak she left behind on those shores many years ago. Before long, she runs into her first love, Jory Trethewey, who offers to help Olivia fix up her new cottage. And as they renovate, they realise the house has its own secrets. Soon they uncover a story dating back to the Second World War, of a wounded airman who came to this island to hide from the world, and of the woman who fell in love with him.