Showing results by narrator "Laura Brydon" in All Categories

Yorkshire Dales, Summer 1997. Vicky Mott slips out the door of her remote cottage, and into the pale dawn light. She scrawls a note for her friends. Gone to see the sunrise. V xxx That's the last anyone ever hears from twenty-year-old music lover Vicky. Another victim of the Fellside Strangler? That would make Vicky the fourth young woman to lose her life this summer. Snatched by a mysterious killer who stalks the fells . . . But Vicky's body is never found.

Written in plain English, The Chemistry Book is packed with short, pithy explanations of some of the most historic moments in science, from the birth of atomic theory to the discovery of polythene and the development of new vaccine technologies to combat COVID-19.

Marianne is eight years old when her mother goes missing. Left behind with her baby brother and grieving father in a ramshackle house on the edge of a small village, she clings to the fragmented memories of her mother’s love; the smell of fresh herbs, the games they played, and the songs and stories of her childhood. As time passes, Marianne struggles to adjust, fixated on her mother’s disappearance and the secrets she’s sure her father is keeping from her.

Trish Hinde, 35, was sexually abused by her father, Gerard King, from the age of six. Alone and scared, she internalised her trauma and began suffering from violent seizures. Her father took responsibility for her epilepsy care, even abusing her on hospital visits. Trish and her five siblings were neglected, often relying on neighbours for food and watching helplessly as bailiffs carried away their possessions. In her early teens, Trish was recklessly promiscuous and became a victim of child sexual exploitation, often finding herself in danger.

A winter tale of love rekindled in a cherished York bookstore. Megan Taylor, a young widow, finds comfort in organising book clubs and author events in her family bookstore nestled within the snow-dusted cobbled streets of York. When prize-winning author Xander Stone literally bumps into her and trashes her taste in books, Megan can sense that her self-imposed hibernation from romance might be at an end. Their view on literature clash, leading to animated debates that breathe a new passion into her life, but will it be enough to thaw their frozen hearts.

Christina O'Connor is the main prosecution witness from the Huddersfield Grooming scandal. In 2017, 11 men were convicted of a staggering 43 offences against her. In this memoir, Christina will describe how, from being a happy child with a loving family, she fell into the clutches of a grooming gang whose abuse of children earned them a total of 221 years in prison.

Four best friends, leaving kids, partners, broken hearts and guilty secrets behind them at home, and heading for Ibiza for the mother of all hen dos. Mums on tour: what could go wrong? Three days and nights of blissed-out sunsets, bottomless Sangria and sun-soaked lie-ins to sleep off the hangovers sounds like heaven—but it turns out you can get into a hell of a lot of a trouble, very fast, on the island where rules are made to be broken. It’s a chance to forget about dodgy exes, feuding families and the 9-5, and realise sometimes your friends are the family you choose.

After the year Aidan and I have had, we needed some respite. My husband is overworked, whilst I'm anxious about the past, so renting a night at this converted barn house in the countryside seems like the perfect place for the pair of us to relax and unwind. It might be situated at the bottom of a large garden, but it's private enough that we don't have to mingle with the homeowners who live nearby. Or at least that's what I thought . . .

After a tough breakup, Ellie returns to the only place she's ever really felt at home - the coastal town of Sanderson Bay. A year later, she's living her dream, brewing delicious artisan teas and selling them at her very own café. And when the mysterious and brooding Ben walks into her tearoom, Ellie finally dares to dream of true love. But then her ex shows up in the Bay, and just as Ellie discovers some tragic truths about her family's past, she learns Ben might be hiding an unwelcome secret of his own.

This is the story of two women. One old, one young. One looking for new adventures. One looking for a purpose. Both needing a friend. And this is how, along with two little girls in need of a family, a gorgeous stranger and a scruffy dog, they bring the whole community together every Saturday morning for love, laughter and a little bit of running...(well, power walking).

After years of dating losers, cheats and one guy who did something unrepeatable to her kettle, Ruby has all but given up on romance. But then a stranger sits next to her on a train to London and explains his plan to propose to the woman of his dreams. Maybe true love does exist after all? When the man accidentally leaves the engagement ring behind, Ruby is determined to save the day. But she hasn't counted on fellow passenger Curtis stepping in and insisting he should be the one to track the stranger down.

After losing her job, boyfriend and flat just a few weeks before Christmas, Ellie Lancaster makes some resolutions: 1. Exact revenge on ex. 2. Be unboring. 3. Find a job. With 1 complete, Ellie manages to tick off 2 and 3 simultaneously by accepting a mysterious archiving job on a tiny Scottish Island that doesn't seem to exist on any map. In the new year, her equally new bosses - celebrity baker Clementine Jones and her straight-laced twin brother Cole - introduce Ellie to the archives: a vast network of underground caverns, filled with scrolls dating back centuries.

Kate has always dreamed of a life in music. And now she's finally done something about it–giving up her steady job, moving to the city to enrol in a degree program at a prestigious college. Needing a place to live, she answers an ad and moves in with Amy who seems a nice lady–mothering and protective. At first Kate is glad to have some support in this strange city, but gradually Amy's presence becomes more and more stifling–it just seems so hard to get away from her.

Five years after the traumatic events witnessed by Rita and Yansis in Manchester, the couple finally agree to return with their young son, Daniel, to attend her brother John's wedding to the beautiful Paula. But memories are long on the Riverhill Estate, and when Daniel goes missing, Rita realises she has many enemies with a motive for taking her child. Once more she faces a race against the clock to unmask the perpetrators, but this time she has help in the shape of her Special Task Force brother, John.

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.

When Julie Quinley wakes up after a night out with friends to find herself accused of murder, it proves to be only the beginning of her worst nightmare. Released by the police due to lack of evidence, Julie nevertheless faces the taunts and hostility of colleagues, as more and more people – including members of her own family – seem convinced she is a cold-hearted killer. Just when it seems as if all hope has gone, and Julie's mental state reaches rock bottom, her friend Vinny announces a breakthrough; something he has witnessed that could prove Julie's innocence once and for all.

Peggy Delaney was a Lancashire girl born and bred, beginning to live again after the heartache of the war. Ajit Singh was a charming young Indian student, shortly to return to his homeland and an arranged marriage. When Peggy and Ajit fell in love, each one knew the future would not be easy. But as they began their new life, far from their homes and their families, they found that love could bring two worlds together.

Hannah leaves her unhappy marriage with her daughter Ava and moves to the village of Leadsham to start afresh. She plans to keep a low profile, focusing on Ava and making a new life for them, far away from her violent ex-husband. What she hadn’t counted on was Andrew Brody. A police officer with a strict moral code, he knows something’s wrong as soon as he meets Hannah, and he wants to help. But Hannah has been let down by the police – and men – before, and pushes him away. But the more Hannah tries to ignore Brody, the more she’s drawn to him.

Five old school friends reunited for a weekend in Sheffield. A drunken game of truth or dare. One won't survive. The young woman is found murdered in a swanky hotel room. Detective Claudia Nunn gets the text just as she leaves her therapist's office. The victim's friends all say the same thing: she had been distracted and kept disappearing all weekend. And on the Saturday, someone had screamed abuse in her face. Did she know her killer?

Things are not quite okay. What is around the corner that is about to change everyone's lives? Set in the month of March, we follow Jalaal, a diligent but confused doctor. Despite being married with two children, Jalaal has never taken root anywhere. He's spent his career living out of a bag in sterile, lifeless accommodation as a locum doctor but now it's time to join his wife and children and finally settle in the East End of London.