Showing results by narrator "Juanita McMahon" in All Categories

Susanna Weber is the best dress maker in Imperial Vienna. Through skill and hard work, she now owns her own dress shop, looking out over the beautiful Madensky Square. To do so, she has left her past behind, if not without regret, at least resolutely. Looking around her, at her customers and friends, Susanna is aware that she has more than most - but a few small changes cause her to realize just how precarious her situation is.

Beautiful, proud Roxana is terrified of being poor. When her husband leaves her penniless with five children, she must choose between being a virtuous beggar or a rich whore. Embarking on a career as a courtesan and kept woman, Roxana passes from man to man in order to maintain her lavish, glamorous lifestyle. But this life comes at a cost; she is torn between sinful prosperity and the respectability she craves.

The body of a young migrant is found hanging from a tree. There are no signs of struggle. No indication that it is anything other than a tragic suicide. Except for a note, pinned to the man’s trousers, that reads: “The dead cannot speak.” A murder investigation begins with DI Manon Bradshaw at the helm. But with the other migrants unwilling to talk to her and protests taking place on the streets, hatred is starting to drown out the facts. Can Manon uncover the truth before there's another victim?

The class of ’72, Sara, Ally, Jo and Mitch were as close as sisters, then life intervened and the four friends lost touch. Now in her 60s, Sara has realised - late in the day - that those women were the best friends she’d ever had and is determined to get the gang back together. Ally is facing a huge turning point in her life and Jo, after years of being chief cook and bottle washer, needs to put herself first after a wake-up call. None of them know what happened to Mitch.

Her whole world hinged on the moment one man jumped.... On a perfect summer's day in Paris, tourists on a river trip watch in horror as drama unfolds. A small boy has fallen overboard and disappeared below the surface of the water. As his mother stands frozen to the spot, another passenger jumps....

This is the story of how a single act of courage transforms the lives of all those involved. Louise Candlish returns with her most page-turning and emotional story to date.

Sally, a cynical 15-year-old schoolgirl, is much too clever for her own good. When partnered with her best friend, Pamela—a mouthy girl who no one else much likes—Sally finds herself unable to resist the temptation of rebellion. The pair play truant, explore forbidden areas of the old school and—their favourite—torment posh Sylvia Rose, with her pristine uniform and her beautiful voice that wins every singing prize. One day, Sally ventures up to the greenhouse on the roof alone. Or at least she thinks she's alone, until she sees Sylvia on the roof, too.

Never has an unexpected guest caused such chaos! Three couples take it in turns to host a monthly dinner party. Beth, Sarah and Marie have been friends forever. Now they are grown up, with busy lives, busy husbands, busy kids...but they still find time to meet up over dinner once a month. A cosy, comfortable gathering of happy couples - or so they thought. Until one night, someone brings along a last-minute guest whose wife has just left him.

Thomas Bradshaw and Tonie Swann are experiencing the classic symptoms of marriage in its middle years: comfortable house, happy enough daughter, and an eerie sense that life might be happening elsewhere. Then Tonie accepts a big promotion at work and Thomas agrees to become a stay-at-home dad. While Thomas is suddenly faced with the daily silence of an empty house, Tonie finds herself alive to previously unimagined possibilities. And at the head of the family, the aging Bradshaw parents continue their marital dynamic of bickering and petty undermining.

A seaside holiday at Shell Cottage in Devon has always been the perfect escape for the Tarrant family. But this year everything has changed. Following her husband's recent death, Olivia is struggling to pick up the pieces. Harriet's looking forward to a break with her lovely husband, Robert, and teenage daughter, Molly. But unknown to Harriet, Robert is hiding a secret - and so, for that matter, is Molly....

November, 1957: Six teenage girls walk in the churning Derbyshire mists. Their voices carrying across the fields, they follow the old train tracks into the dark tunnel of the Cutting. Only five appear on the other side. October, 2014: a dying mother, feverishly fixated on a friend from her childhood, makes a plea: 'Find Valerie.' Mina's elderly mother had never discussed her childhood with her daughter before. So who was Valerie? Where does her obsession spring from? DC Connie Childs is partnered up with new arrival to Bampton, Peter Dahl.

When Adéla discovers she has a terminal illness, she leaves behind her native Czech village for a chance at reuniting in America with Tereza, the daughter she gave up at birth, decades earlier. But the country Adéla experienced as a young woman, when she eloped with a filmmaker and starred in his cult sci-fi movie, has changed entirely. In 2030, America is ruled by an authoritarian government increasingly closed off to the rest of the world.

While visiting her daughter’s family in their new London house, Lina spends an afternoon with her childhood friend, the rebellious Charlie. One drink leads to another, and when Lina tries to return home, things begin to go awfully wrong. The 75-year-old lady gets caught up in the London riots of August 2011. In the midst of all the chaos Lina stumbles upon a path that leads her to her own personal revolution. Aging is transformed from being an obstacle into an exciting challenge.

79-year-old Gloria Frensham is a hoarder. She lives amongst piles of magazines, cardboard boxes and endless knickknacks that are stacked into every room of her home and teeter in piles along the landing and up the stairs. She hasn’t left the house in years, but when a sudden smell of burning signifies real danger, she is forced to make a sudden departure and leave behind her beloved possessions. Determined she’s not ready for a care home, Gloria sets out to discover what life still has to offer her.

Sisters Sophie and Jess have grown up knowing that a few little lies are necessary. After all, everybody does it, don't they? But when Sophie discovers her father's secret, and Jess falls in love with the charismatic Jake, Sophie faces a difficult choice. Should she keep quiet, or tear her family apart with the truth? And if she tells, who will pay the ultimate price?

In War Crimes for the Home we meet an old and forgetful Gloria, living in an old folks' home called Sea View. But when she met Ron, he was a handsome American pilot, and she was working in a munitions factory in Bristol during the Blitz. Now, 50 years on, Gloria starts to remember what happened....

Rocco de Marco. Legendary financier and billionaire. The most important man in the room. And he'd just witnessed her filching canapes from the buffet...If waitress Gracie O'Brien's first meeting with Rocco is memorable, the second is unforgettable. For when he finds her breaking into his office he doesn't believe her innocence - so he'll keep her close until he finds the truth. Yet it's impossible for Rocco to stay angry with the sparky redhead - she's making him feel emotions Rocco thought he'd buried for ever...And the sexual tension between them is reaching explosion point!

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They’re alike in every way, except one - Willow is afraid on the inside. And it is all because of a secret - one that binds the sisters closely together. For a very long time Willow has felt separated from Holly by one terrible moment in time - a moment that meant Willow’s life was never the same again. And when the past catches up with her, Willow realises it’s finally time for her to face her fears, and learn to laugh again.

Fancy getting snowed in with your family over Christmas? No. Neither did the Thorne family. But that's what happens when, on Christmas Eve, the remote village where they've gathered together gets cut off by the worst winter storms of two hundred and fifty years. Temperatures plummet. Winds howl at ninety miles an hour. Snowdrifts pile high and freeze. Roads become impassable.

Jane Berry has always dreamed of moving to the country. When she uproots her family and takes them to live in a rural paradise, at first it all seems perfect. But when her marriage comes under pressure the dream starts to fall apart and Jane finds her life spiralling out of control. Then one night a line is crossed that threatens to ruin her and her family forever.

When Rocco de Marco, legendary financier and billionaire, finds Gracie O’Brien breaking into his office he doesn’t believe in her innocence - so he decides to keep her close until he finds the truth. Yet it’s impossible for Rocco to stay angry with the sparky redhead - she’s making him feel emotions Rocco thought he’d buried for ever… And the sexual tension between them is explosive!