Showing results by narrator "Patricia Gallimore" in All Categories

Smashing through the Arctic Ocean with the crew of a Russian icebreaker, herding reindeer across the tundra with Lapps and shadowing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline with truckers, Sara Wheeler discovers a complex and ambiguous land belonging both to ancient myth and modern controversy. A fascinating combination of history, science and reflection in which Wheeler meditates on the role of the Arctic and how it has been changed by man.

If you like Poldark, you'll love Gloria Cook! In the small mining village of Meryen, a dark secret lurks.... Amy Lewarne finds her life changed forever when she finds her brother, Toby, dead. And troubles follow when Titus Kivell, the head of a powerful yet belligerent family, puts his son, Sol, in Toby's place. Despite his wild and formidable nature, Amy is inexplicably drawn to Sol, as he is to her. But will his family ties be the ruin of her?

Eva Jackson is Rosemary’s cousin ("umpteen times removed"), and she has moved back to her childhood home in Taviscombe after the untimely death of her beloved husband, Alan. As is the way of the village, Eva has been pounced upon by the local charities, and it is during a coffee morning that she mentions to Sheila Malory that she fears Alan might have died an unnatural death.... Sheila is intrigued and sets out to find out more.

When Sheila Malory reluctantly agrees to help out in a charity shop for a few weeks, her friend warns her about the "control freak" manager Desmond Barlow. It is not without some trepidation that she begins her volunteer work. Before too long, she begins to get the measure of her fellow volunteers, including the bossy Norma Stanley; no-nonsense Jean; and Desmond’s mousey wife, Wendy. When Desmond’s lifeless body is discovered after an apparent botched robbery, Sheila finds herself at the heart of the investigation as Inspector Bob Morris seeks her help.

It’s the late 1960s and Nico Gachet is a young French student on the run in England. After making some terrible mistakes he must take drastic measures if he is to save his life and the lives of those he loves. Hoping to make amends for a terrible crime, Nico plans a dangerous liaison in the heart of the city.

Something peculiar is going on at the Group Medical Practice in Taviscombe and old Dr MacDonald seems very uneasy. Sheila Malory can’t help but feel that it may have something to do with the unexpected arrival from London of a new GP, Dr Morrison, an arrogant, cold-mannered man, whose alleged misdiagnosis of a local patient has made him the focus of the village rumour mill.

1949: one year in the childhood of Candida Lycett Green in the remote village of Farnborough in Berkshire. Here she lives with her father John Betjeman and her mother Penelope Chetwode, in one of the bleakest and highest spots on the windswept downland.Candida runs wild with the 'gang' of village children. Stimulated by regular excursions to the cinema in Wantage, Candida and her best friend June became fascinated by the idea of love.

The village of Mere Barton is facing a time of upheaval, with traditional lifestyles being forced out by newcomers. When local author Sheila Malory is asked to research the history of the village, she has her reservations; 'The Book' is one of the many projects of Annie Roberts. Miserly and controlling, Annie is at the heart of everything that goes on in Mere Barton, much to the resentment of her fellow villagers. When Annie suffers a fatal bout of self-inflicted food poisoning, there is more relief than grief around the village.

A Cornish saga, perfect for fans of Poldark. In the Cornish mining village of Meryen, a secret never stays a secret for very long.... No one knows this more than Tara Nankervis. Beautiful yet pained, she is forced to share a devastating secret with her much older and destructive husband Joshua. Out of options, she plans to leave once and for all, taking her daughter, Rosa Grace, with her. But will she have the courage to leave everything behind, or is home truly where the heart is?

Annie Doyle's husband, Vince, is in a care home with final-stage dementia. And after decades of deeply unhappy marriage, Annie can barely bring herself to care. But as the family gathers to see out Vince's final days, he utters a single word that will change the entire family forever: 'Martha'. Who is Martha? And why is Annie so quick to dismiss the mention of her name?

Callum Hughes has been labelled a killer and a psycho - by the press, by his classmates and by the family of the boy he stabbed. Roger Gough has been labelled a victim. He is described by everyone as a sporty, funny, and popular boy who was brutally murdered by Callum. But things are rarely so black and white.

When firemen are called to an intense blaze at the Grange in Melverley, they find the bodies of Christie Barton, her daughter, Adelaide, and father-in-law, William, along with evidence that suggests the fire was started deliberately. Detective Inspector Alex Randall enlists the help of coroner Martha Gunn, but the puzzle deepens with a second house fire - the occupant, retired nurse Monica Deverill, is missing. Where is she, and what links the two fires? The answers lie in a secret buried in the past…

When a woman arrives in A&E clutching a child in a pink blanket, Martha Gunn is not quite ready to make the discovery that the evening has in store for her. The baby has been mummified. A post-mortem reveals the child to be a new born boy, deceased for over five years. As always coroner Martha Gunn reserves judgement until she is able to question the mysterious woman who brought in the body...

Wind, rain and hail lashed the cottage. And Bun had just run out of knitting wool. What to do? Far too wet for walking up to the shops, she decided to have a poke at their drawing-room walls. Surely there must be alcoves hidden either side of that huge fireplace? Digging revealed a woman’s body…getting rid of it should have been easy, but for a young detective and a scoop-happy newspaper reporter. But when Bun’s younger sister has afternoon tea with their murder suspect, Bun is worried for her safety.

In the peaceful setting of the National Trust near Church Stretton, Tracey Walsh drives herself and her four-year-old daughter, Daisy, up the remote Burway in the early hours of the morning, tragically loses control of her car and crashes into the valley below. Tracey is rushed to hospital, but where is Daisy? She has vanished, provoking an intense police search of the area around the Devil’s Chair – land that is rife with legends and stories of witchcraft, sorcery and unexplained disappearances.

Set in the 1770s, the latest book in the Pengarron series focuses on the long-standing, complex relationship between Kerensa Pengarron, beautiful wife of Sir Oliver, and her first love, Clem Trenchard: a man whom she has tried, unsuccessfully, to forget. The christening of little Harry Pengarron brings old scores to light, as Oliver and Clem meet face to face for the first time in years.

For the record, the word "parlour" is not used, nor is the relatively recent insidious "lounge", except about airports, hotels and liners.' 'Boys should be taught at a very early age - six or seven - to say "Sir" to an older man.' 'When there are servants, the plates for the first course are never put on the table until everyone is seated.''I cannot stress too often that on every formal occasion, whether it is Luncheon, a Bazaar or a Meeting, a hat should be worn.'

Kerensa Trelynne's plans to wed her sweetheart, Clem Trenchard, are ruined when Sir Oliver Pengarron makes her grandfather, and guardian, an offer for Trelynne Cove - the land on which Old Tom's cottage stands. Old Tom is wily, and to ensure a secure and stable future for his precious granddaughter, he makes her part of the price for the Cove: Sir Oliver must marry Kerensa.

Thus the future of Caroline Matilda, youngest sister of George III, was settled – marriage to the nearly insane Prince of Denmark. Prompted by a sense of foreboding, she begged that one of her sisters should be sent in her place. But Caroline was the healthiest, the strongest of the English princesses, and as well as being exiled, princesses were meant to be brood mares…Exiled in a strange country, isolated by her inability to speak the language, Caroline forms a close bond with the King’s doctor, Johann Struensee.

On a bright spring morning, John Hyde opens the gates to the grounds of Moreton Corbet Castle, a local medieval ruin, and discovers the body of a homeless man with his throat slashed. Detective Inspector Alex Randall and his team soon face some disturbing questions: was this a random attack, or does someone have a vendetta against the homeless? For coroner Martha Gunn, establishing the man's identity is essential, but there are no clues.