Showing results by narrator "Helen Johns" in All Categories

Born in Colombo, Judith Dunbar spends her teenage years at boarding school while her beloved mother and younger sister live abroad with her father. When her new friend, Loveday Carey-Lewis, invites Judith home for the weekend to Nancherrow, the Carey-Lewises' beautiful estate on the Cornish coast, it is love at first sight.

Virginia Keile has a secret dream. To have a second chance at loving the tall, handsome Cornish farmer she met - and foolishly lost - the heady summer she was a debutante. Life has taught Virginia a great deal in 27 years - about wedding a titled bachelor picked out by her mother, about a lonely marriage that ended in her husband's accidental death, and about nearly losing her children to her husband's mother and bossy Nanny. Now she has come back to picturesque Cornwall to rent a battered seaside cottage.

Escape into Rosamunde Pilcher's world, and meet characters who will become instant friends. The big bedroom was lovely: all pale blue and white, satin and muslin, cool and airy, the windows looking out over the garden to the creek. But to 14-year-old Emily, beautiful though it was, it was all wrong. Her stepmother's bedroom now: everything changed since her own mother had died. And stretched out on the bed: Stephanie, very white and pained. The new baby on its way, a month early.

Mango and Brash are alligators - who investigate! Join the crime-fighting duo as they flush themselves down toilets to surf the sewers and fight the forces of evil. This collection includes two laugh-out-loud audio adventures InvestiGators and InvestiGators: Take the Plunge. Listen out for the sounds of the Batter Down bakery, S.U.I.T. Headquarters, Crackerdile's Lair, and the Robotics Lab at the Science Factory!

Irina McGovern's destiny hinges on a single kiss. Whether she gives into its temptation will determine whether she stays with her reliable partner, Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player. Employing a parallel universe structure, Shriver spins Irina's competing futures with two drastically different men. An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive but rigid and emotionally withdrawn. A British celebrity, Ramsey is passionate and spontaneous but jealous and undereducated.

Enter Rosamunde Pilcher's world of simple joys, of crisp country air and crackling log fires, the pleasures of family reunions and rediscovered friendships. Through thick mist and a cold east wind, Lavinia returns to Scotland. Up at the big house, Mrs Farquhar is dying. Seeing Lachlan again, Lavinia remembers her childhood holidays there: swimming in the loch, the picnics, bottle-feeding the lambs down at the farm and the evenings when they danced reels. Most of all, she remembers Mrs Farquhar's grandson Rory.

At her dying mother's bedside, Rebecca Bayliss is shattered to learn of a family she never knew existed. Determined to find them, Rebecca journeys to Boscarva, a beautiful mansion in Cornwall, to meet a family torn by passion and greed. From her grandfather Grenville Bayliss, who is hiding an explosive secret, to a handsome cousin whose kisses are dangerously seductive, to sensual craftsman Joss Gardner, whose past hints of intrigue, Rebecca becomes entangled in a family mystery.

Belgium, 1917. At a military hospital in Poperinge, close to the horrors of the front line, Sister Helen Chalmers strives tirelessly to save the many injured soldiers brought in from battle. The hardships of war and the need for comfort throws Helen into the arms of the eminent surgeon Captain Richard Carson - although she knows a romance with a married man will never last.It's not long before Helen is swept off her feet by Captain James Havers, a man with whom she can see a future. When James is injured in the fighting, he is sent back to Britain to recover.

When Emmy Jamieson arrives at La Cour des Roses, a beautiful guesthouse in the French countryside, she can't wait to spend two weeks relaxing with boyfriend Nathan. Their relationship needs a little TLC, and Emmy is certain this holiday will do the trick. But they've barely unpacked before he scarpers with Gloria, the guesthouse owner's cougar wife. Rupert, the ailing guesthouse owner, is shell-shocked. Feeling somewhat responsible - and rather generous after a bottle (or so) of wine - heartbroken Emmy offers to help.

When Sofia Bianchi’s father, Aldo, dies, it makes her stop and look at things afresh. Having been his carer for so many years, she knows it’s time for her to live her own life - and to fulfil some promises she made to Aldo in his final days. So there’s nothing for it but to escape to Italy’s Umbrian mountains, where, tucked away in a sleepy Italian village, lie plenty of family secrets waiting to be discovered.

Trevor Peacock (The Vicar of Dibley) stars as inspired chef Warwick Hedges in this comedy drama set in an idiosyncratic restaurant in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Warwick’s son, Jack, works alongside his father, which makes him permanently anxious. They are assisted by Samuel, an earthy odd-job man 'who crawled out of the slime with the eels', and Zofia the Polish waitress. Whether hosting unusual guests, dealing with flooding, fuelling father-son rivalry or moving strange stones from the edge of the Fen to his restaurant 'at his own peril', Warwick certainly keeps Mardle Fen on its toes.

Prue is intelligent, artistic, independent - and bored. Pressured by her mother to make a conventional and dull marriage, she is delighted to escape London and seek retreat with her eccentric and bohemian aunt in Cornwall. A chance encounter with an attractive young artist on the seashore leads to day after idyllic summer's day of exploring the Cornish countryside and coast. But there is something troubling Daniel, and Prue - now deeply entangled - feels compelled to discover what it is.

John Lithgow has compiled an outstanding collection of memorable poems and has gathered his famous friends to read them. The wide variety of carefully selected poetry in this audiobook provides the perfect introduction to reel in those who are new to poetry, and for poetry lovers to experience beloved verses in a fresh, vivid way. Lithgow offers insightful and sometimes poignant commentary to accompany each poem. His essential criterion is that "each poem's light shines more brightly when read aloud".

As the Second World War rages, the Japanese Imperial Army enters Burma, and the British rulers prepare to flee. But the human legacy of the British Empire will be left behind in the shape of 62 Anglo-Burmese children, born to local women after affairs with foreign men. Half castes, they are not acknowledged by either side, and they are to be abandoned with no one to protect them.

Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters - but none like the one she's just received: 'Dear Amy, I don't know where I am. I've been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I'm afraid he'll kill me. Please help me soon, Bethan Avery.' Bethan Avery has been missing for nearly two decades. This is surely some cruel hoax. But as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public.

The pioneer of romantic suspense, Mary Stewart leads her listeners on a thrilling journey to a Mediterranean island paradise in this tale of mystery, murder and intrigue, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Barbara Pym. Lucy Waring, a young, out-of-work actress from London, leaps at the chance to visit her sister for a summer on the island paradise of Corfu, and what's more, a famous but reclusive actor is staying in a villa nearby. But Lucy's hopes for rest and romance are shattered when a body washes up on the beach and she finds herself swept up in a chilling chain of events.

Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers a masterclass on the art and craft of songwriting. He writes over 60 essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyses what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose.

Kathryn Ardleigh is becoming accustomed to the high-society circles of her recently Lorded husband Charles Sheridan. And she has found a kindred spirit in Jennie Jerome Churchill, whose carefree lifestyle has made her a frequent topic in the tabloids. But there is a more serious scandal threatening Jennie—and the political future of her son Winston. She is being blackmailed by someone who has made a heinous accusation—someone who claims to have proof that Winston's father was none other than the notorious Jack the Ripper...

Adrenaline junkie Simon Newman sneaks onto private land to explore a dangerous cave in Wales with a strange man he's met online. But Simon gets more than he bargained for when the expedition goes horribly wrong. Simon emerges, the only survivor, after a rainstorm trap the two in the cave. Simon thinks he's had a lucky escape. But his video of his near-death experience has just gone viral.

Thirty-year-old Ruby is done with love: no more drama, no more complications, no more men. She’s living life for herself, and that’s the way she likes it. But her whole world is turned upside down when her grandmother calls to say her beloved pottery business is failing, and she might lose her beautiful little Cornish house by the sea. She needs Ruby to come back to Cornwall and save the day...