検索キーワード： ナレーター "Julia Franklin" すべてのカテゴリー

Lancashire, 1936. With her son Gabriel finally married, and her youngest following his dreams of becoming a doctor, Gwynneth Harte finds herself with an empty nest—until a fire forces her to move in with Gabriel and his wife, Maisie, at their home on Daisy Street. Arthur Chapman has been at a low ebb ever since the death of his wife. Turning to drink in his grief, he lost both his job and contact with his grandchild, Beatie—but now the inheritance of a house from a distant relative is the fresh start he needs.

Frankie Piccione is done running away from her responsibilities - for now, anyway. Two years after fleeing Westenbury with a shattered heart, it's time to return and take up her place on the board of the family business. Piccione's Pickles and Preserves is floundering, and Frankie knows she can turn it around. But with her brother Luca and the new, rather attractive, Cameron Mancini watching her every move, she's going to have to come up with something special to persuade them that she belongs on the board just as much as they do.

In the 1970s, the girls were best friends sharing a house and good times: Zara, the famous diva actor; Val, the uptight solicitor; Jackie, the wild child and Pauline, the quirky introvert. Now they're in their twilight years, and Zara suggests that they live with her to support each other through old age. Initially, being housemates again is just as much fun as in their heyday. But then Zara reveals the real reason she asked them to move in with her, and suddenly things take a sinister turn.

Written in 1905, this is Vernon Lee’s final genuinely weird tale, and it tells the 18th-century legend of Sister Benvenuta, a nun who wrote letters to a model of infant Christ. Whilst unexpectedly funny in places, this short story has dark undertones.

The majority of Vernon Lee’s work was essays and studies on art and history, but this little-known essay’s sense of places lends itself more to poetry than nonfiction. As Lee guides us through an enchanted wood, it gives us an insight into the inspiration behind Lee’s supernatural stories.

The return of the veiled lady to Chilcote Priory fills Mrs Peterson with dread. The ghostly apparition was too rare for them to accept the house is haunted, and they had managed to brush it under the carpet, but when it scares their latest maid senseless, Mrs Peterson thinks the ghostly visitor has a message this time.

Run by sisters Rebecca and Delphine, Villa Sesame is a popular venue for small intimate weddings on the sparkling French Riviera. Beautiful terraces and a horizon pool overlooking the Mediterranean, a setting where dreams come true. When recently widowed Delphine unexpectedly announces her desire to retire and live a different life, Rebecca feels her own life could be slipping into free fall. As the guests gather for the June wedding of Freya and Marcus, Freya’s two childhood friends bring their own problems to the villa and cousin Verity has her own agenda.

From the vaults of the British Library comes a new anthology celebrating the best works of forgotten, never-since-republished supernatural fiction from the early 20th century. Waiting within are malevolent spirits eager to possess the living and mysterious spectral guardians - a diverse host of phantoms exhumed from the rare pages of literary magazines and newspaper serials to thrill once more.

Amelia is constantly overshadowed by her beautiful cousin, Ernestine. When two men both fall for Ernestine, they dare each other to stay in an ominous vine-covered pavilion, and it is up to Amelia to come to the rescue in this eerie feminist tale.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is known for her themes of female entrapment and patriarchal control, and she gives this a Gothic twist in "The Giant Wistaria". A wealthy young couple and their friends rent a manor house, excited by the prospect that it’s haunted, and they are not disappointed when they all experience the same vivid dream.

Strangling vines and meat-hungry flora fill this unruly garden of strange stories, selected for their significance as the seeds of the villainous (or perhaps just misunderstood) 'killer plant' in fiction, film and video games. Step within to marvel at Charlotte Perkins Gilman's giant wisteria and H.G. Wells' hungry orchid; hear the calls of the ethereal women of the wood and the frightful drone of the moaning lily; and do tread carefully around E. Nesbit's wandering creepers. Every strain of vegetable threat can be found within this new collection.

A spate of robberies targeting elderly women is disturbing enough, but especially so in a town as peaceful and sedate as Leek. Then one attack turns to murder, and Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy is called to the eerily named Spite Hall. For the body of Nan Lawrence has been found bludgeoned to death, lying over the tapestry she was in the process of embroidering. When Joanna calls on Nan's neighbours she is surprised to find that they are none other than the old lady's estranged brother and his teenage grandson, neither of whom seems particularly willing to co-operate.

Lady Joanna Harcourt and her daughter, Sarah, discover their life of luxury at Goodwill House is over. Because with Lord Harcourt away fighting, the Harcourt girls are facing financial ruin. Lady Joanna is terrified of losing their home, but for Sarah, this means her dreams of becoming a doctor are over. Headstrong Sarah isn’t one to quit! War or not, she’s determined to find a way to save her home and follow her dreams - whatever it takes.

Juliet Joyce has been happily married to Rick for 25 years. But with two children who treat the house like a hotel, a mother who's moved in with them and a father who's announced a radical life change, Juliet and Rick have little time for themselves, let alone romance.

When twins Annie and Lauren attend their older sister Chelsea's 40th birthday party at the Dorchester Hotel, they wonder why their lives are so different. Chelsea's husband is twirling her round the dance floor, while Annie's husband has gone fishing and Lauren's lover is at home with his wife and children.

Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's wedding day to Christopher Henderson has arrived on a glorious summer's day in the pretty Lake District village of Threlkeld. While the day passes off without undue calamity, later when most of the guests have departed, a young man is found nearby, possibly the victim of a vicious attack. The mystery of the attack is complicated by pressure on police resources. Was it an accident or something far more sinister? Speculation is rife as to what precisely happened, and a chilling suspicion develops into a theory that might be impossible to prove.

There is no better hiding place for clues - or red herrings - than inside the pages of a book. With Martin Edwards as librarian and guide, delve into an irresistible stack of tales perfect for every book lover and armchair sleuth, featuring much-loved Golden Age detectives such as Nigel Strangeways, Philip Trent and Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. But listeners should be warned that the most riveting tales often conceal the deadliest of secrets.

Manchester, 1867. Mara longs for a peaceful life free of violence and poverty. But she has married into the O'Hara family, who have a reputation for their drunkenness and quick tempers. Her eldest stepson, Conrad, is the worst of them all - a brute and a criminal who makes Mara's life a misery. But then Conrad is accused of a crime he didn't commit, and Mara is the only one who can prove his innocence. Perhaps this is her chance to finally free her family from his toxic influence....

Manchester, 1942. A new year brings new hope for the railway girls. Alison's romance with the charming Dr Maitland is blossoming, but then she is posted away from Manchester. Working in a canteen isn't part of her plan, nor is meeting her beau's old girlfriend. Margaret is supportive of her friend's new relationship, until she realises exactly who he is. Torn between keeping her secret and warning Alison, she turns to Joan for help. Working in Lost Property wouldn't be Joan's first choice of job, but with a baby on the way she knows she can't continue being a station porter.

Lancashire, 1930s. When her mother dies, leaving her an old sewing box and a clue to her father's identity, 22-year-old Maisie Bassett is determined to make a fresh start. Changing her name and moving to the small town of Rivenshaw, she finds a respectable job in a grocery store. But unwanted attentions from a man at her new church make life increasingly difficult - until the shy, handsome Gabriel Harte comes to her rescue.