Risultati letto da "Annie Aldington" in Tutte le categorie

Not far from London, there is a village. This village belongs to the people who live in it and to those who lived in it hundreds of years ago. It belongs to England's mysterious past and its confounding present. It belongs to Mad Pete, the grizzled artist. To ancient Peggy, gossiping at her gate. To families dead for generations, and to those who have only recently moved here. But it also belongs to Dead Papa Toothwort who has woken from his slumber in the woods. Dead Papa Toothwort, who is listening to them all.

After her murderous ex-boyfriend who she turned in to the police was released from prison, Jem Byrne fled to London, desperate to hide herself in the hustle of the big city. Now she spends every day watching her back, waiting for him to catch up with her. But The Mansfield estate is far from a safe place to hide, and Jem soon learns she's only ever one wrong move away from being found out - and sold out.

Fearing for his life, Thomas Marsh has fled Castle Bay and found work as a mill hand, deep in the countryside. Here he comes across the unconventional Isabel Cavendish and is captivated by her beauty and wildness. But Isabel's father has ambitions for his daughter, and she is soon sent away to Ramsgate to learn how to be a lady. Struggling to understand society's obsession with dresses and balls, Isabel chafes against the restrictions of her new life. Then she meets Daniel Coates, in town for one night only, and the pair discover a strong mutual attraction.

When orphaned Jake Harding is sent away from his adoptive home aged just seven, he does not understand why - especially as his adopted brother, Toby, is kept by their mother. Forced to make his own way in the world, Jake falls in with a gang of petty thieves, who make their living lifting valuables from those who are better off. At sixteen, he crosses paths with the charismatic Johnny Cooper and his nemesis George Payne, and risks making an enemy when he attracts the attention of George's beautiful daughter Rebecca.

Steph Barker can't forget her past. A single mother, Steph runs a women's shelter for local prostitutes while coming to terms with a tragic loss. And it's people like Joseph Potter, battling with his own grief, who keep her going. When Hennie, one of her friends from the shelter, goes missing, Steph's convinced Hennie's violent pimp Artie Rogers has something to do with it. Steph and Artie go way back, but his reign of terror throughout the Medway towns is out of control and even she can't do anything to stop him.

Kent, 1953. The Woolworths Erith store, a beloved cornerstone of the community, faces closure if the December turnover fails to increase. And, as if store manager Betty Billington doesn't have enough on her plate, personnel shortages and a troublesome new employee add to the strife. With Christmas on the horizon, Betty and her staff must strive to find solutions to improve business and keep the store running – from special events for late-night customers to a festive group trip into central London.

Wakefield, 1964. Life is hardly rosy for Annie Wills – an unhappy upbringing and then married too young with husband Gary soon proving a lazy coward unable to hold down a job, his fists always ready to vent his anger on the world. The one shining star in Annie's life is her perfect little girl, Maria. When Gary foolishly ends up in debt to local crime family, the Waltons, the only way for Annie to keep a roof over their heads is to work at one of the Waltons' drinking clubs. There, for the sake of Maria, Annie does the unthinkable and keeps men happy, night after night.

Happily married, Rose has her hands full with staffing problems at the Lyon’s Teashop now that many women are taking on war work. The girls left all have their own worries while the war rages on. Katie has always wanted a large family, but is worried that she is still not pregnant. So when young Jennie is invited to lodge at Doctor’s Cottage now that Rose and Ben have their own home, Katie finds she needs all her mothering skills to keep the younger girl on the straight and narrow.

1916. East London. When sixteen-year-old Clover Cooper's mother, Iris, calls her home from work one day, the last thing Clover expects is to find that her mother has given birth to another baby. After all, Clover's unpleasant father, Sidney, has been in France for longer than nine months. Banned from questions, and bound to secrecy by her beloved mother, Clover leaves her infant brother at a nunnery for safekeeping, despite her heartbreak at parting with him. But when Sidney unexpectedly returns from the Western Front, life at home suddenly feels more dangerous than a battlefield.

It’s February 1952 and whilst the nation grieves the death of King George VI, life must go on for The Woolworths Girls. At The Erith Store there is a new temporary Manager and Sarah is getting more than a little concerned by problems he seems to be creating. The whole mess is enough to make her want to resign. Meanwhile, Ruby is extremely worried about her friend Vera, and with illness causing a problem from her past to come flooding back, she knows it’s going to take a lot of strength and willpower to do what needs to be done.

London, 1944. With bombs raining over London, keeping the Battersea Tavern open is no easy feat for owner Winnie Berry - but the community need the warmth and familiarity of the pub more than ever. After marriage, Maureen Fanning had moved out to Wandsworth with her bad-tempered husband Brancher. But when he loses both his job and their lodgings, the only people who will take them in are her kindly grandparents, Len and Renee. Getting a cleaning job at the Battersea Tavern is the least she can do to pay them back. It would all be fine...if it weren't for Brancher.

1813. Haunted by her father's death and tired of watching her mother struggle, Meg Marsh will do anything to keep a roof over her family's head. Even if that means getting involved in a dangerous smuggling operation. When Meg catches the eye of a dashing gentleman above her station, things start to look up, and she can't help but start dreaming of a life away from the shingle and boats of Castle Bay. Blinded by flattery and coin, Meg can't see the danger on the horizon - and the cost just might be her life.

Almost losing her life in a bomb blast while serving in the Women's Volunteer Service has made Ann Gilby take stock of what's really important - her family. With daughter Sheila back home, and Joy still working munitions at the Cadbury factory and engaged to her soldier sweetheart, home life feels more settled too. Ann has even come to an uneasy truce with her husband, Len, despite her recent discovery of his infidelity and the fact that he has fathered a child with another woman.

It's 1938 and as the threat of war hangs over the country, Sarah Caselton is preparing for her new job at Woolworths. Before long, she forms a tight bond with two of her colleagues: the glamorous Maisie and shy Freda. The trio couldn't be more different, but they immediately form a close-knit friendship, sharing their hopes and dreams for the future. Sarah soon falls into the rhythm of her new position, enjoying the social events hosted by Woolies and her blossoming romance with young assistant manager, Alan.

After losing her beloved fiancé at Ypres in 1917, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Billington faces a lonely future estranged from her upper-class parents due to her association with Charlie Sayers and his working-class family. No longer able to live under her parent’s roof she is taken in by Charlie’s father, escaping the suffocating demands of her parents. Betty soon learns all too well about the realities of life after an accident at the Woolwich Arsenal munitions works.

Welcome to HMP Ashcroft. Run by a bent governor determined to impose his will with an iron fist, it might as well be hell for its inmates. Fights and favours are currency for survival, but nothing in life is free; there’s always a price to be paid, and for some it’s high. Whether serving time on the inside or outside, guilty or not, one thing is for certain: hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Stealing from the rich is what Cara Kendall does for a living. She's twenty-four, bold and fearless, convinced that she'll never get caught. But everyone's luck runs out eventually. When she breaks into a house in Hampstead, she gets more than she bargained for—a body in the study and the law on the doorstep. As rumours start to circulate about her part in the killing, she finds herself under increasing pressure to give up what she hasn't got and tell a truth she doesn't know.

After escaping the grip of the workhouse, Lily has kept her fiancé's business afloat while he is away fighting on the Western Front. Still battling on, she's now doing her bit for her country as an auxiliary nurse - but one thing above all else continues to weigh heavily on her heart: her long-lost sister. Born just before her mother died, the scandal was hushed-up and the baby spirited away. But now, at last, there is hope Lily could find her little sister for she has a clue to go on: the name of the notorious baby farmer who bought the child all those years ago. Mrs Jolley.

Now that Molly Dawson's family have grown up and left home, she has every reason to expect that her life on the Woodchurch Manor estate with her husband, head gardener Charlie, will settle into happy contentment. It seems, though, that her estranged half-sister, Harriet, has other ideas. When the secret Molly has kept for more than 25 years is revealed in front of her whole family, Molly's relationship with her son and her husband begins to crumble. And when she takes a trip away from home to allow things to settle, Harriet steps in - with devastating consequences.

While her husband and daughter work at the Cadbury's Bournville factory, Ann Gilby has her hands full at home with her youngest, Martin, and other daughter Sheila, newly returned home with baby Elaine. With Sheila's husband away doing his bit in the RAF, Ann knows she should be grateful to have all her children safe under one roof. But she can't help but fear for their uncertain future as bombs fall ever closer to her Birmingham home.