Showing results by narrator "Jilly Bond" in All Categories

The death of The Conqueror left three sons to inherit his power and his wealth. Normandy for Robert, England for Rufus, and for Henry, the youngest, 5,000 pounds of silver. The three were natural rivals. The feckless Robert lost his Norman dukedom in an orgy of impulsive extravagance. Red-haired Rufus scandalized the court with his perverse sexuality and contempt for the Church. And Henry - cleverest of all - awaited his chance to fulfill his father’s prophecy and assume the mantle of The Lion of Justice.

Zoe is thrilled to be helping out at her Auntie Jo's animal shelter over the Easter holidays. But she doesn't expect to come across a box on the steps of the shelter containing three tiny abandoned puppies. It's touch and go for the littlest pup, whom Zoe names Cookie. Over the next few weeks, Zoe takes special care of Cookie and a close bond is formed between the two of them. But how will Zoe cope when it comes for the puppies to be rehomed?

Edward the Second has been barbarously murdered in Berkeley Castle on the orders of his wife Queen Isabella and her lover, and 15-year-old Edward the Third is now king. Young Edward has already fallen in love with Philippa of Hainault and, to prevent him enquiring into the details of his father’s death, Isabella allows the marriage to take place. While some suggest that Edward has a claim on the French throne, he is reluctant to pursue it.

When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to purchase Les Genevriers, an abandoned house in a rural hamlet in the south of France. As the beautiful Provence summer turns to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries that haunt both her...

Watch out! The locusts are coming... A terrifying army of locusts is making its way along the edge of the Sahara desert, devastating crops in one village after another. Gidaado's village is next. When the locusts arrive, Gidaado will need all his wits about him in order to survive. He will need his friend Sophie. He will need his three-stringed guitar. And he will need an albino camel as fast as the harmattan wind.

Eve was just eight years old when, as a Jewish girl in a Berlin school, the rumblings of the Nazis' rise to power began to threaten everything she knew. Fortunately, her parents managed to get the family out of Germany and start a new life in London. The horrors of war were just a part of the past - until the day when Eve inherited a treasured family notebook that hid an amazing secret.

In the grim recesses of the Tower of London, two captives begin a passionate love affair that will last years but is destined to destroy them. One is Robert Dudley, the other is the future Queen of England, Elizabeth I.

One ghost and one murder, 100 years apart. But are they connected? Ella has discovered a secret room in The Yellow Cottage, but with it comes a ghost. Who was she? And how did she die? Ella needs to find the answers before either of them can find peace. But things take a nasty turn for the worse.

When a strange child follows her home on the train from London, Ella Bridges feels bound to help her. However, she soon discovers the child is not what she seems. Having recently moved into a large home on Linhay Island, Ella finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation thanks to a special gift from the previous house owner. Along with her unusual sidekick, a former cottage resident, Ella follows clues that take her to the heart of London. As the mystery unravels she is forced to enter the lion's den to solve the crime and stop the perpetrator.

June 1920, Ireland: The streets of Dublin seethe with revolution as the Irish Republican Army clashes with British authorities. Roving assassination squads mean nowhere is truly safe, particularly for Verity Kent and her war hero husband, Sidney. Given their celebrity as society darlings and intrepid sleuths, they must tread carefully to go unnoticed—nearly impossible when they are called upon to search for Verity's fellow spy and friend.

After years working all hours as a senior practice nurse, Joy has taken a well-earned retirement. She'd been looking forward to it, to leisure and time and no alarms, but now that it's happened, she's not sure what to do with herself. Her husband Terry is buried in his business, and seems to be talking to her less and less - at home she feels, increasingly, rather in the way. But when a new neighbour, Sara, and her small son move into their remote Devon village, Joy befriends her, and inspired by Sara starts to look into the history of their beautiful Angel cove.

March 1920: Life has turned unsettlingly quiet for former British Intelligence agent Verity Kent and her husband, Sidney. But even that false calm is about to end. As threats remain, the French authorities soon request Sidney's help with a suspect who claims to have proof of treason--shortly before she is assassinated. And Verity, too, is called to investigate a mystery. The murder of a Belgian lawyer aboard a train seems at first to be a simple case of revenge. But the victim was connected to British Intelligence.

In a provincial university town, Caro Grimstone, a dissatisfied faculty wife, becomes the unwilling accomplice to her husband Alan's ambitions. When she volunteers to read to a blind esteemed anthropologist in a nursing home, Alan seizes the opportunity to steal his papers—research that could both advance his reputation while refuting the findings of a respected colleague.

A MATTER OF MURDER is the seventh Cotswold village crime novel in Ann Granger's Campbell and Carter series. Sure to appeal to fans of Midsomer Murders and M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin mysteries. Two years ago, Miff Ferguson chose to opt out of the rat race. Since then he's been living rough and...

News of Thomas à Becket’s martyrdom has spread throughout Christendom, and the blame is laid at the feet of Henry Plantagenet, King of England. Two years later, with Becket canonised, Henry’s position is precarious: punished at the Pope’s insistence for his part in Becket’s death, he now also has an enemy in his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after her discovery of his longstanding infidelity with Rosamund Clifford.

The Great War may be over, but for many, there are still obstacles on the home front. Reconciling with her estranged husband makes Verity sympathetic to her friend Ada's marital difficulties. Bourgeois-bred Ada, recently married to the Marquess of Rockham, is overwhelmed trying to navigate the ways of the aristocracy. And when Lord Rockham is discovered shot through the heart with a bullet from Ada's revolver, Verity fears her friend has made a fatal blunder. While striving to prove Ada's innocence, Verity is called upon for another favour.

When her husband, Dan Haywood, swaps their family for a younger woman, Sarah tries best to juggle childcare, friendships and a career as a dress designer. It doesn't help that problematic middle-aged men seem to conspire against her. Enter neighbour Robert Maynard, who insists that her new house was promised to him. Shocked, but not immune to his charm, Sarah's second chance may be closer to home than she ever imagined.

Compulsively listenable and stylistically stunning, Black Dog Summer begins with a murder, a farmstead massacre, in the South African bush. Thirty-eight-year-old Sally is but one of the victims. Her life brutally cut short, she narrates from her vantage point in the afterlife and watches as her sister, Adele; her brother-in-law and unrequited love, Liam; her niece, Bryony; and her teenage daughter, Gigi, begin to make sense of the tragedy.

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

William the Conqueror is destined to succeed his father as the Duke of Normandy but questions about his legitimacy mean he consistently faces challenges from potential usurpers in the Duchy to retain the title. He marries Matilda, the equally intelligent and ambitious daughter of the King of Flanders, and together they have many children. In 1066, he crosses the channel from Normandy to England and seizes the crown from King Harold, Edward the Confessor's popular successor.