Emma Powell has narrated 41 audiobooks on Listento.it by 25 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 91 ratings. The most-rated is The Watchmaker's Daughter.
The Garden House
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
After the death of her father, El moves into his home just outside Tavistock in Devon. Fresh out of university and dangling on the precipice of adulthood, she questions what it is she really wants from life. Although her childhood friend Will is there to help her through her grief, she soon realises there were things her father was hiding from her....
Jules is also mourning Martin, but they thought best to keep their relationship secret, she must now grieve entirely alone. All she has to remember her love are the memories of their time spent at a beautiful community garden and teashop nearby. The Garden House is where they met, fell in love and where their secret affair will inevitably be uncovered.
As El and Will begin to piece together her father's secrets, they bring them closer and closer to both Jules and a truth that is difficult to face.
©2020 Marcia Willett (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The House of Susan Lulham
Summary
A new husband and a new house. Just as well, because Zoe doesn't like old. Back in the 1960s, this house was built to look ultra modern, with lots of glass and sharp angles. And it was going cheap, perhaps because of the self-inflicted death of a previous owner - notoriously bloody and prolonged. But Zoe didn't know that. And if her husband Jonathan knew, he kept very quiet. How is Merrily Watkins, diocesan exorcist for Hereford, to know what’s behind Zoe’s claim that the late Susan Lulham is still in residence? Sceptical neighbours seem unlikely to help, and fresh blood will decorate the pristine white walls of the new house before its secret history begins, at last, to leak out.
©2014 Phil Rickman (P)2015 Isis Publishing Ltd
The Silvered Heart
Summary
1648: Civil war is devastating England. The privileged world of Katherine Ferrers is crumbling under Cromwell's army, and as an orphaned heiress, she has no choice but to marry for the sake of family. But as her marriage turns into a prison and her fortune is forfeit, Katherine becomes increasingly desperate. So when she meets a man who shows her a way out, she seizes the chance. It is dangerous and brutal, and she knows if they're caught, there's only one way it can end.... The mystery of Lady Katherine Ferrers, legendary highwaywoman, has captured the collective imagination of generations. Now, based on the real woman, the original 'Wicked Lady' is brought gloriously to life in this tale of infatuation, betrayal and survival.
©2015 Katherine Clements (P)2019 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
The Necessary Marriage
Summary
Jane is 16 when she first becomes aware of Leonard Campbell. He is a tall, gentle man with full lips and no ring on his left hand. He is her teacher. As he begins to shower her with attention, giving her novels to read and discuss, Jane's interest grows, and slowly she falls in love. They overcome obstacles in the form of school bullies and Jane's parents, and it is only once married that Jane realises she might have settled down too early and given up too much of herself in the process. They have two children, Becca and Julia, and settle into suburban Surrey in the 1980s. But when Marion and Andrew, a couple whose passion frequently tips into violence, move in next door, Jane is forced to face up to feelings she didn't know she could have. And when Marion abandons her family to return home to Ireland, Jane steps in to help with the couple's two boys, setting in motion a series of events - all of which expose the push and pull within every family. As desire and loyalty are blurred, it becomes clear that nobody can escape the devastating impact of a family falling apart.
©2018 Elisa Lodato (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group
The Wheelwright Girl
Summary
A poignant, sensitive and intensely moving account of one village's war and the endurance of those who wait at home for news of their loved ones. Dartmoor, 1914. Grace Dannings is a farmer’s daughter, but she dreams of making her mark as a London Suffragette. Too bad she’s stuck in Walkhampton, the sleepy village where she was born. As a child, she could escape to the wheelwright’s mill. Spellbound, she’d watch labourers hammer iron and timber into wheels. Now she’s a woman and nothing about the village feels like home. The men are brutish, the women afraid of change. Perhaps she could have married Martin, the mill owner’s son. But society says she’s not good enough. When World War I breaks out and the wheelwright’s men leave for the front, Grace volunteers to fill in. The move raises eyebrows. But Grace has her sights set on a fulfilling new vocation. And she’s not about to stop for anything — or anyone. Tania Crosse weaves blissfully human stories with impeccable research, giving her characters all the complexity and colour of real life. Tania has been shortlisted for Best Romantic Saga in the 60th annual RoNA Awards.
©2020 Tania Crosse (P)2020 W F Howes
The Ambulance Girl
Summary
A compelling wartime saga of love, loss and self-discovery at the battlefield’s edge. Perfect fans of Nadine Dorries, Rosie Goodwin, Dilly Court, Freda Lightfoot and Catherine Cookson. Originally published as Teardrops in the Moon. A young woman who doesn't want to be tied down. Dartmoor, 1914. Twenty-four-year-old Marianne Warrington is in danger of being left on the shelf. That's what her mother says, and that’s precisely how she wants it. She has her future mapped out, and it doesn’t include marriage or babies. Instead, she vows to devote herself to rearing horses on her parents’ farm. But history has other plans. Then World War One breaks out, and the Warringtons’ peaceful existence is shattered forever. Amid the chaos, Marianne seizes her chance to prove she’s more than just a spinster. When her brother leaves for the battlefield, Marianne is determined to follow. She signs up to serve as an ambulance driver in war-torn France. There, she witnesses unimaginable horrors. Yet there’s one face she can’t banish from her thoughts. It belongs to Major Albert Thorneycroft: a handsome and perplexing stranger who means more to Marianne than she’d care to admit. What if finding happiness means losing herself? As the war rages on, a battle ensues between Marianne’s head and heart, testing her resolve like never before. Tania Crosse weaves blissfully human stories with impeccable research, giving her characters all the complexity and colour of real life. Tania has been shortlisted for Best Romantic Saga in the 60th annual RoNA Awards.
©2020 Tania Crosse (P)2020 W F Howes
The Secrets of Pain
Summary
Join Merrily Watkins - parish priest, single mother and exorcist - in her 11th chilling tale of murder, mystery and intrigue. The elite warriors of the Hereford-based SAS know all about pain and the enduring of it. Syd Spicer, ex-SAS trooper, has found himself back in the regiment - this time as its chaplain, responsible for the spiritual welfare of the hardest men in or out of uniform. Faced with a case which would normally be passed discreetly to Hereford diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins, Spicer is forced, for security reasons, to try and handle it himself - and is coming close to a breakdown. Meanwhile, the scattered communities along the Welsh border have their own crisis. With recession biting deep, urban crime has spilled into the countryside, and old barbaric evils are revived. When a wealthy landowner is hacked to death in his own farmyard, the senior investigating officer, DI Frannie Bliss, is caught in the backlash, his private life in danger of exposure. With the framework of her own world beginning to crack, Merrily is persuaded to venture into areas where neither a priest nor a woman is welcome to unearth secrets linked with the border's pagan past. Secrets which she knows can never be disclosed.
©2011 Phil Rickman (P)2012 Isis Audio Books
An Unremarkable Body
Summary
Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2018 When Katharine is found dead at the foot of her stairs, it is the mystery of her life which consumes her daughter, Laura. The medical examiner's report, in which precious parts of Katharine's body are weighed and categorised, motivates Laura to write her own version of events. To bear witness to the unbearable blank space between each itemised entry. What emerges is a picture of a life lived in the shadows as well as an attempt to discover how and why her mother died. To make sense of her own grief, Laura must piece her mother's body back together - and in doing so, she is forced to confront a woman silenced by her own mother and wronged by her husband. A woman who felt shackled by motherhood and unable to love freely. With the heart of a memoir and the pace of a thriller, An Unremarkable Body reveals the overwhelming desire of those who mourn to protest that an unremarkable body does not mean an unremarkable life.
©2017 Elisa Lodato (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group
Magically Betrayed
Summary
The Hunted Witch Agency is hot on the heels of the leader of the witch slave trade. I'm determined to bring them down, even though they're closer to home than I realize. Gerard, the only male keeping me sane, is ready to put them down for good. Until I'm kidnapped. The witch who takes me has a personal vendetta. She can torture me all she likes, but she'll never make me give up my mission to end her enterprise. And her. I'm witch royalty, I'm a warlock disgrace. And now, I'm kidnapped. However, my magic is under control. For now. How long can I keep avoiding the inevitable?
©2018 Rachel Medhurst (P)2018 Tantor
For the Hell of It
Summary
A chilling and transfixing new Merrily Watkins mystery. Information 'I called on darkness...midnight darkness....' At the end of the 18th century, the poet William Wordsworth rambled, in a strange visionary haze, from Salisbury Plain up into the Wye Valley. The epic walk changed his life. More than 200 years later, Oxford student David Vaynor followed the same secluded route and still can't explain what happened to him there. Now he's back, as a police detective investigating a suspicious death, and finds that, in this place of cliffs and chasms, it's far from easy to escape the past. Meanwhile, Merrily Watkins, diocesan exorcist for Hereford, is being warned that in-depth investigation is not part of her job – a job she may not be holding down for very long. She'll be risking her future to help Vaynor uncover the secrets carried through a haunted landscape by Britain's most revered river. For behind the scenic beauty are elements that, as Wordsworth wrote, 'promote ill purposes and flatter foul desires.
©2019 Phil Rickman (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Magically Banished
Summary
Betrayed, banished, bothered? Since inheriting the link to the main source of warlock magic, the bounty on my head has quadrupled. If I don't find a way to disconnect from the powerful source, the warlocks will hunt me down. Banished to the city of Edinburgh for protection, I throw myself into a new case. Magic drugs are on the rise, and the agency is tasked in bringing down the coven responsible for pushing contaminated batches. But with a powerful witch mob leader protecting our culprit, we may run out of time. In an effort to prevent further deaths, I use my magic...and bring the warlocks back onto my trail. Will I be able to stop the massacre before the warlocks find an excuse to end me for good?
©2018 Rachel Medhurst (P)2018 Tantor
Magically Bound
Summary
Witch, warlock, whatever.... My name's Devon Jinx, and, yes, I'm half warlock, half witch. But I couldn't care less about which kind of magic is better. All I want to do is keep my head down and get on with my new job as an investigator at the Hunted Witch Agency. A recent, shall we say, mistake has put me in place to inherit the leadership of the warlocks. Which means only one thing. I have a choice to make: leave behind my life of witchery to become a warlock, or lose my warlock magic forever. Complicating my choice is the fact that someone is trying to destroy the warlock coven. If I don't stop them, the warlocks will be annihilated. The task seems impossible until Gerard Freshwater, a distractingly handsome witch, explodes into my life. He's determined to make me see that being a witch isn't just the best option, but the only option.
©2017 Rachel Medhurst (P)2018 Tantor
Wild and Free
Summary
Wild and Free is the festival du jour. Everyone piles through its gates - and Cupid lies in wait. Teacher Ginnie is desperate to forget her crush on headmaster Mark and hopes glamping might do the trick. But Mark is also heading for Wild and Free to reform his college band...desperate not to be recognised. Mark's bandmate, James, dreams of a festival blowout with his son, Guy...until his wife, Victoria, kills the dream. Now she and Guy are en route to Wild and Free instead, but when Guy meets Shanna-Mae and falls for her earthy charms, Victoria is determined to snap Cupid's arrow. Will the magic of the festival send them wild? Or set them free to find love?
©2015 Wendy Holden (P)2016 Isis Publishing Ltd
Magically Blended
Summary
Case closed? Maybe not. I'm a protector of the ley lines, and I'm also the direct link to warlock magic. No wonder I'm amazingly amazing right now. Although, this amount of magic is making me shaky. Is any paranormal creature built to hold so much? Fighting the urge to use my magic every waking hour, I throw myself into the unfinished case of the Scottish mob coven and their poisoned drugs. My ignorance led me to believe I'd wrapped everything up with a bow. And yet, when our original culprit throws blame on the mob leader, we have to find evidence. Do we release our enemy to get our proof? Even at the risk of losing him? Either way, his fate, and mine, will be decided on the day of the solstice. Will I be magically blended or magically broken?
©2018 Rachel Medhurst (P)2018 Tantor
Island in the East
Summary
With a sizzling love affair playing out against sisterly rivalry and epic family drama, Island in the East is the perfect read for fans of Victoria Hislop, Dinah Jefferies and Tracy Rees. Two great loves. One shattering betrayal. A war that changes everything. Singapore, 1897 Harriet and Mae Grafton are 20 year-old identical twins born from a scandalous affair. They grew up in India slighted by gossip and ostracised from polite society. They had each other and that was enough. But when their wealthy benefactor sends them to Singapore, they meet the mysterious Alex Blake and their relationship fractures with devastating consequences. 1941 Ivy Harcourt is posted to wartime Singapore amid the looming threat of Japanese invasion. Ivy knows the island will be a far cry from war-torn London, but she is totally unprepared for what awaits her: strangers from her grandmother Mae's past, an unstoppable love affair and a shattering secret that's been waiting to be uncovered.... Vivid, authentic and utterly beautiful, Island in the East is evocative, atmospheric and romantic historical fiction at its very best.
©2018 Jenny Ashcroft (P)2018 Little, Brown Book Group
Relative Love
Summary
Relative Love is a heart-rending story of loss and love, covering one year in the lives of the Harrison family, a sprawling clan doing their best to hold together in the face of a changing world. The story opens as the Harrisons gather for Christmas at their big country house. But when tragedy strikes, of the most unforeseeable and devastating kind, they are torn apart. Harsh truths emerge, about the past as well as the present, laying bare the fragility of their happiness and all that they have taken for granted.
©2021 Amanda Brookfield (P)2021 Boldwood Books
#MeToo
Summary
Stan is in prison, convicted of a crime he swears he didn’t commit and desperate to prove his innocence. And girlfriend Billie is determined to help him. Kelly, his victim, is struggling to cope after a horrific ordeal that left her traumatised and lonely. For Billie, who has her own secrets and demons in her past, enlisting a private detective to look for vital evidence that might set Stan free is a way out of this nightmare. Billie has complete faith in Stan, but when she hears Kelly’s version of events, cracks begin to appear and her faith wavers. There are two sides to every story and Billie needs to get to the truth, but the deeper she digs, more lies are unearthed. Who will she believe? And who is really telling the truth?
©2020 Patricia DIxon (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd
Reflections
Summary
After her husband dies, Cara no longer wishes to live in their London home. On impulse, she sells it and goes to stay with her brother in Salcombe, Devon, while she plans her next move. There, she begins to look back at her life and reflect on the choices that have led her to this moment. Cosmo has also escaped - temporarily - from his life in the city, finding the south-west a relaxing and appealing fit, especially when he meets local girl Amy. But is he being entirely truthful about what he’s left behind? Just out of uni, Sam has passed the Admiralty Interview Board and is set to follow in his naval father’s footsteps. His future is secure - but he feels cast adrift. With doubts and loosening family connections worrying him, an impartial new friend could be just the thing he needs. Forging a bond across the generations, can he and Cara help each other find the way to a new, happy chapter? Reflections ebb and flow as the estuary meets the sea...and Cara, Cosmo and Sam learn that for everything lost, there is something to be gained.
©2019 Marcia Willett (P)2019 Penguin Audio
My Greek Island Summer
Summary
Two weeks. One unforgettable trip to Corfu. A chance to change her life. Becky Rose has just landed her dream job house-sitting at a top-end villa on the island of Corfu. What could be better than two weeks lying by an infinity pool overlooking the gorgeous Ionian waters while mending her broken heart? Elias Mardas is travelling back to Corfu on business whilst dealing with his own personal demons. Late arriving in Athens, Becky and Elias have to spend a night in the Greek capital. When they have to emergency land in Kefalonia, Becky's got to decide whether to suck up the adventure and this gorgeous companion she seems to have been thrown together with, or panic about when she's going to arrive at Corfu....
©2020 Mandy Baggot (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd
The Night Train to Berlin
Summary
The most hearbreaking historical fiction novel you will listen to this year from the USA Today best seller! Two lost souls brought together by the chaos of war. A train journey into the past. A love that echoes through time. Paddington Station, present day A young woman boards the sleeper train to Cornwall with only a beautiful emerald silk evening dress and an old, well-read diary full of sketches. Ellie Nightingale is a shy violinist who plays like her heart is broken. But when she meets fellow passenger Joe she feels like she has been given that rarest of gifts...a second chance. Paddington Station, 1944 Beneath the shadow of the war which rages across Europe, Alex and Eliza meet by chance. She is a gutsy painter desperate to get to the frontline as a war artist and he is a wounded RAF pilot now commissioned as a war correspondent. With time slipping away they make only one promise: to meet in Berlin when this is all over. But this is a time when promises are hard to keep, and hope is all you can hold in your heart. From a hidden Cornish cove to the blood-soaked beaches of Normandy in June 1944, this is an epic love story like no other. Perfect for fans of Pam Jenoff, Kate Quinn, Rachel Hore and Kate Furnivall.
©2021 Melanie Hudson (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited