Jilly Bond has narrated 98 audiobooks on Listento.it by 75 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 259 ratings. The most-rated is Battle Cruiser.
Wild Designs
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin. It must be love. A wonderfully romantic novel from the number one Sunday Times best-selling author of Recipe for Love, A French Affair and The Perfect Match. Althea is the mother of three strong-minded children - one of whom is a Buddhist - and owner of a finicky dog named Bozo. Saddled with too large a house (albeit in a beautiful Cotswold village), worrisome mortgage payments, a bossy younger sister and irksome ex-husband, Althea still manages to muddle through life comfortably enough. Until she loses her job. Seeking solace in her borrowed greenhouse, Althea decides to develop her passion for gardening. And when she wins the opportunity to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show with the unexpected help of gorgeous architect Patrick Donahugh, it looks as though Althea may have unearthed a new man as well as a new career....
©2019 Katie Fforde (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Thursday Nights at the Bluebell Inn
Summary
In every pub in every town unspoken stories lie beneath the surface. Each week, six women meet at The Bluebell Inn. They form an unlikely and occasionally triumphant ladies' darts team. They banter and jibe, they laugh. But their hidden stories of love and loss are what, in the end, will bind them. There is Mary, full of it but cradling her dark secret; Lena - young and bold, she has made her choice; the cat woman who must return to the place of her birth before it's too late. There's Maggie, still laying out the place for her husband; and Pegs, the dark-eyed girl from the travellers' site bringing her strangeness and first love. And Katy: unappreciated. Open to an offer. They know little of each other's lives. But here they gather and weave a delicate and sustaining connection that maybe they can rely on as the crossroads on their individual paths threaten to overwhelm. With humanity and insight, Kit Fielding reveals the great love that lies at the heart of female friendship. Raw, funny and devastating, all of life can be found at the Bluebell.
©2019 Kit Fielding (P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Thyme Out
Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Thyme Out by Katie Fforde. Love can grow on you, or can it? A wonderfully romantic novel from the number one Sunday Times best-selling author of Recipe for Love, A French Affair and The Perfect Match. When Perdita Dylan delivers her baby vegetables to a local hotel and finds that her unpredictable ex-husband, Lucas, has taken over the kitchen, she is horrified - particularly when she discovers he's being groomed as the latest celebrity chef and needs her picturesque, if primitive cottage, and her, in supporting roles. Her life is further complicated when Kitty, her 87-year-old friend, has a stroke. Perdita needs someone to lean on - and Lucas seems so keen to help that she starts to wonder if he's really such a villain. Can she cope with all this alone? Or should she face up to the fact that 'you can't cuddle lettuces'?
©1999 Katie Fforde (P)2019 Penguin Audio
The Dark Lady's Mask
Summary
Aemilia Bassano Lanier is beautiful and accomplished, but her societal conformity ends there. She frequently cross-dresses to escape her loveless marriage and gain freedoms only men enjoy, but a chance encounter with a ragged, little-known poet named Shakespeare changes everything. They leave plague-ridden London for Italy, where they begin secretly writing comedies. Their Italian idyll, though, cannot last, and their collaborative affair comes to a devastating end.
Will gains fame and fortune for their plays back in London and, years later, publishes the sonnets mocking his former muse. Not one to stand by in humiliation, Aemilia takes up her own pen in her defense and in defense of all women.
The Dark Lady's Mask gives voice to a real Renaissance woman.
©2016 Mary Sharratt (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Tall, Duke, and Dangerous
Summary
Megan Frampton returns with the second book in the Hazards of Dukes series, a series that made Sarah MacLean say "Make Megan Frampton your next read!" He needs a bride...Nash, the “dangerous” Duke of Malvern, has always bristled against the rules of English society. Hot tempered and fearful of becoming like his brutish late father, he lives a life of too much responsibility and too little joy. And although he’s vowed to never marry, a duke has a duty - and there’s only one way to get himself an heir and a spare. So Nash reluctantly takes a look around at society’s available young ladies to see who might be willing to put up with his one-word answers and frequent glowers. She longs for love...after the death of her father and wicked stepmother, Ana Maria goes from virtual servant to lady-in-training, and while society life has its benefits - gorgeous gowns! - its restrictive rules stifle her spirit. And when her independent actions put her in danger, her half-brother insists Nash teach her some self-defense. While most of London’s ladies find Nash intimidating, she only sees a man who needs introducing to all the joys life has to offer. So although officially they are coming together for fighting lessons, unofficially their physical contact begins to blur the line between friendship and begins to grown into something more....
©2020 Megan Frampton (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
Thornyhold
Summary
Mary Stewart's storytelling is as spellbinding as ever in her 12th novel, a Gothic romance featuring sparkling prose, delightful characterisation and classic intrigue. The rambling house called Thornyhold is like something out of a fairy tale. Left to Gilly Ramsey by the cousin whose occasional visits brightened her childhood, the cottage, set deep in a wild wood, has come just in time to save her from a bleak future. With its reputation for magic and its resident black cat, Thornyhold offers Gilly more than just a new home. It offers her a chance to start over. The old house, with its tufts of rosy houseleek and the spreading gilt of the lichens, was beautiful. Even the prisoning hedges were beautiful, protective with their rusty thorns, their bastions of holly and juniper, and at the corners, like towers, their thick columns of yews.
©1988 Mary Stewart (P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
The Rose Revived
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
When May teams up with Sally and Harriet it is the best day's work she's ever done.
Each of them needs money, badly.
Which is why they are reduced to working for Quality Cleaners under the watchful eye of 'Slimeball' Slater. When they discover it is them being taken to the cleaners, they set up as an independent team.
And that is when things really begin to take off. With more lucrative jobs coming in, they soon find that they are able to take the first steps towards freedom and independence.
For May that means paying the mooring fees for her adored houseboat. Harriet can take art classes and reveal her gift for painting, and Sally can save up for a place of her own. But while they are making a success of their working lives, they risk overlooking the romantic possibilities they have created.
©2019 Katie Fforde (P)2019 Penguin Audio
How Much the Heart Can Hold
Summary
A brilliant collection of seven original stories inspired by different concepts of love, by seven award-winning authors. Love is not a singular concept. In this collection, seven award-winning authors explore seven concepts of love: from philautia (self-love) to agape (love for humanity) and from storge (a natural affection for family) to mania (a frenzied, obsessive love): La Douleur Exquise (the pain of unrequited love) 'Before It Disappears' by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan (c) 2016 Pragma (enduring love) 'One More Thing Coming Undone' by D. W. Wilson (c) 2016 Philautia (love for oneself) 'White Wine' by Nikesh Shukla (c) 2016 Mania (obsessive love) 'Magdala, Who Slips Sometimes' by Donal Ryan (c) 2016 Storge (familial love) 'Codas' by Carys Bray (c) 2016 Eros (erotic love) 'The Love Story' by Grace McCleen (c) 2016 Agape (love for humanity) 'The Human World' by Bernardine Evaristo (c) 2016 Seven authors; seven short stories; seven flashes of love. The publication of How Much the Heart Can Hold is heralded by a Sceptre short story competition. The winning story, based on a concept of love, will be published in the paperback edition.
©2016 Carys Bray (P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton
The Ghost of Lily Painter
Summary
The first time Annie Sweet sees 43 Stanley Road, the house is so perfect she feels almost as if it has chosen her. She longs to move in, but with her husband increasingly distant, and her daughter wrapped up in childhood, Annie is left alone to mull over the past. She soon becomes consumed by the house and it's previous inhabitants, especially a young chorus girl called Lily Painter, a rising star of the music hall whose sparkling performances were the talk of the town. As Annie delves further into Lily’s past, she begins to unravel a dark episode from Edwardian London, that of two notorious baby farmers, who lured young unmarried mothers with the promise of a better life for their babies. Until Annie solves the mystery at the heart of the scandal, the ghost of Lily Painter will never be able to rest. Based on true events from London’s rich history and spanning a century, from the journals of an Edwardian police inspector to a doomed wartime love affair, Caitlin Davies skilfully brings to life a fascinating snapshot of our sinister past.
©2011 Caitlin Davies (P)2011 Random House Audiobooks
The Lady Is Daring
Summary
Five well-bred sisters, one sensational scandal. Now the duke of Marymount’s daughter Ida is about to find love in the most unconventional way.... It was easy for society to overlook Lady Ida Howlett; they found her bookish, opinionated, and off the marriage mart. But little did they know that behind a calm exterior beats the heart of an adventuress, one who, determined to discover her runaway sister’s whereabouts, steals a carriage and sets off on a daring mission. Then she discovers she’s not alone! Bennett, Lord Carson, is inside, and he refuses to leave. Lord Carson’s plans had always been to find a soft, gentle wife who would run his home and raise his children. Still, he makes a bargain with Ida - he won’t desert her during her mad adventure. He’ll make sure she’s safe and then find a suitable lady with whom to fall in love. But when rules (and garments) become discarded during this long, intimate journey, it’s soon clear this surprisingly daring lady is the woman he’s needed all along.
©2018 Megan Frampton (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
The Darkness Within
Summary
A gripping new crime novel from global best seller Cathy Glass, writing as Lisa Stone. No one is born evil...are they? A lorry crashes on a dark, wet road. In the wake of the tragedy, a dying man receives another chance at life - but does he really deserve it? And if he lives, will those around him wish he hadn't? When critically ill Jacob Wilson has a heart transplant, his behaviour becomes very strange. His worried parents and girlfriend try their best to understand his sudden mood swings, but as things worsen, they begin to live in terror of what they might find in their son's bedroom next - and as Jacob's personality morphs, so, too, do the lives of those around him.... This is a spellbinding crime audiobook with a dark heart from worldwide best seller Cathy Glass.
©2017 Lisa Stone (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Mum in the Middle
Summary
Tess has downsized to a lively new town and is ready for 'me' time. But her Zen-like calm is tested by her boomerang offspring, who keep fluttering back to the nest (usually with a full bag of dirty washing) and by her elderly mother’s struggle to hold on to her independence. Tess is also surprised to discover that there are dark resentments simmering beneath the vintage charm of her new hometown and a spate of vandalism has exposed the rift between the townsfolk and new arrivals like Tess. Tess enlists the help of gruff newspaper editor Malcolm to get to the bottom of the mystery but when her ex-husband pays an unexpected visit and her mother stages a disappearance, Tess starts to feel her new-found freedom wearing just a little thin.
©2019 Jane Wenham-Jones (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Flowers in the Rain & Other Stories
Summary
Flowers in the Rain & Other Stories collects 16 of number-one New York Times best-selling author Rosamunde Pilcher’s romantic tales set across Britain from the Scottish countryside to the city of London. Rosamunde Pilcher.... She makes you laugh.... She makes you cry.... She takes you to a world of hope and romance...and into the lives of people you'll never forget. She's Rosamunde Pilcher, America's most beloved storyteller.... And this audiobook is her gift to you.
©1991 Rosamunde Pilcher (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
The Blue Bedroom & Other Stories
Summary
Number one New York Times best-selling author Rosamunde Pilcher invites listeners to share the full spectrum of life’s moods and emotions through the 13 stories gathered here in her very first collection of short fiction. From a child’s first knowledge of death, through city and country, to an elderly woman's newfound freedom, Pilcher’s The Blue Bedroom & Other Stories is “breathtaking...a book you want to keep, to read and re-read” (Grand Rapids Press).
©1985 Rosamunde Pilcher (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
The China Doll
Summary
Penelope was to spend the first Christmas after her marriage at the country home of her great aunt Hermione, where she had lived as a child after the death of her parents. She looked forward to the traditionally peaceful holiday that she had known all her life. Before they left London, Vincent, her husband, gave her a present which was to prove a dominant factor in the events, tragic and terrifying, that followed. It was a small china doll. During the weeks in which Penelope gradually realised that Vincent was, in fact, completely unlike the idea she had of him before their marriage, she met Philip Torrington again. Philip an aspiring playwright, whom she had known all her life, was now returning from a prolonged absence in the United States. Immediately disliking Vincent, Philip soon became suspicious of him. Yet he was unable to find substantiation for his fears until it was almost too late to save Penelope....
©2020 Margaret Yorke (P)2020 Audible, Ltd
The Memory Garden
Summary
Lamorna Cove - a tiny bay in Cornwall, picturesque, unspoilt. A hundred years ago it was the haunt of a colony of artists. Today, Mel Pentreath hopes it is a place where she can escape the pain of her mother's death and a broken love affair, and gradually put her life back together. Renting a cottage in the enchanting but overgrown grounds of Merryn Hall, Mel embraces her new surroundings and offers to help her landlord, Patrick Winterton, restore the garden. Soon she is daring to believe her life can be rebuilt. Then Patrick finds some old paintings in an attic, and as he and Mel investigate the identity of the artist, they are drawn into an extraordinary tale of illicit passion and thwarted ambition from a century ago, a tale that resonates in their own lives. But how long can Mel's idyll last before reality breaks in and everything is threatened?
©2007 Rachel Hore (P)2009 WF Howes Ltd
Vera Brittain and the First World War
Summary
Vera Brittain and the First World War tells the remarkable story of the author behind Testament of Youth while charting the book's ascent to become one of the most loved memoirs of the First World War period. Such interest is set to expand even more in this centenary year of the war's outbreak. In the midst of her studies at Oxford when war broke out across Europe, Vera Brittain left university in 1915 to become a VAD (voluntary aid detachment) nurse. There she treated soldiers in London, Malta, and Etaples. The events of the First World War were to have an enormous impact on her life. Four of Brittain's closest friends, including her fiancé, Roland Leighton, and her brother, Edward Brittain, MC, were killed in action, sparking a lifelong commitment to pacifism. In 1933 she published Testament of Youth, the first of three books dealing with her experience of war. In equal measures courageous, tragic, and deeply fascinating, Testament of Youth is one of the most compelling and important works of war literature ever to have been written by a British woman. Mark Bostridge's Vera Brittain and the First World War, published to coincide with the film of Testament of Youth, explores the effects of the First World War on Vera Brittain both in terms of her personal life and in terms of its effect on her development as a writer and her eventual decision to become a pacifist.
©2014 Mark Bostridge (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
Nichts tun
Summary
Facebook, Instagram & Co: Ein Großteil des sozialen Lebens mit Verwandten und Freunden, ob nah oder weit entfernt, findet heute über Social Media statt. Das Selfie auf der richtigen Plattform ist zur neuen Visitenkarte geworden. Sich der Online-Präsenz zu entziehen, ist in der modernen Welt kaum noch möglich. Reizüberflutung und die Unfähigkeit, einen Gedankengang zu Ende zu führen, sind zunehmend Probleme, denen sich jeder stellen muss. In ihrem Hörbuch plädiert Jenny Odell für einen achtsamen Umgang mit unserer Aufmerksamkeit. Anstatt sich dem Druck nach konstantem Produktivsein zu beugen, sollten wir alle innehalten und nichts tun!
©2021 C.H. Beck. Übersetzung von Annabel Zettel (P)2021 DAV