Showing results by narrator "Lesley Mackie" in All Categories

Married at 19, Katherine had four years of happiness with her beloved Gerald. When he dies, she is left on her own to bring up a stepson, Simon, and her own little twins. She has known what it is to be loved and cherished, and without Gerald, all she wants is independence, and the freedom to bring up his children as he would have liked. When an unexpected letter arrives for Simon, offering him a very different life, Katherine is concerned that he makes the right choice.

After becoming pregnant out of wedlock, only to find out her betrothed was already married, Kathy feared for her future. Her mother agreed to pass off baby Dennis as her own, treating Kathy as his older sister instead. Then a chance meeting with Alisdair, a handsome RAF airman, changes everything. They grow close quickly, but when Kathy believes Alisdair has discovered her secret, she runs away from heartbreak by joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

Elsie Weir is trying hard to keep her family together. Living in Kiltie Street tenement in Glasgow with her mother and little sister, Jessie, isn't easy - not least because her mother spends most days in a drunken stupor. But life gets harder still when their mother dies suddenly, leaving Jessie and Elsie broken-hearted. The future looks bleak, until their mother's estranged family deigns to take them in. But their relief is short-lived as it becomes clear the Mearns family have taken in the orphan sisters only for appearances, treating them cruelly behind closed doors.

Ellen is settled in Edinburgh when one day her sister begs a favour: can she come and look after her farm and three children while she has a much-deserved holiday. Ellen loves her nieces and nephews, but the animals are a bit of a worry.... After a manic yet fun weekend, her world is shattered when a freak accident kills her sister and leaves her the children's legal guardian. Ellen never asked for children, nor to run a farm, but now she's in charge of both.

After spending time combatting terrorists in Malaya, James Dering returns to Scotland. He starts a new life at Mureth House, the home of his aunt and uncle, Mamie and Jock Johnstone, where he hopes to learn to be a farmer. But he soon learns that picking up farming isn't an easy task and is made even more complicated by the unexpected ups and down of rural village life. Sheep-stealing crooks, village gossip, lovestruck teenage runaways, and a brunette bombshell all disturb the peaceful solitude James had willingly signed up for.

Grinding poverty and violence are on everyday part of life in Glasgow's slums during the 1920s. But Josie Collins, whose mother's death has left her alone with her abusive father, has a dream that she'll become a reporter for one of the city's newspapers. But then disaster strikes when Josie reaches sixteen. Forced to give up her unwanted baby, she starts a new life under her mother's maiden name.

As the drums of war begin to beat louder on the continent, 17-year-old Jeannie McIver heads to the wilds of the Scottish Uplands to start life as a Land Girl. Jeannie soon falls in love with life on the busy Scottish hill farm. She even finds her interest piqued by the attractive Tam, the son of the neighbouring farmer. But even in the barren hills, they can't avoid the hell of war and Jeannie's idyllic life starts to crumble.

The Moorhouses are finally becoming "somebodies", which just makes Bel even more distressed by the behaviour of Phoebe and Henry - they don't seem to understand propriety. Phoebe's beginnings were as the half-sister of the Moorhouses, the daughter of a Highland tinker. She has grown up into a beautiful and elusive creature of the world, and is drawn away from Glasgow.

Nine-year-old Olivia Friel is delighted to be spending the summer at Greyfriars House, a place where her parents, their family and friends are always happy. But this year there's an underlying tension that Olivia doesn't understand. Then one night she sees something she's not meant to, and accidentally lets slip a devastating betrayal. Charlotte Friel gets a call from her ailing mother, asking something she's never asked before: for Charlotte to come home. There are things Olivia needs to tell her daughter before it's too late, secrets to be shared about forgotten relatives and a mysterious house.

Balmoral Castle, 1905. For Rose McQuinn, a handsome cottage on the Royal estate promises a summer holiday of unaccustomed luxury. As Rose travels by train with her little stepdaughter, Meg, and her trusty dog, Thane, she wonders what exciting adventures await them at the Royal household. The holiday takes a darker turn when Rose is warned not to interfere in two deaths that occur soon after her arrival. When they’re dismissed as accidents, she suspects foul play.

Hester Christie has spent a blissful 18 months living in Kenya, where husband Tim is posted. But now it’s back to England to be with her two nearly grown children. She rents a house near the village of Old Quinings in England’s North Country and plans a quiet summer with the children near the inn owned by her beloved former maid Annie and her husband. But things are never quiet for long with Mrs Tim, and she must navigate curious neighbours, a dishonest landlady and a troublesome travel companion who makes an unwelcome appearance in Old Quinings.

1920s. When her father dies, Ellie Douglas has little option but to go into service. Her position takes her out of the life of Frank Rafferty - childhood friend and now a member of one of Glasgow's notorious gangs - and into the world of Evander Tait - son, heir and black sheep of the Tait household. These two men dominate Ellie's entire life. No one approves of her friendship with Evander and the bond she shares with Frank is misunderstood by everyone.

When Will Hastie finally decides to retire from the military and return home to Scotland, he intends to settle down on his family estate and learn to become a farmer. But back home, the death of his best friend and neighbour, Rae, during World War II is still strongly felt. In particular, Rae's sister, Patty, has been brooding for the past 10 years over Rae's final letter home from France. When she decides to share the letter with Will, it sends him off to France to discover for himself the circumstances of Rae's death. His discovery there changes the lives of all those left behind.

Living in the Stationmaster's cottage at Partick, Carrie Burgess leads a charmed life, cushioned from the world of poverty surrounding it. Her only real problem is her mother, who thinks Ewen Livingstone, the railway labourer Carrie's in love with, a poor catch; Matt Campbell, a clerk, seems a much better prospect. Carrie's father dies suddenly and his wife and daughter are forced to move out of their home. Money is tight.

Katherine Wentworth has married her hero, Alec Macfarlane. On their honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands, she can scarcely believe that the four previous lonely years can have been replaced by so much joy. But her unclouded happiness does not last long. The return to Edinburgh brings her into conflict with her old school friend, Alec’s sister Zilla. A beautiful woman who had expected Alec to remain a lifelong companion, devoted only to her.

It's January 1955, and for the residents of Meadow Lane, a small community of seven terraced houses, each household has its own story.... When Sadie returns to Meadow Lane from Canada with her son and no husband, she throws the small community into turmoil. She tries to rekindle an old flame, despite him now being married with two children. Then Sadie's son, unhappy with his mother, runs away, desperate to get back to Canada to be with his father. Depressed by how life is turning out, Sadie starts drinking, with tragic consequences for those in Meadow Lane....

Raised by her father Angus and her Aunt Lizzie, Rona Maclaren is a flighty young woman, with dreams of becoming a model and no plans to continue in the family business. But when she is sacked from her job as a companion, she is set to work in the bakery. Inspired by the coronation, she sets out to improve the bakery and begins to promote the family business. When her Auntie Lizzie leaves, Rona finds herself thrown into looking after the house as well.

When attractive redhead Lorna Fernie is taken on to play saxophone in a post-war Glasgow dance band, she is at first over the moon – especially when she and likeable trumpet player Rod Warren fall in love. But then disaster strikes. Things go wrong between her and Rod. He leaves her life, she loses her job, and it only when she forms her own band – the Melody Girls – that the future gradually brightens.

Scotland, 1297. In the weeks leading up to the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Margaret Kerr takes up residence in Stirling town. She has come to discover why the informer who has been providing Wallace and Murray with details of the English plans has become unreliable. Although fearful that she may have inherited her mother's visionary gift and curse, and estranged from her husband, Roger, she is as determined as ever to play her part in saving Scotland from the hammer of Edward Longshanks.

Margaret Kerr of Perth is living in Edinburgh with her uncle Murdoch during the summer of 1297. She'd come to search for her long-absent husband who is in the service of Robert the Bruce. Margaret herself is still loyal to the deposed King John Balliol. Then terrifying raids and a brutal murder on the Kerr property bring the wrath of the English down on the heads of Margaret and her uncle.