Showing results by narrator "Lesley Mackie" in All Categories

A distraught young woman boards a train at King's Cross to return to her family in Scotland. Six hours later, she catches sight of something so terrible in a mirror at Waverley Station that she gets on the next train back to London, where a traffic accident leaves her in a coma.'AfterYou'd Gone' follows Alice's mental journey into how she came to be this way, as she twists together threads of memory in a plot that grips from the outset.

On the rugged, sea-lashed coast of west Scotland lies Ullaness: home to the Scottish legend of Ulla, a Viking woman who washed up on Scottish shores centuries ago. The legend will bring the stories of three different women together. In AD 800 there is Ulla, lost in a foreign country after her lover is brutally killed. Ellen, a servant-girl in the 1800s, catches the unwanted attentions of the master of the house's lascivious son. And, in the present day, there is Libby - an archaeologist who is determined to uncover an age-old mystery.

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. 

Filled with excitement and trepidation, Jeanie Munro is returning to India and her husband, Mungo, having been forced apart from him by the Second World War. Together, they can start their longed-for family. But post-war India is in a ferment of change and the undercurrents of tension begin to disturb their tranquillity. Still grieving for her beloved brother, killed in action, Jeanie tries to make the most of her new life. Her only true friends are the Lomaxes, a family haunted by scandal and owners of the glamorous Raj Hotel. 

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.

As a mother, wife, employer and editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, Isabel Dalhousie is aware that to be human is to be responsible. So when a neighbour brings her a new and potentially dangerous puzzle to solve, once again Isabel feels she has no option but to shoulder the burden. A masterpiece painting has been stolen from Duncan Munrowe, old-fashioned philanthropist, father to two discontented children, and a very wealthy man.

Best-selling author D. E. Stevenson’s charming fictional alter ego, Hester Christie - or 'Mrs Tim', as she is affectionately known to friends of her military husband - was first introduced in Mrs Tim of the Regiment, published in 1932. In 1941, Stevenson brought Mrs Tim back in this delightful sequel, to lift spirits and boost morale in the early days of World War II. With her husband stationed in France, Hester finds plenty to keep her busy on the home front.

The continuing adventures from Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh philosopher and curious observer of the behaviour of her fellow man.

Since being widowed, Caroline Dering has been content to live her life solely for her children. Then the mysterious Robert Shepperton arrives in the village. At first, Caroline's gentle heart is simply touched by his obvious unhappiness; until gradually she finds her sympathy turning into love. But the visit of her lovely younger sister, Harriet, to Vittoria Cottage, throws Caroline into a turmoil - because Harriet also falls for Mr. Shepperton....

Fiercely independent, Marguerite Sinclair has the opportunity of a lifetime to become a nurse and contribute to the war effort. Meanwhile, Rick, who has loved her from the first moment he saw her, asks her to marry him before being shipped off to the war front. Despite their distance, he pursues her in a romantic cross-country courtship. She refuses him but soon after begins to realise how strong her feelings for him are in his absence. Rick somehow manages to survive the carnage of the war unscathed, but Marguerite has an accident, becoming very ill as a result.

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.

Young Frances Field arrives in a scenic coastal village in Scotland, having escaped her dreary life as an orphan, treated as little more than a servant by an uncle and aunt. Once there, she encounters an array of eccentric locals, the occasional roar of enemy planes overhead and three army wives - Elise, Tommy and Tillie - who become fast friends. Elise warns Frances of the discomforts of military life, but she’s inclined to disregard the advice when she meets the dashing and charming Captain Guy Tarlatan.

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.

With husband Tim stationed in Egypt and her children at boarding school, Hester Christie -affectionately known as 'Mrs Tim' and based loosely on D. E. Stevenson herself - finds herself at a loose end, until her friend Grace takes her at her word and finds her a job with the formidable Erica Clutterbuck, who has opened a new hotel in the Scottish Borders. 

When 17-year-old Marie Sinclair travelled to Strathlinn in Scotland in 1920 to visit her brother and his new family, all she was looking for is rest and recuperation after the death of Lady Hanley, for whom she had been caring for over the past 18 months. But when her pregnant sister-in-law is rushed to hospital, Marie is forced to take on a far greater role in the lives of her Scottish family. And who is Mark Blackford, the new, young Estate owner? Meeting him on the train to Strathlinn, Marie's life becomes entwined with his, as friend, help-meet, and, maybe, something more?

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.

It is the spring of 1297, and young wife Margaret Kerr is desperately afraid.

Five young Ayrtons all grew up at Amberwell, playing in the gardens and preparing themselves to venture out into the world. To each of these children, Amberwell meant something different, but common to all of them was the idea that Amberwell was more than just where they lived - it was part of them.

In name and by birth, Celia was a Dunne. She had inherited the beautiful old family home by the Rydd Water – but was she bound to live her life by the principles of her predecessors? Was there some hidden restraint that compelled her to heed the past? Celia’s house is a moving and poignant story of the struggle between old and young: the older generation anxious to preserve the values they have helped create while their children are determined at all costs to make lives of their own.

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.