Historical

After a devastating loss, Grania Ryan flees her life as an artist in New York and returns home to Ireland and the arms of her loving family. While out walking the windswept cliffs of West Cork, she comes across Aurora, an enigmatic eight-year-old girl. Mysteriously drawn to the troubled child, Grania soon discovers that the histories of their families are strangely and deeply entwined.

In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. Love is good. It’s positive, a source of joy, nourishment and all over goodness. But sometimes other more malevolent forces come to play. They infect that love, they see their form as better. Instinctively we would shy away but sometimes its pull is too powerful, almost attractive. We are drawn closer into the shadows.

Kitty learned early on in her marriage that her husband, Bill Dunbar, isn’t reliable with money. So when they inherit the Dunbar family hotel at the start of the war, she's hopeful that their financial worries are over… until the bailiffs turn up! With Bill away fighting, it’s up to Kitty to turn things around for her family, or risk ruin. Lily worked as a chambermaid at Dunbar’s before the war. She met Daniel there, but their relationship was complicated by class differences and the disapproval of Daniel’s mother.

When Sarah’s summoned by her godmother to remote Norfolk, she doesn’t want to go. Crossing the bridges where the two rivers meet, said to be haunted by the ghost of a little boy, a large Tudor house looms in front of her. And Sarah’s instantly reminded her of the summer when she last visited. The summer she would like to forget. Which left her unable to ever move forward… Can a person ever recover from the loss of a sibling?

Patience Whitford spent the last two seasons watching her elder sisters make grand matches. She is thoroughly apprehensive with the notion of being limited by marriage. But that seems like an inconsequential concern with no prospects on the horizon to follow in her sisters' footsteps. And to make matters worse, she is uncommonly jealous of all of the military officers she's befriended and their grand adventures. When Major Ashley Stuart is assigned to investigate some petty crimes near his brother's estate in Greenwich, it soon becomes apparent that there is something much larger going on.

Audrey Wade longs to escape her domineering father and the bleak streets of post-war Yorkshire. Hollywood glitters with glamour, freedom, and the promise of a life with her best friend Freddie. But when Freddie abandons her, Audrey is left to chase her dreams alone. Rex Trent is more than Hollywood’s leading man. Charismatic and dangerously handsome, he’s adored by millions and watched by powerful enemies in a paranoid 1950s America. One wrong move could destroy him. When Rex proposes, Audrey is swept into Hollywood’s glamour and high-stakes secrets.

After an unexpected heartbreak and a nasty accident on a busy Liverpool street, Lara Flynn is desperate to start afresh and leave painful memories behind her. She takes on a new job as a district nurse and midwife at a country practice, in the remote Lancashire village of Ingleside. But instead of the friendly rural idyll she pictures, Lara finds she must cycle vast distances to visit locals who harbour an innate suspicion of a newcomer from the city – as well as dealing with unpredictable livestock, an erratic senior doctor and often challenging medical cases.

When cash-strapped single mum Callie visits the beautiful Cotswold village of Rowan Vale on a school trip with her daughter, she is enchanted. It's run as a living museum, with a steam railway, vintage teashop, Elizabethan manor house and old water mill allowing tourists to see history in action. But there's more to Rowan Vale than meets the eye... To Callie's surprise, the owner of the village, elderly Sir Lawrence Davenport, requests a meeting with her. It appears Callie has been observed talking to several villagers she shouldn’t be able to see - as they’re ghosts.

Seventeen-year-old Maddie has grown up in a boarding house on one of Blackpool's poorest streets. Life is busy, but happy, as she works alongside her mother taking care of their visitors. But when war breaks out, her happiness is shattered as her fiancé is called up to fight for his country, and suddenly Maddie's future is filled with uncertainty.

Sir Dominic De Lacy – one of the season’s most eligible gentlemen – has recently proposed marriage… to a woman he scarcely knows. But his father’s choice for him, Miss Maria Nightingale, seems amiable, and at 29, Dominic cannot live the life of a bachelor forever. He hopes he can provide a happy future for her as they learn to care for each other. Maria, however, has other ideas. Midway through their engagement celebrations, she confesses to Dominic that she is not Maria at all, but her identical twin sister, Margaret.

FITZ WILLIAM DARCY WOULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED the depravity dwelling in the hearts of those he thought he knew best. On the run from hired killers, he is forced into hiding in the mean streets of London with the only person he can trust being Elizabeth Bennet.

In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. There are times when love is not a revelation and a calling from one soul to another but a carefully navigated path, or maybe a badly chosen path that decimates happiness. Which way will our literary leviathans take us? Inevitably it will be more than one.

Love. Perhaps the one word solution for everything. An emotion, a state of mind that we strive for, search for. A wondrous force that binds, inspires, and a force that can spin out of control; unbalanced and fragile. Love reflects, changes and embraces us all. The capture of love in this life is a very special happening, it may only strike us once, and for some perhaps never. But what if those on the ‘other side’ have designs on us? What if their desire is just so strong that we can’t resist? Can true love survive?

Alexandra Prince is clever, outspoken, and, yes, perhaps a bit impulsive. Yet she’s always been overshadowed by her siblings. While they are off on adventurous expeditions, she’s the one left to keep the family’s antique shop going while she works on a book about lady pirates—and longs for an adventure of her own. When she overhears a group of suspicious customers whispering about a plan to steal the Crown Jewels, she knows it’s her opportunity to shine. But she needs a little help.

Der Zauberberg erstmals als ungekürztes Hörbuch, virtuos gelesen von Thomas Sarbacher. Geplant als Novelle, als heiteres Gegenstück zum Tod in Venedig, entstand mit dem Zauberberg einer der großen Romane der klassischen Moderne. Ein kurzer Besuch in einem Davoser Sanatorium wird für den Protagonisten Hans Castorp zu einem siebenjährigen Aufenthalt, der Kurort wird zur Bühne für die europäische Befindlichkeit vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg.

All of his efforts to forget her had failed, and he had accepted that some part of her would always be with him. In the winter of 1812, a fatal accident on a stormy night plunges the Bennet family into mourning and scandal. Shunned and isolated from nearly everyone they have ever known and loved each of the Bennet sisters hurries to marry, to provide themselves the respectability of married women. Miss Elizabeth Bennet settles into marriage of prudence with a man she respects but could never completely love.

In this series we listen to short stories that are NOT by perhaps the most well-known author of this type. But the many other rich talents in the volume may have treated the subject matter a little differently, or were perhaps just overlooked in the stampede to applaud the winner, but these authors are of equal merit.

When a childhood accident forces Elizabeth Bennet to leave Longbourn and grow up under the care of her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, her life takes an unexpected turn. On a trip to Derbyshire, she meets a young Fitzwilliam Darcy, whose father's guidance shapes the man he is becoming. What begins as a tender friendship blossoms into a love both fierce and true, nurtured through years of friendship.

Clara has been missing from the London marriage mart for six years and is reluctant to return. That feeling only grows when she happens to meet Lord Eaton—a rather arrogant, proud earl who vexes her from the moment they first meet. Not wanting to allow herself to be put down by a pompous, self-righteous man, she agrees to the silly game he proposes. The first to make the better match by the end of the season... wins.

Years after his arrival in the original tale, a widowed Mr. Bingley finally takes up residence at Netherfield. His close friend, Mr. Darcy, has spent these intervening years in a relentless quest for the ideal wife, gracing every ball and partaking in every dance of the Season. Yet, each potential match he encounters lacks a certain something. His friends have grown skeptical of his insistence that he intends to enter matrimony.

Eine junge Frau zwischen Geheimnissen, Intrigen, Selbstverwirklichung und Liebe. Es gibt Orte, die so besonders, so einzigartig sind, dass immer auch ein Stück Seele zurückbleibt, wenn man sie wieder verlässt. Usedom, 1904: Der edle Ahlbecker Hof mit seinem Besitzer August-Wilhelm von Höveln erhebt sich direkt an der Strandpromenade und zieht seit Jahren die gut betuchte und adelige Gesellschaft an. Doch August-Wilhelm hat weitere Pläne: Gemeinsam mit seiner jüngsten Tochter Helene will er in Bansin das einzigartige Literaturhotel Atlantic bauen, das Helene führen soll.

Nordfinnland, 1859: Brita Kaisa wird nach einer Liebesbeziehung mit einem verheirateten Mann von der Kirche verstoßen und muss ihren Heimatort verlassen. Sie setzt ihre beiden Söhne auf einen Rentierschlitten, nimmt ihre Skier und bricht in einem Tross auf zum norwegischen Eismeer. Dort, so heißt es, soll das Meer vor Fischen brodeln und es ausreichend Arbeit und Essen geben. Als sie unterwegs den Hofbesitzer Mikkel kennen lernt und eine vorläufige Anstellung findet, spürt sie, dass sie sich mit ihm eine Zukunft vorstellen könnte.

Orphaned and raised by her uncle, the feisty sixteen-year-old Chelynne resolves to show her gratitude by marrying the man of her uncle's choice. Bracing herself for a graying, sickly noble, the last man she expects for a husband is the dashing future Earl of Bryant, Chadwick Hawthorne—suddenly, being a loving wife doesn't seem too hard a task. But he spurns her affection and remains her husband only in name, never in deed. Tormented by unfinished business from his past and an uprising threatening his land, Chad resolves to keep his distance from everyone, including his young wife.

As her snobbish aunt’s companion, penniless vicar’s daughter Jerusha Langley is sent to take a donation to the local naval hospital. There she meets dashing surgeon Jamie Wilson and embarks on a secret mission—sneaking out to help him care for injured sailors! With his life in peril fighting Napoleon, Jamie has never considered taking a wife, yet he’s impressed by Jerusha’s nursing ability—and beauty inside and out. Jamie knows she’s risking a scandal by helping him. Can he risk his heart and save her reputation with a marriage offer?

In Fate and Consequences, Georgiana Darcy does leave with George Wickham to elope. Darcy finds her in time to prevent the wedding, but not in time to stop the news of her ruin from spreading. Now a humbled man, he must try to find his and his sister's place in society. A twist of Fate introduces him at his darkest hour to the woman he otherwise might have resisted loving, and who helps him to restore his sister, and his wounded soul. This is a what-if story of love and reconciliation. This story contains scenes of a mature nature.