Talking Books
Booklist: Family Stories 2015
The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.
Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When you return a title, you will then receive another one.
If you would like to read any of these titles then please contact the Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or email .
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For any further help in selecting books please contact the Reader Services Team on 01733 37 5333 or email
Allingham, Merryn. The girl from Cobb Street. 2015. TB21842.
Daisy's war; book 1. 1938: Daisy Driscoll has been raised in an orphanage and is now struggling to make ends meet by working in London. At the outset of war, Daisy meets Gerald Mortimer, a cavalry subaltern in the Indian Army in London on leave. After he returns to India Daisy finds she is pregnant and when the news reaches his Colonel's ears Gerald is forced into marrying her. Daisy begins a new life with her husband - but adjusting to this is harder than she thinks, as she discovers Gerald is in debt and tragedy is about to strike.
Read by Veejay Kaur. 10 hours 12 minutes. TB21842.
Andrews, Lyn. The White Empress. 2009. TB22085.
Cat Cleary is a sixteen-year-old Irish 'slummy' arriving in Liverpool to seek and make her fortune. Joe Calligan, a young steam-packet deckhand, think she's the loveliest girl he's ever seen and hasn't the heart to tell her that Liverpool is full of people tramping the streets looking for work. And then Cat sees the White Empress, the huge luxury liner. In that moment her ambition is born - to be chief stewardess on the world's great liner. In spite of her poverty, her lack of education, her family background, Cat Cleary sets about realising her incredible dream.
Read by Melanie McHugh. 11 hours 24 minutes. TB22085.
Andrews, V C. Hidden jewel. 2003. TB 20293.
Landry family series; book 4. Raised in a New Orleans mansion filled with kindness, Pearl dreams of becoming a doctor. Her graduation party is almost as festive as Mardi Gras itself. But still she fears that she will never know the essence of romance, or her family's secrets.
Read by Michael Fitzpatrick. 18 hours 18 minutes. TB 20293.
Archer, Jeffrey. Best kept secret. 2013. TB 20504.
Clifton Chronicles; book 3. 1945. The vote in the House of Lords as to who should inherit the Barrington family fortune has ended in a tie. Harry Clifton and Giles Barrington will find themselves in opposition in more ways than they thought but it is Sebastian Clifton, Harry and Emma's son, who ultimately influences his uncle's fate.
Read by Alex Jennings. 11 hours 17 minutes. TB 20504.
Archer, Jeffrey. Be careful what you wish for. 2014. TB 21300.
Clifton chronicles; book 4. Harry Clifton and his wife Emma are rushing to hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. But who died, Sebastian or his best friend Bruno? Machinations continue in the shipping company and back in London, Harry and Emma's adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art .
Read by Alex Jennings. 11 hours 53 minutes. TB 21300.
Baker, Anne. Liverpool lies. 2000. TB22030.
It is 1941 and Connie and Lottie Brinsley are training to be nurses at Liverpool's Walton Hospital. When heavy bombing is followed by the news that their home has taken a direct hit and their parents and little brother are dead, the two sisters are utterly devastated. Later, they are shocked to discover that their uncle, Steve, is not who they thought he was, and the Brinsleys have been living a lie for years. And Steve's not the only one who's hiding the truth, for when Lottie meets and marries Waldo Padley, no one tells her that he's a liar and a cheat. But, no matter what life throws at them, the sisters find the strength to face the troubles ahead.
Read by Suzanne Goldberg. 11 hours 23 minutes. TB22030.
Bennett, Anne. A strong hand to hold. 2014. TB22212.
Linda Prosser is just twelve years old and desperately close to her mother and two tiny brothers. As the bombs drop around them one fateful night during World War II, Linda takes a risk which has disastrous consequences. Terrified, and buried beneath a mass of debris after her home takes a direct hit, it is Jenny who crawls through the wreckage of the house to rescue her. So begins a friendship which is last through the years. But when Linda falls in love with a man that Jenny despises, she is faced with sacrificing her future happiness for the friend who has given her
everything.
Read by Avita Jay. 15 hours 18 minutes. TB22212.
Bennett, Anne. To have and to hold. 2006. TB 21233.
Carmel Duffy is the eldest child of a brutal and abusive marriage, and she can’t wait to leave home. She’s equally determined to have no husband or children of her own what she wants more than anything is to be a nurse. As soon as she turns eighteen, she heads for Birmingham and begins her training. But when World War Two looms those years will change everything. Carmel will find that the future is very different to the one she thought she wanted for so long.
Read by Penelope Freeman. 15 hours 11 minutes. TB 21233.
Bennett, Anne. If you were the only girl. 2013. TB 21007.
When Lucy's family is plunged into poverty, she is forced to become a housemaid for the Hetherington's. When their son, Clive, decides to volunteer to fight in the Spanish Civil War and is then injured, Lucy tends his wounds. The two fall in love, but war is approaching.
Read by Madeleine Brolly. 13 hours 44 minutes. TB 21007.
Binchy, Maeve. A week in winter. 2013. TB 20079.
When Chicky meets an American man named Walter and falls in love she finds herself leaving her beloved Ireland to be with him in New York. However her marriage fails and Chicky returns home where she converts a house into a small hotel. In its opening week, all the disparate guests have a problem they carry with them, and all are seeking a solution. Chicky is there to listen and help.
Read by Caroline Lennon. 11 hours 37 minutes. TB 20079.
Binchy, Maeve. Chestnut Street. 2014. TB21415.
Chestnut Street is a place in Dublin where neighbours come and go. Behind their doors, we encounter very different people with different life circumstances, occupations, sensibilities and stories. Maguire, the window cleaner, must do more than he bargained for in order to protect his son. Nessa Byrne’s aunt visits from America every summer, turning Nessa’s house and world upside down. Lilian, a generous girl with a big heart, has a fiancé whom no one approves of. Melly’s gossipy ways help Madame Magic, a self-styled fortune -teller, get everyone on the right track. And Dolly, an awkward young girl, discovers more about her perfect mother than she ever wanted to know.
Read by Kate Binchy. 12 hours 31 minutes. TB21415.
Bingham, Charlotte. To hear a nightingale. 1989. TB 20307.
Nightingale series; book 1. Brought up in smalltown America by a grandmother who despises her, Cassie McGann's childhood is one of misery and rejection. Fleeing to New York she falls in love with handsome Irish racehorse trainer Tyrone Rosse and it looks as if she has found happiness at last. Then tragedy strikes and Cassie must once again face rejection.
Read by Penelope Freeman. 25 hours 25 minutes. TB 20307.
Blair, Emma. Nellie Wildchild. 2009. TB21935.
The Glasgow Nellie Thompson had been born to was a city bled colourless by poverty and despair, and divided against itself by religion and class. A city where appearances meant more than the truth that might lie in a person's heart. Nellie knew what it was like to be hungry and hopeless; to live a bitter lie with a man she hated. But still she held on to her dreams. Somehow she would leave those grey and violent streets behind. Somehow she would make her own life and her own world - even if she were forever denied the comfort of love.
Read by Lynne Livingstone. 10 hours 50 minutes. TB21935.
Blair, Emma. The princess of poor street. TB 21212.
When the factory closed families in the slums of Glasgow during the Depression felt the sting of despair. But young Ken Blacklaws’ ambition knew no bounds and he would do anything to fight his way out of poverty. Vicky's heart would be broken but never could he break her spirit. Contains sex scenes.
2007. Read by Trish Mullin. 17 hours 27 minutes.
Blair, Jessica. The restless spirit. 2010. TB21936.
When Sam Harland returns a World War I hero to St Robin's Bay on the Yorkshire coast, he brings with him a French wife. He hopes that she will be accepted by the villagers, but one person, Mary Lawson, can never forgive what she sees as the ultimate betrayal. When Jean Lawson and Colin Harland fall in love, the match is opposed by both of their families because of a rift that began a generation ago. But as World War II casts a shadow over Britain and its people, Jean and Colin both strive towards their futures, as they volunteer to serve their country at war.
Read by Maggie Mash. 17 hours 8 minutes. TB21936.
Bradford, Barbara Taylor. Cavendon Hall. 2014. TB22214.
Cavendon Hall; book 1. Opening on the eve of the First World War, set around a stately home, Cavendon Hall, its owners the aristocratic Ingham family and the Swann family who serves them. Two entwined families: the aristocratic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them. The Earl and Countess rely on their faithful retainers Alice and Walter Swann as their young family grows up. But in the summer of 1913, a devastating event changes their future forever, and threatens the Ingham name . Yet life as the families of Cavendon Hall know it - Royal Ascot, supper dances, grouse season feasts and a full servants' hall - is about to alter beyond recognition as the storm clouds of war gather.
Read by Anna Bentinck. 13 hours 14 minutes. TB22214.
Bradford, Barbara Taylor. The Cavendon women. 2015. TB22215.
Cavendon Hall; book 2. On a summer weekend in 1926 the Ingham family gathers at Cavendon Hall, the great house in Yorkshire that has been their family home for centuries, summoned by the Earl. With them are the Swanns who have served the house for generations - and know all their secrets. The estate is under threat; the aftermath of the Great War has left Cavendon facing ruin. Its heir is pushing for divorce so he can follow his heart. And the Earl has a surprise of his own. Four young women from both sides of the house will be the ones to shape its future - Daphne, fighting to modernise her ancestral home; Cecily Swann, forging a path as a fashion designer in London; Deidre, the career girl; and Dulcie, the outspoken debutante. They will change the estate's future for good or ill as the roaring twenties burn towards the Great Depression.
Read by Anna Bentinck. 14 hours 25 minutes. TB22215.
Bradford, Barbara Taylor. Secrets from the past. 2013. TB21160.
Thirty-year-old Serena Stone is a war photographer who has followed in her famous father's footsteps. But after eight years, the danger and adrenaline rush take their toll. When her legendary father dies unexpectedly, she steps away from the war zone to reassess her life but in doing so, stumbles across secrets and lies that need uncovering from decades previously.
Read by Alexandra Boyd. 10 hours 44 minutes. TB21160.
Bradshaw, Rita. Candles in the storm. 2003. TB 20620.
Daisy Appleby is born in a storm, and 15 years later another storm alters her fate. Her father and brothers are lost at sea, and the same night Daisy saves William, a wealthy local heir, and falls in love. Separated by their families, many years of turmoil pass before she finds happiness.
Read by Elizabeth Proud. 13 hours 58 minutes. TB 20620.
Brookfield, Amanda. Relative love. 2004. TB21527.
Time is catching up with Pamela and John Harrison and troubles are brewing in the lives of their children. As the Harrisons gather for Christmas at their big country house their safe, tight world of festivity and tradition is threatened. Tragedy strikes of the most unforeseeable and devastating kind and they are torn apart. Harsh truths emerge about the past as well as the present.
Read by Sherry Baines. 24 hours 26 minutes. TB21527.
Brookfield, Amanda. The simple rules of love. 2006. TB21541.
The Harrisons are a large, extremely close family, but with the grandchildren fast becoming adults and elderly Pamela struggling to adapt to widowhood and the emptiness of Ashley House, the four children of the middle generation find themselves equally lost in a changing world.
Read by Emma Powell. 22 hours 23 minutes. TB21541.
Chamberlain, Diane. Reflection. 2014. TB21586.
Twenty years ago, a terrible tragedy shattered the tranquillity of the small Pennsylvania Dutch town of Reflection. The residents of the village have never forgiven the one woman they blamed for what happened - Rachel Huber. After the incident, Rachel left the town and cut off all ties there. But when she receives the news that her estranged grandmother, Helen, is ill and needs her care, she returns to face hostility and gossip.
Read by Laurel Lefkow. 12 hours 53 minutes. TB21586.
Collier, Catrin. A silver lining. 2013. TB21604.
Pontypridd; book 3. Bethan Powell was married to her handsome doctor but tragedy strikes, and emotional necessity drives Bethan back to her home town of Pontypridd. Alma Moore's lover has gone to Italy with his bride, leaving Alma alone to face the unforgiving Welsh community. Charlie Rashenko, a Russian refugee haunted by his past, is the only man prepared to help them.