Sarah Durham

  • Read by: Sarah Durham

    Duration: 12 hrs 51 mins

    Yorkshire, 1890. Having lost her father and brothers in tragic circumstances, Olwen Malkon is forced to leave her childhood home to live with her uncle's family. In his chill vicarage, however, she fears that she is also losing her mind, as strange dreams take her into the life of Ælfwyn, a woman from a distant past whose fate is overshadowed by menace and betrayal.

    In the grip of these afflictions, Olwen finds sympathy with the local doctor, John Osbourne, who is intrigued by her case. Suspecting darker undercurrents are at work, John comes into conflict with Olwen's family, who dismiss her as a hysteric and, when he seeks to protect her, with the law.

    As the dreams intensify, danger awaits them both. But when they begin to mirror reality, she and John start to suspect that it is these visions of the past which hold the answers...

    Historical Fiction
  • Read by: Sarah Durham

    Duration: 6 hrs 51 mins

    Eight-year-old TC skips school to explore the city's overgrown, forgotten corners. Sophia, seventy-eight, watches with concern as he slips past her window, through the little park she loves. She's writing to her granddaughter, Daisy, whose privileged upbringing means she exists in a different world from TC - though the two children live less than a mile apart.

    Jozef spends his days doing house clearances, his nights working in a takeaway. He can't forget the farm he left behind in Poland, its woods and fields still a part of him, although he is a thousand miles away. When he meets TC he finds a kindred spirit: both lonely, both looking for something, both lost.

    Contemporary Fiction
  • Read by: Sarah Durham

    Duration: 11 hrs 45 mins

    Ponden Hall on the Yorkshire Moors, is a magical place full of stories. It's also where Trudy Heaton grew up, and where she ran away from... Now, after the loss of her husband, she is returning home with her son, Will. The Hall has fallen into disrepair but generations of lives and loves still echo in its shadows, sometimes even reaching out to the present...

    Contemporary Fiction
  • Read by: Sarah Durham

    Duration: 6 hrs 45 mins

    1864: Suddenly left as the head of the family, Kitty McKenzie must find her inner strength to keep her family together against the odds. Evicted from their resplendent home in the fashionable part of York after her parents' deaths, Kitty must fight the legacy of bankruptcy and homelessness to secure a home for her and her siblings. Through sheer willpower and determination she grabs opportunities with both hands, from working on a clothes and rag stall in the market to creating a teashop for the wealthy. Her road to happiness is fraught with obstacles of hardship and despair, but she refuses to let her dream of a better life for her family die. She soon learns that love and loyalty bring their own rewards.

    Family Stories
  • Read by: Sarah Durham

    Duration: 12 hrs 35 mins

    London, 1944. Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While the world remains at war, in East London Clara has created the country's only underground library, built over the railway tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station. Down here a whole community thrives: with hundreds of bunk beds, a café and a theatre offering shelter from the bombs that fall above.

    Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant librarian, Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women's determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it seems it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.

    Based on true events, The Little Wartime Library is an inspiring and heart-wrenching story of life on the homefront, and of the strength of courage required to fight for what you believe in.


    Historical Fiction
  • Read by: Sarah Durham

    Duration: 7 hrs 52 mins

    A girl grows up in the north of England amid scarcity, precarity and the toxic culture of heroin chic, believing that she needs to make herself smaller to claim presence in the world. Years later, as a young woman with unattainable ideals, she meets someone who calls everything into question, and is forced to confront episodes from her past. Their relationship takes her from London to Barcelona and the precipice of a new life, full of sensuality. Yet she still feels an uneasiness. In the sticky Mediterranean heat, among tropical plants and secluded beaches, she must decide what form her adult life should take and learn how to feel deserving of love and care.


    Contemporary Fiction
  • Read by: Sarah Durham

    Duration: 8 hrs 12 mins

    Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family - and is the most unhappy creature in the world.

    Anne Turner has wit and talent - but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution.

    When these two very different women meet in the strangest of circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court where the sovereign's favourite may rise and rise - so long as he remains in favour.

    With the marriage of their talents, Anne and Frankie enter this extravagant, savage hunting ground, seeking a little happiness for themselves. But as they gain notice, they also gain enemies; what began as a search for love and safety leads to desperate acts that could cost them everything.

     

    Historical Fiction
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