Showing results by narrator "Avita Jay" in All Categories

The four Amir Sisters - Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae - are as close as sisters can be, but sometimes even those bonds can be pushed to their limits.... Becoming a mother has always been Farah's dream, so when older sister Fatima struggles with a tough pregnancy whilst Farah has trouble conceiving, she can't help but be jealous - until a plan to break a huge cultural taboo in her family and use a surrogate gives her renewed hope. But nothing is ever that easy in this warm, witty look at a modern British family.

At 25, West-End dancer Ellie Wakefield should be having the time of her life. The only problem is, since waking up in a 300-year-old vampire’s leaky cellar, Ellie’s been very much dead. William James Austen has fallen hard. He’s spent the last year loving Ellie from afar and now he’s finally able to be truthful about who and what he is. But this time, Will might just have bitten off more than he can chew.

In a new audio adaptation of some of Austen's lesser known works, Avita Jay brings to life the wit and satire of one of England's greatest authors. In Austen's final and unfinished novel, Charlotte Heywood finds herself caught up in the comings and goings of the lively seaside resort Sanditon. It is a story filled with a cast of colourful characters, from the widowed Lady Denham to wealthy Caribbean heiress, Georgiana Lambe, and the dashing, Sidney Parker. Naturally, romance and scandal ensue.

Csorwe was raised by a death cult steeped in old magic. And on her 14th birthday, she’ll be sacrificed to their god. But as she waits for the end, she’s offered a chance to escape her fate. A sorcerer wants her as his assistant, sword-hand and assassin. As this involves her not dying that day, she accepts. Csorwe spends years living on a knife-edge, helping her master hunt an artifact which could change many worlds. Then comes the day she's been dreading....

Author Lucy-Anne Holmes has spoken to women from around the globe, ranging in age from 19-75, as they reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings during sex. The result is an incredible compendium of true disclosures that are funny and sad, shocking and tender. Women on Top of the World will be a provocative collection of female voices. It promises to contribute to the changing way women are now talking about their sexuality, and their journeys toward self-discovery.

Fifteen years ago, three 16-year-old girls meet at Wescott, an exclusive private school in India. Two, Sabah and Noor, are the most popular girls in their year. One, Alia, is a new arrival from England who feels her happiness depends on their acceptance. Before she knows it, Sabah and Noor’s intoxicating world of privilege and intimacy opens up to Alia and, for the first time, after years of neglect from her parents, she feels she is exactly where, and with whom, she belongs. But with intimacy comes jealousy, and with privilege, resentment....

Tanya Tania is a story about two young women coming of age in two countries that are coming of age. Tanya Talati in Karachi and Tania Ghosh in Bombay, daughters of college best friends, write to each other of what cannot be said to anyone else: a mother who has gone from quiet to silent, sex that has become a weapon, a servant with unforgettably soft hands and a country beginning to play with religion.

As DI Nicola Tanner investigates what appears to be a series of organised killings, her partner, Susan, is brutally murdered, leaving the detective bereft - and vengeful. Taken off the case, Tanner enlists the help of DI Tom Thorne to pursue a pair of ruthless killers and the broker handing out the deadly contracts. As the killers target their latest victim, Thorne takes the biggest risk of his career and is drawn into a horrifying and disturbing world in which families will do anything to protect their honour.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies, read by Avita Jay. Nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper is newly married to a rich and charming widower, eager to join him on his tea plantation, determined to be the perfect wife and mother. But life in Ceylon is not what Gwen expected.

John Venton's drunken fall from a cliff leaves his family with an embarrassing ghost. His twin children, Morwenna and Corwin, flee in separate directions as their mother, enraged by years of unhappy marriage, embraces merry widowhood. Only their grandfather finds solace in the crumbling house, endlessly painting their story onto a large canvas map. As the twins are drawn back to the house, they discover that their father's absence is part of the map's mysterious pull.

When Nina finds out that her 15-year-old daughter, Scarlett, is pregnant, her world falls apart. Because Scarlet won't tell anyone who the father is. And Nina is scared that the answer will destroy everything. As the suspects mount - from Scarlett's teacher to Nina's new husband of less than a year - Nina searches for the truth: no matter what the cost.

Meet 11-year-old Dara Palmer. She loves dancing and dreams of being a world-famous actress, which means she has to get the main part in the school play. When she doesn't get any part at all, Dara begins to wonder whether it's because of her looks rather than her acting skills. But Dara has big ideas and is determined not to let prejudice stop her from being in the spotlight.

"Why do you want to be a boat builder?" "Because," said Morwenna, "I like the way the boats grow." Morwenna and Corwin are eight years old, wind-swept and salty-haired twins growing up on the Devon coast. In the soft autumn light they play as their grandfather, Matthew, watches the boats come in. But it is a day unlike any other.

Rosie and Daniel have moved to Ceylon with their little daughter to start a new life at the dawn of the 1920s, attempting to put the trauma of the First World War behind them and to rekindle a marriage that gets colder every day. However, even in the lush plantation hills it is hard for them to escape the ties of home and the yearning for fulfilment that threatens their marriage.

At 18, Somlata married into the Mitras: a once noble Bengali household whose descendants have taken to pawning off the family gold to keep up appearances. When Pishima, the embittered matriarch, dies, Somlata is the first to discover her aunt-in-law's body - and her sharp-tongued ghost. First demanding that Somlata hide her gold from the family's prying hands, Pishima's ghost continues to wreak havoc on the Mitras. Secrets spilt, cooking spoilt, Somlata finds herself at the centre of the chaos.

Soma is a shy young woman adrift in a strange new country. After moving from Sri Lanka to Yorkshire to become a nanny to baby Louis, Soma tries to settle into life in the UK, even if every day presents her with a new challenge, from trying new food or getting to grips with the language. But the one thing Soma never counted on was falling in love....

Elena and Adam are housesitting in Wimbledon and are instantly seduced by their new upscale surroundings. Sophia and Finn are their beautiful, enigmatic neighbours who invite them into their world. When Sophia proposes a wicked game to Elena whereby they will swap partners in secret, it's not long before Elena starts to experience a sexual awakening that blossoms into an illicit love affair. But Sophia's plans are far more complex and dangerous than Elena could ever have imagined.

You see the people you work with every day, but what can't you see? Amira, Sarah, Paula, Ewan and Charlie have worked together for years - they know how each other likes their coffee, whose love life is a mess, whose children keep them up at night. But their comfortable routine life is suddenly shattered when an aggressive new boss walks in.... Now there's something chilling in the air. Who secretly hates everyone? Who is tortured by their past? Who is capable of murder?

He promised to love her forever, but forever is running out…. 1943: in the ruins of Blitzed London, Stella Thorne and Dan Rosinski fall in love. Sixty years later Dan sends a letter to the house where they shared a brief yet perfect happiness. But Stella has gone, and the letter is opened by Jess. She is captivated by the story of a love affair that burned so bright. Can she help Dan find Stella before it is too late?

1936. Civil war is tearing Spain apart, and the world is on the brink of chaos... Twenty-one-year-old Lucy is frustrated with her constrained life in Hertfordshire, teaching and keeping house for her domineering father. But she is happy to be living next door to Tom and Jamie, two brothers she has known since childhood, and whom she loves equally. But everyone's lives are turned upside down when Tom, the younger, decides to join the Republican cause in the bloody war in Spain.