Showing results by narrator "Laurence Bouvard" in All Categories

A comedy/tragedy of manners. The new novel from the Man Booker-short-listed author of The Sisters Brothers. Frances Price - tart widow, possessive mother and Upper East Side force of nature - is in dire straits, beset by scandal. Her adult son, Malcolm, is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there's their cat, whom Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral lawyer whose gruesome tabloid death rendered them social outcasts.

UN covert negotiator Yael Azoulay has travelled to Europe to help in the investigation of a people-trafficking ring linked to a series of terrorist attacks. Azoulay's boss, UN Secretary General Hussein, asks Yael to broker a secret meeting with the Iranian president in Reykjavic. All parties want the violence to stop. But Azoulay realises that the terrorist chain leads to someone she's met before. Someone for whom terror is just the beginning.

Mackenzie Cooper took her eyes off the road for just a moment, but the resulting collision was enough to rob her of her life as she knew it. Forced to start again, she moved to a small town under a new name - Maggie Reid - and her only goal is to stay under the radar. She's thankful for the few friends she's made, although she can't risk telling them too much about her previous life. But Maggie isn't the only one in this peaceful town with secrets. When a friend's teenage son is thrust into the national spotlight, Maggie is torn between protecting herself and stepping into the glare.

An unusual love. Two broken hearts. What difference does 10 years make? Annika Rose has always been different. Sensory overload is a constant problem for her. She has a hard time reading people and feels lost in social situations. She's a brilliant chess player but can't pull an outfit together to save her life. In her last year of college, she's the weird girl whose only real friend is her roommate, Janice. Then, one day, Jonathan joins the chess club and is immediately captivated by the mysterious girl whose attention is completely fixed on her game.

Frances Price - tart widow, possessive mother, and Upper East Side force of nature - is in dire straits, beset by scandal and impending bankruptcy. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there’s the Price’s aging cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral litigator and world-class cad whose gruesome tabloid death rendered Frances and Malcolm social outcasts. Putting penury and pariahdom behind them, the family decides to cut their losses and head for the exit.

For weeks, Derringer Westmoreland was haunted by memories of a woman whose face he could not recall. But he wanted to share that intense passion again. When he finally traced her, it seemed his fantastic one-night stand was Lucia Conyers and, for the first time in his life, the ranch owner had some wooing to do. If he wanted to win Lucia’s heart, he’d better be ready to risk his own.

On a small isolated island, there's a community that lives by its own rules. Boys grow up knowing they will one day reign inside and outside the home while girls know they will be married and pregnant within moments of hitting womanhood. But before that time comes, there is an island ritual that offers children an exhilarating reprieve. Every summer they are turned out onto their doorsteps to roam wild: they run, they fight, they sleep on the beach and build camps in trees. They are free.

On the planet of Higo, without the guidance of the Great Spirits, its people are descending into religious civil war. Baiyren Tallaenaq, Prince of Higo, is exiled after causing the death of his mother. Freed from his responsibilities and the looming war, he steals their greatest weapon - a giant, sentient armoured suit - and uses it to open a portal to a world he never knew existed. A world called Earth...home of a magical young woman called Keiko.

In the village of al-Awafi in Oman, we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla, who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional, slave-owning society slowly redefining itself after the colonial era to the crossroads of its complex present.

When Leah and her husband, Clay, move from Seattle to Maine, she envisions a vibrant new neighbourhood packed with families - playmates for her twins, new friends she can confide in and bond with. But while Clay works long hours to establish his brewery, Leah is left alone each day in a nearly deserted housing development where the only other occupants are aloof and standoffish.

Can a fairytale ever come true? Like Cinderella at the ball, Lilley's fairytale wish is about to be granted. She'll swap her grey suits for a fabulous dress and killer heels, and dance the night away with the man every other woman wants...but only for one night. Alessandro Caetani does not do happily-ever-afters. Lilley has never taken such a risk before, but this is her night of living dangerously...

Grab your warmest blanket, fetch yourself a nice cup of hot chocolate, and join Pimpa on this cold adventure! It’s winter, and Pimpa walks with Armando to work. But when it starts snowing heavily, she can’t seem to find her way home. Luckily, she meets Molly the mole. While she can’t see very well, Molly has an excellent sense of smell and a knack for making tomatoes. Through underground tunnels, stairs, and plant pots, Pimpa slowly inches her way back home.

After uprooting her life, Irene Steele has just settled in at the villa on St. John where her husband, Russ, had been living a double life. But a visit from the FBI shakes her foundations, and Irene once again learns just how little she knew about the man she loved. Irene and her sons try to get on with setting up their new lives while evidence mounts that the helicopter crash that killed Russ may not have been an accident.

Late one spring night, Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant in California, is walking across a darkened intersection when he is killed by a speeding car. The repercussions of his death bring together a diverse cast of characters: Guerraoui's daughter Nora, a jazz composer who returns to the small town in the Mojave she thought she'd left for good; his widow Maryam, who still pines after her life in the old country....

Celebrity chef Deacon Rowe is struggling with addiction, depression and not one but two scandals. As summer nears he travels to the idyllic eastern bluff of Nantucket, where he takes his own life. In the wake of Deacon's shocking suicide, his first wife and childhood sweetheart, Laurel Rowe, sets out to gather Deacon's far-flung family - including Deacon and Laurel's son and Deacon's other ex-wives and children - on the island.

Why is it that the behaviour of teenagers can be so odd? As they grow older, young children steadily improve their sense of how to behave, and then all of a sudden, they can become totally uncommunicative, wildly emotional and completely unpredictable. We used to think that erratic teenage behaviour was due to a sudden surge in hormones, but modern neuroscience shows us that this isn't true.

What's worse than having telepathy in high school? Having telepathy in high school and then losing it. When class 10B got their flu shots and developed the unexpected side effect of telepathy, it seemed like the worse thing ever. But two years later, they've gotten used to their powers. They've even come to like them. And as they prepare to leave school, they're all making exciting plans - plans that involve them being Espies.

When two murders happen in Chicago, a witch hunt ensues, and Kristin quickly finds herself at the centre. The problem is she isn't sure of what she did or didn't do. Armed with a life insurance payout, she runs away to Sweden to start her life over. But it's not that easy to escape the past. And whatever she's done, someone is on her tail, wanting her to pay.... The question is: could she be a killer and not even remember?

How do you prove you’re innocent, if you don’t remember your own name? They find me covered in blood-red flowers on the side of a country road. They tell me my wounds look defensive. But they think I’m guilty of a terrible crime. People from my past – strangers now – help me piece together my story. But who can I trust when I can’t trust myself? I could never have hurt anyone.

A deadly enemy will rise again.... Ella Praeger has always felt like an outsider. So when she is called to join the ranks of The Group, a force for good operating in the shadows, her world shifts. She is gifted a purpose - and a dangerous legacy. Years ago, The Group rid the world of one of its most powerful criminal masterminds. Yet when a child washes up on a beach in Greece, a mysterious symbol tattooed on its heel, it is a clear warning: impossibly, Athena Petridis has returned to reclaim her empire.