Showing results by narrator "Fiona Hardingham" in All Categories

In the long hot summer of 1939, Britain is preparing for war. But on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind: Mrs Petty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear though that this is no ordinary find.

Since the tragic loss of her parents, Enid has lived alone in a coastal cottage in Jersey. But this year someone new has come into her life: Fred, who truly gets her, and who knows how to make her happy. The only problem is that Enid has Asperger’s and doesn’t like to leave her comfort zone - and Fred lives in Australia. Like Enid, Fred has survived heartbreak and is searching for a way to start again. Could a stranger on the other side of the world really bring new meaning to his life, or is he just setting himself up for another fall?

As nations rebuild, democracy is under threat. In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt. Twenty years later, civilisation is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise. During the investigation of a routine homicide, Police Officer Ruth Deering prevents a group of Luddites from destroying the telegraph. This act of sabotage is only the beginning. As arrests are made, and criminals are caught, evidence emerges that the saboteurs are connected to the AIs, the counterfeiting, and to the assassination. The shadowy figure behind the conspiracy must be unmasked before their fragile democracy is destroyed.

Someone is killing the nuns of Ireland. The grisly discovery of an elderly sister of Saint Brigid's monastery strangled, bled dry, and thrown into a bog is just the beginning. Soon a beautiful young nun is found decapitated and hung from a barren tree. It doesn't take long before the members of the struggling monastic community of Kildare realize that not only are the nuns being hunted by a serial killer, but the murderer is performing the gruesome slayings in the manner of the ancient druid sacrifices.

The Crim family is full of notorious criminals. Notoriously inept, that is. Uncle Knuckles once tried to steal a carnival. Great-Uncle Bernard held himself hostage by accident. Aunt Drusilla died slipping on a banana peel. But Imogen is different. She was born with a skill for scandal. A knack for the nefarious. A mastery of misdemeanors. Despite her natural talent for all things unlawful, Imogen got out of the family business years ago. But when the rest of the Crims are accused of pulling off a major heist - which seems doubtful, to say the least - Imogen is forced to step in.

Oh, to be a Beloved - one of those lucky people for whom nothing ever goes wrong. Everything falls into their laps without effort: happiness, beauty, good fortune, allure. Betty Stash is not a Beloved - but her little sister, the delightful Gloria, is. She's the one with the golden curls and sunny disposition and captivating smile, the one whose best friend used to be Betty's, the one whose husband should have been Betty's. Then, to everyone's surprise, Gloria inherits the family mansion. Losing what Betty considers her rightful inheritance is the final indignity.

In 2019, the AIs went to war. Three days later, hundreds of nuclear missiles were launched. The electromagnetic pulse destroyed the machines, but the radiation and famine nearly destroyed humanity. By 2039, civilization had regressed to the age of steam, but newer technologies were on the horizon. The future looked bright until the warlords swept through Europe. Villages and towns were laid waste, the few thousand people who'd hacked out a life in the continental wasteland were butchered. It was only when the barbarians reached the British garrison in Calais that they were stopped.

Ben Ansell is researching his family tree when he disappears. As his sister Holly begins a desperate search, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to an ornate antique mirror and to the diary of Lavinia, a 19th-century courtesan who was living at Ashdown House when it burned to the ground over 200 years ago. Intrigued, and determined to find out more about the tragedy at Ashdown, Holly’s only hope is that uncovering the truth about the past will lead her to Ben.

When Anita Naakka jumps in front of an oncoming train, her daughter, Norma, is left alone with the secret they have spent their lives hiding: Norma has supernatural hair, sensitive to the slightest changes in her mood - and the moods of those around her - moving of its own accord, corkscrewing when danger is near. And so it is her hair that alerts her, while she talks with a strange man at her mother's funeral, that her mother may not have taken her own life.

On a hot summer's night in the 1950s, the old and the new, diesel and steam, and town and country all collide - and nobody will be left unaffected. As a passenger train leaves Spencer Street Station on its haul to Sydney, a family of three - Vic, Rita, and their son, Michael - are off to a party. George Bedser has invited the whole neighborhood to celebrate the engagement of his daughter. Vic is an engine driver, with dreams of being like his hero Paddy Ryan and becoming the master of the smooth ride.

Do not wander in cursed lands alone...Una wants only one thing, to find and kill the dragon that drove her out of her childhood home in the heart of Arthurian Britain. When a handsome knight frees her from captivity, she learns that she is not the only one who wants the beast dead. The knight is Sir George, a messenger of the Faerie Queen and the man assigned to kill the dragon that still haunts her home. But the road to get there contains new dangers, long shut out from this world...until now.

Deep in the woods of northern England, somewhere between a dilapidated estate and an abandoned Victorian asylum, fifteen-year-old Jane Standen lived through a nightmare. She was babysitting a sweet young girl named Lily, and in one fleeting moment, lost her. The little girl was never found, leaving her family and Jane devastated.

Are you tired of having to "get motivated" time and time again yet failing to achieve your goals? Do you feel like motivational quotes, visualization, or inspirational stories have not really helped you? Do you think there must be something wrong with you because traditional motivational strategies don't work for you? You are not alone. There is nothing wrong with you or your motivation. It’s just that you've been using the wrong strategies. Ready to finally ditch those exhausting "pump yourself up and fail again" cycles and start using an approach that really works?

Sydney's deadly Razorhurst neighborhood, 1932. Gloriana Nelson and Mr. Davidson, two ruthless mob bosses, have reached a fragile peace - one maintained by "razor men". Kelpie, orphaned and living on the street, is blessed and cursed with the ability to see Razorhurst's many ghosts, and she sees the cracks already forming in their truce. Then Kelpie meets Dymphna Campbell.

For countless generations, the inhabitants of the village named Elnubrium have passed down one rule: Never enter the forest that surrounds them. Hidden deep beyond its borders is a world full of secrets and wonders to behold, but also death to those that don't belong. However, the village is slowly dying; blocked by impassable mountains and the ancient forest, there isn't enough room to provide for people of Elnubrium. If something isn't done soon, drastic measures will be taken to preserve the current way of life in the village.

Twenty-five years after the end of the war, ageing British SOE operative Noah Ainsworth is reflecting on the secret agent who saved his life when a mission went wrong during his perilous, exhilarating years in occupied France. He never knew her real name, nor whether she survived the war. His daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers. What follows is the story of Fleur and Chloe, two otherwise ordinary women who in 1943 are called up by the SOE for deployment in France.

The tides of the Faerie War are turning, but at how high a cost for the Kasric family? Justice Kasric, her siblings, and her parents are locked in combat on both sides of the Human-Faerie War. At 15, Justice may be the youngest ever admiral to command her own ship and lead a resistance, but she has the magic and the will to do it. If only nearly every other member of her family weren’t either in immediate danger of dying - or attempting to kill her! Forced to make dangerous pacts with more than one unpredictable ally, only Justice can decide how far she’ll go to save London.

The international best seller. Sara is 28 and has never been outside Sweden - except in the (many) books she reads. When her elderly penfriend, Amy, invites her to come and visit her in Broken Wheel, Iowa, Sara decides it’s time. But when she arrives, there’s a twist waiting for her - Amy has died. Finding herself utterly alone in a dead woman’s house in the middle of nowhere was not the holiday Sara had in mind. But Sara discovers she is not exactly alone.

From the celebrated author of Swimming at Night comes a powerful and moving saga of one woman's struggle to overcome her husband's death and uncover his dark, mysterious past.

Eva has only been married for eight months when her husband, Jackson, is swept to his death while fishing. Weighed down by confusion and sorrow, Eva decides to take leave of her midwifery practice in London and visit Jackson's estranged family in Tasmania with the hope of grieving together.

Gary is buying his girlfriend Rachel a charm bracelet. Partly to thank her for paying for their holiday-of-a-lifetime to New York. But mainly because he's left his Christmas shopping far too late. Whereas Ethan's looking for something a little more special—an engagement ring for the first woman to have made him happy since he lost the love of his life. But when the two men's shopping bags get confused, and Rachel somehow ends up with Ethan's ring, the couples' lives become intertwined.