Showing results by narrator "Sophie Roberts" in All Categories

Emery is born with a heart condition that means her heart could quite literally stop at any moment. The people around her know what to do—if they act quickly enough there will be no lasting damage, and Emery's heart can be restarted. But when this happens, she is briefly technically dead. Each time Emery's heart stops, she meets Nick. His purpose is to help people adjust to the fact that they are dead, to help them say goodbye, before they move on entirely. He does not usually meet people more than once—but with Emery, he is able to make a connection, and he finds himself drawn to her.

Bea isn't happy. Desperate for a change, she looks to her friends for inspiration. Every single one of them is paired off, perhaps that's what she needs too. So, she starts dating again. But everywhere she goes - amid the hilarious and scarring dates - there's Peter. Good old oddball Peter, her closest friend from university. He's always been firmly in the friend zone but something's happened lately - he seems taller, more handsome and suddenly making him smile is Bea's favourite thing.

After running away from an arranged marriage, red-haired beauty Jabina finds herself being inadvertently rescued by Drue, the Duke of Warminster. When their carriage overturns on their journey, the pair are taken in by aristocratic friends of Jabina's father leading to the lie that Jabina and Drue are married.

Far from worrying about the onset of war, in the spring of 1938 the burning question on the French Riviera was whether one should curtsy to the Duchess of Windsor. Few of those who had settled there thought much about what was going on in the rest of Europe. It was a golden, glamorous life, far removed from politics or conflict.

Moving away from their lovely apartment in Munich isn't nearly as wrenching an experience for Frau Greta Hahn as she had feared. Their new home is even lovelier than the one they left behind and life in Buchenwald would appear to be idyllic. Lying just beyond the forest that surrounds them is the looming presence of a work camp. Frau Hahn's husband has been assigned as the camp's administrator. When Frau Hahn's poor health leads her into an unlikely and poignant friendship with one of Buchenwald's prisoners, her naIve ignorance about what is going on so nearby is challenged.

It was history's most successful political partnership - as sensual and fiery as it was creative and visionary. Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin - wildly flamboyant and sublimely talented - was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, defining the Russian empire to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving Potemkin free to love his beautiful nieces, and Catherine her young male favourites.

When Sophie Macreavey wakes up in the hospital, suffering from stab wounds, detectives are quick to question her—hoping to make sense of the horrific scene where she was found. Sophie's adoptive parents and sister are dead. Her brothers are missing. Sophie can't remember anything—but reveals the abusive nightmare she's been through as part of the family. The social worker assigned to her case eventually brings Sophie home, but soon notices discrepancies in Sophie's story.

Much has been written about the brutal crimes of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, and - 35 years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 13 women - scarcely a week goes by without some mention of him in the media. In any story featuring Sutcliffe, however, his victims are incidental, often reduced to a tableau of nameless faces. But each woman was much more than the manner of her death, and in Somebody’s Mother, Somebody’s Daughter, Carol Ann Lee tells, for the first time, the stories of those women who came into Sutcliffe’s murderous orbit.

Philip K. Dick was an award-winning giant of American science fiction, right up there with Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov. He became the first science fiction writer ever to be included in The Library of America series. Although he died fairly young at 53, he created many incredible sci-fi stories - 44 published novels and over 120 short stories! These 14 selections represent some of his most imaginative work. Included in this collection are: "Adjustment Team", "The Golden Man", "A World of Talent", "The Last of the Masters", "The Crystal Crypt", and more.

Is it possible for books to dream? For books to dream within books? Is there a literary subterranean that would facilitate ingress and exit points through these dreams? These are some of the questions posed by David Keenan's masterly fifth novel, Monument Maker, an epic romance of eternal summer and a descent, into history, into the horrors of the past; a novel with a sweep and range that runs from the siege of Khartoum and the conquest of Africa in the 19th century through the Second World War and up to the present day.

Demelza is caught up in the middle of chaos when her brother rents their family home to Valient, Earl of Trevarnon and his friends during the Royal Ascot races. Infamous playboy Trevarnon wins over Demelza, despite him being married. As she explores the secret chambers and underground passages in the manor, Demelza finds herself falling for Trevarnon but knowing he can never be hers.

Seventeen years ago, the grand Venetian Palazzo degli Angeli was Phoebe Wyndham's home; now, the neglected walls of the palazzo are just a haunting reminder of all she has lost. Arriving back in Italy after a plea from her estranged relative, the Contessa di Sebastiano, the recently widowed Phoebe is shocked to discover her aunt is dead and the palazzo now belongs to her. All she wants to do is sell the property and return home.

Izzy Brown has always dreamed of being an Instagram influencer. So when her colleague and fellow Instagrammer Luke suggests they ‘fake date’ to boost their profiles, Izzy says yes – against her better judgment. Now Izzy’s profile tells the story of a confident, glamorous 30-something with the perfect boyfriend, and her follower numbers are shooting upwards.

After renowned London fashion designer Cressida Westcott loses both her home and her design house in the Blitz, she has nowhere to go but the family manor house she fled decades ago. She arrives with nothing but the clothes she stands in, at a loss as to how to rebuild her business from a quaint country village. Before long, Cressida’s spirit and ambition galvanises the village group into action, and they find themselves mending wedding dresses not only for local brides, but for brides across the country.

Elizabeth's parents warned her that Alexander Blackwell would not make a dependable husband, and only after eloping with him did she learn they may have been right... After their marriage, the couple finds lodgings in London. Alexander looks for work while Elizabeth learns engraving. Before long, though, Alexander is in the Marshalsea, the notorious debtors' prison, and she is left to fend for herself. Alone and penniless, she has a few things going for her: a skill, an idea, and an acquaintance.

From ‘The Manchester Marriage’, in which a husband, supposedly drowned at sea, returns to find his daughter, to the two sisters who are comically adrift after the death of their domineering father in ‘The Daughters of the Late Colonel’, and a young girl who enlists the help of a sorceress to win back her boyfriend in ‘The Goodness of Saint Rocque’, Standing Her Ground showcases nine groundbreaking women writers.

Parodying the soothing incantations of Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown with illustrations by Clement Hurd, Goodnight Trump opens in the very classy golden bedroom of the White House, where it is bedtime for the 45th President of the United States. In this wickedly funny update to the bedtime classic, listeners can encourage this very stable genius to bid a gentle goodnight to some of his favorite things, including his stuffed animal (what else but a Playboy bunny), his best friends from Russia, his Twitter feed, and his 12-pack of Diet Coke.

Ashley Moon is all set for a dream holiday with her daughter in the glittering French Riviera. But nothing can prepare her for the shock of discovering who’s staying in the villa next door.... Ashley got much more than a suntan on her first ever foreign holiday; one whirlwind romance and nine months later she had a daughter, Molly. Too proud to ever contact the father, Ashley made a decision to go it alone and raise her daughter herself.

When the Impossible Postal Express magically arrives to collect Suzy, she sets off on her most difficult delivery yet. A mysterious talking book is stealing words and causing chaos across the whole of the Impossible Places! The book must be returned to a city that's been lost for thousands of years. But without a map to get there, Suzy and Wilmot's journey plunges them into grave danger. And with time running out, it might not just be the knowledge in the Impossible Places that is lost for ever - Suzy and Wilmot could be too. 

It's not always easy to grasp the complex forces that are shaping our lives. But by following a dollar on its journey around the globe, we can start to piece it all together. From a shopping trip in suburban Texas, via China's central bank, Nigerian railroads, the oilfields of Iraq and beyond, The Almighty Dollar reveals the economic truths behind what we see on the news every day. Why is China the world's biggest manufacturer—and the USA its biggest customer? Is free trade really a good thing? Why would a nation build a bridge on the other side of the planet?