Showing results by narrator "Imogen Church" in All Categories

Ewan Stokes disappeared after a football match in Ipswich 15 years ago. No one knows where he went but every year on the anniversary of his disappearance, random mysterious sightings are reported across Europe. Since Ewan vanished, a fanatical online following has grown up around the mystery. The cult believes Stokesy is coming back. And he wants payback.

Since its publication, Quidditch Through the Ages has been one of the most popular books in the Hogwarts library. Read by Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and many more, it is the essential guide to the wizarding world's favourite game.

For myself and Lauren, my 10-year-old daughter No 3 Beech Close was to be our refuge after two years of hell nursing my sick mother. In need of a fresh start and wanting to distance ourselves from the bad memories of my mother’s house we moved to Beech Close, a small cul-de-sac of six houses situated around a picture-perfect green. It seemed perfect but I had underestimated the secrets that this tightknit community shared. Within hours of moving in my next-door neighbour Valerie made it abundantly clear we were not welcome.

Louise Bridges has the perfect life. A loving husband, Patrick. Two adorable children. A comfortable home. So when PC Becca Holt arrives to break the news that Patrick has been killed in an accident, she thinks Louise’s perfect world is about to collapse around her. But Louise doesn’t react in the way Becca would expect her to on hearing of her husband’s death. And there are only three plates set out for dinner, as if Louise already knew Patrick wouldn’t be home that night.

This book follows Agrippina as a daughter born to the expected heir to Augustus’ throne and who was then orphaned; as a sister to Caligula, who raped his sisters and showered them with honours until they attempted rebellion against him and were exiled; as a seductive niece and then wife to Claudius, who gave her access to near unlimited power; and then as a mother to Nero, who adored her until he killed her. She was 44 when she died.

Annie Bishop is 16 years old when she first climbs the steps of Haverford House ready to take service as a maid. She knows her place until, during a summer of high society, she crosses paths with wealthy American heir, Thomas Everard. In his arms, Annie dares to dream of a different life. Until she vanishes without a trace.

This was meant to be the perfect trip. The northern lights. A press launch on a luxury cruise ship. A chance for travel journalist Lo Blackwood to recover from a traumatic break-in that has left her on the verge of collapse and to work out what she wants from her relationship. Except things don't go as planned. Woken in the night by screams, Lo rushes to her window to see a body thrown overboard from the next-door cabin. But the records show that no one ever checked in to that cabin, and no passengers are missing from the boat.

In the long, hot summer of 1995, 22-year-old Alice Lang rents a caravan on a holiday park on the outskirts of the lively holiday resort of Severn Sands. She befriends Marnie, a shy, damaged little girl whose father is the park's caretaker and whose mother died a few months earlier. Will, whose mother runs the bar, falls in love with Alice and is unbearably jealous of anyone else she sees. Tensions rise until one evening Alice disappears from her caravan. She's never seen again, and only her scarlet dress is found washed up on the shore.

I could tell when my son started hiding things from me. He used to walk to school with a mischievous grin on his beautiful face. Now he avoids eye contact and keeps his head down. Since I discovered he’s being bullied by a classmate, I’ve spent every day worrying, my stomach churning with anxiety from the moment he leaves the house to the second he walks back through the door. Everyone keeps telling me I’m overreacting, but I won’t risk my child’s safety. My husband and I try to talk to the other boy’s parents, but it only makes things worse. Then our precious child is hurt. Enough is enough.

Alice Spencer was born in 1560 to a family on the rise. Her grandfather had amassed a sizeable estate of fertile grazing land and made a small fortune in sheep farming, allowing him to purchase a simple but distinguished manor house called Althorp. With her sizable dowry, Alice married the heir to one of the most powerful aristocratic families in the country, eventually becoming the Countess of Derby. Though she enjoyed modest renown, it wasn’t until her husband’s sudden death that Alice and her family’s future changed forever.

In Medalon, Book One of the Hythrun Chronicles, Tarja Tenragen and his half-sister R'shiel were forced to lead a rebellion against their power hungry mother, who ruled Medalon as the First Sister of the Blade. But their mother's defeat came at great cost: not only does it leave Medalon vulnerable to invasion, R'shiel is mortally wounded. As Treason Keep begins, R'shiel is on the brink of death. Her only hope is the healing powers of the Harshini - magical beings long thought extinct. Even they will be hard-pressed to save the Demon Child of prophecy...

On a cool June morning, Isa Wilde, a resident of the seemingly idyllic coastal village of Salten, is walking her dog along a tidal estuary. Before she can stop him, Isa's dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick - and to her horror, Isa discovers it's not a stick at all...but a human bone. As her three best friends from childhood converge in Salten to comfort a seriously shaken-up Isa, terrifying discoveries are made, and their collective history slowly unravels.

When Darcie purchases several old suitcases at auction that had been abandoned in a railway station locker, she doesn't know what to expect. The first is disappointing but as she opens the second, she discovers rare and beautiful dresses for the 1940s, lovingly folded, and a notebook of designs to go with them. Written inside the cover is the name: Nathalie Leroux Why did she leave her most prized possessions at the station eighty years ago? Darcie's quest for answers will draw her into the world of the French resistance as she works to uncover the truth about a devastating wartime secret.

When Hannah and her boyfriend, Simon, set out to Amsterdam, they’re confident that they’ll make it to his sister’s wedding in time. However, unbeknownst to them, their train is scheduled to divide in the middle of the night. And when it does, half of it continues the route to Amsterdam. And the other half—the one with Hannah in it—heads three hundred miles away, to Paris. Left without her belongings or hope of reuniting with Simon, Hannah has no choice but to spend the day in Paris before the next train out.

As wild fires creep a devastating path towards the idyllic town of Morranez, a vulnerable girl goes missing. But was she taken - or was she escaping. The summer is the hottest yet in the Brittany coastal town of Morranez, but when a new case lands on the desk of the Toussaints detective agency, there can be no time to relax. As wild fires bear down on the town, the alert goes out for a missing girl. Nineteen-year-old Briony Moorcroft has seemingly been taken from her sleepy Welsh village and brought to France.

As a child, Anna Wintour was a tomboy with no apparent interest in clothing but, seduced by the miniskirts and bob haircuts of swinging 1960s London, she grew into a fashion-obsessed teenager. Her father, an influential newspaper editor, loomed large in her life, and once he decided she should become editor-in-chief of Vogue, she never looked back.

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate newborn at the Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the daughter she has never known. Dreading the worst, that she has died in care, she is astonished to discover someone pretending to be Bess has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside-down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.

Alice Tandy has dreamed of her wedding since she was a little girl. The perfect venue, the perfect dress, the perfect groom. It’s all going exactly to plan. But then her whole world comes tumbling down. Just as she and her new husband, Ben, are cutting their wedding cake, three policemen storm in and arrest Ben. Alice looks on in horror, unable to comprehend what is happening. Did they say murder? The next day, Ben is released on bail, but for Alice, the nightmare is only just beginning.

Following the sudden death of her husband, 25-year-old Catrin leaves her small village and takes a job as a housekeeper to the successful Van Nulandt merchant family. Amsterdam is a city at the peak of its powers: Science and art are flourishing in the Golden Age, and Dutch ships bring back exotic riches from the Far East. Madam Van Nulandt passes her time taking expensive painting lessons from a local master, Rembrandt van Rigin....

Ellie Shaw loves love. Unfortunately, she’s also an expert in break-ups. When a friend needs help with her ‘too nice to dump’ boyfriend, Ellie agrees to help. What she doesn’t expect is for American Dan to be kind, caring, to love dogs and look like a Disney hero. In other words, completely too good to be true. She lets him down with grace and, encouraged by her friends, sets up Softer Landings, offering kinder, gentler break-ups. A year later American Dan reappears in her life. With a new girlfriend. One who also decides he’s not the one for her.