Showing results by publisher "Bolinda audio" in Literary Fiction

A heart-wrenching, poignant and totally unforgettable tale of a young woman who must finally face up to the secret she has hidden for a lifetime. 1943, England: On a foggy night during the blackout, 25-year-old May Robinson watches in horror as her mother, Ivy, is tragically killed. Heartbroken, May is not sure she has the strength to harbour the secret she has kept for so many years - a secret that her mother devoted her life to hiding and that would tear their broken family even further apart.

Twenty-two-year-old Jessie has served a two-year sentence for horse rustling. As a condition of her release she is apprenticed to Fitzgerald 'Fitz' Henry, who wants a woman to allay his loneliness in a valley populated by embittered ex-soldiers. Fitz wastes no time in blackmailing Jessie and involving her in his business of horse-rustling and cattleduffing. When Fitz is wounded in an accident he hires an Aboriginal stockman, Jack Brown, to steal horses with Jessie. Soon both Jack Brown and Jessie are struggling in the oppressive and deadening grip of Fitz.

Lucy Entwhistle's beloved father has just died; aged twenty-two she finds herself alone in the world. Leaning against her garden gate, dazed and unhappy, she is disturbed by the sudden appearance of the perspiring Mr Wemyss. This middle-aged man is also in mourning - for his wife Vera, who has died in mysterious circumstances. Before Lucy can collect herself, Mr Wemyss has taken charge: of the funeral arrangements, of her kind aunt Dot, but most of all of Lucy herself - body and soul.

The once beautiful land of Hightspall is being carved up by warring armies led by figures from out of legend. One army is headed by the charismatic brute, Axil Grandys, and the other by Lyf, resurrected sorcerer-king and Axil's ancient nemesis. Only the escaped slave Tali and her unreliable magic stand in their way, but Tali's gift grows more painful every time she uses it.

France, 1944. Celina rushes through the woodland, the tiny baby clutched to her chest. If she's discovered crossing the border, the soldiers might find Remy. They might discover the secret orphanage. Heartbroken by the loss of her husband, Celina knows she should flee occupied France and return to America. But she can't bear to sell his childhood home without seeing it first. She's shocked to find the stone house full of smiling children – brave innocent boys and girls who hide upstairs each night.

When Annaliese Winter walks down Curtis Holland's front path, he's ill-prepared for a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl who's a confounding mixture of adult and child. After years traveling the world with his band, Butterfish, he's not used to having a neighbor at all. So when Curtis receives an invitation to dinner from Annaliese's mother, Kate, he is surprised when he not only accepts but finds himself being drawn to this remarkably unremarkable family.

Persephone spends six months of the year under the ground with her husband, king of the dead, and six months on earth with her mother, goddess of the harvest. It has been this way for 9000 years, since the deal was struck. But when she resurfaces this spring, something is different. Rains lash the land, crops grow out of season or not at all, there are people trying to build a road through the woods, and her mother does not seem able to stop them. The natural world is changing rapidly and even the gods have lost control.

Meet Buffy. With three ex-wives, a failing career and only his dog George for company, Buffy's bachelorhood is looking worryingly confirmed. Until he meets Celeste. Dazzled by love, Buffy has no idea that Celeste is systematically researching his ex-wives, children and stepchildren, and unearthing secrets that will change all their lives.

When Stella is dumped at summer camp while her mum goes off on a posh honeymoon, things start badly. In the first few minutes she's mistaken for a boy and put in a room with snobby Louise and nasty Karen. Then she finds out she'll have to take dreaded swimming lessons, the one thing mum promised she wouldn't have to do. Can things get any worse?

With tears in her eyes, Giulia listens out for bombers flying overhead. When Tori Coleman discovers that her mother was adopted, her whole world shatters. Just as Tori is getting closer to answers, an unexpected call from Jeremy stops her in her tracks.

Friday the thirteenth of February 1948 is Hannah Gordon's thirty-sixth birthday. Her daughter Allie turns sixteen on the very same day. What's more, it's a full moon. Hannah doesn't need Grandma Ade's warning that bad luck is coming to realise the odds are against them. Hannah Gordon has always wanted to be someone important, yet she's stuck in an inner-city back street, fighting to keep hold of her children, her home and her sense of self. Then a devastating accident sets off a chain of events that will rock the family foundations to the core.

Jessica Nagoshi, the beautiful heiress to her father's billion-dollar empire, is being groomed, along with her brother Peter, to take control of Nagoshi Inc. That is, until she is brutally murdered in the greenhouse of her father's extensive Wellesley estate. Jessica was in her third year pre-law at the prestigious Deane University and the police enter the hallowed halls of the most expensive college in America to begin their investigation.

Ever since her twin sister returned to the family home, Bianca has felt more lost than ever. For the first time in her life, she's not the only one taking care of her family. But her newfound freedom makes it impossible to stop thinking about Lorenzo. She has loved him since they met beneath a tree between their houses as children, but a long-seated family feud means they can never be together. Determined to distract herself from her heartache, Bianca is delighted when she runs into a childhood friend, Brando, who secures her a job at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Juliet yearns for the ebb and flow of life lived avidly, for the pace and challenge of city living. The conflict between her love of husband and children and her own passionate need for expression is intensified by her move from small-town Canada to Southern India. The stifling restrictions on Juliet's freedom are magnified in the plight of her young widowed neighbour. The beautiful Yashoda longs to embrace the Western values that would release her from the strictures of Indian tradition.

Fran hates Ash Mountain, and she thought she’d escaped. But her father is ill and needs care. Her relationship is over and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway. She returns to her hometown to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer.

Marnie is 63 and downwardly mobile. Her middle-class marriage is long gone, her only child more or less estranged. She's living in a granny flat behind a stranger's house. Still, things could be worse. She likes her new boss, Trinh, and her flat has a leadlight window depicting a galleon in full sail. Also, her daughter Lenny has just brought Marnie's adored grandchildren to stay. She's also brought her repellent boyfriend and raging drug habit, so nothing new there. But this time it's different. This time Marnie can see with absolute clarity the danger the children are in.

For nearly five years I have wanted to write something about the surrealist painter Emil Bafdescu: about his paintings, one of which hangs in a little restaurant in Melbourne, and about his disappearance, which is still a mystery. But this is probably not going to be the book I imagined. Nothing has quite worked out the way I planned.

Gwen is known as someone who listens well and solves problems. Clients pay for her counsel as they sit in the purple chair and untangle their emotions and stories. Word of mouth keeps people coming to her door. But who listens to Gwen? Who helps solve her own problems? As she supports clients to heal, her own life swirls in pain. She is sliding further down. Will she ever learn to take her own advice and who will catch her if she doesn’t?

Rocks in the Belly is about a precocious eight-year-old boy and the volatile adult he becomes. During childhood his mother fosters boys, despite the jealous turmoil it arouses in her son. Jealousy that reaches unmanageable proportions when she fosters Robert, an amiable child she can’t help bonding with. Until the bond triggers an event that profoundly changes everyone.

My sister – the glue that held our family together and the gatekeeper to the memories of our shared childhood. The girl I made a pact with – to protect each other for life. The woman who destroyed my family, my future. And the only one who can save my daughter.