Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Psychological

Nicholas has plenty of reasons to feel unstable: he’s fifteen, the child of divorced parents, living with his absent dad in the bleak Chicago suburbs, and an outsider at school. Then, one day in geometry class, he forgets how to breathe. The doctor says it’s just panic, but Nicholas suspects that his real problem might not be a psychiatric one: maybe the Greek god Pan is trapped inside his body.

Josie Greene has always been a glass half-full kind of girl. But after a messy breakup, she’s broke, betrayed, and barely getting by. Even her trusted tarot cards point to chaos in her future. And they’re right: Axe MacKenzie needs her help. As part of the tech CEO’s latest covert mission, Axe has been developing a simulator to create any user’s “Perfect Match,” and bubbly Josie is the ideal woman to test his product. When the gorgeous, reclusive billionaire makes her an offer—fake date him so he can launch his groundbreaking AI dating app—Josie’s in no position to refuse.

It was a whirlwind romance. And when Drew, caught up in the moment, suggests that he and Poppy don’t tell each other anything about their past lives, that they live only for the here and now, for the future they are building together, Poppy jumps at the chance for a fresh start. But it doesn’t take long for Poppy to see that this is a two-way deal. Drew is hiding something from her. And Poppy suddenly has no idea who the man she has married really is, what he is hiding from her or what he might be capable of.

Nadine Walsh is determined to make her summer garden party the event of the year. Everyone deserves a celebration after the year they've had. A chance to forget. As she prepares to welcome her guests, however, Nadine can't help but be distracted. Her husband is of little help to her. Her two grown children are consumed with their own concerns. But it's Nadine's own secrets that threaten to destroy her perfect party. By the end of the night, Nadine will be standing over a dead body in the basement. But which of her guests will she have murdered? And why?

Rhianne's art degree at one of the best schools in London is cut short by the predatory attentions of a tutor, who destroys her confidence in the most insidious way. She retreats home to the west country, where, with the support of her dad Dominic and step-mum Melissa, she takes a job at a small hotel while she tries to figure out what next. That turns out to be a relationship with a charismatic young chef named Callum, which starts in the adrenalin-fuelled buzz of the kitchen and soon becomes much darker.

In their remote Viking settlement, Folkví and her brother, Áslakr, have always been close—unnaturally close. They’ve grown more intimate still as Folkví learns her shaman mother’s craft, as men regard her with newly devouring eyes. Then illness carries off their parents, and the nest of home is shattered. Áslakr sets off on his first expedition, abandoning Folkví to the dark of an endless winter. When he returns, he’s done the unthinkable: He’s found someone else to love.

Madame Bovary is at once an unsparing depiction of a woman's gradual corruption and a savagely ironic study of human shallowness and stupidity. Neither Emma, nor her lovers, nor Homais, the man of science, escapes the author's searing castigation, and it is the book's final profound irony that only Charles, Emmaï¿¿ï¿¿ï¿¿s oxlike, eternally deceived husband, emerges with a measure of human grace through his stubborn and selfless love.

My name is Sara Eden. My name is Sara Eden. My name is Sara Eden. My name is Sara Eden. This is all Sara Eden knows about herself. She was found at the age of 10, abandoned in a vat of water - a homemade sensory-deprivation chamber. Someone had placed her there - trapped for days in the dark, with only a cassette player taped to her head repeating again and again, 'My name is Sara Eden'. There were a handful clues: a battered cassette player, a cheap necklace, a few scraps of paper. And a Polaroid of a stranger with a handwritten note: 'Don't trust this man'.

It is the 1990s, and Gloria is living in a London psychiatric ward. She is unapologetically loud, audacious and eternally on the brink of bursting into song. After several months of uninterrupted routine, she is joined by another young Black woman - Merle - who is full of silences and fear. Unable to confide in their doctors, they agree to journal their pasts. Whispered into tape recorders and scrawled ferociously at night, the remarkable stories of their lives are revealed.

From the moment Ava Carson and her ten-year-old son, Toussaint, arrive at the Glenn Avenue family shelter in Philadelphia in 1985, Ava is already plotting a way out. Estranged from her own mother, Dutchess, and their home in Bonaparte, Alabama, Ava is determined to give her son the chance of a better life. But when Toussaint’s father, Cass, reappears, Ava is swept off course by his charisma and his bold vision for racial justice. As Ava becomes more enmeshed with Cass and the radical group he has created, Toussaint begins to sense the danger and threat of violence simmering all around him.

Nicki - 30ish, care worker living in Brighton - is scrolling for her next hook up. A difficult home life, a job that's going nowhere, she seeks solace in random encounters. Amber - 17, college student, lost - desperately needs someone to notice her. She creates 'Kevin', a fake dating profile for a man in his thirties. Neither Nicki nor 'Kevin' has any idea what they're about to get into. They quickly match, and an unlikely friendship develops, giving each other the validation both sorely need. But can you ever truly connect when one of you is a liar?

On the banks of the North Santee River stands a moss-draped oak that was once entrusted with the dreams of three young girls. Into the tree's trunk they placed their greatest hopes, written on ribbons, for safekeeping - including the most important one: friends forever, come what may. But life can waylay the best of intentions....

In the wake of a painful breakup and struggling to prove herself at work, Julia feels adrift. When Bryce blows into her life, he seems like the perfect anchor. Handsome, charming, secure, and confident, Bryce brings out the best in Julia, sweeping her off her feet with attention and affection while grounding her with his certainty and faith. But this is no fairy tale. Step by step, one small concession leading to another, Julia is slowly isolated from her job, her friends, and her family, until she comes to find that her dream come true is a cage. Then one day everything changes....

After a chaotic childhood, Grace Vermuyden is determined her own daughters will fulfil the dreams denied to her. Lilly is everyone's golden girl, the popular, clever daughter she never had to worry about. So when she mysteriously collapses in class, Grace's carefully ordered world begins to unravel. Dark rumours swirl around their tight-knit community on the edge of the Fens as everyone comes up with their own theories about what happened. Consumed with paranoia, and faced with increasing evidence that Lilly has been leading a secret life, Grace starts to search for clues.

With her eagerly awaited second novel, Tawni O'Dell takes readers back to the coal-mining country of western Pennsylvania. Set in a town ravaged and haunted by a mine explosion that took the lives of 96 men, Coal Run explores the life of local deputy and erstwhile football legend, "The Great Ivan Z.", as he prepares for a former teammate's imminent release from prison.

A body is found hanging on a hook above the canals of Amsterdam's old town. In a remote coastal village, a doll lies in the ashes of a burnt down house. But the couple who died in the blaze were childless. Did a little girl escape the blaze? And if so, who is she and where is she now? Inspector Jaap Rykel knows that he must halt a clever and brutal murderer. And the investigation reveals two dark truths: Everybody in this city harbours secrets - and hearing those secrets comes at a terrible price...

Sixteen years ago, at an elite boarding school secluded in the English countryside, best friends Nancy, Georgia and Lila did something unspeakable. Their secret forged an unbreakable bond between them, a bond of silence. But now, in their 30s, one of them wants to talk. One word and everything could be ruined: their lives, their careers, their relationships. It's up to Georgia to call a crisis dinner. She knows there's nothing that can't be resolved by three courses in her immaculate kitchen. But the evening does not go as planned. Three women walk in to the dinner, but only two will leave.

In traditional fairytales the handsome prince rescues the beautiful princess from her wicked stepmother, and the couple live happily ever after. But in Ruth Rendell's dark and damaged contemporary universe, innocent dreams can turn into the most terrible nightmares.

Jenny has just given birth to the baby she’s always wanted. She’s never been this happy. Her husband, Leo, knows this baby girl can’t be his. He’s never felt so betrayed. The same night, a vulnerable young woman, Hannah, wakes to find her newborn lifeless beside her. She’s crazed with grief. When chance throws Hannah into Leo’s path, they make a plan that will have shattering consequences for all of them. Years later, a 16-year-old girl reads an article in a newspaper and embarks on a journey to uncover the truth about herself.

An apparently happy marriage. A beautiful son. A lovely home. So what makes Emily Coleman wake up one morning and walk right out of her life? How will she survive? And what is the date that looms, threatening to force her to confront her past? No-one has ever guessed her secret. Will you?Tina Seskis's One Step Too Far is an absolutely unputdownable story of secrets and heartbreak.