Showing results by narrator "Daphne Kouma" in All Categories

The new arrivals are checking in to the Ionian Escape hotel on the sun-soaked island of Kefalonia, and they're all hoping for a complete break from their everyday lives. But some of them are bringing quite a lot of baggage . . .

Renowned gamester and the first to admit that he is entirely void of a romantic disposition, Max Ravenscar regards all eligible females with indifference and unconcern. But when he meets the woman his young cousin Adrian is bent on marrying - the beautiful Deborah Grantham, mistress of her aunt's gaming house - he finds that none of his experience in risk and gambling has prepared him for such a worthy opponent.

After twenty-four years on the throne, it is time for Bersun the Brusque, emperor of Orrun, to bring his reign to an end. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders will compete to replace him. Trained at rival monasteries, each contender is inspired by a sacred animal - Fox, Raven, Tiger, Ox, Bear, Monkey, and Hound. An eighth - the Dragon proxy - will be revealed only once the trials have begun. Eight exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists - the best of the best.

Paris, 1940. Clutching a delicate silver dove-shaped brooch–the last gift from her beloved Otto, with a message of love engraved in the back–Lally flees her home in Paris. With her closest friend by her side, she dodges the Nazi gunfire echoing all around the city streets. But as they become more and more desperate during the darkest days Europe has ever known, one must make a terrible sacrifice for them both to survive…

In a beautiful old apartment block, deep in the backstreets of Paris, secrets are stirring behind every resident’s door. The lonely wife. The party animal. The curtain-twitcher. The secret lover. The watchful caretaker. The unwanted guest. There was a murder here last night. Who holds the key to the mystery of apartment three?

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree. The fig tree witnesses their hushed, happy meetings; their silent, surreptitious departures. The fig tree is there, too, when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, when the teenagers vanish.

On the night when Caitlin and Olivia's parents leave them to go to a dinner party both girls are full of excitement about being old enough to stay home alone. What they don't see is the figure watching them through the open window. Who, after the girls have fallen asleep, will turn the handle of the unlocked back door. When their parents return, they will find Olivia's bed empty. Their eldest daughter gone. Never to return. Until now. But is the woman who claims to be Olivia really all she seems? And is everything Caitlin said she saw that night really the whole truth?

Christmas Eve, 1925. The Honourable Cressida Fawcett is delighted to attend an exclusive ball at London’s glamorous Mayfair Hotel. When she steps out into the moonlit courtyard with her little pug Ruby wrapped in her furs, she is thrilled to see a dashing man propose to her best pal under the swirling snowflakes. But instead of squealing ‘yes’, Dotty lets out a terrified scream… Because floating in the fountain, with her long blonde hair rippling in the ice-cold water, is the body of their dear friend Lady Victoria Beaumont.

While on a walking holiday through the beautiful, deserted hills of Crete, Nicola Ferris stumbles across a critically injured Englishman, guarded by a fierce Greek. Nicola cannot abandon them and so sets off on a perilous search for their lost companion - all the while being pursued by someone who wants to make sure none of them leave the island....

Cressida’s hopes for a relaxing journey are dashed when a gunshot resounds through the carriages. Industrial tycoon Lewis Warriner has been shot dead in his cabin. And as this train has been racing through the countryside, the culprit must be among Cressy’s fellow passengers. Teaming up with Detective Andrews of Scotland Yard, also on his way back to London, they work their way through the suspects. Did Warriner’s mistress, a famous dancer, see his death as her ticket on to the silver screen? Or was it the mysterious man who can’t take his eyes off Lewis’s close companion?

1926, Sussex. The Honourable Cressida Fawcett is delighted to return to her parents’ rambling mansion to introduce them to her pug Ruby’s puppies. But when the pups go running off with Cressida in hot pursuit, they lead her to a bubbling stream – Hell’s Ditch. And the body of Bob the gardener is floating there, his outstretched hand clutching a soggy cheese and pickle sandwich.

Italy, 1943. With war blazing through Europe, nowhere is entirely safe – not even the remote hills of the Tuscan countryside. It's here that Italian partisans, including thousands of women, risk their lives to provide Jewish refugees with an escape route to Switzerland. And it's here, too, that Gianna Conti travels to join the Italian Resistance in the wake of her brother Matteo's death at the hands of German soldiers. While delivering weapons and intelligence for partisans, Gianna meets Tazio Napoli, an American working undercover for the Office of Strategic Services.

When Cressida Fawcett is invited to stay at Penbeagle House on the Cornish coast for a fancy-dress ball, she is looking forward to sipping rum cocktails clad as a pirate, watching the red-sailed boats go by, and relaxing in the sea air with her good friend Dotty. But before they can raise their glasses to toast Cressida’s former flame Lord Canterbury’s engagement, he drops dead in front of the horrified guests.

Paris, 1941: Going against her mother’s orders, spirited Maggie devotes herself to the Resistance. Her life is a whirlwind of forged passports and secret midnight runs, helping Jews escape. Much to her high-society mother’s disapproval, she has fallen in love with Emil, a Jewish Resistance fighter who is wanted by the Nazis.

Munich, 1943. My heart breaks as I watch the smug couple carry the tiny bundle into their sinister black limousine. Carefully I write the baby’s name into my secret notebook. No matter the danger, I will do everything I can to reunite him with his mother… As the darkest shadows of the war spread, nurse Margarete Weiss is sent away to work in a mother and baby home in a beautiful corner of the German countryside.

Cressida Fawcett is heading to the English countryside for a weekend of cocktails and partying at her friend’s glamorous mansion, the location of a recent diamond heist. But just hours after her arrival, Cressida is woken by an almighty scream. Rushing to the landing, she looks down into the great hall to find a trembling maid standing next to the body of Harry, the friendly young chandelier cleaner. Everyone believes Harry’s death was an accident. But as Cressida examines the opulent hall and the beautiful grounds, she thinks something darker is afoot.

Elodie Fray wants to be more like her perfect sister, Ada, the one her parents are actually proud of. When she decided to quit her job and pursue her dream of becoming an author, she thought it would be her time to shine, but a year on nothing has happened. And she's getting desperate. When Elodie makes one small mistake on a drunken night with a friend, things quickly spiral and suddenly everyone believes she has a book deal. Unable to find a way back from her little lie, her perfect dream becomes a perfect nightmare - and desperate times call for desperate measures.

Marisha's life is not going as she expected. With the sleeping plague only a few months away, she's as desperate for money as she is to escape her aunt's torturous marriage prospects. Leaving all that she's known behind, Marisha accepts a job working with the notorious koldunya, Baba Zima in her house that glides on chicken feet through the snow. But Baba Zima is renowned for being both clever and cruel. And most difficult of all is her current apprentice, Olena, who wants nothing to do with Marisha.

Alexandra has the perfect life: a successful business, a loving husband, and two beautiful children. But twenty years ago, she witnessed something she was never meant to see. When she finds a perfectly folded origami bird on her kitchen table one morning, she knows someone from her past is after her. Only four people knew her nickname—Birdie—and one of them is dead. She thought she'd buried the past. She thought she was safe. Now she’s forced to confront the night that changed everything.

Gracie Davies is at an all-time low. After a devastating loss, the last thing she needs is a colleague hinting over coffee that it’s time to lose her baby weight. Then her boyfriend betrays her, and her world totally falls apart. Rebuilding her life from scratch–with the support of her free-spirited sister, an unorthodox therapist, and a feisty new friend–Gracie finally begins to get her mojo back. Add in a passionate fling with handsome landscaper Ed, a fairytale encounter with a Hollywood film star and the persistence of her adulterous ex, and life is anything but predictable…