Showing results by narrator "Maya Saroya" in All Categories

Eve, Justin, Susie and Ed have been friends since they were 18. Now in their 30s, the four are still as close as ever, Thursday pub quiz night is still sacred and Eve is still secretly in love with Ed. Maybe Eve should have moved on by now, but she can’t stop thinking about what could have been. And she knows Ed sometimes thinks about it, too. Then one night, in an instant, all their lives change forever. And, as Eve learns she didn’t know her friends as well as she thought, she also discovers she isn’t the only person keeping secrets.

As India celebrates the arrival of a momentous new decade, Inspector Persis Wadia stands vigil in the basement of Malabar House, home to the city's most unwanted unit of police officers. Six months after joining the force she remains India's first female police detective, mistrusted, sidelined and now consigned to the midnight shift. And so, when the phone rings to report the murder of prominent English diplomat Sir James Herriot, the country's most sensational case falls into her lap.

Ovid's sensuous and witty poetry brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation - often as a result of love or lust - where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy.

James Whitby, sentenced to death for the murder of prominent lawyer and former Quit India activist Fareed Mazumdar, is less than two weeks from a date with the gallows. In a last-ditch attempt to save his son, Whitby's father, arch-colonialist, Charles Whitby, forces a new investigation into the killing. The investigation leads Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where, with the help of Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she uncovers a possible link to a second case.

For more than a century, one of the world's great treasures, a 600-year-old copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy, has been safely housed at Bombay's Asiatic Society. But when it vanishes, together with the man charged with its care, British scholar and war hero John Healy, the case lands on Inspector Persis Wadia's desk. Uncovering a series of complex riddles written in verse, Persis - together with English forensic scientist Archie Blackfinch - is soon on the trail. But then they discover the first body.

Mrs. Sidhu spices up the lives of Berkshire's elite with both her mouth-watering dishes and her sharp detective skills. But when she stirs up trouble among the rich and ruthless, she finds herself an outsider in her own community. Banished to the kitchen by her boss and sentenced to an endless loop of aubergine bhajis, Mrs. Sidhu seizes the opportunity to whip up a new recipe for success – getting a job as a private chef at an exclusive celebrity rehab retreat. But when a therapist is found dead in the quiet village, Mrs Sidhu’s appetite for mystery is rekindled.

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it - and she can't do the job alone. Calling on some of the city's most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side.

The monsoon has started and as Bombay grapples with rain-induced chaos, a new case arrives at Malabar House. A man has been found frozen in the foothills of the Himalayas, near the town of Dehra Dun, his face crushed. The case is handed to the unflappable Inspector Persis Wadia and the man is christened 'The Ice Man' by the national media. Who is he? How long has he been there? Why was he killed?

Ayesha Scott has a perfect life. Home is an art-filled Cornish castle with her stratospherically wealthy titled husband and their beloved daughter. But behind every realised dream lurks an unexploded nightmare and in the course of one day Ayesha discovers that she will be penniless, homeless and powerless unless she can outwit the international mafia, infiltrate the world of high finance and make backstreet deals with the shadiest members of the art world.

A political rally ends in tragedy when Persis kills a lone gunman as he attempts to assassinate India's divisive Home Minister, a man calling for war with neighbouring Pakistan. With the Malabar House team tasked to hunt down his co-conspirators, Persis is given a second case when the burned body of an unidentified white man is found on a Bombay beach. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, lies in a hospital fighting for his life, as all around him the country tears itself apart as a prelude to war...

Theodorus was a dreamer. As a child, he dreamed of aeroplanes, rockets and outer space. When the wild card virus touched him and transformed him into a monstrous snail centaur weighing several tons, his boyhood dreams seemed out of reach, but a Witherspoon is not so easily defeated. Years and decades passed, and Theodorus grew to maturity and came into his fortune...but still his dream endured.

White Roaring is sharpening its fangs after the deadly night that left the city in shambles. The press are dead, the public is calling for justice, vampires are in danger, and amid the turmoil, the Ram announces a celebration. Still reeling from the bloodshed, Arthie Casimir has no time to mourn the death of anyone, let alone her own. She has no time for love, either, even though it had saved her life. As Arthie navigates new emotions and new allies, she must reassemble her scrambled crew and scrape what little they have left to fight one last time.

For Shai, lost and drifting, a visit to her hometown in India’s Northeast offers the possibility of new ways of living. For Evelyn, a Cambridge student, scientific inspiration guides her to the forests of the lower Himalayas and a world she has only read about. For Johann, a German writer, travelling through Italy inspires him to develop groundbreaking ideas that will cement his place in history. And for a young Swede, an unwavering curiosity for earth’s natural wonders takes him on an expedition that will forever alter the way we understand the world around us.

Aleja and her fellow pirates are eager to embark on a new adventure to find the second piece of the missing magical map. But they soon find themselves panicking, bewildered by a series of confusing clues. And time is running out - fast. When she starts experiencing strange visions, Aleja realises that someone is trying to tell her something. But can this new knowledge be trusted? And what will it cost her to find out?

Anita lives in Karachi's biggest slum. Her mother is a maalish wali, paid to massage the tired bones of rich women. But Anita's life will change forever when she meets her elderly neighbour, a man whose shelves of books promise an escape to a different world. On the other side of Karachi lives Monty, whose father owns half the city and expects great things of him. But when a beautiful and rebellious girl joins his school, Monty will find his life going in a very different direction.

Eleven-year-old Gopi has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. When her mother dies, her father enlists her in a quietly brutal training regimen, and the game becomes her world. Slowly, she grows apart from her sisters. Her life is reduced to the sport, guided by its rhythms: the serve, the volley, the drive, the shot and its echo.

Ladybird presents a collection of fun original audio stories written to inspire young children who are just starting big school! The stories in this collection include 'My Teacher Is an Alien', 'World Book Day', 'The Secret Door', 'Oh No', 'The Escapades of the Escaping Hamster' and 'Sick Bay'. This edition is filled with creative and engaging sound effects and is the perfect travel companion for little listeners everywhere. Aimed at children aged four and up, this is perfect for family listening and learning and as development for young minds.

Aleja is a dreamer who longs for a life of magic and adventure. So when a mysterious ship arrives in her Spanish harbour city, crewed by a band of ruthless women, Aleja knows it's sailed right out of a legend. And it wants her. But life aboard the Ship of Shadows is more than even she bargained for. It will take all of Aleja's strength and skill to gain the trust of her fellow pirates - and discover what they are risking everything to find.

Ysolda has unlocked the earth magic, and its powers are rising within her. Could she really find out what it is like to fly, or to control the creatures of the deep? With a rebel princess by her side, she is racing against the fearsome wolf queen. But they're in for a stormy journey across the sea, facing pirates and the elements, and with the future of the whole world at stake.... From the author of The Girl of Ink and Stars, Julia and the Shark and The Mercies, the Geomancer trilogy is a new modern classic for readers young and old.

It’s Christmastime, and searching for magic, Maya finds herself transported back 200 years to the banks of the frozen river Thames. A boy called Eddie shows Maya the bustle of the glittering frost fair, filled with music, sweet stalls and thrilling rides. Is this all a dream, or can Maya bring a piece of the beautiful frost fair home with her after all?