Showing results by narrator "Colleen Prendergast" in All Categories

Amanda secludes herself in her bedroom, no longer willing to face the outside world. Gradually she pieces together the story of her life: her brothers have had to abandon her, her mother scarcely talks to her, and the Wacky Man could return any day to burn the house down. Just like he promised. As her family disintegrates, Amanda hopes for a better future, a way out of the violence and fear that have consumed her childhood.

For Once in My Life is the first novel by British magazine columnist and editor Marianne Kavanagh. For years their friends have been telling them that they are ideal for each other, what with George's love for 1940s jazz music and Tess' preoccupation with vintage fashion. But while they almost encounter each other many times, something (a bout of gastro, a close friend's heartbreak, lost contact lenses) always prevents them from actually meeting.

When 15-year-old Skye's mother finally does something so shocking that it can't be hushed up, the police turn her over to the social workers - and that's when the nightmare begins. No one will let her talk to her father; the woman who is supposed to be helping her dumps her in a terrifying 'home' that's more like a jail. But she still has one friend to turn to: the sympathetic girl she's met in an Internet chat room, the one who seems to have a home life as unhappy as Skye's.

Jo Milne was profoundly deaf from birth, when she also began to lose her sight. Just before turning thirty, Jo was diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic and progressive condition that will one day rob her of her sight altogether.

In 2014 she made a life-changing decision to undergo major surgery. She had cochlear implants fitted, allowing her to hear for the first time. Every moment of Jo's days since the operation has become a journey of discovery.

This is how it begins. Lone women terrorised and their helpless families forced to watch - in a sick game where only one player knows the rules. And when those rules change, the new game is Murder. Living with her parents in the dank beach community of Limeburn, ten-year-old Ruby Trick has her own fears. Bullies on the school bus, the forest crowding her house into the sea, and the threat of divorce. Helping her Daddy to catch the killer might be the key to keeping him close. As long as the killer doesn't catch her first...

She was only nine when her world fell apart. The struggle to understand took a lifetime.In 1960s Bristol, Susan's family was like any other with its joys and frustrations, and fierce loyalties. Then tragedy struck and left a legacy that was to last a lifetime.Susan was only nine when her mother died. A year later she was sent away to school. She didn't want to go, and didn't understand why she had to. In her struggle to cope with an uncertain world - a world where nothing seemed to make sense any more....

When Rose sees Joe in an Oxford bar, it is instant infatuation. He is everything that turns her on: a gifted musician with wit and high achiever. In her mind, at least, they are ideally matched. But Joe has no intention of settling down.

What happens when your beloved only daughter's friend turns out to be a destructive cuckoo in the nest? When girlish charm turns to seduction and teenage friendship to manipulation. How can just one teenage girl wreak havoc on a decent, loving household? Envy is a uniquely absorbing novel focusing on two teenage girls. Isabel the charmed, golden daughter of a wealthy, devoted daddy, and Diane, whose bitter, downtrodden mother lives on a rented cottage on Isabel's family's land.

A young Viking girl is swept by a storm on to a desolate English beach. Cruelly orphaned there, Ylva becomes set on revenge, tracking a killer through dangerous hinterland. She wants only the favour of the Norse gods and the comfort of her stories. But when a stranger decides to protect Ylva - seeming to understand her where others cannot - Ylva must decide if her own legend will end in vengeance or forgiveness.

A spellbinding adventure from the best-selling, award-winning author of The Last Wild trilogy. Jewel Hastings doesn't know who she is. But she is about to discover that she is one of the most remarkable people to have ever walked the earth. On the run from school bullies, Jewel tumbles through the door of a mysterious old bookshop and falls headlong into Folio, the world of the imagination. There, she must begin a quest to rescue her missing aunt, helped only by her rude pet hamster Fizz and a malfunctioning copper robot.

Twelve-year-old Art lives in a small village in Scotland. Her mother has always made potions that cure the sick, but now the townspeople say she is a witch. One cloudless night, Art's mother is arrested and taken to England. Art mounts her horse, taking a sword, a tightrope and a herbal recipe book, and begins a journey through wild forests, using nature's signs and symbols to guide her. But will she spot the signs from the omens? Will she reach her mother, before it's too late?

Rabbit is surprised: some of the trees in the valley seem to be flying south for the winter. His friend Bear is sure that trees can't fly. Then there's a loud crunch! from very near by. It sounds like the world's largest rabbit, eating the world's largest carrot. There's a new creature in Rabbit and Bear's valley, and he's trying to change everything. From novelist and playwright Julian Gough and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize Jim Field, this is a tale of friendship, Progress and all kinds of getting muddy.

SPLASH! A mysterious thing lands in Rabbit and Bear's peaceful summer lake. Is it exciting, or terrifying? Is it a tiny fluffy owl, or a huge hungry monster? And has Rabbit finally met a creature with worse habits than himself? Rabbit's sure he can solve this mystery. But when he accidentally turns the best day ever into the worst day ever, he needs Bear's help.... From novelist and playwright Julian Gough and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize Jim Field, this is a tale of friendship, acceptance and what you can do with blueberry poo.

'Peace and quiet,' shouts Rabbit. 'That's all I want.' Owch. He's hurt his own ears again. What with Bear's snoring, and a BANG!BANG!BANG! noise from up in the tree, Rabbit knows that something simply has to be done. But high in the branches, perhaps Bear can show Rabbit how to see the world from a different place....

This is a brilliantly funny story of a rabbit and a bear who discover that things are always better when they're shared with a friend. Bear wakes up early from hibernation. If she can't sleep, then at least she can make a snowman. Rabbit has never made a snowman, but he definitely wants to make one that's better than Bear's. But with an avalanche and a hungry wolf heading his way, Rabbit soon realises that it might be nice to have a friend on his side.

When single mum Ruth has a brief fling with Rob, she's mortified to discover that he lied to her. He lied to her, because he's married. Worse still, he's the husband of Janine, head of the PTA at the primary school where Ruth works as secretary, and when the truth of their fling is discovered, Ruth suddenly has a lot of enemies at the school gates. Threatening texts begin to arrive, rumours abound and the staff room becomes hostile.

Trudy Watts has everything she's ever dreamed of: a job that she loves, a successful boyfriend, and an ultra-modern apartment in one of the most fashionable parts of London. With a long-awaited promotion due to come her way and her wedding just around the corner, Trudy's life is just perfect... That is until catastrophe strikes and her life is turned upside down. She's transferred to Turriff, a remote Scottish town to manage a small, struggling bank branch. Her arrival is traumatic and she wishes she was anywhere but here... Until she sees him, Ethan, the charming pub landlord.

After being orphaned as a child, Mary is taken in by her mother's friend - and ex-prostitute - Nell and raised as her own. But when Nell dies her stepfather takes too much of an interest in Mary, and she is forced to leave home, landing a job as a barmaid. Only Whitelocks is no spit and sawdust pub but a new gin palace in the centre of Leeds. Mary thinks she's landed on her feet. More so when she catches the eye of William Winn, the charming owner of a glamorous new hotel.

While making merry at the York Christmas Book Fair, Kitt Hartley finds herself drawn into a murder mystery with a festive twist. The victim is Leonard Bell, a festival volunteer who suddenly drops dead during his performance of A Christmas Carol. The next day, police identify the cause of death as an unknown toxin. Fearing for his own life, Bell's lab partner Kevin Ripley enlists Kitt's help to track down the killer—before it's too late.

Hidden symbols and a sinister ancient secret buried in downtown Helsinki. An ever-growing string of deaths. When a 10-year-old girl and her mother move in next door to professional killer Daniel, the man begins to have tormenting memories of his stolen childhood. When Daniel's faceless...