Showing results by narrator "Clare Corbett" in All Categories

'I started to write short pieces when I was living in a room too small to write a novel in.' So says Angela Carter of this collection, written during a period living in Toyko. These exotic, sensuous stories represent Carter's first major achievement in the short story form. Lush imaginary forests, a murderous puppet show and an expressionistic vision of Japan: each one instantly conjures an atmosphere, dark and luminous in turn, and from the recognisably daring imagination of one of the great 20th-century stylists.

When her grandma goes into a retirement home, Scarlet must sort through her belongings in the cramped flat above a shop in London. Here Scarlet comes across a real treasure: a novel that Gran wrote, about the life of a girl just like Scarlet, who lived in the flat and worked in a cake shop downstairs. But as Scarlet reads about Ruby's life in Victorian London, she realises this is not a piece of fiction - Ruby was real, facing real danger and a mystery that unravels to the present day.

You can control want, but desire controls you. When literary writer Anna falls on hard times, she tries her hand at erotic fiction to make money, and faces an uncomfortable truth. Though she's a wife and mother of two, her stories fail to fly because she's never experienced true sexual desire. Even her Sicilian grandmother - wearer of diamante sunglasses and knock-off Louis Vuitton - knows more than she does about real passion. Anna turns to her friends for inspiration. As secrets and desires are revealed, she discovers more about the people close to her than she ever knew.

Whatever happened to British protest? For a nation that brought the world Chartism, the Suffragettes, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and so many other grassroots social movements, Britain rarely celebrates its long, great tradition of people power. In this timely and evocative collection, 20 authors have assembled to reimagine key moments of British protest, from the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 to the anti-Iraq War demo of 2003.

A woman's body is discovered on a Cornish farm, battered and left for dead in a maize field. Airlifted to hospital, her life hanging in the balance, no one's sure who she is. Three days later she comes round, but her memory is damaged. She knows her name - Evie - but no more, until she remembers another name: Angel - her three-year-old daughter. As the police circulate Evie's photo, someone recognizes her. Charlotte knew her years ago at school, when another child went missing: Leah Danning, who vanished whilst in Evie's care.

A fresh, witty, accessible life of Queen Victoria. Not since Lytton Strachey has the irony, contradictions and influence of this Queen been treated with such flourish or biographical insight. Reigning over a lifetime, Queen Victoria embodied the spirit of the contradictory era to which she lent her name.

After years of IVF, Olivia and Dan are blissfully happy at the arrival of their long dreamed-of twins. At the same time, they make the move to Renniston Hall, a huge, Elizabethan house that belongs to absent friends. Living rent-free in a small part of the unmodernised house, once a boarding school, they can begin to enjoy the family life they've always wanted. But there is a secret at the heart of their family — one that Olivia does not yet know. And the house, too, holds darkness deep within it.

A serial killer is targeting paedophiles in Birmingham, and crime reporter Matt Snow always gets there first - ahead of the pack and the police. Is the murderer tipping him off? Snow isn't revealing his source - not when it's a story to die for. But is the reporter breaking the news - or making it? Through it all, Bev Morriss has an exclusive of her own...a news item she'd rather didn't get round the nick. The guv knows, but he's on sick leave. Should she let DC Mac Tyler in on the secret - or keep mum?

Sometimes something happens in your life that changes everything. When Sasha was six, her dad died suddenly, and the world changed forever. Now she’s 12, it feels like things are changing all the time: her twin brother hardly talks to her any more, her mum’s dating a teacher from school, her best friend Lily keeps going on about boys...and Sasha doesn’t feel ready for any of it. The one place she can escape to is Blossom House, her secret place - an old, echoey, overgrown, beautiful, empty mansion.

A Bev Morriss crime novel. A good police officer doesn't get emotional, but some cases just make you want to cry.... Taken off a high-profile rape investigation to lead the hunt for a missing baby, Detective Sergeant Bev Morriss is torn professionally and personally. When the baby-snatching turns into something more sinister, it forces Bev to face uncomfortable feelings of her own, and when she takes her eye off the ball for a split second, she finds herself in serious trouble.

The Snow Queen is one of Andersen's most affecting stories. Little Kay is enticed away from his home by the Snow Queen who traps him in her palace in the cold far north. His loyal friend Gerda goes on a long and dangerous journey, overcoming many obstacles to rescue him. With this classic children's story are other entertaining and moving tales from the imagination of Hans Christian - the story of a cunning frog, an old house and a snowman who is unaware of the effects of the coming spring.

A tense and chilling quick listen from the queen of psychological suspense. You wake up in a strange room, with no idea how you got there. You are abroad, in a city you have never visited before. You have no money, no passport, no phone. And there is no sign of your baby. What do you do?

Meet feisty Hannah and rebel-boy Jit, posh girly Grace, sporty Imtiaz, model student Suky, and last but not least, Dean - the "rapper MC". Together they take on the daily trials of Devana High School and win. Well, sometimes... Dean is giving Grace earache. He's forever moaning about being last in the lunch queue - like it's her fault! Still, Dean's got a point. Nobody likes soggy sarnies and concrete chips...and he's got a plan, too. If they can pull it off, Dean and Grace are on first lunch for the rest of their sweet school lives!

Emily loves to skate and when she is whisked away to a magical ice-skating school she can’t believe her luck. But some of the girls aren’t very friendly. Can Emily be brave and skate her way to happiness – and win the prized pair of wonderful white skates?.... All the girls at ice-skating school want to be the best skater and win the pair of dazzling violet skates. But when they have to perform in pairs, problems begin.

This BBC Radio full-cast drama tells a story of love and deception set during the Cold War. Throughout the period of the Cold War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, 'romeo spies' were operating, targeting bright and susceptible young women. Alice Reeves, a young secretary from London, unwittingly becomes romantically involved with Otto Hanhart - an East German spy. The encounter leads to unexpected consequences for all parties, changing their lives forever.

I thought Tiffany should know that she has a half-sister. She's Angel Summer - the famous model. 'With these few words from the mother who gave her away, aspiring stylist and pizza waitress Tiffany Taylor's life is turned upside down. As soon as they meet, Angel and Tiff feel as if they've known each other for years, and before she knows it, Tiffany is working as a stylist on Angel's TV makeover programme, and going out with Raul, a Brazilian racing driver who has all the girls weak with lust.

Swallowing Grandma traces the struggles of 18-year-old Katherine as she attempts to break free from her demanding grandmother and discover the truth about her dead father and absent mother.

Anna is a married teacher in her 40s. Her one regret in life is that she doesn't have any children. When 15-year-old Kali arrives in her form, Anna feels a connection with her at once. But it soon becomes clear that Kali doesn't feel the same way.

Some love stories never end. Sophie Brady is funny, beautiful, a force of nature. One January evening she kisses her adored husband and young son goodbye, closes the door of number 33. At 10 PM she's with her best friend Jenny in Soho, polishing off a second bottle of wine. By midnight, she's dead. Except she doesn't feel dead. And she isn't going anywhere until she helps Ollie find love again.

Naxos AudioBooks presents the history of the Plantaganets as seen through the eyes of Shakespeare. These easy-to-understand introductions feature key speeches and scenes from the plays themselves, and are very accessible for children approaching Shakespeare for the first time, as well as being an invaluable aid to the history of the Plantaganets, from Richard II to Richard III. This set covers Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3, and Richard III.