Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

What is visible to the naked eye has been exhaustively raked over; in Underground London, acclaimed travel writer Stephen Smith provides an alternative guide and history of the capital. It's a journey through the passages and tunnels of the city, the bunkers and tunnels, crypts and shadows. As well as being a contemporary tour of underground London, it's also an exploration through time.

Change and taking risks have never worked out too well for Jess. After losing her beloved grandmother, Jess finds herself suddenly unemployed when the local library closes down, and for the first time in her life, Jess is at a crossroads. Either she stays in the 'nowheresville' town of her upbringing, or could it finally be a chance for her to find her own fresh start?

Charlotte Dean enjoys nothing more than the solitude of her London flat and the monotonous days of her work at a travel bookshop. But when her younger sister unceremoniously bursts into her quiet life one afternoon, Charlotte's world turns topsy-turvy. Beloved author D. E. Stevenson captures the intricacies of post-World War I England with a light, comic touch that perfectly embodies the spirit of the time. Alternatively heartbreaking and witty, The Young Clementina is a touching tale of love, loss and redemption through friendship.

Fiona Fisher lives a quiet and contented existence. A former nurse who married Jason, the doctor of her dreams, she is now a mother to his two daughters and living in the sort of cosy village home she’d always wished for.

Teenager Edie Hudson was nobody’s little darling, which made vanishing all too easy. Two decades later, she’s been forgotten by everyone except her mother, Samantha. And the person who knows what happened to her. Samantha has had a long time to remember, and to regret. Having seen how little her daughter mattered to the community in the months following her disappearance, she wonders if Edie was lost before she was even gone. Or was it guilt, not indifference, that made the locals turn a blind eye? When she meets Frances, she at last starts to hope for answers.

A stranger enters the inner sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family's sizeable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick's mannerisms, appearance and every significant detail of Patrick's early life, up to his thirteenth year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself. It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most incredible deception until old secrets emerge that threaten to jeopardise the imposter's plan and his very life.

Gangster Max Carter and his ex-wife Annie Carter are leading separate lives in separate countries: past hurts and broken promises cannot be resolved. But then a summons to Majorca and a tragic death makes Max question all that has happened to him over many years. He had two brothers - both are now dead. His closest friend has been found hanging from a London bridge. As the police wrestle with a seemingly unsolvable case, Max is forced to revisit his painful past to find answers to a mystery that seems to make no sense at all. Who is targeting his family and why?

After discovering her mother’s secret life, Cara doesn’t have much faith in marriage. So when the love of her life, Simeon, proposes, she struggles to say "I do." She adores him, but why risk the perfect relationship by signing on a dotted line that could ruin everything? If her parents’ marriage taught her anything, it was that a gold ring doesn’t equal happiness, and she has no desire to follow in their dysfunctional footsteps.

Austria, 1938. After years of hardship, Ella is full of hope for a better future for Austrians, and when Hitler marches into Linz, she can’t help but become swept up in the euphoria of her boyfriend, Max. But she soon realises her mistake. When she witnesses a woman being shot in the street and a childhood friend’s Jewish department store is closed down, she knows she must do something. It’s a dangerous time to be a resistor, especially when her fascist boyfriend proposes to her.

The urge to explore and discover is a natural and universal one, and the edge of the unknown is expanded with each passing year as scientific advancements inch us closer and closer to the outer reaches of our solar system and the galaxies beyond them. Generations of writers have explored these new frontiers and the endless possibilities they present in great detail. The Final Frontier delivers stories from across this literary spectrum, a reminder that the universe is far large and brimming with possibilities than we could ever imagine, as hard as we may try.

When I met Malik my life changed in the blink of an eye. We were set up - Chris and Simon called it a blind date - and I suppose they could see that I was lonely, that I needed someone in my life to make it more exciting. And they were right. He was so good to me. He seemed to know exactly what I needed to feel safe and loved again. We’d talk and laugh into the night, and I haven’t had someone on my side since my divorce. But soon the honeymoon period was over. It started with my car’s tyre being slashed and strange calls at the radio station where I work.

Just when he'd fobbed off the last brat, another appeared to take her place! Poor Lord Anselm! The dashing bachelor was forever plagued with dying relatives leaving their female children to his care. Indeed, he had squired so many a silly miss from schoolroom to marriage mart that he had sworn off women altogether. The current ward was far and away the worst. Cheeky as only a French girl could be, Yvonne de la Falaise had surely sent her papa to an early grave with her melodramatics and mischief. Thank goodness for her governess, Patricia Cottingham, so calm, so competent.

Christie Doyle is living the dream: she has a beautiful mansion on the South Downs with an infinity pool and stables, and her husband, Kenny, spoils her rotten. It's her birthday and she is the centre of the most amazing party. And then the bombshell drops. Kenny confesses to an affair and asks for a divorce. Worse is to come when the 'other woman' - Lara, nineteen years old and pregnant with Kenny's child - is found dead. Suspicion falls on Christie and the Doyles' life is ripped apart as the police hunt for evidence.

Care assistant Sophie loves the holidays, and nothing makes her feel more festive than helping 82-year-old resident Bea keep in touch with her old friend Greta. In their Christmas letters, the women update each other on their lives – Bea’s in the quiet residential home in London, Greta’s in the heart of Vienna and the grand Wynter Hotel. But everything changes when Bea passes away before Sophie’s had a chance to post this year’s letter.

The Copper Plough is at the heart of village life for the residents of Heritage Cove, and never more so than at Christmas, when the tree glows in the alcove and the smell of mulled wine carries out onto the street. So when new owners for the beloved pub arrive and decide to shake things up, not everyone welcomes the changes with open arms. Local bakery owner Celeste is ready to keep an open mind. But she’s shocked to discover that one of the new landlords is Quinn, a former Navy sailor with whom she had a short but powerful romance years earlier.

A Duchess, two Countesses, and their families are forced to stop at the Red Lion Inn in Meryton on their way home to one of their estates due to two of the ladies beginning active labor. The same day, Fanny Bennet, with Thomas Bennet away in London, also goes into labor with her second child. When she calls for the midwife and Mr. Jones, she is informed they are both at the inn attending two ladies.

The Ophelia is your typical superyacht: luxurious, owned by a ruthless billionaire and staffed by crew who have just one job: keep the guests happy, whatever it takes. Sasha is the latest hire on a week-long Atlantic crossing, and she fits right in. In fact, she could be mistaken for any of the stewardesses: tall, blonde and model gorgeous. But despite its sleek opulence, the Ophelia isn’t as heavenly as it seems. And when one of the stewardesses is found dead after a night of partying, all eyes turn to Sasha.

Amanda Bonham moved halfway around the world to be with the man she loves. Although expat life in Singapore can be difficult, Edward Bonham is a dream husband and a doting father to his teenage daughter, Josie. But when their maid dies in an apparent suicide—and Amanda discovers the woman was pregnant and hiding a stash of drugs prescribed to Edward—she can’t help but wonder if her perfect husband has a fatal flaw. And if he can’t resist temptation under their own roof, what does he get up to when he travels? Camille Kemble also has questions for Edward.

Here today. Dead tomorrow? Last night I almost died. A fire consumed the hotel room where my best friend, Emily, and I slept. Emily was killed. But I can't afford to cry, to grieve. It was meant to be me. And he'll be coming for my daughter next. The press thinks it was me that died. At best that gives me 24 hours. Twenty-four hours to find Polly and disappear. Twenty-four hours to stay alive.

Tess Alexander lives an enviable life with her husband Charles, at Hollyhocks Cottage in the idyllic Cotswold village of Lower Leaping. Dreaming of their early retirement, Tess’s plans are dashed when Charles shares some devastating news and suddenly she’s left alone with only Barney, her adorable Beagle dog, for company.