Showing results by narrator "Amelia Sciandra" in All Categories

The extraordinary memoir of a childhood spent in the 'Children of God' cult. Rebel tells the story of Faith, a woman who grew up in the Children of God cult (known latterly as The Family). Now in her 40s with two teenage children of her own, Faith's first-person narrative alternates between her childhood adventures and traumas within the cult and her post-cult life following her escape at the age of 19.

My sister Eviana has it all—a wonderful husband, a beautiful home and a successful career. Then one day, she disappears into thin air. Scratching beneath the surface of her picture-perfect life, I discover that everything isn’t quite as wonderful as it seems. Eviana was receiving threatening messages. She was hiding something.

Berlin, 1944. ‘No! Not my child!’ Annaliese screams, her voice breaking as she pounds the window uselessly. But no-one looks up as the man in the SS uniform cradles her precious baby and strides away. She lies unmoving on the threadbare cot, her throat hoarse from long hours of screaming but her tears keep falling. Her heart has been cleaved in two, now the Nazis have taken the only thing she has left–her child. She is utterly powerless against them. But as Annaliese cries herself to sleep, she makes a vow—she will find her precious baby again. Whatever it takes.

Old secrets emerge, tempers flare. And so we parents decide to leave the beach, telling the teenagers to enjoy themselves, reassuring them someone will be back to collect them in an hour or two. But when I return later, I know something is really wrong. Our teens are slurring their words, stumbling to the car. It’s clear they have been drinking, and I’m shocked. I never expected our kids to behave this way. I’m bracing myself to have firm words with them in the morning, but the next day my concerns fade to nothing when 17-year-old Bella claims my son Finn assaulted her.

Charlotte: Since my husband Lawrence died it’s just me and our sweet baby girl Jordan. It’s so hard raising her alone. Then Sophie shows up at my door. She says she is Lawrence’s sister… and she seems like a blessing in disguise. But with her in my house, looking through my things, it’s going to be difficult to keep the secrets about my marriage hidden...

The sun is rising on another brutally cold winter’s day in Coyote Cove when Chief Maggie Riley finds an unmarked envelope on the steps of the police station. Inside is a photo of a teenage girl, bound and bruised. Maggie’s heart constricts at the terror evident in her tear-filled eyes. Who is she? What has happened to her? And most importantly, can Maggie find her, before it’s too late?

Twenty years ago, my best friend, Bailey, was found dead by the train tracks, half of our friendship locket missing from her pale neck. She never took that off. Officially, it was ruled a tragic accident–but I knew better. She’d been crowned prom queen only hours earlier, and someone’s jealousy had finally gotten to them.

By the time I realized the truth about Daniel, it was too late. But the truth about me? He never saw that coming.... Dr. Daniel Ashcroft was perfect: handsome, romantic, protective. I thought I was so lucky. But then I heard the rumors about his previous girlfriend, that she had vanished without a trace. That’s when I found the cameras in my apartment. I was trapped. Daniel made it clear I couldn’t leave him, not without risking everyone I loved. I had to disappear, so I arranged my own kidnapping. I should have known Daniel would never let me get away that easily.

We were the perfect family once. Shep, my handsome husband. My darling little boy… and our tiny baby girl. The night she died I lost everything. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would never, ever have hurt her. I was trying to save her. But nobody believed me. So, I can only watch through the rain-streaked window as Shep’s new girlfriend plays mother to my son. Hugs him, holds him. Does he even remember me? Now I am finally out of the hospital, I will make sure everyone knows what really happened. I will get my son back. The doctors might say my nightmares are dangerous…

Tracy and Malcolm Cowan have everything they ever wanted. Their world revolves around their beautiful little boy Finn, with his father's pale blue eyes and mother’s blonde hair. Tracy never has to think about the darkness in her past. The things she’s never told her husband.

No matter what life throws at me, I have always been able to depend on my best friend Rachel. In nineteen years of friendship, we’ve never argued or fallen out. So, I’m wracked by guilt over my decision to keep her daughter Chloe’s pregnancy a secret. I don’t want to break Chloe’s trust but, if I don’t say anything, it could destroy my relationship with Rachel. I hoped Chloe would find the confidence to tell her mom, but days have passed, and the guilt is eating me alive. As much as I want to support Chloe, I don’t know how much longer l can lie to my best friend.

It’s been twenty years since Leigh found the murdered body of her twelve-year-old brother, Troy. Her father was arrested for the crime, but she never accepted that he did it. Her hunt for the real killer almost cost her everything. Now working for the FBI, Leigh is called back to New Hampshire when a series of copycat crimes are committed. Only the killer has left a very specific calling card, a plastic army figurine, the same as the one she found on Troy’s body, and carved into its base: Leigh’s name.

When the body of twenty-one-year-old Alice Dietz is found in the courtyard of her alma mater, FBI agent Leigh Brody feels as though a nightmare has come to life. Eighteen years ago, another girl was killed in the same way as Alice. And Leigh gave a false alibi to protect the man she loved from murder charges. She believed his claim of innocence, until he vanished from her life… Has he resurfaced after all these years? Haunted by the mistakes of her past, Leigh is determined to uncover the truth.

Amid the desolate wilderness of the Great Plains of Nebraska, a region so isolated you could drive for hours without seeing another human being, sits Hatchery House. Having served as a church, an asylum and an orphanage, Hatchery is now a treatment facility for orphaned or abandoned children with psychiatric disorders. Haunted by patients past and present, only the most vulnerable find a home within its walls. Dr Lorelei 'Lore' Webber, a former FBI psychiatrist, has almost grown used to the unorthodox methods used at Hatchery House.

FBI criminologist Leigh Brody arrives at her friend Elyse’s beachfront Alabama vacation home and walks straight into a crime scene. Blood spatters the floor, and Elyse’s worried husband and reserved teenage daughter have no idea where she is. Her boss orders her not to get involved, but Leigh is determined to find her friend. She’s trying to understand reports of Elyse’s erratic recent behavior when the body of a fifteen-year-old girl is found on the nearby boardwalk. And the case takes a chilling turn when another girl goes missing.