Showing results by narrator "Barbara Barnes" in All Categories

Before: Olivia knows she is lucky. She has a loving husband, Frank, an adorable son, Jake, and a beautiful new home. It couldn’t be more different from her childhood on the outskirts of Whitaker, dirt poor and dreaming of getting out. But at the end of long days with no one to talk to, always feeling like she’s not quite good enough, she starts to wonder if there’s a better life waiting.... After: Everyone in Whitaker knows who Olivia is. She’s the woman who left her family for no-good Dane Miller - and the one who most likely shot him.

Award-winning novelist Vikram Seth is renowned worldwide for his magnum opus A Suitable Boy. But his dazzling debut, though less well-known, is equally innovative, masterly and ambitious. First published in 1986 and inspired by Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, it is written entirely in verse, comprising almost 600 stanzas of rhyming sonnets. This epic poem focusses on the interconnected stories of five young professionals, as they make their way in the 'unfettered city' of San Francisco in the '80s.

When Ellie and her family move to a tiny village in rural Wales, it’s meant to be a new beginning for all of them. They have decided to take over her husband’s family inn, leaving behind their old life and troubles in America.

It’s been two years since Ellie and her family left their lives in America behind and moved to a small Welsh village to run her husband’s family inn. Having fought to save it from disrepair, Ellie is shocked when her sister-in-law, Sarah, breaks the news that the inn is facing financial trouble and might have to close after Christmas, a thought that breaks all their hearts.

Dakota Finch never really recovered from the day her best friend was murdered. Dakota and Flora were best friends – and Dakota has never confessed her own dark secret about what she did that day. Years later, Dakota has become a detective, hiding her broken heart behind a rock-hard shell. When her latest misdemeanour sees her re-assigned back to her small home town, she can’t help but think it could be her chance to finally catch Flora’s killer – a man who’s only ever be known as “the Sugar Man”.

Boy: Novak turns 20 and takes a bus from New York to the end of the line, Flax Hill, Massachusetts. Here she finds Snow, a mild-mannered and deeply cherished girl. Snow displays a certain inscrutability that's simply harmless, until Boy gives birth to Snow's sister, Bird. When Bird is born Boy is forced to re-evaluate the image Snow's family have presented to her, and Boy, Snow, and Bird are broken apart.

My brother was 13 the first time he tried to kill me. These days, Della is a loving wife, a dedicated teacher, a woman trying to do her best. She has put her past far behind her. But she hasn’t forgotten the lessons she learned. It’s just a regular morning when Della welcomes Zoey to her English class. She treats her like any other new student: assigns her a desk, hands out the work. But then she meets Zoey’s cold, calculating eyes and freezes as terrifying memories threaten to overwhelm her.

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are expecting a child...but the skinny, red-haired girl that turns up is not quite what they had in mind. When orphan Anne Shirley first arrives at Green Gables she sets the quiet island community of Nova Scotia talking of little else.

Dr. Leah Wright returned to her childhood home in rural Pennsylvania with her husband to find peace and quiet, start afresh, and raise her six-year-old daughter Emily. But when she gets home one dark winter night, clutching roses in her hand, she finds her daughter huddled under her bed and her husband’s blood all over the floor.... When Detective Luka Jericho is called to investigate, he’s shocked to learn that the killer left a witness behind - the victim’s young daughter.

One month since she lost her husband, Dr Leah Wright knows it’s time to return to her family home. Though the crime scene tape and blood stains are gone, she will never feel safe with her daughter there again. Receiving a call from Detective Luka Jericho to assist with a police investigation is a welcome distraction, until she sees the scene: a wife dead, another family ripped apart. As Leah is the new head of the Crisis Intervention Center, Luka knows she can help him speak to the victim’s traumatized husband, who he suspects might have had something to do with his wife’s death.

In the summer heat at the Craven County Fair in rural Pennsylvania, Dr. Leah Wright is shocked to find a pregnant woman hiding from view and in labor. Leah manages to deliver the baby safely, but the woman won’t reveal her name. She's terrified, running from someone, and days later both she and her newborn son go missing....

In this spellbinding collection, Sara Paretsky showcases her extraordinary talents with 14 short stories, including one new V.I. story and seven other classics featuring the indomitable detective. In 'Miss Bianca' a young girl becomes involved in espionage when she befriends a mouse in a laboratory that is conducting dark experiments. Ten-year-old V.I. Warshawski appears in 'Wildcat', embarking on her very first investigation to save her father.

Bob Dylan is a singular figure defined by a lifetime of creative invention that has helped transform music, literature, pop culture, and even politics. This book provides a lively, accessible look at his art and music as seen by leading rock and pop critics and music scholars. The chapters are carefully integrated so that listeners can take quick dives into specific topics ranging from the Blues to religious faith, civil rights, and American literature.

It’s a normal afternoon when I walk out the patio doors of our kitchen to check on Mia, my stepdaughter, who is swimming in our backyard pool. But she’s gone. My heart stops when I see the back gate is open, her pink, fluffy towel lying folded on a chair. I was just feet away. Why didn’t I hear her scream? Who took our little girl?

The world is never done catching up with Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), the author of Walden, “Civil Disobedience,” and other classics. A prophet of environmentalism and vegetarianism, an abolitionist, and a critic of materialism and technology, Thoreau even seems to have anticipated a world of social distancing in his famous experiment at Walden Pond. In Now Comes Good Sailing, 27 of today’s leading writers offer wide-ranging original pieces exploring how Thoreau has influenced and inspired them.

Modern and diverse, these women of different classes and ages struggle with sexuality, fate, motherhood, infidelity, desperation and an overriding will to survive. We meet Greta, a cookbook editor who is chosen by Tavi, the hottest writer of his generation, to edit his new book. The book becomes a best seller, and Greta is propelled out of her marriage by her own ambition and success.

Prudence Rutledge is terrified. She sits in her isolated New England farmhouse, fearing that her husband is stepping out on her. Seems like Saul has been seen down at the pond, meeting up with a young woman named Ora Brand. Trouble is, Ora Brand has been dead for over a year.

Tess has been determined to get revenge for her father ever since he was falsely accused of misusing company funds and unceremoniously let go from Diamond Enterprises. Applying to be executive assistant to the elusive, elderly head of the company, Mr King, seems the ideal way to get inside the firm and clear her father's name. But the job interview is not what she expects. Arriving at the company HQ, she is escorted to a helicopter, blindfolded and flown to a secret location.

Tess has been determined to get revenge for her father ever since he was falsely accused of misusing company funds and unceremoniously let go from Diamond Enterprises. Applying to be executive assistant to the elusive, elderly head of the company, Mr King, seems the ideal way to get inside the firm and clear her father's name. But the job interview is not what she expects. Arriving at the company HQ, she is escorted to a helicopter, blindfolded and flown to a secret location.

Tess has been determined to get revenge for her father ever since he was falsely accused of misusing company funds and unceremoniously let go from Diamond Enterprises. Applying to be executive assistant to the elusive, elderly head of the company, Mr King, seems the ideal way to get inside the firm and clear her father's name. But the job interview is not what she expects. Arriving at the company HQ, she is escorted to a helicopter, blindfolded and flown to a secret location.