Showing results by narrator "Fran Burgoyne" in All Categories

Ordshaw’s not like other cities. But don’t tell them you know that. Pax is one rent cheque and six days away from the rough streets of Ordshaw. A big poker score should’ve settled that - if a vagrant hadn’t mugged her and been promptly abducted by spooks. She’s got connections with the Ordshaw underworld who know how to track people down. But all Pax finds is otherworldly technology and a book of fiercely imagined monsters.

When Nadia and Tom are both unceremoniously stood up by their dates under the clock at Waterloo Station, fate throws them together in the most unusual of circumstances. What starts as a brilliant story for future dinner parties soon turns into a wonderful friendship, and both Tom and Nadia realise they’ve found the perfect partner in crime. Tired of dating but always needing a plus one for weddings, parties, and the like, they agree to fake date each other.

Merrick Darling's life is better than most. As the daughter of a powerful lord, she wants for nothing - yet she will never inherit her family's Manor. Her only options are a smart marriage, or to live at the kindness of her practical and regimented elder sister, Essie. Until the day her father dies in mysterious circumstances, and Merrick is torn from her glamorous New London society life to Norland House, her family's mist-shrouded ancestral home.

When 26-year-old Daisy's life in London comes crashing down around her, the only thing she can think of is getting away - far away. That's how she found herself stumbling off a train in England's picturesque Peak District - 150 miles from home, with no idea why she'd gone there and even less idea how she intended to get home.

In a near future where a series of environmental disasters has left much of the country underwater, Pearl lives on a floating oyster farm with her father and younger sister Clover. Following her mum's death several years earlier, Pearl refuses to set foot on land, believing her illness was caused by the poisons in the ground. Meanwhile, Clover dreams of a normal life. Then Nat comes to spend the summer at the sea farm while his scientist mum conducts some experiments. But when the sisters promise to keep his secret safe, little do they realize that they may be risking everything.

When Scottie realises that she may never become a mother, she makes the heart-breaking decision to flee to the remote North Atlantic archipelago of St Hia. Lashed by storms and far from the mainland, the islands are dangerous. Many have been lost to the ferocious tides known as the Hollow Sea—and local folklore warns that St Hia was once the home of a witch. Her name was Thordis, and when she was unable to provide her husband with a child, she was driven to a terrible act.

Cassie Holliday is at the top of her game. A glamorous wife and mother with 1.3 million Instagram followers, she posts images of her gorgeous husband and cute (gender-neutral) twins online every day. To her adoring fanbase, Cassie's life is a string of perfect experiences in Valencia filter. But in real life, you can't airbrush the truth. Cassie's marriage is at breaking point, her finances are precarious and she is terrified of every Insta-star's worst nightmare: becoming irrelevant.

Callum Roberts and Alice McClaren have spent two wonderful years building a life and a home and making plans for a future together. But when Alice is involved in a car crash, Callum fears that he has lost her forever. As he sits by her bedside he promises he’ll do anything if only she’ll open her eyes… But when Alice does finally wake up, she has absolutely no memory of being in love with Callum or the life they once shared. In fact, all she remembers about him is how incredibly annoying he once was! How can she have forgotten him if she really did love him so deeply?

A young man is found brutally murdered in the middle of the snowed-in village of Wivenhoe. Over his body stands another man, axe in hand. The gathered villagers must deal with the consequences of an act that no one tried to stop. Wivenhoe is set in an alternate present, in a world that is slowly waking up to the fact that it is living through an environmental disaster. Taking place over twenty-four hours and told through the voices of a mother and her adult son, we see how one small community reacts to social breakdown and isolation.

It isn't unusual for crop circles to appear overnight on Hackpen Hill. In this part of Wiltshire, where golden wheat fields stretch for miles, the locals have gotten used to discovering strange mathematical patterns stamped into the earth. But this time, it's different. Not only because this particular design of dramatic spiralling hexagons has never been seen before. But because of the dead body positioned precisely in the centre of the circle. DI Silas Hart, of Swindon Police, is at a loss.

It's that week between Christmas and New Year, and sisters Kate and Selena, and their friend Paisley, are meeting for an all-girls mini-break - no men allowed. But Affie, Carlos and Joseph have a similar idea, involving a sports channel, plenty of beer, and absolutely no women. Somehow, there's been a double booking. Can the six of them find a way to navigate nearly a week together? Can the past be left behind and a new future found?

It's 1972 and ten-year-old Deborah is living a ten-year-old life: butterscotch angel delight and Raleigh chopper bikes, and Clunk Click, and Crackajack and Jackanory, Layla and the Bee Gees, flares and ponchos. But new girl Sarah-Jayne breezes into school, pretty as a picture and full of gossip and speculation, as well as unlikely but thrilling stories about levitation. The other girls are dazzled but Deborah is wary and keeps her distance.

With perpetually absent parents, the Stone sisters pretty much raised themselves and left their family home as soon as they could. But when they receive a surprise inheritance and find themselves the joint owners of their home, they are about to have a reunion they'll never forget.

Euphemia Fortescue fled an arranged marriage, and suffered the whims and trials of false friends and twisted lords. But as Harcourt Sinclair's housemaid, she found peace and purpose. Harcourt Sinclair has been planning his revenge for 20 years against those peers of society who stole everything from him. But his single-mindedness will cost him, unless he can learn to trust his least expected savior...

Pax is discovering that the smallest mistakes can have the deadliest impact. To protect her city, she's uncovered monstrous truths and involved terrible people. The consequences are coming for her. The Sunken City is unstable. The Fae are armed for war. Can Pax stop the coming disaster?

When spirited 10-year-old Pearl searches for magic and answers after her mother’s presumed drowning, she finds a strange boy named Hake, instead. Raised cruelly by a monster called the Old One, 11-year-old Hake possesses otherworldly powers and has the knowledge Pearl seeks. In exchange for a home, Hake agrees to show her magic. But Hake knows nothing of magic - only that Pearl’s romantic stories of the Deep Dwellers are a lie.

Waking on an unfamiliar floor, Pax is faced with two hard truths. A murderous government agency wants her dead - and monsters really do exist. What’s more, her body’s going haywire, which she desperately hopes isn’t a side-effect of her encounters in the city’s tunnels. To survive, and protect Ordshaw, she’s got to expose who, or what, is behind the chaos - and she can’t do it alone. But with only the trigger-happy Fae to turn to, Pax’s allies might kill her before her enemies do....

When sisters Lily and Della Pedley are persecuted for the shocking murder of their parents, they flee from their home in Cornwall to a remote and unnamed island in Scotland - an island known for its strange happenings, but far away from the whispers and prying eyes of strangers. Lily is terrified of what her sister might do next, and she soon realises that they have arrived at a place where nothing is as it seems.

Monica was on the corporate ladder striving to be a high-flying executive, but when the misogynistic bullying from the privileged pale stale males becomes too much she snaps and quits on the spot. At her lowest ebb, a chance remark from her charming slacker brother Paddy identifies a business opportunity – she becomes a pet-sitter! She’s enthusiastic, she loves animals, and she’s got the management skills: it’s bound to be a success, isn’t it? Monica quickly finds dealing with her team of misfits as easy as herding kittens.

Dogs really are man's best friend - and we can prove it! In this uplifting collection, listeners will discover the incredible true stories of talented, brave, and daring dogs whose exploits have made them world-famous. These tales of canine courage, loyalty and intelligence will warm any dog-lovers heart. Over 30 stories are included, brought to life by narrator Fran Burgoyne. Find out all about...