Showing results by narrator "Gemma Lawrence" in All Categories

Brought to you by Penguin. A brand new saga from the author of A Christmas Miracle on Sanctuary Lane! Richmond, Surrey, 1940. Overhead, the Battle of Britain rages. Below, at the Poppy Factory, disabled WWI veterans assemble remembrance wreaths while working on a secret wartime project...

Violet Veil is ready for her next big case, and with trouble afoot at the Grecian Theatre, Violet and her dog, Bones, are hot on the trail. But just who is the mysterious fortune-teller, Lady Athena, whose predictions keep coming true? Is it all just a case of smoke and mirrors? Or is there something more sinister going on? 

North Atlantic Ocean, 1942. Fifteen-year-old Connie is leaving war-torn England for the safer shores of America, looking after a nine-year old orphan boy with sad blue eyes. But the ocean is rife with Nazi vessels. And when their boat is torpedoed, in the fear and chaos Connie can’t stop thinking about handsome Jack, who stayed behind in London. Will the orphans survive, and will Connie ever be reunited with her first love? Back in London, 16-year-old Jack desperately misses Connie, his brave, kind friend, after their tearful goodbye when her ship set sail.

London, 1941. The war has robbed eight-year-old orphan Elsie of everything except her older brother Jack. Evacuated together, they escaped a cruel farming family only to find their home destroyed, their mother gone. Elsie hasn’t spoken since. Wandering under the falling ash, their stomachs twist with hunger and Jack knows he cannot protect Elsie alone. But everything changes when they join a rag-tag band of orphans, runaway evacuees who’ve returned to the city just like them.

All it takes is one message for Gemma’s life to fall apart. A confirmation of all she’s feared these last few months. Jack was supposed to be preparing for their new start in Australia, building their home, building their life together. And now this. Gone. Without a trace. Leaving their perfect world – all that their two-year-old daughter, Poppy, knows – shattered. Crystal comes into Gemma’s life at the opportune moment. This new friend, who’s been through it before, who knows how it feels for all of your hopes and dreams to suddenly implode, who wants to help, who will do anything…

In this candid and inspiring yet highly practical book, Emma sets out the crucial roadmap for overcoming the quarter-life crisis. 72 percent of millennials want to change career completely. Every Sunday night we dread Monday morning and try to cover it up with Netflix binges and office beanbags. It doesn't have to be that way. If you're feeling trapped in your job, The Radical Sabbatical offers a way to rethink your career and figure out what is right for you.

Meet Suzie Callaghan: French teacher, newly single, newly heartbroken. After an awful break-up, she heads to Mallorca for a much-needed holiday with her cousins, expecting sun, sangria, and siestas. She isn’t expecting to fall in love–especially not with the handsome Spaniard who rescues her when she gets separated from her group during an ill-judged midnight skinny dip. But what starts as a steamy holiday romance built on white lies and mistaken identities turns into something more complicated when “Carlos” shows up at the school she works at.

Lily Baker wants more from life. Working at the local cinema, she saves her pennies so she can have a chance to get ahead. After she’s attacked one night while locking up the cinema, she loses her heart to her dashing rescuer…But this lovely man is as different from her as can be. When the town is divided, pitting the wealthy elite against the poor working class folk like Lily, she finds her allegiance is torn.

The third title in this breakout new detective series, from the author of the spine-tingling Scarlet and Ivy series. When a large diamond goes missing from Silvershell Manor, who better to get to the bottom of the mystery than detective Violet Veil and her dog Bones. But nothing is quite as it...

In the bustling heart of London’s East End, Maisie, Amanda and Bethan work long hours at the uniform factory. The pay is poor, the shifts relentless and the bombs fall far too close for comfort ­– but these three women refuse to give in to despair. For when not at the factory, the girls spend their days on the markets of Petticoat Lane, trying to source material in order to make dresses ­– doing their best to bring any small amount of joy in these troubled times. When a chance encounter leads them to a bundle of parachute silk, they decide to think bigger.

Ruth's tireless research into the disease that killed her young daughter had an unexpected outcome: the discovery of a vaccine against old age. Just one jab a year reverses your biological clock, guaranteeing a long, healthy life. But Ruth's cure was hijacked by her colleague, Erik Grundleger, who hungers for immortality, and the SuperJuve—a premium upgrade—was created, driving human lifespan to a new high. The wealthy elite who take it are dubbed Supers, and the population begins to skyrocket. Then, a perilous side-effect of the SuperJuve emerges, with catastrophic consequences.

When Daisy Kennedy risked everything to rescue her twin sister, Lily, from the clutches of a ruthless gang, she thought it would finally mend the cracks in their fractured relationship. But Lily sees it differently. She’s convinced Daisy’s reckless choices are what put her in harm’s way to begin with, and forgiveness feels as far away as ever. Then Daisy is kidnapped by another notorious gangland boss. His demand? Repay their father’s crippling debt by working as a prostitute in his seedy club. Trapped, terrified, and with no one to trust, Daisy clings to the hope that Lily will come for her.

1938, England. When Lily Baker's mother finds a way for them to leave their run down part of town, and finally esape her aggressive father, Lily is feeling positive about a fresh start at a new life. While her mother will be a housekeeper, Lily has a chance to work in a factory, though she has even bigger dreams - and the tenacity to achieve them. But Lily’s father isn’t going to let go that easily, and she lives in fear of him ruining everything – the life she is building for herself. Will Lily and her mother find the strength to begin all over again?

Elephants are as unique as people. They can be clever and curious or headstrong and impulsive, shy or sociable. Learn to know them as individuals as well as a species in this evocative account of years spent studying elephant behaviour in the wild. Watching a family out for a swim on a hot day...

Courtney is a worrier - she's worried about everything, from her mum and dad's constant fights, to her Gran being ill, to the fact that her best friend, Lois, suddenly seems to be more interested in growing up and hanging out with mean girl Bex than with her. But then one day, during a particularly bad argument kicked off by her dad's discovery of a pig in their lounge (don't ask...), Courtney begins to feel a bit funny...a bit woozy...a bit like a dream is coming on - and then when she wakes up everything is better!

He was everything I wanted, but I should have known better. After all we've been through, he still didn't trust me with the truth. Now he's offering me the deal of a lifetime: his heart. All his secrets. Him. Forever. But at what cost? His enemies are still coming for us, and this time, we'll have to fight together. To save what we've built. To show that love like ours can't be destroyed.

There's good and bad in everyone. Except Tom. Tom used to think his life was pretty ordinary. Just another orphan, sleeping in the cellar of his uncle's pub with plenty of mice to chase. But then things started to change, both in the land of Boden-Rine and in young Tom's heart, after a stranger from a far-off land spun him a story of deadly adventure and world-ending peril.

May 1939. When Amy Rowlings and Inspector Bodkin are invited to a black-tie civic awards ceremony at the Town Hall, they expect to be met with the usual boring speeches and toe-curling sycophancy, but when the recipient of the night's 'Businessman Of The Year Award', Nelson Kelly, is found stabbed to death after being called from the stage to answer the telephone, the evening begins to liven up. Nelson's company has just won a lucrative contract to build a new armaments factory and many of the town's elite, having backed a rival bidder, aren't happy at missing out.

England, 1940. Shedding a tear as she says goodbye to her new fiancé when he leaves to fight, Lily Baker begins her own journey in the ATS. Thrilled after she wins the assignment to work in a coveted post, Lily is shocked to find out that one of her new colleagues might be a spy. And when she learns that her beloved is missing in action, she vows to do all she can to protect those around her.

War. Fae Princes. One Clumsy Woman. A Hidden Secret. A silly children's story had us rushing against time. The fae will come and take you away if you are in their homeland for more than three days.It was the silliest thing ever but the people back home believed it. While out hunting to provide for my family with my brother, the last thing we planned was to be out in the fae lands more than three days. However as day four crept up on us, unease settles in. After a chance encounter with one of the dreaded fae, I find myself reeling with doubt and curiosity.