Showing results by narrator "Kim Hicks" in All Categories

Sex, drugs, cinema and stardom in a glorious technicolour romp through London's Swinging '60s. Summer, 1967. As London shimmers in a heat haze and swoons to the sound of Sgt. Pepper, a mystery film - Eureka - is being shot by German wunderkind Reiner Werther Kloss. The screenwriter, Nat Fane, would do anything for a hit but can't see straight for all the acid he's dropping.

In May 1943, a young, pregnant Frenchwoman called Lucie Aubrac engineered the escape of her husband Raymond from the clutches of Klaus Barbie, the feared Gestapo chief. She later ambushed the prison vans in which members of the Resistance were being driven to an almost certain death. Spirited out of France by the RAF at the end of 1943, nine months pregnant, she arrived in London a heroine. In 1983, when both Aubracs had retired, Klaus Barbie was put on trial in France.

There's consternation among the villagers of Prior's Ford when a firm is interested in re-opening an old granite quarry. It'll be disruptive, noisy and dusty, despite bringing in some new jobs. Publican Glen organises a protest group - but when a local newspaper takes an interest in him and the story, he begins to feel nervous. And when Jenny Forsyth attends a protest meeting, she is shocked to discover the quarry surveyor is an unwelcome face from her past.

Emmaline has always understood from her mother that, as the eldest of four daughters, she must marry. But it seems that no proposals are going to come her way. Until, at a crowded ball, Julius makes his way to her side and waltzes her off. The next morning he makes it plain that he wants to marry her, and will marry her no matter what. So Emmaline finds herself travelling to England from America to join her husband-to-be, her hopes as high as they have ever been.

Hannah is a hotel worker, who struggles with depression after a trauma in her childhood and a toxic ex-boyfriend. Callum is a student, questioning his own sanity since a strange young man appeared on the other side of his mirror. When Hannah disappears, her brother Callum determines to find her. His journey leads him to Epping Forest and a mysterious waterfall. But Hannah has fallen through a portal to another world.

Twelve years ago, Grace Kitto was a successful TV producer, wife and mother. She was also clinically obese and on the path to Type 2 diabetes. Until one day when she left work determined to stick to one of her serial diets, but soon found herself eating an ice cream, as if on autopilot. It sparked an epiphany - she realised the solution to her many failed diets lay in her unconscious. In the powerful, instinctual part of her brain.

'I'll fly,' Jenna whispered to herself. 'I'll fly, whatever Ned says. Whatever anybody says....' Jenna is 13 - and has suddenly realised what she wants to do with her life. She wants to fly. Like Granddad's heroine, Amy Johnson.... But Jenna's wish for wings has to be put on hold when something awful happens: Granddad's souvenir of his wartime service - a loaded gun - goes missing. And Jenna is almost certain that her brother, Ned, has taken it....

Now you see them, now you don't.... What would you do if you could become invisible? Creep around unseen? Listen in on other people's conversations? Twins Carrie and Conrad, and their friends Peter and Charlotte, do all these things and much more when a new girl at school - Rosie - shows them her secret: how to make themselves invisible. It's exciting, and it's fun. It can also be frightening...and dangerous.

When Alexandra Stamford goes to stay with her Millington cousins at Knighton Hall, she knows nothing about the handsome stable lad Tom O'Brien. But are Alexandra and Tom really destined to be together?

Four short murder mysteries, three featuring Detective Sergeant Christina Kenton, set in the Cambridgeshire countryside... In "Kill Me Tomorrow", a serial murderer is killing according to the position of the numbers on a clock face. The police think they can mark on the map the place where the fifth murder will occur: In Christina Kenton's own village of Foxfield.

The Magic Factory is where Midden and her team of helpers come up with magical answers to all sorts of problems. In these four fun stories, they must stop the terrible twins from terrorising the town; round up some runaway scissors; save school from a spell disaster and catch an invisible imp, all before the Halloween party!

Twistleton is a village untouched by time. Daisy, Jean, Freddie and their friends Aurelia and Laura are devoted to the place, so that when war breaks out Twistleton becomes the embodiment of everything for which they are fighting. For the previous generation the new conflict causes private despair, increased when Twistleton is requisitioned by the Army. Turfed out of their houses, the villagers take refuge at the Hall.

Six years have passed since the end of Sister, Missing and Madison is now a teenager. During a visit to older sister Lauren, she learns that their biological father was an anonymous sperm donor and sets out to track him down. Her search bears fruit sooner than she expects, but is the father she discovers all he seems? As Madison gets drawn into a mysterious investigation involving missing girls and secret hideaways, she finds herself in more and more danger...

You wouldn’t be ‘barking mad’ if, when asked the definition of certain phrases, ‘the cat got your tongue’ and you ‘clammed up’. Let’s not ‘beat around the bush’; the English language is littered with linguistic quirks that, on closer examination, seem utterly fantastical. In Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pyjamas, Judy Parkinson explores the many colourful – but rather incomprehensible – phrases that enhance our language, describing their origins and defining their true meanings.

This inspiring anthology collects enduring and entertaining stories that have enthralled young and old, by the cherished authors whose tales have captivated children for generations. Perfect for the family car trip or at-home listening, these recordings sparkle with the wit and wonder of time-tested storytelling.

Before the Second World War breaks out, Chevrons, the idyllic country house where the Garlands have lived for centuries, has already been touched by events in Europe. To the horror of her family, Katherine, the eldest daughter, has run off to join the Nazis. On the outbreak of war, Caro, her younger sister, her friend Robyn, and the maids, Trixie and Betty, leave Chevrons to help the war effort, and the old house is left to be managed by men too old to fight.

An Apple a Day turns the spotlight on sayings that we take for granted, examining their often surprising or fascinating origins, their use, and why they are true – or sometimes aren’t... From wise words originating with the Old Testament and other ancient texts, by way of practical sayings that have gone into the language, to relatively modern gems often coined by poets, writers or philosophers, An Apple a Day shows that most proverbs are as useful today as they ever were when they were newly minted.

What do witches do when their wands break? Where do wizards shop for stuff for spells? And if you were a ghost who wasn't scary enough, where would you find help? The Magic Factory! It's where Midden and her team of helpers come up with magical answers to all sorts of problems.

Sunny's mundane country life is changed overnight when handsome, stylish Gray's Bentley breaks down outside her parents' cottage in Rushington. It seems that he may have fallen in love with her. Sunny herself remains unconvinced.

In 1940, as the shadows are lengthening over Europe, painter Louis Duval decides to leave his studio in Brittany and, in his small motor boat, make the short but perilous journey to England. His aim is not to flee from the enemy, but to join the Resistance to fight for his beloved France