Showing results by narrator "Rachel" in All Categories

My name is Tamara Bentley, "Bent" to my friends, and I'm not supposed to exist. I was born of the forbidden union between a witch and a werewolf, and they've been trying their damnedest to hide my existence ever since. But now my secret is out, and my uncle, the leader of the wolf pack, is pissed beyond belief. In his eyes, I'm something that should've never been born. He wants me dead and doesn't care who he has to sacrifice to get the job done.

No matter how you try to hide it, the truth will always come out . . . After a plane crash sees a group of seven teens washed up on a desert island, their first thought is survival. But a terrible secret from a party the night before has followed them ashore. Facing deadly threats and the fear...

Celia Paul has felt a lifelong connection to the artist Gwen John. There are extraordinary parallels in their lives and work. Both have always made art on their own terms. Both were involved with older male artists. Both worked hard to keep themselves and the sacred flame of their creativity from being extinguished by others. Letters to Gwen John is Paul's imagined correspondence with Gwen John, whose life and work have loomed so large in hers.

Somehow, I knew my name was going to be drawn in the Bride Lottery—the hellish agreement that Earth's leaders had made to sell us to the aliens who protected our planet. I'd grown up with the propaganda. It was our civic duty. Men registered for the draft; women registered for the Bride Lottery. No way in hell was I going to be handed over to some giant man to be brutalized into bearing his children. Instead, I cut out my bio-tracker and walked away from everything. I should have realized they'd send one of those hulking, brightly colored aliens to track me down and bring me back.

A new demon lord has crossed the Rift, and says his queen wants her statue back, the one I took from the previous demon lord. Then he proposes a trade. You can't trust demons. They lie, they cheat, they steal. They prey on humans. But unless I'm willing to walk away, it's the only game in town.

A zero tolerance policy results in the death penalty for all crimes, no matter how minor. When a judge is kidnapped, and a ransom note demands the release of all prisoners awaiting execution, kleptomaniac Detective Inspector Kate Swanson is put on the case. But soon her boss also disappears. Under increasing pressure from her superiors, and the growing social unrest, Swanson must race to find a man whose murdered wife and daughter link the missing men. Can she find him before it's too late?

The Man on the Mountaintop tells the story of Holy Man Joe, an ageing and unassuming man who lives in a hermitage on top of a mountain. During the summer months, thousands of hopefuls line the path leading to his door, seeking his wisdom. From bombastic, wealthy nobles intent on cheating their way to the top to drunkards who gradually build the physical and mental strength they need to quit their addiction, The Man on the Mountaintop is a rousing tale full of humour, wit and life lessons.

Giving all the “Little Women” the stories they deserve at last, this imaginative historical novel and companion to the much-loved classic draws Meg, Beth, and Amy March from behind the shadow of Jo—Louisa May Alcott’s alter-ego and the “author” of Little Women—as vibrant and unforgettable characters grappling with societal strictures, queer love, motherhood, chronic illness, artistic ambition, and more.

I waved my husband good-bye at the airport, and he vanished without a trace. I sat awake, night after night, looking at photos of our family. I knew he would never leave us. And then I found him. Now he lives with the younger, beautiful woman he thinks he loves. And he doesn’t even recognize me. Who will he choose? Can I forgive him? And will I ever be able to look into his eyes without thinking of his other woman?

In a cramped synagogue in north-west London, the eminent elderly rabbi passes away. On the other side of the Atlantic, his estranged daughter, Ronit, hears of her father's death and returns to London for the funeral. She has not returned home in 15 years. Ronit looks forward to a week or two of revisiting old friends, perhaps settling old scores. But she finds the community she grew up in a more confusing place than she'd anticipated.

When Logan Anders was asked to be the savior of a fairy race, he’d thought there was only one…. Now, he’s found himself in a new realm with a whole new species of fairies to breed and save, except this time, it isn’t as simple as rebuilding a few houses.

'Rachel takes the worst life can throw at us and shows us the beauty in it' Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt Included in Best Books to read in 2021 pieces in the Sunday Times, Guardian, Financial Times, New Stateman, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Evening Standard, The Tablet, Sunday...

A kidnapper’s twisted game is on and a trusty K-9 won’t let him succeed. Years after being abducted, Mckenna Parker’s worst nightmare has come true — her kidnapper is out on parole. And he’s after her again. Now an FBI victim specialist, she and her crisis canine, Mocha, have been...

The leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society "the aspirational class" and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class deepens the ever-wider class divide.

Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that spins on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the baba yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the baba yaga may find help, or hinderance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch—and these are her tales.

Science fiction is a portal that opens doors onto futures too rich and strange to imagine. Fantasy takes us through doorways of magic and wonder. For more than a decade award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has sifted through tens of thousands of stories to select the best, the most interesting, the most engaging science fiction and fantasy to thrill and delight readers.

Surely Lord Paul is teasing Mary yet again when he suggests that they marry for convenience. The childhood enemies have never been able to be in the same room together without tempers flaring. How could they possibly be married? But when Lord Paul comes to her rescue and saves Mary from near scandal, she may have no choice but to accept his hand. Which is awful. Obviously.

The Complete Jane Austen Collection includes Austen's 7 novels, selected short fiction, and a selection of her letters. Read by an incredible cast including Joanne Froggatt and Fenella Woolgar, this collection is the perfect opportunity to listen beyond your favourite novel and discover Jane Austen's complete writings.

Davinsky Labour Camp, Siberia, 1933: Sofia Morozova knows she has to escape. Only two things have sustained her through the bitter cold, aching hunger and hard labour: the prospect of one day walking free; and the stories told by her friend Anna, beguiling tales of a charmed upbringing in Petrograd - and of Anna’s fervent love for a passionate revolutionary, Vasily. So, when Anna falls gravely ill, Sofia makes a promise to escape the camp and find Vasily....

We all recognise them. Those who exist just on the fringes of society. Who send prickles up the back of our necks. The charmers. The liars. The manipulators. Those who have the potential to go that one step too far. And then take another step. Jessamine Gooch makes a living from these people. Each week she broadcasts a radio show looking into the past lives of convicted killers, asking if there was more that could have been done to prevent their terrible crimes.