Showing results by narrator "Antonia Beamish" in All Categories

Saturday morning, a rare day off for Detective Maddie Ives. She's about to have a relaxing shower with her boyfriend Vince when she gets the call: There's been another one... Ron and Sandy Blackman's brutalised bodies are found in the hallway of their isolated rural home. They've been stabbed multiple times; Ron's hands are tied tightly behind his back; Sandy has several fingernails ripped out. The safe has been forced open. This is the second house of horrors that Maddie and her team have been called out to in a matter of days.

After the publication of Outline, Transit and Kudos - in which Rachel Cusk redrew the boundaries of fiction - this writer of uncommon brilliance returns with a series of essays that offers new insights on the themes at the heart of her life's work. Encompassing memoir and cultural and literary criticism, with pieces on gender, politics and writers such as D. H. Lawrence, Olivia Manning and Natalia Ginzburg, this collection is essential reading for our age: fearless, unrepentantly erudite, both startling and rewarding to behold.

In the western hinterland of Roman Britannia, Meddi, the seeress of the Eorlingas tribe, can only obtain vengeance when her husband’s dead and her ancestral villa returned to her. With her brother, Madog, as leader, they unite and stand strong against those who seek the riches of their villa. They must harness the power of the lost magiks of iron to make weapons to mercilessly oppose those who seek to challenge and fight to rule.

Marina and Hugh were once madly in love. But after the loss of their beautiful little daughter, grief has created a distance between them that feels impossible to bridge. Marina knows leaving Italy is the only way they will be able to move on, but Thorncliffe Hall, Hugh's family home in England, is so grey and unwelcoming.

As a young civil servant, Caroline Slocock became the first ever female private secretary to any British Prime Minister and was at Margaret Thatcher's side for the final 18 months of her premiership. A left-wing feminist, Slocock was no natural ally, and yet she became fascinated by the woman behind the Iron Lady façade and by how she dealt with a world dominated by men. As events inexorably led to Margaret Thatcher's downfall, Slocock observed the vulnerabilities and contradictions of the woman considered by many to be the ultimate anti-feminist.

Why do you love your child? Is it because they're a straight A student, a talented footballer? Or is it simply because they're yours? Sarah and Phil love both their children, James and Lauren. The couple have the same hopes and aspirations as any parent. But their expectations are shattered when they discover that their perfect baby daughter has been born with a flaw: a tiny but life-changing glitch that is destined to shape her future, and theirs, irrevocably.

December 1934. Spending the holidays in a Scottish castle has made Opal Laplume’s festive wishes come true. Sir Seamus’ Christmas Eve ball is legendary, and Opal dons her finest gown for an exquisite night of bubbles, baubles, and tartan kilts. But the festivities come to a screeching halt when their gracious host is electrocuted by some faulty Christmas lights.

Heartache and hardship in London's East End, from the best-selling author of The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. It's the 1950s, and the orphans of Halfpenny Street have found a new home in the Essex countryside at Halfpenny House. Meanwhile, back among the slum clearances of Bethnal Green, St Saviour's has now been partially given over to a home for disturbed girls, though it still serves as a reception centre for local children who are in desperate need. Amongst these are Archie and his sister, June.

The murder of a promising footballer, son of Brighton’s highest-ranking police officer, means Detective Superintendent Jo Howe has a complicated and sensitive case on her hands. The situation becomes yet more desperate following devastating blackmail threats. Howe can trust no one as she tracks the brutal killer in a city balanced on a knife edge of vigilante action and a police force riven with corruption.

As the summer sun beats down on the ancient town of Acitrezza, a folk festival plays out in the picturesque harbour. Music, laughter and the aroma of local delicacies fill the air, and a traditional pantomime draws a crowd. For rookie journalist Nedda Leonardi, it's just another day's reporting in a calendar of unremarkable events. Until that is, the performers dive in the sparkling Ionian Sea for their finale... and emerge with a corpse. Could this be Nedda's big break?

Could you stay quiet about a murder? Killed on his way home from a night out, Kit Harper had lots of secrets. At the opposite end of the city, another man is found smothered in his bed. Jack Fletcher had secrets too. A photo of a young woman reveals a clue and with dual cases to run, Detective Allie Shenton and her team are pushed to their limits. As attacks on a close group of friends continue, a link to a cold case twenty years ago is unveiled.

When one of the notorious Johnson brothers is murdered and a bag of money goes missing, a deadly game of cat and mouse is set in motion. Detective Allie Shenton and her team are called in to catch the killer, but the suspects are double-crossing each other and Allie has little time to untangle the web of lies. As she delves deeper into the case, things take a personal turn when Allie realises she is being stalked by the very same person who attacked her sister seventeen years ago and left her for dead.

The Limekiln Estate has witnessed many a dark crime over the years. When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a suspicious death, she isn't surprised to see it's a local she knows only too well. While the slaying of Billy Whitmore is on everyone's lips, a woman is stabbed in her home. A day later and a third victim turns up. Three known associates brutally murdered—the bodies are piling up quicker than the forensic evidence is coming back. Yet Allie senses there's something more disturbing going on. She's sure Fiona Abbott, Billy's partner, is involved too.

When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a murder suicide, it quickly becomes clear that it's a double slaying, and there is a killer on the loose. The bodies are found in a property owned by local entrepreneur/drug dealer Kenny Webb. Several young women are staying there, they are refusing to talk and one of them is missing. While she waits on forensic evidence, Allie decides to do what she does best. She takes to the community to see who will talk. Right now, she's the only one who can get answers. But then a third murder rattles everyone.

Listening to Shaking a Leg is like spending time with the funniest, wisest friend you've ever had - a person whose breadth of interest ranges from food to feminism to science fiction and everything in between. Bursting with ideas, culturally astute and sparklingly witty, this comprehensive volume of Angela Carter's journalism is the most down-to-earth and entertaining companion to latter 20th-century thought you'll ever need.

A gritty and compelling drama from the bestselling author of The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Sheila Jeffries. Little twin sisters, Sarah and Samantha are all alone in the world. When their mother died giving birth to Sarah, she was blamed for the death by...

Hazel and Jamie are happily married. Or so it would seem. Behind closed doors, things are far from normal. Jamie has an unhealthy obsession, and Hazel is more worried about herself than her husband. So when Millicent injects herself into their lives, with Jamie firmly in her sights, the trio end up on a path that will end in death. Everyone has secrets. Everyone has a dark side. But who is good, who is bad, and who is going to get away with murder?

Single mother Meg is determined to give her four year old son a Christmas he'll never forget. As a child in foster care, Meg always dreamed of her perfect Christmas, now she can finally make it come true. But a chance meeting with a handsome stranger in New York unravels everything she's planned. Will Meg finally get the Christmas she deserves? Or will she be alone this Christmas after all?

Schoolboy Luke runs away to London, far from the abusive orphanage where he grew up. He’s desperate not to end up as a petty criminal and forced to beg for scraps on the street. Luke wanders the East End docks, struggling to find honest employment and morsels of food to fill his grumbling stomach. Longing to be a part of the close-knit community, Luke volunteers to work with the local doctor and his wife. Their kind words and welcoming home is everything he’s ever wished for. But not everyone wants the best for Luke and his new friends.

Alone and on the streets after their mother ends up in hospital, Charlie has promised his little sister, Maisie, he’ll never let her feel frightened again. That promise is hard to keep when Maisie falls ill. Hope comes in the shape of Susan and the other nurses at the local hospital. Times are tough, and lately they’ve seen even more children come through their doors who need kindness and a loving home. The only way to keep Charlie and Maisie out of the orphanage is to find them a good foster home, but there are far too many people who’d take them in for their own ruthless ends.