Showing results by narrator "Harrie Dobby" in All Categories

Tamsyn Pride knows someone–or something–killed her grandmother. But every attempt she makes to catch the killer is met with whispers behind her back and suspicious looks. In the sleepy village of Much Wenlock, everyone has a secret. Everyone has something to hide.

Hannah has lost almost everything she ever loved, apart from one beautiful songbird. But the bird seems to be dying. So Hannah sets out on an incredible adventure to find the magical upside down River Qjar, whose waters can give her beloved bird eternal life. She journeys across deserts and over dizzyingly high mountains, lives an entire lifetime in the blink of an eye, braves the terrifying Forest of Oblivion, and is mistaken for a long-lost princess.

When Rosie Anderson's boss suddenly assigns her to go incognito and save a tiny inn in Cornwall from being shut down, her dreams of a Christmas holiday with her son are shattered. And, for the life of her, Rosie has no idea why she's got to go. It's chaos from the start—after hours in the car, Rosie arrives at the inn to find that there are no rooms left. She isn't there for more than a minute before she's butting heads with the manager, Irishman Mitchell Fitzpatrick.

After his dad's death, Konrad stops speaking. Not a word at home or school. But that begins to change when he meets Maya on the beach he loved to explore with Dad. She doesn't mind his silence. It gives her a chance to be heard, because at home no one seems to notice her. When the pair go on a last visit to Konrad's family bookshop before it's sold, they soon get lost in the pages of Konrad's favourite book of folk tales. Whisked back in time to quest with a dragon, they must find themselves and their voices, as well as a happy end to the story in the book and in real life.

Interior designer Faith Hudson knows better than anyone the value of a home. Growing up as an unwanted kid in foster care, she hangs onto every last treasure, always searching for the place where she belongs. Out of the blue, Gabe York, the musician ex-boyfriend who broke her heart, calls to say he wants a second chance...and asks her to renovate the Cornish beach house they used to share together. It's bittersweet for Faith, but she's nothing if not hopeful.

Failing antibiotics have shifted society online. As big tech companies begin to dominate life, the boundaries between real and virtual have blurred. At 14, Jess is attending school for the first time. Meeting other children and making real friends is something she's dreamed of for years. But Jess misses her family, especially her sister Chloe, who is in poor health. With Chloe's sickness worsening and her medication getting more expensive, Jess turns to the digital world to fix things.

Heidi is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning and Heidi: How She Used What She Learned. It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her paternal grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book "for children and those who love children" (as quoted from its subtitle).

The Baron is a short story by Katherine Mansfield: "Who is he?" I said. "And why does he sit always alone, with his back to us, too?" - "Ah!" whispered the Frau Oberregierungsrat, "he is a Baron." - She looked at me very solemnly, and yet with the slightest possible contempt - a "fancy-not-recognising-that-at-the-first-glance" expression.

"Miss Brill" is a short story by Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923). It was first published in Athenaeum on 26 November 1920, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories. Miss Brill is an English teacher living near the Public Gardens in a French town. The narrative follows her on a regular Sunday afternoon, which she spends walking about and sitting in the park.

"Bank Holiday" is a story by Katherine Mansfield: A stout man with a pink face wears dingy white flannel trousers, a blue coat with a pink handkerchief showing, and a straw hat much too small for him, perched at the back of his head.

Germans at Meat is a short story by Katherine Mansfield: Bread soup was placed upon the table. "Ah," said the Herr Rat, leaning upon the table as he peered into the tureen, "that is what I need. My 'magen' has not been in order for several days. Bread soup, and just the right consistency. I am a good cook myself"-he turned to me. "How interesting," I said, attempting to infuse just the right amount of enthusiasm into my voice.

Moni the Goat-Boy written by Johanna Spyri (1827 - 1901): Moni is the goat boy who takes care of all the goats belonging to the people of Fideris, Switzerland. His favorite is a young kid named Mäggerli. One day Moni comes across a serious situation where he must keep a deceitful secret in order to protect Mäggerli from being killed. This delightful short story teaches children that to trust God and do right is always better than being deceitful.

"The Lady's Maid" is a story by Katherine Mansfield: Eleven o'clock. A knock at the door... I hope I haven't disturbed you, madam. You weren't asleep - were you? But I've just given my lady her tea, and there was such a nice cup over, I thought, perhaps...

In a city that has been struck off the map, cursed to wander forever by the famed map magician Baba Yaga, a young girl called Siya accidentally finds the lost pieces of the magical map that will reunite her city with the rest of the world. Always overlooked as the magic-less daughter of a powerful magician, she believes this is her moment to prove her worth. But instead of being celebrated, she is now hunted by powerful forces threatening the city.

Clara and her younger brother, Stephen, are taken by their father to stay with their aunt and uncle in a remote house in the hills as their mother recovers from an accident. At first, they see it as a summer to explore. There's the train set in the basement, the walled garden with its secret graves and beyond it all, the silent loch, steady and waiting. Auntie has wanted them for so long - real children with hair to brush and arms to slip into the clothes made just for them.

Nina's life sounds great on paper. Or, more precisely, in her author bio. But, in reality, the farmhouse is crumbling, her gambling ex-husband has run away with all their money and Nina is just about keeping their (leaking) roof over her children's heads. But then her agent and best friend, Alice, gives her some life-changing news: her very first novel, Written in the Stars, has been picked up by a film producer in Hollywood. And before she knows it, she's flying her out to LA to meet the producers!

Greta Thunberg, author of No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, has directed the attention of adults and her peers alike to issues crucial to the future of the planet, and the heads of even the youngest children have been filled with questions. Global warming, the greenhouse effect, fossil fuels - what do they all mean? What are biodiversity and sustainable development? Who is studying the changes that are taking place here on Earth? Which sources are reliable? What action can I take?

Nine-year-old Frankie Appleton likes to count gates. One day she hopes to design the perfect gate - a gate to keep the bad things out. Little does she know that the bad things have already got in. Now her mother is dead, and the only other person with a house key has disappeared. Frankie thinks she knows who it is. But first she has to prove it. A delicately brutal exploration of what lies behind closed doors and of the secrets and lies that form the fabric of every family, The Weight of Small Things is as charming as it is chilling.

Gary Budden's debut collection blends the traditions of weird fiction and landscape writing in an interlinked set of stories from the emotional geographies of London, Kent, Finland and a place known as the Hollow Shore. The Hollow Shore is both fictional and real. It is a place where flowers undermine railway tracks, relationships decay and monsters lurk. It is the shoreline of a receding, retreating England. This is where things fall apart, waste away and fade from memory.

After a very long and turbulent year, Sarah is dreaming of the five-star getaway her sister has booked them on. White sands, cocktails, massages, the Caribbean is calling to them. But as the sisters turn up to white sands, beach shacks, a compost toilet and outdoor shower, Sarah is sure there's been a mix-up. And there has.... At the last-minute, Amy decided a conservation project would be much more fun than a resort.