Showing results by narrator "Helen McAlpine" in All Categories

The era of the yummy mummy has finally gone and to celebrate, Shari Low has taken a baby wipe to the glossy veneer of the school of perfect parenting with "Because Mummy Said So". This collection of hilarious memories tells the truth about motherhood in all of its sleep-deprived, frazzled glory. No judgement, no impossibly high standards, no perfect day – just real life and a whole lot of chaos that every experienced, new or soon-to-be parent will relate to.

The colour drains from my husband’s face as she releases him. When Ted says her name–Alice–my blood runs cold. Because I’ve heard her name before. Alice is the woman who broke my kind husband’s heart. Ted told me she vanished from his life after their breakup, but has he been lying this whole time? I stare at him in disbelief, but he swears he never invited her. Can I believe him? Whatever actually happened, I want her out of my house… but as thunder cracks and the sky turns dark, a huge storm sets in. We’re stuck here: is this my chance to discover the truth?

The only people who’ve been inside our house are the ones I thought I could trust. Someone close is watching me, speaking to Olivia and trying to make me look like a bad parent. I don’t care what my husband says. I’m more scared than I’ve ever been in my life, but my precious child means everything to me. They have no idea how far I’ll go to protect my daughter…

Nora Brown is perfectly happy single. Well, sometimes she wishes there was someone else to do the dishes, or fight with her daughter about brushing her hair, and sure, a woman has needs…but Nora knows better than most that it’s complicated when you’re a single mom of (nearly) 40. She’s not risking a broken heart ever again, thank you very much. Which is exactly why she’s dreading the "sexy singles getaway" at a castle in the Scottish Highlands that her pushy sister is forcing her to attend.

School nurse Anna Pierce has been accused of hitting a pupil. Tori Carmichael is the girl accusing her. One of them is lying. But why?

Prisoners of the dark sorceress Ashnakh, friends Kiri, Alish, Elio, and Thanis are taken to the forbidding Palace of Mirrors in the Realm of Shyish to await their fate. Trapped in the Shatterglass Labyrinth they must band together to survive. Betrayed by someone who they thought they could trust and harried by dreaded Nighthaunts, will they ever escape the Fortress of Ghosts?

ONE FALSE MOVE COULD GET THEM KILLED Ruby, Bella and Cissy are used to the high life. Married to gangland bosses at the top of their game, the riches of Costa del Sol are at their fingertips, the world at their feet. But when Cissy's husband is brutally murdered, everything changes. With his...

Abandoned by her mother and left in the care of an absent father, as a child Francesca escaped her sad reality by dreaming of a better life. Her dream came true the summer she turned nine and she met the FitzRoys - a loving family who welcomed her into their world. Almost two decades later...

When eight-year-old Cait Yorke goes missing on a remote island off the coast of the wild Scottish Highlands, PC Fiona MacLeish is quickly sent to investigate. But a gale is gathering force, and Fiona becomes increasingly concerned for a little girl braving the strong winds alone. As Fiona questions the locals, she soon realizes that they are hiding many secrets. What is this island, and who really lives here? Then a boat violently crashes off the coast of the island. On board, Fiona discovers the body of a man who has clearly been murdered.

When Ailsa Reid becomes the subject of a trial by media after an incident at the school where she works, she escapes to the comfort of her grandparents' house in Fife. But she arrives to find her grandmother, Moira - recently diagnosed with dementia - has gone missing, and her grandfather, Rupert, gravely injured. Desperate to ensure Moira's safe return, Ailsa must rely on the help of her estranged mother, Rowan, who abandoned her at birth. Tensions simmer between the two women as they attempt to piece together the lead-up to Moira's disappearance.

Sometimes hope is the most dangerous thing of all. When their brother dies, sisters Freya and Tamsin lose the one thing that connected them. But when Tamsin goes missing a year later, Freya is determined to find her. Guided by a trail of diary entries, revelations are unveiled about the grief that drove Tamsin to the edge of a cliff - and into the arms of a mysterious stranger... A man who promised hope but demanded sacrifice.

The city of Lifestone is under siege! A dark army under the command of the undead sorceress Ashnakh swarms outside the city walls, awaiting her order to attack. The only ones who can stop her are six brave children, each of them marked with a symbol of the Mortal Realms and each sworn to defend Life against the forces of Death.

Life in front of the camera is harder than it looks... When Ted is spotted by a model agency, she can't believe it. At the same time her gorgeous sister, Ava, is diagnosed with cancer. With her world turned upside down, Ted has a lot of growing up to do, some of it in five-inch platforms.

Two sisters, both beautiful in different ways: Fifteen-year-old Ted has got "The Look". That's what the scout for the modeling agency tells her, and she can't believe her luck. But just as Ted's jet-setting off on her new career, Ava is diagnosed with cancer. Can Ted be a supermodel and a super-sister? Or will she have to choose between family and fame? With their worlds turned upside down, the girls have to look past appearances, look deep inside, to figure out what really matters.

Little Bird has landed in America, far from her home in Scotland, and far from the danger that stalked her family. But the new world holds new perils, and soon she’s on the run again. From the teeming streets of New York to the prairies of the west, Little Bird holds tight to secrets and dreams of freedom. Then, on her journey, she comes face to face with an unwelcome ghost from the past.

Bridie lives on the remote Scottish island of Tornish, the youngest of three sisters. Although she loves her island, with its wild seas and big skies, she guiltily nurses a secret dream of flight - to America and the freedom of the New World. But her family are struggling under the spiteful oppression of the new Laird, and it seems that even some of the Laird's own household are desperate to leave. When the Laird's full cruelty becomes apparent, there's no more time for daydreams as Bridie needs to help the people she loves escape to safety.

Scotland, 1912. Antonia McCulloch’s life hasn’t gone the way she planned. She and her husband, Malcolm, have drifted apart; her burgeoning art career came to nothing; and when she looks in the mirror, she sees disappointment. But at least she will always have Balmarra, her family’s grand Scottish estate, and its exquisite glass house, filled with exotic plants that can take her far away. When her estranged brother’s wife, Cicely Pick, arrives unannounced, with her young daughter and enough trunks to last the summer, Antonia is instantly suspicious.

When police officer Fiona MacLeish stumbles upon a group of fellow hikers in dire trouble in the dramatic peaks of the Scottish Highlands, she has no choice but to help. One of the party has fallen off the path, lying below with the crisp white snow around his head starting to turn scarlet. Fiona soon learns the potential accident is actually a deliberate murder. But who would want to hurt this man and why? With visibility worsening and the snowstorm getting worse, Fiona and the group of hikers make it just in time to a nearby shelter.

At Forest School, the Woodland Explorers are learning about fungi and how it connects trees underground in a huge network known as the Wood Wide Web. When Shyla is given her grandmother’s binoculars, she discovers mushrooms growing in a circle, called a pixie ring. Suddenly her eyes are opened to a whole new world - and magical woodland creatures show Shyla how to spread the word about protecting the forest.