Showing results by narrator "Charlie Sanderson" in All Categories

Ten years ago, Jen's cousin Meg killed herself after failing to escape an abusive relationship. Now, Meg's ex is back and Jen's domestic abuse helpline has started getting frightening calls from a girl who knows things about Meg...

Berlin, 1961. Anja and Monika are best friends–they even share a cat called Otto. When a huge barbed wire fence is built between their apartment blocks, everything changes; their city and family are divided by the Berlin Wall. In the West, Anja is sure it will be taken down, but Monika is afraid. Her world is changing: neighbours keep disappearing, others become spies and shadowy threats lurk around every corner.

Tinder, Hinge, Bumble – thirty-something journalist Saffie has tried them all but now she's wondering whether it's time to throw in the towel and give up on love for good – and she's not alone... Saffie's boss Tamara has been single since her divorce four years ago, but at forty-five, running her own magazine and with three kids at home, she doesn't feel she has the time, energy or confidence to go through the dating mill again. Meanwhile, Saffie's best friend Milo has just been dumped – again. A hopeless romantic with terrible taste in men, this is his fourth break-up in six months.

Nina has the most magical job in the world, matching customers with their perfect Christmas tree. Working at Christmas Tree Farm is always fun and full of laughter but the weight of past tragedy bears down on her. Her admirer is a great distraction, but is he the right man for her? Holly is just trying to be a normal teenager, having to deal with the mean girls in her class. But then the most handsome boy at school takes an interest in her. Have all her Christmases come at once?

Talking to your teenager shouldn't be hard, but sometimes it's the most difficult thing in the world. Healthy, open, non-judgemental conversations with young people can be - literally - life-saving. From minor matters (tidiness, homework, sleep) to big and important ones (relationships, mental ill health, drugs and alcohol), teenagers and their parents often struggle to talk to each other. A well-timed conversation, a listening ear, a non-judgemental and receptive attitude - all these can make an enormous and lasting impact on how safely and happily a teenager navigates this crucial stage.

Doggerland was the prosperous and powerful kingdom that connected Britain to Europe eight thousand years ago. But from great beginnings it now lies drowned, lost forever far below the cold waves of the North Sea. Who were the people who lived in Doggerland? And what happened to those who survived the tsunami that caused the kingdom’s disappearance?

Ruben is a successful salesman. Roz hates her boring admin job. Ruben owns his own home. Roz still lives with her nasty mum and dad. One is a serial killer, the other desperate to learn the trade. When high-school misfits Ruben Jones and Roz Smith's paths cross later in life, they see something in the other no one else has and they team up to form a friendship based on the one thing they have in common – murder.

It's the heatwave summer of 1976 and 14-year-old would be poet Jackie Chadwick is newly fostered by the Walls. She desperately needs stability, but their insecure, jealous teenage daughter isn't happy about the cuckoo in the nest and sets about ousting her. When her attempts to do so lead to near-tragedy—and the Walls' veneer of middle-class respectability begins to crumble—everyone in the household is forced to reassess what really matters.

If Stan Pollux had known he would be spending his summer holidays in the outer reaches of our solar system, he would have put on different underpants. But when he gets kidnapped by the Planet Dragon Mercury, most things suddenly seem small and insignificant. Stan finds himself in a universe of dragons who had once ruled the skies as gods.

Birdie dreams of becoming a professional artist, but the constraints of society demand she marries well. In order to fulfil her dreams, she makes a deal with her parents: to let her spend a year at the St. Agnes School of Art in Cornwall, after which she will return home and marry the insufferable but influential and wealthy Charles Bonham, as per her parents' wishes. Birdie however, has no intention of ever going back. Free of responsibility for the first time, she finds herself surrounded by a crew of bohemian artists who show her just how dizzying independence can be.

Rosie is ready for her life to begin, because nothing says new life like going to university. After years of waiting and working hard, she's finally on the road that will secure her future. Except university turns out to be not what she hoped or imagined, and although she's not exactly unhappy--really--she might be a little bit worried that she doesn't really like her course much. Or her flatmates. Or, really...anything? But it's normal to be homesick (right?) and everything will have settled in a month or two.

Alice, Nina and Jules have been best friends for 20 years. They met in Paris and return there once a year, to relive their youth, leave the cares and troubles of home behind and indulge in each other's friendship and warmth. But this year, aged 35, the cracks in their relationships are starting to show. After their weekend together in Paris, the three women never speak again. Each of them claims the other two ghosted them. But what really happened that weekend?

These are the chronicles of the Old and New Testament - from Genesis to the Crucifixion - recounted exclusively through the eyes of a teen in a way that is fresh and highly original.

Life is going well for Sophie. She’s getting by at school, has some pretty awesome friends and their band have made it through to the semifinals of the Battle of the Bands competition. But when Sophie wakes up completely deaf one morning, the life she once knew seems like a distant memory. With lessons replaced by endless hospital appointments, and conversations now an exercise in lip-reading, Sophie grows quieter and quieter. Until she discovers the vibrations of sound through an old set of drums and wonders whether life onstage is actually still within reach.

Elinor’s bedroom looks ordinary. But it’s not. When Elinor goes to sleep, her bedroom can fly. Elinor never knows where she’ll wake up. A tropical island, in a theatre show, helping pirates, on the moon.... But her bedroom will always bring her safely home.

Wilderheim’s worst fears have come true. The Veil is shattered and Ragnarok is coming for them all. Prince Fal is now the only one left to stand against the destruction of his kingdom - but how can he save his people, when he can’t even save himself? Overwhelmed by his own magic, Fal is shrouded in constant illusions that make a lie of him as well as the world around him. If he can’t find a cure, he’ll soon lose himself completely, and Wilderheim’s last hope of survival will disappear.

Skuld, Hild and Trud are Valkyries. They are immortal, beautiful, and deadly super-warriors belonging to Odin, the Allfather himself. When a terrible prophecy threatens the royal family and their youngest son, who is the Crown Prince, in accordance with the Royal Kingdom’s traditions, the Allfather immediately sends his Valkyries to Midgard to investigate. When they arrive, they uncover chilling evidence that someone is trying to probe the magic city’s defenses, threatening the royal family and the magic kingdom itself.

Brandon is a boaster - he says he is brilliant at lots of things. Then he is challenged to count up to 10 million. So Brandon starts - one, two, three...and before long, he is up to 1,000. Everyone around him is bewildered and annoyed - his friend Waris, his teachers and Miss Hexx, the head. But Brandon can’t stop counting. And then strange, impossible things start happening. The numbers are taking over everything....

Skipton House Community Centre may look ramshackle, but it is soon at the heart of Erin's life - especially the cooking club. When the building is suddenly threatened with closure, Erin and her new friends, Tanya, Frixos and Sam, form The Cooking Club Detectives. Can they, and their four-legged assistant, Sausage, uncover who the mystery culprit is and save Skipton?

As natural disasters sweep Earthside, a mutant army rises in the Borderlands, driven by the dark force behind the Shadow Cartographers. Sienna and the Mapwalker team must use the Map of the Impossible to journey through the realm of the dead and face the nightmare at its heart. But when one of their number is taken and the team begins to break apart, each Mapwalker must face their greatest challenge.