Showing results by narrator "Beth Eyre" in All Categories

1399: England’s crown is under threat. King Richard II holds on to his power by an ever-weakening thread, with exiled Henry of Lancaster back to reclaim his place on the throne. For Elizabeth Mortimer, there is only one rightful King - her eight-year-old nephew, Edmund. Only he can guarantee her fortunes and protect her family’s rule over the precious northern lands bordering Scotland.

Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just 20 years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.

Alex knows her daughter would never wander off in a strange place. So when her three-year-old vanishes from an idyllic beach wedding, Alex immediately believes the worst. The hunt for Lottie quickly becomes a worldwide search, but it’s not long before suspicion falls on her mother. Why wasn’t she watching Lottie? Alex knows she’s not perfect, but she loves her child. And with all eyes on her, Alex fears they’ll never uncover the truth unless she takes matters into her own hands. Who took Lottie Martini? And will she ever come home?

Ralph is turning 45, and the only gift he wants is his ex-wife. Gemma, his trophy girlfriend, won’t let anything ruin her plans for an engagement. Sarah, the ex-wife, has agreed to attend Ralph’s party, with her new man in tow. And Jack, her partner, will stop at nothing to keep Sarah out of her ex-husband’s clutches. It’s a celebration like no other. The whole extended family in a villa on the beautiful Amalfi coast. But by the end of the trip, two people will be dead. At this birthday party to remember, will anybody unwrap the truth?

Does Jessica know what the truth is? A stunning psychological debut with a shocking twist. When she arrives at work to discover every trace of the company she was working for has disappeared, Jessica's life spirals into free fall. Her romance with Michael, a celebrated criminologist, is already in trouble. He is sick of the unpredictable behaviour caused by her ADHD and is convinced she is a fantasist. When his flat is burgled and precious belongings that remind him of his dead wife are stolen, he blames her.

Six friends travel to a remote island north of the Scottish Highlands for an old school reunion. They’ve rented the Lighthouse—a stunning, now abandoned building that was once notorious for deaths at sea. On the first evening, someone goes missing. The group search all through the night to no avail. But when the five remaining friends return to the lighthouse early the next morning, they are shocked to find James inside. He’s looks terrified—but won’t say a word about where he’s been.

When socialite Lexi Volkov almost overdoses, she thinks she's hit rock bottom. She's wrong. Because rock bottom is when she's forced into an exclusive rehab facility. From there, the only way is up for Lexi and her fellow inmates, including the mysterious Brady. As she faces her demons, Lexi realises love is the most powerful drug of all.... It's a dirty business getting clean. Addiction, redemption, love and despair. 

Stitch by perfect stitch, Andrew Garvie makes exquisite dolls in the finest antique style. Like him, they are diminutive but graceful, unique and with surprising depths. Perhaps that's why he answers the enigmatic personal ad in his collector's magazine. Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped, and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her.

Lily will do anything to protect her family. She has made ruthless choices to preserve their picture-perfect life—and she has been equally ruthless in keeping those choices secret. Rachel is struggling with the weight of what she knows. Desperate to help her daughter, Lily turns to renowned therapist, Amber, to help Rachel get control of her life. It’s essential for Rachel’s welfare—but also to protect the darkest secret of all, one that Lily has kept hidden for years.

Ben can’t believe his luck when Bella walks into his life, just when he needs her most. Sexy, impulsive and intelligent, Bella is everything he ever wanted. And Bella wants him. All to herself. In fact, Bella decides that everything is better when it is just the two of them, making it harder for Ben’s friends and family to stay in touch. And then a sudden tragedy triggers a chain of events which throws Ben headlong into a nightmare.

When Esther Thorel, the wife of a Huguenot silk weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel she thinks she is doing God's will. Sara is not convinced being a maid is better than being a whore, but the chance to escape her grasping madam is too good to refuse. Inside the Thorels' tall house in Spitalfields, where the strange cadence of the looms fills the attic, the two women forge an uneasy relationship. 

September 1939, troubled young Imogen Lockhart travels to Cornwall by train to deliver two small boys to their prep school, which has been evacuated to Silverwood House for the duration of the war. When she’s asked to stay on at the school as temporary cover for the usual matron she readily agrees. After all, it enables her to put off more serious decisions of what to do with her life. But her time at the school turns out to be more complicated than she’d imagined.

Sunday morning: Cloe receives a text from a man she cannot remember going home with the night before. We had fun, didn’t we…? Sisters Mathilde and Sarah meet for lunch to discuss Sarah’s wedding and Mathilde’s dissertation. And Gertrude prepares for the busiest day of the week in the pub she works in, still smarting from the date she went on the afternoon before.

When twelve-year-old Lily is walking to school one day, a very unusual girl appears out of nowhere! It is 1953 and this stranger is dressed in a green sparkly dress, purple tights with orange swirls and has bright yellow hair sticking up like a dandelion. As quickly as she appears, she disappears again into thin air! Lily rushes to tell her best friends Tara and Geraldine about this strange encounter, and they begin an investigation to solve the mystery. 

When Jessica, a young British woman, discovers a shocking secret about her birth, she travels to Switzerland in search of answers. She knows her mother spent time in the country writing an article on the Swiss women’s rights movement, but what she doesn’t know is what happened to her while she was there. Can Jess summon the courage to face the truth about her family, or will her search only hurt herself and those around her even more?

Meet Dr Shah, who has never been to India, and Mrs Kaminski, on her way to Poland via A&E. Meet Holly and Polly, who have come to their own Anglo-Irish understanding. Charlie and Don, who have seen the docks turn into Docklands. Daisy Baker, terrified of Yorkshire and Johnny Dewhurst, stranded on Exmoor. Binding these stories together is Graham Swift's affectionate but unflinching instinct for the story of us all.

Somewhere in England, in a small town called Strange Ground by the Skea, Ebbie Wren is the last librarian and he's about to lose his job. Estranged from his parents, unable to make connections with anyone except the old homeless lady who lives near the library, Ebbie isn't quite sure what he's supposed to do next. His only escape from reality is his deep interest in local folklore, but reality is far stranger than Ebbie can dream.

Castle Kidbury, like all small towns, hums with gossip, but now it's plagued with murder of the most gruesome kind. Jess instinctively believes that the hippyish cult camped out on the edge of town are not responsible for the spate of crucifixions that blights the pretty landscape. Her father, a respected judge, despairs of Jess as she infiltrates the cult and manages, not for the first time, to get herself arrested.

Berlin, 2017: several young girls have been disappearing for the past fourteen years. Red ribbons show the police the way to their bodies, but there's no trace of the killer. One evening, internationally renowned philosophy professor and anthropologist Walter Lesniak is arrested on the suspicion of the murders in the presence of his daughter, Ann. 'Professor Death' becomes the headline of the tabloid press and Lesniak himself refuses to cooperate with the police. Ann is certain this is all some kind of mistake. And she will prove it.

Are you ready for the sunny season? From trips to the seaside and royal balls to fairy tea parties and yummy picnics, celebrate the summer with this short story collection by Enid Blyton. These traditional tales are ideal for younger children and each story stands alone and is the perfect length for listening at bedtime or in the classroom.