Showing results by narrator "Billie Fulford-Brown"

Nineteen-year-old Nell Hallam, an exceptionally talented pianist, aspires to attend the Royal Academy; but with tuition beyond her means, Nell sets out to earn the money herself - by playing piano in a popular Soho music hall. She will have to disguise herself as a man and slip out at night to do it. Spending evenings at the Octavian is like entering an alternate world - one of dark secrets. And when Nell stumbles upon the operations of an infamous crime ring working in the shadows of the music hall, she is drawn into a conspiracy that stretches the length of London. 

Vicky Beeching began writing songs for the church in her teens. By the time she reached her early 30s, Vicky was a household name in churches on both sides of the pond. Recording multiple albums and singing in America's largest megachurches, her music was used weekly around the globe and translated into numerous languages. But this poster girl for evangelical Christianity lived with a debilitating inner battle: she was gay.

In a dissatisfied world, looking back to ancient wisdom can shed light on fresh solutions. For years, many of us have upheld the Stoic concept of ‘no pain, no gain.’ But in a time when we are burdened by the fear of failure and outsize ambitions, perhaps we should stop skirting around the edges of our problems via punishing exercise regimes, productivity apps and early morning starts. According to the pleasure-centric philosophy of Epicureanism, life can be good without great sacrifice, and temptation isn’t always the enemy.

When Mackenzie's 17th birthday comes around, she plans to spend a few years at the school for the marked learning about her new powers and then leaving and living her life. But nothing goes as planned when she attends the marking ceremony and all 12 marks appear. Kenzie lives in a world where being marked with six powers is normal, being marked with seven or more is rare. But being marked with 12? Well, that's unheard of.

It was their darkest secret. Three schoolgirls made a promise - to take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave. Thirty years later, Beth and Sally have tried to put the trauma behind them. Though Carol has distanced herself from her former friends, the three are adamant that the truth must never come to light, even if the memory still haunts them. But when some shocking news threatens to unearth their dark secret, Beth enlists the help of private investigator Matthew Hill to help her and Sally reconnect with estranged Carol.

Kenzie's 12 marks have caused her nothing but trouble since she was blessed with them. From getting her treated differently at school to getting her kidnapped by rebels, her marks have caused chaos in her life. When a familiar face shows up in the warehouse she is being kept in, Kenzie doesn't know who to trust or what to believe anymore. With time running out to escape and the threat of the rebel's plans looming over her, can Kenzie overcome these challenges?

Meet Rachel, the beautiful bride with big plans for the perfect day! The venue is a castle and the dress is designer.  It’s just a shame her husband is a rat. Maddie and Sally have only one thing in common - they both love the same man! Beth is a newly single mum with a mystery baby daddy. Surely the father isn’t someone the girls all know? And then there’s Jane, the glue holding them all together, but being dumped doesn’t make her the happiest bridesmaid...especially with gorgeous flatmate Freddie complicating things.

Betrayed by those she trusted, penniless and alone, Darcie Finch is forced to accept a position no one else dares as assistant to dangerously attractive Dr. Damien Cole. Ignoring the whispered warnings and rumors he's a man to fear, she takes her position at his eerie estate, where she quickly discovers nothing is at it seems, least of all her handsome and brooding employer. As Darcie struggles with her fierce attraction to Damien, she must also deal with the blood, the disappearances...and the murders.  

Kate and Scott’s marriage has always been a lot of fun, with alcohol at the heart of it. After all, what’s more entertaining than a good laugh and a large drink…or six? But recently, those relaxing drinks have become more crutch than comfort - and the couple have almost forgotten how to talk to each other sober. Then their teenage daughter Holly uploads a video of their humiliating drunken escapades, which gets picked up by YouTube superstar PinkyPud - and goes horrifyingly viral.

Once upon a time, circus artist Trix Lane was the best around. Her spark vanished with her confidence, though, and reclaiming either has proved...difficult. So when the star of The Festival of Masks is nixed and Trix is unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight, it’s exactly the push she needs. But the joy over her sudden elevation in status is cut short by a new hire on the makeup team. Leo Magasiva: disgraced wizard of special effects. He of the beautiful voice and impressive beard. Complete dickhead and - in an unexpected twist - an enragingly good kisser.

1917: When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, announce they have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when the great novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle endorses the photographs' authenticity, the girls become a sensation, their discovery offering something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war.

The fairy tale you thought you knew.... The story of the Sea Witch, the villainess from Hans Christian Anderson’s classic tale 'The Little Mermaid', told from the viewpoint of the Sea Witch when she was a 12-year-old girl.... Evie has been wracked with guilt ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned. So when a girl appears on shore with an uncanny resemblance to Anna, Evie befriends her in an effort to make amends. And as the two girls catch the eyes - and hearts - of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at happy ever after. 

Nicole Sutton’s world has been turned upside down. Sixteen and suffering the fallout of a devastating family tragedy, she is forced to move away from her London home to the quiet town of Henley - and a new life she never wanted nor expected. In the dusty cellar of her strange new house, Nicole stumbles upon a worn old journal left behind by a previous occupant. Inside, through the eyes of a soldier named Mac, she finds herself drawn into a brutally honest memoir of the horrors of war and Auschwitz - and of the life and love Mac had to leave behind.

He might be the sexiest man in London, according to his fan site (which he definitely writes himself), but he’s also the most arrogant man she’s ever met. She might have the longest legs he’s ever seen, but she also has the sharpest tongue. For years, rival TV presenters Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport have traded barbs on their respective shows. The public can’t get enough of their feud, but after Nick airs Sabrina’s family scandals to all of Britain, the gloves are off.

A spin-off from the bestselling Blackthorn series by Lindsay J. Pryor, set in Lowtown, the neighbouring district to Blackthorn. The product of a brutal class system, the dark, gritty world of Lowtown will grip you and never let you go. Every few days the handsome stranger comes into the café in Lowtown for an hour at a time. Most of the time he keeps himself to himself - one drink and he leaves. Sometimes people meet with him but about what remains elusive, the edge of mystery and danger adding to his allure....

When Olivia moves to Port Townsend, her marriage is floundering, and her life is in pieces. She doesn’t know if things with her husband Mark are truly over, or quite why the phone call she longs for on her daughter’s birthday will never come. Joining a letter-writing club seems like a harmless decision. But when she meets Ned, an ex-soldier badly wounded in Afghanistan, this unlooked-for friendship revives unexpected emotions and memories she’d rather forget. 

They said I was The One. They made me their Queen. The truth is, I was the last resort. But I’m not done yet. I may be alone, but I have learnt one thing: I am the one I’ve been waiting for. My destiny awaits me in Venice. But where, exactly? In the promises and charms of Prince Victor of House Grigio? In a deal struck with the sisterhood of mermaids who swim the canals? In the ice blue eyes of the one who cannot be mine? Or in the friend whose forgotten past changes everything? I am Chess Raven. I am the girl who chose.

Adaptation is everything. Inge Lohmark is well aware of that; after all, she's been teaching biology for more than 30 years. But nothing will change the fact that her school is going to be closed in four years: in this dwindling town in the eastern German countryside, there are fewer and fewer children. Inge's husband, who was a cattle inseminator before the reunification, is now breeding ostriches. Their daughter, Claudia, emigrated to the U.S. years ago and has no intention of having children. Everyone is resisting the course of nature that Inge teaches every day in class.

Six girls, six boys: looking for glory and romance on Mars. They thought they were masters of their destiny. They are the 12 pioneers of the Genesis programme. They thought they were taking part in the most extraordinary of missions. In fact, they are the victims of the cruellest of plots. Leonor was looking for glory - and love - on Mars. She thought she would be able to open her heart there. But what she has done is open up a Pandora's box of her past....

The Battle of North Fields is over - or so Aliza Bentaine, now a Daired, fervently wants to believe. But rumors are spreading of an unseen monster ravaging the isolated Castle Selwyn on the northern border of the kingdom. When she and Alastair are summoned from their honeymoon by the mysterious Lord Selwyn, they must travel with their dragon Akarra through the Tekari-infested Old Wilds of Arle to answer his call. And they are not alone on this treacherous journey. Shadowing the dragonriders is an ancient evil, a harbinger of a dark danger of which the Worm was only a foretaste.