Showing results by narrator "Jane McDowell" in All Categories

This is not a history of the First World War. It is the story of the women of the resistance in Belgium and Occupied northern France during that conflict. Stroud uses six main characters as a lens to describe the work of an extraordinarily brave group of women. In 1914, before the Germans invaded, they were ordinary people – some were poor, some were rich, some were low born and others from the top echelons of society – they were drawn together by war and they show what the individual can do when faced with apparently overwhelming odds.

Italy, 1932 - Mussolini's Italy is growing from strength to strength, but at what cost? One bright autumn morning, architect Isabella Berotti sits at a café in the vibrant centre of Bellina when a woman she's never met asks her to watch her 10-year-old daughter, just for a moment. Reluctantly Isabella agrees - and then watches in horror as the woman climbs to the top of the town's clock tower and steps over the edge.

Born illegitimate in 18th-century England, Henrietta Lightfoot reveals the truth about the events that shaped her in this candid confessional of a wide-eyed girl's journey to worldliness. Forced to flee her childhood home for the capital, Henrietta falls face first into a demi-monde of rakes, rogues, wits, pimps and courtesans. It is not long before she realises that true liberty is a privilege to be enjoyed by men. But Henrietta is determined to find independence. 

When a child’s scream pierces the night, Mira does what any good neighbor would do: She calls the police. She wants to make sure that Rosie, the little girl next door, is safe. Opening her front door to the police the next morning, Gemma's picture-perfect family is forced under scrutiny of social services. As her flawless life begins to crumble around her, Gemma must fight to defend the family she loves and protect her daughter from the terrible secret she's been keeping. When Rosie disappears without a trace, Gemma thinks she only has herself to blame....

1915. Japanese-occupied Korea. Najin Han, the privileged daughter of a calligrapher, longs to choose her own destiny. When her traditional father seeks to marry her into an aristocratic family, her mother defies generations of obedient wives and instead sends Najin to serve in the King's court as a companion to a young princess. But the King is assassinated, and the centuries-old dynastic culture comes to an end.

In Curlew Moon, Mary Colwell takes us on a 500 mile journey on foot from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of England, to discover what is happening to this beautiful and much-loved bird. She sets off in early spring, when the birds are arriving on their breeding grounds, watches them nesting in the hills of Wales and walks through England when the young are hatching. She finishes her walk on the coast of Lincolnshire when the fledglings are trying out their wings. This is also the place many curlews will return to for the winter months. 

After lying dormant for 10 years, an elusive serial killer strikes again, leaving few clues, and the only way for FBI special agent Riley Paige to catch him in the present is to solve the riddles of the past. Women are turning up dead, and in this dark psychological thriller, Riley Paige realizes she is in a race against time.

This is Karen's story of an unbreakable love for her daughter despite unimaginable tragedy: from her despair through Becky's troubled teenage years, to the agonising eight years when Becky was missing, and then the dramatic story of how a killer's confession led to a terrible discovery. Karen was thrown into a world where the truth was never guaranteed; where taxi driver Christopher Halliwell nearly got away with murder; where the police officer who found her daughter was punished instead. 

Penny Dreadful manages to cause a kerfuffle with three uproarious stories in which she ends up blue, along with her sister’s swan outfit, and turns Joshua Bottomley pale and green by doing a science experiment on him. Penny then cooks up a calamity as she tries to turn over a new leaf in the school show, on a class trip and by making the cake of dreams for her mum's birthday... but somehow her efforts still turn into a huge disaster.

In The Hidden World of the Fox, ecologist Adele Brand shines a light on one of Britain’s most familiar yet enigmatic animals, showing us how the astonishing senses, intelligence and behaviour that allowed foxes to thrive in the ancient wildwood now help them survive in the concrete car parks and clattering railway lines of our cities and towns.

When a serial killer strikes across a series of towns, and the only potential witness is unable to speak, it is up to FBI special agent Riley Paige to enter the mind of this complex man and learn what, if anything, he knows. What do these victims have in common? What exactly did this man witness? In this dark psychological suspense thriller, Riley Paige must battle her own demons as she is summoned to solve a crime that leaves all others stumped - one that will force her to enter too deep into the mind of a psychopath.

A serial killer is striking seemingly at random, first killing a man in his fifties, then a woman in her fifties. The only thing that links them is the lone souvenir he took: a dining chair. What is the meaning? Are the murders random after all? FBI special agent Riley Paige must fend off her own demons and her own dysfunctional family life as she races against time to enter the mind of a diabolical killer who is sure to strike again.

In this dark psychological thriller, a wealthy husband turns up dead, and his abused wife is charged with the crime. She calls Riley for help - and yet it seems clear she is guilty. But when another wealthy, abusive husband turns up dead, the FBI is called in, and FBI special agent Riley Paige wonders: Is this all a coincidence? Or could this be the work of a serial killer?

Every summer Teresa follows her father to his childhood home in Puglia, down in the heel of Italy. Everything changes when she meets the three boys who live on the masseria next door: Nicola, Tommaso and Bern - the man Teresa will love for the rest of her life. The three boys share a complex, intimate and seemingly unassailable bond. But no bond is unbreakable and no summer is truly endless, as Teresa soon discovers. There is resentment underneath the surface of that strange brotherhood, a twisted kind of love that protects a dark secret.

With beautiful blue skies, sandy beaches, and glorious sunshine, the Bahamas is a slice of heaven. But in 1943, the world is at war and even paradise isn't safe. Twenty-three-year-old Dodie Wyatt thought she had escaped her turbulent past - but one night her peace is shattered when she chooses to help a man she finds stabbed in an alleyway.

When 12-year-old Katherine Howard comes to live in the Duchess of Norfolk's household, poor relation Cat Tilney is deeply suspicious of her. The two girls couldn't be more different: Cat, watchful and ambitious; Katherine, interested only in clothes and boys. Their companions are in thrall to Katherine, but it's Cat in whom Katherine confides. Summoned to court at 17, Katherine leaves Cat in the company of her ex-lover, Francis, and the two begin their own, much more serious love affair.

Cambridge is home to 18,000 students, 1,500 academics and one serial killer.... For the students of Ariel College, a siege mentality has developed following weeks of media interest in 'the Cambridge Butcher'. University life has become not about surviving their exams, but simply about surviving. And forensic psychiatrist Matthew Denison is sure that his traumatised patient has the killer's identity locked in her memory.

Lainey Hollingsworth has spent her whole life on the outside of a secret. Her mother would never discuss the reasons she abandoned Italy when Lainey was a new born, nor has she ever stayed in touch with the family she left behind. Now Lainey's mother is dead, taking the secret with her, and leaving Lainey free to find out about her roots. Her husband, Tom, appears supportive, until he hits her with a bombshell that shatters the very foundations of their marriage. Another secret Lainey never knew anything about. 

In The Assistant Principal 50, award-winning, four-time principal Baruti Kafele presents reflective questions that encompass the breadth and depth of the assistant principalship—from finding your leadership "lane" to thriving and being an asset to your principal. Kafele infuses the book from beginning to end with personal anecdotes and accounts of both failures and successes from his years as an assistant principal. He arms you with tools and insights that will drive you to view the assistant principalship as critical to the climate and culture of your school as well as to student achievement.

Far too often, our students attain only a superficial level of knowledge that fails to prepare them for deeper challenges in school and beyond. In Teaching for Deeper Learning, renowned educators and best-selling authors, Jay McTighe and Harvey F. Silver propose a solution: teaching students to make meaning for themselves. Contending that the ability to "earn" understanding will equip students to thrive in school, at work, and in life, the authors highlight seven higher-order thinking skills that facilitate students' acquisition of information for greater retention, retrieval, and transfer.