Showing results by narrator "Jessica Hayles" in All Categories

It is autumn in Castle Knoll and Annie Adams is busy settling into her new home. She doesn't find Gravesdown Hall particularly cosy, especially since she found two dead bodies there over the summer. What's more, ever since she arrived in the village, Annie has had the creeping sense she's being watched. Lonely, and desperate for some company, Annie starts talking to a stranger she meets in the grounds of the estate. The striking old woman introduces herself as Peony Lane, the fortune-teller who predicted Great Aunt Frances' murder all those years ago. And now she has a fortune to tell Annie.

Life can be a lot. How are you supposed to maintain healthy relationships, build a career, keep up with the constant life admin, and prioritize your well-being? It’s so easy to get distracted and lose sight of your path, until one day you realize you’re completely lost, trapped in a cycle of self-sabotage and people pleasing. You are not alone. Following her own personal experience of dealing with anxiety and depression, Meggan Roxanne has united a community of 30 million people by sharing ways to navigate everyday struggles.

In the Kingdom of Daradon, a persecuted few are Wielders – able to exert a physical power that extends beyond their visible body: a shimmering tendril that can pick a lock, a gentle coil that reaches out to give a loving caress, or an inexorable rope that will kill a man before he knows it is around his neck. Feared and mistrusted for this ability, Wielders have always been Hunted. Alissa Paine – heiress of a noble lineage, daughter of a Hunter family – is also a Wielder.

As Tess traces the sunrise over the floodplains, light that paints the house a startling crimson, she yearns for the comforting chaos of life as it once was. Instead of Max and Sonny tracking dirt through the kitchen - Tess and Richard's 'rainbow twins' - Tess absorbs the quiet. The nights draw in, the soil cools and Richard fights to get his winter crops planted rather than deal with the discussion he cannot bear to have. Secrets and vines clamber over the broken red bricks and although its inhabitants seem to be withering, in the damp, crumbling soil - Sonny knows it - something is stirring.

Meghan was 11 when she first advocated for women’s rights; a teenager when she worked in a soup kitchen feeding the homeless; a popular actress when she campaigned for clean water in Africa and passionately championed gender equality in a speech to a United Nations Women’s Conference. Even before she met Prince Harry, hers was an extraordinarily accomplished life. Meghan’s wedding to Harry was a joyful occasion, marking happiness at last for the Queen’s grandson who had captured our hearts 20 years earlier when he bravely walked behind his mother Diana’s coffin.

Alexandra Wilson was a teenager when her dear family friend Ayo was stabbed on his way home from football. Ayo's death changed Alexandra. She felt compelled to enter the legal profession in search of answers. As a junior criminal and family law barrister, Alexandra finds herself navigating a world and a set of rules designed by a privileged few. A world in which fellow barristers sigh with relief when a racist judge retires: 'I've got a black kid today and he would have had no hope'.

This is the motto of the Lady Knights - sworn to fealty under a struggling kingdom, promised to defend the prospective heir, Banna Mora. But when a fearsome rebellion overthrows the throne, Mora is faced with an agonising choice: give up everything she's been raised to love, and allow a king killer to be rewarded - or retake the throne, and take up arms against the newest heir, Hal Bolingbrooke, Mora's own childhood best friend and sworn head of the Lady Knights.

Mermaids Beattie, Mimi and Zelda, along with Steve the talking seahorse, are trapped aboard the spooky ship the Merry Mary, heading for the legendary (and super-stylish) Crocodile Kingdom. On land, Paris Silkensocks, ice-cream seller and gadget queen, has uncovered a plot to destroy the mermaid world. Can Paris find the mermaids in time? Can Beattie avert a Crocodile Kingdom crabtastrophe? Can seahorses get seasick?

In the kingdom of Frostopia, mermaids Beattie, Mimi and Zelda have come to the aid of Maritza Mist, a famous water witch who supplies magic spells to the underwater kingdoms. Two notoriously bad mermaids have escaped from Viper View prison and stolen Maritza's map that shows the locations of 12 magical objects. When brought together, these objects will create the most powerful water witch the world has ever known. Beattie, Mimi and Zelda set off to travel the underwater kingdoms to stop them.

Mermaids Beattie, Mimi and Zelda are enjoying a summer on land with legs when they receive a strange crabagram ordering them to return home at once. Some seriously bad mermaids are on the loose, and the girls are the only ones who can stop them. If they’re going to save the day, they’ll need answers. And a clam car. Definitely piranha-print nail polish. Possibly not the talking seahorse.

Meri Pebble, professional spy mermaid, has a new mission. She’s going to be a personal assistant to the Sushi Sisters (famous for their notorious appearance on reality TV programme Catwalk Prawn, and for driving around in a submarine shaped like a giant bit of sushi). Beattie, Mimi, Zelda and Steve the talking seahorse are coming along for the ride as the least convincing glam squad ever.

1770. Delphine lives in the shadows of London: a secret, vibrant world of smugglers, courtesans and small rebellions. Four years ago, she escaped enslavement at great personal cost. Now, she must help her brother Vincent do the same. While Britain’s highest court fails to administer justice for Vincent, little rebellions are no longer enough. What’s needed is a big explosive plot – one that will strike at the heart of the transatlantic slave trade. But can one Black woman, one fuse and one match bring down an Empire?

Welcome to Keeper Island, the private Caribbean paradise where the cocktails are chilled, the guests are not, and new manager Lola is hoping nothing messes up her badly needed fresh start. Her previous job in Hong Kong ended in tears – and quite a lot of blood – so she’s come to Keeper to lie low, as well as to provide the gold-star service the resort’s spoiled one-percenters expect. Her only connection to her previous life now is her old mentor and new boss, Mike Moxham. But nothing is that simple, and no secret is truly safe forever.

Franz Kafka is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most enigmatic geniuses of European literature. What happens when his idiosyncratic imagination meets some of the greatest literary minds writing in English across the globe today? From a future society who ask their AI servants to construct a giant tower to reach God; to a flat hunt that descends into a comically absurd bureaucratic nightmare; to a population experiencing a wave of unbearable, contagious panic attacks, these ten specially commissioned stories are by turns mind-bending, funny, unsettling and haunting.

When Kendra Tamale returns to England from Australia she rents a room from Kyle, a separated father of two, and begins a new job. She's looking forward to a fresh start and a simple life. Kyle's six-year-old twins, Summer and Jaxon, have other ideas and quickly adopt Kendra as their new mother - mainly because she lets them eat marshmallows for breakfast. Kendra eventually becomes a part of their lives, even though she's hiding a painful secret that makes her keep everyone - especially children - at arm's length.

A respected figure in philanthropy and the charity sector, Derek A. Bardowell presents a unique insight into what's going on inside the world of giving and where best we can make a difference. From the decolonisation of philanthropy to redefining the purpose of charity itself, Bardowell introduces a radical new take on how social issues, from climate change to serious youth violence, can be tackled in modern society by all of us. Filled with lively insights and moving stories, Giving Back is here to break down the walls of charitable giving.

Erin Goodman is a very good reporter. Up until recently, in fact, she was the best. Cat Sullivan suddenly seems to have the inside scoop; she's always in the right place at the right time for the juiciest news reports. When Cat just happens to be in the area when a murder is called in, Erin can no longer ignore the long run of coincidences giving Cat's career a boost. But Cat knows Erin is onto her. And Cat is more than happy to toy with her colleague, especially if it gets her an even bigger story to report on. In the game of cat and mouse, there can be only one winner.

In The Love That Dares, queer love speaks its name through the words of lovers from years gone by. Alongside the more famous names coexist beautifully written letters by lesser-known lovers, giving us an insight into queer love outside of the spotlight of fame or fortune. These letters give us a glimpse into the passion and courage it took to continue a gay relationship in times when it was at best improper and at worst illegal. Enlightening introductions to each set of letters give readers an idea of the historical context in which they were written.

Allyship is a journey, but it's not always easy to know where to start. See things from a different perspective with heartfelt real-life stories by writers from diverse backgrounds, abilities and circumstances. Wherever you are in your allyship journey, these stories about what it means to be an ally can empower you to help make the world a better place for everyone. Find out what you can do and take an active role with resources like self-reflective questions, journaling ideas, prompts and further learning. Be the reason someone feels seen, heard and supported.

Someone is watching Etta. Footsteps in the night, the security light coming on at strange hours...is it all just her curtain-twitching neighbours, who seem to monitor her every move? Or is her little online problem making her paranoid? Because Etta needs to win big. She joined a gambling website to get a bit of cash, hoping to convince her boyfriend, Ola, that they can afford to get married. And she was so good at it...until she wasn’t. Luckily, she’s made a friend who hit the jackpot, and if she plays her cards right, he could lend her the money to win everything back. Easy.