Showing results by narrator "Nathalie Buscombe" in All Categories

London, 1942. When art school graduate Eleanor Roy is recruited by the War Artists Advisory Committee, she comes one step closer to realising her dream of becoming one of the few female war artists. But breaking into the art establishment proves difficult until Eleanor meets painter Jack Valante, only to be separated by his sudden posting overseas. Melbourne, 2010. Although reluctant to leave her family at home, Kathryn can't refuse her grandmother Eleanor's request to travel to London to help her return a precious painting to its artist.

Maria is on trial for attempted murder. She has confessed to the crime and wanted her husband dead. Lottie is on the jury, trying to decide her fate. She embarks on an illicit affair with a stranger, and her husband can never find out. You will think you know who is guilty and who is innocent. You will be wrong.

Nicole and Tom's lives are changed overnight by a ten-million-pound lottery win. Before they know it they've moved into a state-of-the-art Glass Barn conversion in the stunning grounds of Lancaut Manor in Gloucestershire. But their dream quickly turns into a nightmare when Tom is found dead in the swimming pool, with a nasty wound on the back of his head. Someone close to home must be responsible. But other than the young couple who live in the Manor, and their housekeeper in the Coach House next door, there's no one around for miles.

For 150 years, above the Scottish cliffs, Caldonbrae Hall has sat as a beacon of excellence in the ancestral castle of Lord William Hope. A boarding school for girls, it promises a future where its pupils will emerge 'resilient and ready to serve society'. Rose Christie, a 26-year-old Classics teacher, is the first new hire for the school in more than a decade. At first, Rose feels overwhelmed in the face of this elite establishment, but soon after her arrival she begins to understand that she may have more to fear than her own ineptitude.

Return to the worlds of The Craftsman and Lacey Flint in this first short-story collection from Sharon Bolton, International award-winning author of The Split. This collection is available exclusively in audio and features eight short stories, each with a new introduction written and read by the author.

Alfie Mack has been in hospital for months recovering from an accident. A new face on the ward is about as exciting as life gets for him right now, so when someone moves into the bed next to him, he's eager to make friends. But it quickly becomes clear that seeing his neighbour's face won't happen any time soon. Alice Gunnersley has been badly burned and can't even look at herself yet, let alone allow anyone else to see her. Keeping the curtain around her bed firmly closed, it doesn't stop Alfie trying to get to know her.

A dark moon is rising. A perfect black circle, barely visible in the night sky, the dark moon casts its void over the wind-scorched moor, over the soaring mass of a great limestone hill, and over the town that cowers in its shadow. The dark moon is the absence of moon before the slender silver crescent of the new moon appears again and people can breathe a little easier. The month is March, and the night is clear and cold, black as pitch.

Frannie is delighted when a chance meeting with a handsome man and his son leads to a romance. The fact that the relationship is marred by gruesome tragedies, she dismisses as an unsettling coincidence. But eventually she can no longer ignore the fact that she is the only thing linking these horrible events. Is it a murderous practical joke? Or worse?

Katia has spent her childhood in the eastern shadow of the Berlin Wall. For her father, refugee of the civil war in Spain, the communist side of Germany represents everything he fought and suffered for. Katia knows no other way of life, until a chance encounter with a young man from the West leaves her to wonder what the other side might offer. It's only after she's made the perilous journey that Katia understands all she has left behind and years until she will finally know the devastating consequences it had on her family.

The day Rowena Murray was born, 250 starlings fell like stones from the sky. Ever since, she has been marked by Death. First the visions; then her boyfriend died suddenly; now her father, too. Salvation, Rowena is told, lies to the North: in Culcrith, where her grandmother can save her from the curse. Her mother's farmhand, a young Egyptian man named Halim, is to drive her.

A tiny island community is stunned by the discovery of a long-buried body. For Stella Harvey, the news is doubly shocking: the body was found in the garden of her childhood home. The home her family fled without explanation 25 years ago. Now, questioning her past and desperate to unearth the truth, Stella returns to the isolated Dorset island. But she quickly finds that the community she left isn’t as welcoming as she remembers - and that people in it will go to any length to protect their secrets. But one thing rings true...you can’t bury the truth forever.

The human mind can often seem mysterious, yet there are patterns to our behavior and laws governing the biology of the brain that psychologists have long sought to understand. From the ways we learn to our social interactions and our unique personalities, psychologists have developed valuable insights into the principles and rules that shape our minds.

Olga is an orphan raised by her grandmother in a Silesian village at the start of the 20th century. Smart and precocious, she fights against the prejudices of the time to find her place in a world that sees her as second-best. When she falls in love with Herbert, a local aristocrat obsessed with the era's dreams of power, glory and greatness, her life is irremediably changed.  

Elizaveta is princess of Kiev, but that doesn't stop her chasing adventure. Defying conventions, she rides the rapids of the Dneiper alongside her royal brothers and longs to rule in her own right as a queen. Elizaveta meets her match when the fearsome Viking warrior Harald Hardrada arrives at her father's court seeking fame and fortune. He entrusts Elizaveta to be his treasure keeper, to hold the keys to his ever-growing wealth - and eventually to his heart.

For Stella, Deputy Editor of The Globe, the choice has always been clear. There is no stone she will leave unturned in her pursuit of the best story. It’s what she’s built her reputation on. For Jess, the Globe’s rookie reporter, the story stops when the truth does. But she knows that the dirty tricks of the tabloids will be hard to overturn. And when the subject of the story Jess is working on pays the ultimate price, she suspects that the paper may have had more to do with it than they’re letting on.

London, 1943: war and dwindling resources are taking their toll on the staff of Partridge Press. The pressure is on to create new books to distract readers from the grim realities of the war, but Partridge's rising star, Alice Cotton, leaves abruptly and cannot be found. Alice's secret absence is to give birth, and although her baby's father remains unnamed, Alice's mother promises to help her raise her tiny granddaughter, Eadie. Instead, she takes a shocking action. Theo Bloom is employed by the American office of Partridge.

Destitute and desperate, Catherine Weston accepts the summons from her childhood friend Madeline St. Aubyn to attend her at Cairncroft Abbey. Madeline's health is in a poor state, and she is terrified of her cousin Gabriel. But Gabriel has quite a different effect on Catherine, stirring longings and desires she believed long buried. Then a young woman is found dead, and Madeline's ravings point to a link between this horrific crime and Gabriel - and Catherine must decide if he is a man worthy of her love or a sinister stranger determined to make her his next victim.   

Shine's life is usually dull: an orphan without magic in a family of powerful mages, she's left to run the family estate with only an eccentric aunt and telepathic cat for company. But when the family descend on the house for the annual Fertility Festival, a week of drink, drugs and debauchery, Shine is plunged into intrigue: stolen letters, a fugitive spy, and family drama, mixed with murder, sex and secrets. As the festival draws to a close, Shine is forced to decide both her loyalties and future. 

Charlotte and Sam were partners. In life and in crime. They never stole from anyone who couldn't afford it. Wealthy clients, luxury cruise ships. It was easy money and harmless. At least, that's what Charlotte told herself, until the world caved in on her. But now, years after she tried to put that past life behind her, it comes rushing back when her estranged ex-husband, Sam, suddenly goes missing—and someone threatens to expose what they did.

They have cheated death. Defied their people. Changed beyond recognition. Their love has survived the impossible. But now they must learn to trust again: the future of their worlds depends on it. It is whispered that Earth is lost. Once conquered and invaded by the alien Illyri, Earth has been surrendered twice over and is now prey to the parasites known as the Others.