Showing results by narrator "Paula Masterton" in All Categories

We find the doll shattered on the floor, its broken pieces scattered like a warning. That's when everything starts to fall apart. Now the power is out. A storm has trapped us here. And someone is dead. Things haven't been normal since the first day, when someone moved the dolls. I told them not to — never move the dolls before the tenth day of Navaratri, the Hindu Festival of Dolls. They're not toys. They're part of a sacred tradition.

Letty Ingram, a half-Malayan lady raised in the UK, has suffered under a strange curse her whole life. Her beautiful and fearsome mother, from an unknown island in the Malay Archipelago, is the key to the mystery. Letty arrives in Singapore in 1906 to seek the help of the Chinese medium, Madam...

Marion Miller needs a fresh start. Her childhood in Northern Ireland wasn’t easy, with a father who passed away when she was young and a mother who got lost in grief. Now grown-up and with family relations as tense as ever, Marion heads to England, to find out the truth about her father’s mysterious past – and hopefully an extended family who will love her as much as he did.

Thirty-year-old Paige Dougall’s life is a mess. Only a year ago she was smashing all of her life goals - handsome husband, high-flying job, cute kid. But in just under 12 months, everything has gone wrong. Nursing a broken heart, single-mother Paige returns to Kindness Cottage, her childhood home nestled in a picture-perfect Scottish village. Despite the backdrop of rolling hills and lavender-scented air, Paige struggles to settle into her summer at Kindness Cottage. She’s too wrapped up in her own worries to embrace her surroundings...until Johnny Becker steps onto the scene.

Ember Spark has been working as an apprentice to Rusty Fizzbang, vet to magical creatures. When a baby frost phoenix guides her north to the Arctic circle, she soon realises that the migrating Neverwhales are at risk. And with arch-villain, Jasper Hornswoggle, tracking her, danger is afoot not just for the Neverwhales, but for ALL of the magical creatures.

Rusty Fizzbang, vet to magical beasts, needs an apprentice. Ember Spark, looking for adventure, is his newest recruit - and together with an unlikely friend, Arno, she is sent to help a baby dragon whose parents have gone missing. But keeping magical beasts a secret isn’t an easy task, especially with arch-villain, Jasper Hornswoggle, hot on their heels and keen to derail them.

Ember Spark, apprentice vet to magical creatures, is off on her next adventure. When a unicorn comes out of hiding to ask for her for help, Ember soon realises that it's not just one but ALL of the magical creatures that are in danger. And with a new arch-villain, Tabitha Bone, hot on Ember’s heels, there's a whole lot at stake . . .

Evie Stuart is playing it safe. She lives on her family’s remote farm in the Scottish Highlands and never ventures beyond the local village of Lockton. She’s learned that bad things happen when she’s impulsive, and she’s determined not to get burned again. Callum Ryder is the opposite of what Evie wants in her ordered world. Six foot two of reckless energy with twinkling eyes and a dangerously charming smile, he’s a thrill-seeking American firefighter with no idea how to slow down. Callum enters Lockton like a whirlwind, fleeing his problems in New York City in search of the truth about his Scottish family.

Someone has broken into Zoe’s flat. A man she thought she’d never have to see again. They call him the Hand of God. He knows about her job in the cafe, her life in Dublin, her ex-girlfriend, even the knife she’s hidden under the mattress. She thought she’d left him far behind, along with the cult of the Children and their isolated compound Home – but now he’s found her, and she knows she must go back to rescue the sister who helped her escape all those years before.

When I first met you, darling Marina, you were just five years old. You took my breath away, with your long, dark waves and pink cheeks. You needed me, and I instantly knew I’d do anything to protect you. When six years ago, my heart was shattered, I was left utterly broken – but I didn’t know just how lost I was until you filled that hole in my heart. You quickly became the centre of my world, your sweet laugh my favourite sound. But then things started to change... I put my pain down to work stress, but when the diagnosis came through it was worse than I could ever have imagined.

Ava’s daughter, Carly, is everything a 10-year-old should be: energetic, creative, and the light of her parent’s lives. But when she starts stumbling down stairs and walking into doors, Ava wants to rush to the doctor. Her husband, Rick, is sure she’s fretting over nothing - kids can be a little clumsy sometimes. But Ava’s instinct is telling her something is seriously wrong. Ava takes Carly to see a specialist and is given a devastating diagnosis: a rare genetic condition that will change her future forever.

Nineteen-year-old Sarah wakes up one morning feeling that something big, something irrevocable has happened on Black Crag, a small seaside village of around a few hundred people. To this remote community it seems as though the rest of the world had gone to sleep - aeroplanes no longer criss-cross the sky, the radios have gone silent and the ferry no longer brings their supplies. It's almost as if there is no world at all, when life begins and ends with the slate-coloured waves outside their front door.

Mothers talk about impossible choices. But, as I look at my daughter in a hospital bed, her red hair fanning out around her, my heart feels literally torn in two. Should I risk my son’s life to save my daughter, or keep my little boy safe and watch my precious girl slip away? My darling daughter Tara has a rare form of cancer and there’s nothing I can do. At eleven years old, she’s already been so brave, but my sweet girl is hanging on by her fingernails. She has one last chance: a bone marrow transplant from her little brother.

Dot is a lonely pensioner. Max is a young offender. But a chance meeting in their local park changes everything for this unlikely duo. They soon find they share a wicked sense of humor and a penchant for petty crime. When Dot wins the lottery, Max helps her make a bucket list of all the things she's always wanted to do but never had the chance. The pair gradually realize that it's not just expensive gadgets, fast cars and fun fairs that make them happy. And that the secret to living a rich life isn't money.

Written by the former Deputy Head of Make-Up and Wigs at the National Theatre, this book opens up a process that very few people will otherwise be privy to, giving perspectives on the preparation before a production and responsibilities during, as well as looking more widely at training, career opportunities and success. From designing and fitting wigs to managing lightning-fast quick changes, hair, wigs and make-up people are a major part of the creation of any theatrical production.

Being head of a family is what she knows best. A decade ago, Cara Fraser, wife to one of Glasgow’s most notorious gangsters, was left a widow after Kyle Fraser was slain on the city streets. The intervening years haven’t been easy – not least as Kyle’s murder left her to bring up little Ryan and Sean alone. Now, Ryan and Sean are adults, and honouring their father’s memory by rising up to become the top gangsters on the dark streets of Glasgow.

The perfect weekend away. A remote lodge, old friends... and murder. Set in a remote Scottish lodge in the depths of winter, this explosive and disturbing thriller asks what happens when dark secrets finally come to light. When a group of female friends gather at a beautiful but isolated Scottish island lodge for a weekend away, they're looking forward to relaxing, sharing updates on their lives, reminiscing... The furthest thing from their minds is death. But even though they've known each other since high school, some of these women have secrets.

In 1890s Singapore, the formidable Miss Leda Cassidy arrives as paid companion to Sarah Jane Bendemeer, whose family suffers under the thrall of Southeast Asia's most terrifying hantu. But there's more to Miss Cassidy than meets the eye, and she's faced down worse in her life than a pontianak...

After rowing out to an island near their seaside home, Tulsi and Satchen discover a whale that has been trapped in a fishing net. Determined to try to free the poor creature, they repeatedly dive down into the freezing sea to cut the netting, but eventually, exhausted and with a storm rolling in, they have to admit defeat. As they head for home to seek help, their boat capsizes in the storm and they’re left clinging to it, dangerously adrift. Just as they think all is lost, help arrives from an unexpected source.