Showing results by narrator "Colleen Prendergast" in All Categories

Parenting may be our most important and rewarding task, yet dealing with the everyday pressures of family life is a constant challenge. Mindfulness is the number-one tool for staying present and calm amidst the chaos. So how can we parents be more mindful when raising our children? In this personal yet extremely practical guide, Amber Hatch will show you what mindfulness is, how you do it and how it will help you rise to the challenges of parenthood.

When a young boy falls from a balcony in a block of flats, DS Grace Allendale witnesses the shocking aftermath of the tragic event. But strangely, no one will admit to seeing anything - and the parents will only tell the police that it was an accident. Determined to sort the truth from the lies, Grace is thrown into a case that takes her to the darkest corners of the criminal world - and strikes closer to home than she could have ever imagined.

Sebastian James Murphy is 20 years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely. Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy. She wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants. Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money.

1867: Nicola Douglas attends a lecture given by Miss Maria Rye, the founder of the Female Middle Class Emigration Society, which inspires her to change her life. With no family, but a good education, she boards a ship to Australia with high hopes of a fresh start in a new country as a governess. Sydney is full of young women with similar ambitions and poor prospects - but when a wealthy benefactor appears, she finds a foothold. What she never anticipated was the attention of two suitors: Nathaniel, a privileged and attractive English gentleman; and Hilton, a beguiling American.

1945. They have survived the Blitz, but when Simon, Patricia, Evelyn and Larry step through a mysterious library door, it is the beginning of their most dangerous adventure yet. They discover the magical world of Folio, where an enchanted kingdom of fairy knights, bears and tree gods is under threat from a sinister robot army. The many stories of the Library are locked in eternal war, and the children's only hope is to find their creator - a magician who has been lost for centuries. What they find will change not just their own lives, but the fate of the world, for ever....

Bella Whittington’s caviar-and-Cristal life comes crashing down when she walks in on her fiancé and best friend tangled up in page 34 of the Kama Sutra, limbs everywhere. But her plan to dull the pain with Daddy’s credit card is totaled by the news that they’ve lost the family business. Suddenly, Bella’s both single and completely broke. Shivering in her dingy, new studio apartment, after a traumatic incident with a homemade turmeric face mask (Hello Tangerina Jolie!), Bella realizes she must pull up her Gucci socks and get a job, fast.

Working on the notorious Mitchell Estate, housing officer Josie Mellor faces challenges every day, but not nearly as many as those of her tenants. Kelly Winterton is scared and alone after her partner has been jailed. A victim of domestic abuse, Charlotte Hatfield has fled from her violent partner four times already. He'll probably kill her if he finds her this time. Disowned by her family, someone is taking advantage of Amy Cartwright's vulnerability. Who can she turn to for support?

A lost little girl with her notebook and toy monkey appears on the CCTV screens of the Green Oaks shopping centre, evoking memories of junior detective Kate Meaney, missing for 20 years.

Beth Lomas thought she knew her late husband. But this one small word, written on the back of a discarded envelope and left on their kitchen table, convinces the police that Oscar took his own life. As the police announce they are not seeking anyone else in connection with Oscar's death, Beth is convinced that there is more to the story. As she sets out to discover what really happened, Beth uncovers shocking truths about the man she thought she knew better than anyone.

Limpet and his mum run an ice-cream shop, full of her favourite flavours: spaghetti ice cream, anyone? Terrific tomato and parsnip ice cream? But his mum's off for the weekend, leaving Limpet and his dad in charge. What could possibly go wrong? When Limpet finds himself in a giant cucumber costume, defending a fairy fort against a mysterious robber, he knows that things can't possibly get any worse. Can he catch the thief, save the ice cream shop and avoid the dastardly stink eye of Mr A Pigeon?

When single mum Ruth has a brief fling with Rob, she's mortified to discover that he lied to her. He lied to her, because he's married. Worse still, he's the husband of Janine, head of the PTA at the primary school where Ruth works as secretary, and when the truth of their fling is discovered, Ruth suddenly has a lot of enemies at the school gates. Threatening texts begin to arrive, rumours abound and the staff room becomes hostile.

As a palliative care nurse, it is Kelly Critcher's job to look death in the eye - to save a patient while the fight can still be won and confront death with grace and kindness when it can't. In early 2020, everything changed for nurses on the NHS frontline. Working on Covid wards and the High Dependency Unit, Kelly spent the height of the coronavirus crisis at Northwick Park Hospital - perhaps the UK hospital most deeply ravaged by the illness.

‘I miss him with every breath and heartbeat. He should have been my happy ending. Instead, he is the sad beginning to my story.' Olivia and Luca Felicone had known each other nearly all their lives, but when they fell in love as teenagers and eloped to London, they broke the hearts of those closest to them.

This is a brilliantly funny story of a rabbit and a bear who discover that things are always better when they're shared with a friend. Bear wakes up early from hibernation. If she can't sleep, then at least she can make a snowman. Rabbit has never made a snowman, but he definitely wants to make one that's better than Bear's. But with an avalanche and a hungry wolf heading his way, Rabbit soon realises that it might be nice to have a friend on his side.

Young Sara Crewe grew up in a well-to-do household, but she suddenly finds herself impoverished when her father, Captain Crewe, dies penniless in India. Sara is forced to abandon her life of privilege for a life of bare existence at Miss Minchin's boarding school. To survive those hard times, she imagines herself to be a princess as she awaits her rescue from a mysterious benefactor.

For fans of Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Sophie Kinsella, here is a Pride and Prejudice for the modern era. Londoners Kim and Harry can't see eye to eye...until the life of the person they both love most hangs in the balance. Kim has never grasped what her free-spirited big sister, Eva, sees in a stuck-up banker like Harry and has spent her childhood trying to keep him out while Harry's favourite occupation is winding Kim up.

Life is good for nurse Kat. That is until the man she intended to marry legs it, she’s unexpectedly promoted to a position with too much responsibility, and a patient arrives on her ward under strange circumstances. Susan is a mystery. She refuses to speak or interact with anyone, she’s obsessed with a book of fairy tales, and the only name in her diary is that of Rhys – a plumber she barely knows. Down-to-earth Rhys is trying to get his life back on track after the death of his beloved brother. His mum is his priority, and she needs him as much as he needs her.

When Laura McAllister, a young lady's maid, learns her three siblings have been taken from their mother and emigrated to Canada without her mother's knowledge, she becomes determined to search for them and reunite the family. But a lack of funds and resistance from authorities push her to use a false name and take a position with a child emigration society to gain passage to Canada.

Twelve-year-old Art lives in a small village in Scotland. Her mother has always made potions that cure the sick, but now the townspeople say she is a witch. One cloudless night, Art's mother is arrested and taken to England. Art mounts her horse, taking a sword, a tightrope and a herbal recipe book, and begins a journey through wild forests, using nature's signs and symbols to guide her. But will she spot the signs from the omens? Will she reach her mother, before it's too late?

Mara lives with her father in a drought-stricken village, where rain comes at a price controlled by powerful cloud-makers. Without enough water, the village crops, animals and people will continue to suffer. When Mara’s father’s illness takes a turn for the worse, she sneaks to The Cloud Factory in the hopes a healthy cloud will help him. But stealing a cloud isn’t simple, as Mara soon finds – and she begins to discover the secrets behind The Cloud Factory.