Showing results by narrator "Laurence Bouvard" in All Categories

What makes us monsters? A psychotic patient with two impossible claims. A leading forensic psychiatrist on the edge. It's not just Dr Dominick's career that's in danger.... As a forensic psychiatrist at New York's leading institution of its kind, Dr Lily Dominick has evaluated the mental states of some of the country's most dangerous psychotics. But the strangely compelling client she interviewed today - a man with no name, accused of the most twisted crime - struck her as somehow different from the others....

Vittoria, as she's known in Italy, is a small-time model and actress, recognisable but hard to place. Even though she's married to fading writer Frank Paris, Vittoria knows that she's really Vicki Wilson from Texas and that her deepest loyalty is to her brother, Johnny, who's been there for her from childhood, when he dealt decisively with the unwanted attention she got from other boys. Guided by Johnny, Vittoria enters the upper circles of Roman society. Before long, she's mingling with the high rollers, corrupt senators, and powerful movers.

The hardscrabble Chase women - Mary, Hannah, and their mother Diane - have been eking out a living running a tiny seaside motel that has been in the family for generations, inviting trouble into their lives for just as long. Eighteen-year-old Mary Chase is a force of nature: passionate, beautiful, and free-spirited. Her much younger sister, Hannah, whom Mary affectionately calls 'Bunny', is imaginative, her head full of the stories of princesses and adventures that Mary tells to give her a safe emotional place in the middle of their troubled world.

Sarah Keller is a young single mother living in Oklahoma with her five year old daughter, Zoe. But when a school bus accident sends Zoe to the ER, tests reveal Sarah can't be Zoe's mother. Sarah has been living a lie for years and finally the truth is coming out. Who is she? Who were Zoe's parents? And why does Zoe's identity bring the FBI down on Sarah's tail in mere minutes?

David Moloney’s Barker House follows the story of nine unforgettable New Hampshire Correctional Officers over the course of one year on the job. While veteran guards get by on what they consider survival strategies - including sadistic power-mongering and obsessive voyeurism - two rookies, including the only female Officer on her shift, develop their own tactics for facing “the system”.

London-based PR consultant Rosie Denham and American IT professor Patrick Riley couldn’t be more different. She’s had a privileged English upbringing. He was raised in poverty in Missouri. Patrick has two kids, a job that means the world to him, and a wife who might decide she wants her husband back. So when Patrick and Rosie fall in love, the prospects don’t seem bright for them. But magic sometimes happens, right?

The inferno struck without warning, but Draco Dante had no complaints. For his family's legacy drew him to Shayla Charleston, a mysterious beauty who ignited his blood. Soon he had her in his bed... and just as quickly she was gone. After months of searching, Draco Dante finally found the woman who was his destiny. But secrets began to rise, and Draco was torn between past strife, and a future with his wife and son. Could Draco trust she shared their bond?

Did someone say double trouble? Pimpa meets another Pimpa in the bathroom mirror. As the two get to know each other, they realise that they are quite different - they don’t like any of the same games, food or sports! The only thing that the two Pimpas have in common is their love of drawing on the walls of Armando’s house. But Armando isn’t so keen... "Pimpa and the Other Pimpa" is perfect for anyone who would like to join the friendly, red-spotted dog on a thrilling adventure! Pimpa is a cheerful, red-spotted dog.

Margo hasn’t been back to Lake Moss since her friend went missing. But as she returns, the news breaks. Her hometown’s swimming hole has been Jessie’s grave for 15 years. Digging out her old diary, and steeling herself to face unfriendly ghosts from her past, Margo sets out to help a documentary crew as they return to investigate the infamous case the police bungled.

Norah Campbell was an addict. The loss of her fiancé drove her to despair; she lost custody of her daughter, Gemma, and control of her life. Now Norah is in recovery and she wants Gemma back. But to do so, she must move in with her eccentric aunt and uncle, and they refuse to give up control without a fight. When strange occurrences keep happening at the farm and Norah makes a gruesome discovery, she soon realises she’s living with a monster. As her mental health spirals out of control and she is tempted to relapse, she begins to wonder if she is also a monster.

Alva, a widow, states a preference for plain ordinary pleasures—only to get drunk and flirtatious and pass out in a strange bed when she is asked out for the evening. Sadie, a spinster, goes to a holiday resort complete with pine groves, marshmallows and respectable clientele—to bring her nervous sister home, but she instead comes to an eerie end herself.

In the year 2737, Earth is mostly depopulated in the wake of a massive supervolcano, but civilization and culture are preserved in vast orbiting ringstations. Tem, the nine-year-old son of a ringstation anthropologist and a Happdal bow-hunter, wants nothing more than to become a blacksmith like his uncle Trond. But after a rough patch as the only brown-skinned child in the village, his mother Car-En decides that the family should spend some time on the Stanford ringstation.

Car-En, a ringstation anthropologist on her first Earth field assignment, observes a Viking-like village in the Harz mountains. As Car-En secretly observes the Happdal villagers, she begins to see them as more than research subjects (especially Esper, a handsome bowhunter). When Esper’s sister is taken by an otherwordly sword-wielding white-haired man, she can no longer stand by as a passive witness. Knowing the decision might end her career, she cuts off communication with her advisor and pursues the abductor into the mountains.

The Washington Post said, "Nobody does smart, gutsy, funny, sexy women better than Susan Isaacs". Add to that praise the adjective "strong", and you've got Susan's latest protagonist, Marianne Kent. Her life may not seem thrilling - living with her widowed mother, majoring in economics, working in an elegant dress store after classes to put away money for graduate school - but she's determined to make a better life for herself and her mom.

Soon, we'll be able to predict everything. We'll predict weather patterns, traffic jams. We'll predict who is going to run countries. Laurence Walker wants to be President of the United States. He's a sure thing: adored by the public, ex-military, a real family man. A good man. But then ClearVista, the world's foremost prediction software, tells the world his chances. And not only will he not be President, but it predicts that he's going to do the worst thing he can imagine.

Hollywood, 1978: Tragedy sends troubled film star Vivien Lockhart into the arms of Giovanni Moretti - and it seems her fortunes have finally changed. Until she meets his sister and learns that her new husband's past holds dark secrets. Tuscany, present day: Lucy Whittaker needs to disappear. But her new home, the crumbling Castillo Barbarossa, is far from the secluded paradise it seemed. Strange sounds come from the attic. The owner of the house will never meet her in person. The fountain in the courtyard is silent - but has never run dry.

Anise can't wait to spend the summer before her senior year surfing and hanging out on the beach with friends. Santa Cruz is more than her home - it's her heart. But when her aunt is in a serious car accident, Anise must say goodbye to California to go help care for her three young cousins in Nebraska - the last place Anise wants to be. As much as she loves her family, it's hard to put her past behind her when she's living in the childhood house of the mother who abandoned her.

From best-selling author Kristin von Kreisler comes a poignant, uplifting novel of one woman's journey to healing, and the surprising soul mate that helps guide her there. Lila Elliot knows she's lucky. A shooting rampage at her office left several colleagues dead and others seriously wounded. Lila's injuries will heal in time. Yet though she gratefully retreats to her best friend's house to recuperate, Lila can't quite move past her fear and anger.

Winner of the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize. Auntie Mei is a live-in nanny for newborns and their mothers. She has worked for 126 families and looked after 131 babies, one set of clients easily replaced by the next. But the 132nd baby and his mother, Chanel, prompts a crisis in Auntie Mei's life - a tremor that threatens to destroy her resolute detachment.

Spontaneity may be in her blood, but walking down the aisle to wed a stranger is the riskiest thing Sara Darling’s ever done. But to adopt her infant niece, she’ll first need to say an "I do" of convenience to war-traumatised soldier Jake Martin. She thought she could resist his rugged charm, but before long Sara needs their ready-made family as much as he does....