Showing results by narrator "Penelope Penelope Rawlins" in All Categories

Since she was found as a baby, floating in the Thames one foggy night, the web-toed Pearl has been brought up in a brothel known as the House of Mermaids. Cosseted and pampered there, it is only when her 14th birthday approaches that Pearl realises she is to be sold to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, the orphaned twins, Lily and Elijah, have shared an idyllic childhood, raised in a secluded country house with their grandfather. But when Lily and Elijah go on a visit to London, a chance meeting with Pearl will have repercussions for all of them, binding their fates together in a dark and dangerous way....

After the death of her lover, Jake, Talulla Demetriou is the last living werewolf. And she's on the run. Pregnant, grieving, and with only her human familiar Cloquet helping her keep one step ahead of the Hunt, Talulla flees to a remote Alaskan lodge to have her child in secret. The birth leaves her ravaged, but with her infant son in her arms it looks as if the worst is over. Until the door bursts open – and she discovers that the worst is only just beginning… Talulla is plunged into a race against time to save her son.

Grey Knights Justicar Styer and his squad are assigned to locate a lost Grey Knights vessel, the Purifier ship Blade of Purity. Boarding the ship, they find evidence of battle and possible Chaos corruption. Has the impossible happened and Purifiers have fallen to the thrall of the Ruinous Powers? Or is something else stalking the halls of the Blade of Purity?

Imagine being married for 28 years with three children, a lovely house and a husband who travels a lot - but you still love each other. Or: imagine being happily married for 17 years. You have one daughter and your husband travels a lot. One day you get a call that turns your world upside down: your husband is dead. You go to the funeral…and meet his other widow…

DCI Michael Gilbert is called out to Sark - the world's first dark sky island - after bones are found on Derrible Bay. He is followed by journalist Jennifer Dorey, driven by a secret in her own past. The remains are decades old, but after a body is discovered Jennifer and Michael fear there may be a killer on the island. Together they follow a dark trail of bad blood and a conspiracy of silence. Everyone on the island is under suspicion. No one is what they seem. And the murderer could strike again at any time....

The Navigator Nisha Andrasta has served the XIIth Legion for over a century. She saw the War Hounds reunited with their progenitor, Lord Angron. She witnessed the rebirth of the Legion as the World Eaters. She looked on in confusion and horror as the primarch joined Horus's rebellion, and now she has seen him betrayed by Lorgar Aurelian, becoming the maddened monster he was always destined to be.

In the tradition of Rachel Cusk's A Life's Work or Maggie O'Farrell's The Hand That First Held Mine comes a complex, tender and gorgeously written novel of parenthood, love and marriage that is impossible to put down. Cambridge 1963. Charlotte struggles to reconnect with the woman she was before children and to find the time and energy to paint. Her husband, Henry, cannot face the thought of another English winter.

When an eager and curious Jane Eyre arrives at Thornfield Hall her sexual desires are instantly awakened. Who is the enigmatic Rochester whom she instantly feels attracted to? What are the strange and yet captivating noises coming from the attic? Only one thing is certain: Jane Eyre may have arrived at Thornfield an unfulfilled and tentative woman, but she will leave a very different person.…

Close to Rome, set among ancient ruins and freshwater springs, languishes the magnificent Villa Rospo, a jewel in the Tode family portfolio, and one they had virtually forgotten - until Sir Ecgbert and Alice decide it's the perfect place for their honeymoon. Now suddenly everyone wants a piece.

Kate and Pete have been the perfect couple ever since they were teenagers. Fifteen years later, they have two young daughters, live in a beautiful London townhouse, and seem like they have it all. But one day, Pete leaves for work and never comes home. In a note Kate discovers, he confesses that he’s been unhappy for a long time and that he’s met someone else. Distraught, she later learns that he has left everything behind, including his mobile phone, and she sets out to learn the truth about his disappearance.

Harriet Lockwood has never really bonded with her daughter the way she has with her three sons. Then one day, she discovers why. The girl she’s raised for the last fifteen years is not her biological child. As a consequence, two families are plunged into a storm of bitter rivalries and unexpected alliances.

Georgie has a glamorous career in fashion. Her boss doesn't know her name, but working for a genius will pay off one day. She hopes. She also has great friends.Granted, they're sometimes a bit superficial, but who wants to discuss a global crisis on a Friday night? And she's enjoying her single life. Eighteen months of celibacy, and not a hot prospect in sight. Perhaps life's not quite what she was hoping for.... But how can she change it, and what does she really want?

Black Rainbow is the powerful first-person story of one woman's struggle with depression and how she managed to recover from it through the power of poetry. In 1997, Oxford graduate, working mother, and Times journalist Rachel Kelly went from feeling mildly anxious to being completely unable to function within the space of just three days.

Lauren, Jack, Ruby and Billy live by the seaside with their mum and dad. But their parents are always arguing, and then their dad moves out. Lauren and Jack decide they have to get them together again. And so begins Operation Eiffel Tower... in which the four children try to raise money to give their mum and dad a treat in an attempt to make them happier.

In July 1956, Marilyn Monroe arrived in London, on honeymoon with her husband Arthur Miller, to make The Sleeping Prince (later released as The Prince and the Showgirl) with Laurence Olivier. When the couple arrived at London Airport, they were looking forward to a peaceful stay. Marilyn would work during the day at Pinewood Studios, while Arthur would write. Then, in the evening, the couple would be able to relax together in their private English country cottage. It didn't quite turn out that way.

Anna wasn’t looking for love when Adam swept her off her feet, but there was no denying their connection, and she believed they would be together forever. Years later, cracks have appeared in their relationship. Anna is questioning whether their love can really be eternal when a cruel twist of fate delivers a crushing blow and Anna and Adam are completely lost to one another. Now, Anna needs Adam more than ever, but the way back to him has life-changing consequences.

Abandoned at the altar, Rosalind Shaw descends into the kind of depression which involves her watching too much daytime TV. After several inebriated months, Ros relocates to St Albans and begins a new life, as part-owner of a bookshop. However, just when Ros begins to feel that life might be improving, her rather hairy neighbour, Daniel, knocks on her door with a bunch of flowers and some rather distressing news....

Mind-boggling, heart-rending and darkly comic, this is the full story for the first time, from the writer of the Guardian column "Mid-Life Ex-Wife". When her husband fell in love with someone else, Stella Grey thought she'd be unhappy for the rest of her life. But then she realised that she needed to take her future in her own hands. She needed to meet someone wonderful and find a heartfix for heartbreak. So she joined online dating sites and embarked on a mission.

There is never a dull day on Big Sky Mountain! Rain or shine, there is always something that needs doing. Rosa and Grandma Nan are busy building a bigger cabin when a storm strikes and a host of animals descend for shelter. There is one unexpected visitor: a tiny wolf cub. This little wolf doesn't seem like the scary, giant-fanged forest wolves that Rosa has heard about! Can the cub really be part of their pack? Rosa and Grandma Nan set off into the forest to find out.

Rachel hates her life. So when her boyfriend David goes to a music festival in England she decides to surprise him - but she gets a nasty shock of her own. Hurt and angry, Rachel makes a wish- and finds herself in someone else's shoes! Can she keep the swap a secret? And will she ever be herself again? Over the course of a very weird weekend, Rachel puts herself in someone else's shoes and finds that her own maybe weren't as uncomfortable as she'd always thought. But can she ever be herself again?