Showing results by narrator "Penelope Rawlin" in All Categories

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....

Caught between boorish Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam and a killer wedding party, Lady Beatrice must solve the murder to save the big day.

From the moment Alina touches London's hottest fae superstar, breaking one of the laws founded to protect all of her kind, her fate - and the fae - close in. Belowground the fae High Queen plots to claim the city as her own and places her pawns, ready for the battle to come. A battle she cannot lose but for one small problem - Alina. There are four ancient keepers powerful enough to keep the queen in her prison. Three are dead. One remains.... And to fight back, Alina risks sacrificing everything she has come to love.

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?

Our memories define us don't they? And Skye Threppel lost most of hers in a car crash that stole the lives of her best friend and fiancé. It's left scars, inside and out, which have destroyed her career and her confidence. Skye hopes a trip to meet the actor she idolises will help her heal. But she bumps into mysterious Sci-fi writer Jack Whitaker first.

Elizabeth the Jubilee Fairy is in charge of making every jubilee perfect! But when Jack Frost steals Elizabeth's Diamond Sceptre, both fairy and human celebrations are headed for catastrophe. Can Kirsty and Rachel help Elizabeth find the sceptre so kings and queens everywhere can celebrate in style?

The brand-new release from the Sunday Times best-selling author that bought you Fairytale of New York and It Started With A Kiss. What happens when the happy ever after is suddenly and painfully taken away from you? Join Elsie as she battles to start again, with the help of a disastrous, newly-formed singing group and her father and sister armed with dating hopefuls.

In 1922, Christian, a young artist, travels to Weimar to begin his studies at the Bauhaus, where the avant-garde confronts conservative elements around it. With postwar Germany in turmoil, while the Bauhaus attempts to explore radical ways of thinking and living, Christian finds that love will change him forever. And in 1970s London Duncan uses his inheritance to establish the country's first gay bookshop in the face of opposition from the neighbours and victimisation by the police.

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?

Maisie Mae and her best friend Bethany-next-door like pink, unicorns, and heart-shaped cushions. Maisie Mae's five stinky brothers like worms, football, and chaos!

When Maisie Mae is asked to be a bridesmaid it's a dream come true! Because weddings mean flowers and cake and, most importantly, beautiful dresses. But things never run smoothly in Maisie's house and disaster is followed by more disaster! This time, Maisie might not even be able to blame her five stinky brothers. Maisie is probably the unluckiest bridesmaid in the history of forever....

Princess Ellie is pony-mad! And she hates boring royal rules. She can't wait to go camping with her best friend Kate and her ponies, Moonbeam and Rainbow. There'll be no servants, no governess and - best of all -no rules! But when she hears strange noises in the night, Ellie starts to get scared. Will she solve the moonlight mystery?

England, 1766: Abigail is happily married to James, a tobacco trader turned sea captain, and is looking forward to starting a family and settling down in Whitehaven, deep in the Lake District. But after a series of devastating losses, she finds herself in turmoil, with her future suddenly seeming unknown…

How do you hold on to a love that is slipping away from you? How do you cope when every kiss is a countdown to goodbye? The first time Molly kissed Ryan, she knew they'd be together forever. But now, six years later, when Ryan kisses her, Molly realises how many of them she wasted - because the future holds something which they never could have predicted....

Two hundred years ago, the first dinosaur was successfully cloned. Soon after, the human race realized they'd made a colossal mistake.... The dregs of humanity have been driven into hiding, living in underground Compounds. Thirteen-year-old Sky Mundy's father was part of the inner circle of Compound leaders until five years ago, when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Sky to try to track him down. Along with her best friend, Shawn, she steps out into the world above, a world of rampaging dinosaurs but also full of surprises.

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 17-year-old Stella Whittaker is offered the chance to study at the Academy of Music in Vienna it's a dream come true, made possible by old family friends, Rainer and Marthe Kraus, who offer her a place to live. Seduced by the elegant beauty of the city, Stella explores the magnificent palaces, gardens, and fashionable coffeehouses, and after a chance meeting in an art gallery, falls in love with Harri Reznik, a young Jewish doctor.

What sort of mother would leave her all alone? A gripping and heart-wrenching domestic drama that won't let you go. Lily, who is almost three years old, wakes up alone at home with only her cuddly toy for company. She is afraid of the dark, can't use the phone and has been told never to open the door to strangers. But why is Lily alone, and why isn't there anyone who can help her? What about the lonely old woman in the flat below who wonders at the cries from the floor above? Or the grandmother who no longer sees Lily since her parents split up?

Jemima Hutton is determined to build a successful new life and keep her past a dark secret. Trouble is, her jewellery business looks set to fail - until enigmatic Ben Davies offers to stock her handmade belt buckles in his guitar shop and things start looking up, on all fronts. But Ben has secrets too. When Jemima finds out he used to be the front man of hugely successful Indie rock band Willow Down, she wants to know more. Why did he desert the band on their US tour? Why is he now a semi-recluse?

From number-one New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult and her daughter and cowriter, Samantha Van Leer, comes Off the Page, a tender, wonderfully imaginative and romantic crossover novel. Meant for each other... Meet Oliver, a prince literally taken from the pages of a fairy tale and transported into the real world. Meet Delilah, the girl who wished Oliver into being. It's a miracle that seems perfect at first - but there are complications.

Most of us have plans. Somewhere to go if something awful happens. Pilgrim Jones doesn't. She looks up at a departures board and takes the first flight. She alights on the edge of Africa. Over confessions and strong gin, she's lured into a world of mercenaries and philanthropists, delusional heroes and witchdoctors in polyester suits. But what about the beating absence, the thing she's done?