Showing results by author "Di Riddell" in All Categories

In Legion of the Dead, Barnaby finds himself embroiled in a plot that includes a legion of zombies raised from the dead. In Dickensian times, people were terrified of being buried alive, and so were left in their coffin with a wire, attached to a bell, running from above the ground, down through the earth and the lid of the coffin, and tied to the little finger of the buried body. Those who found themselves awake in the darkness of their coffin could wiggle their finger and summon help.

From forgotten jellybeans to sparking daydreams, Alex's poems, written for primary school age children, are both funny and thoughtful, and aim to spark familiarity and inclusion. These poems use rhyme, rhythm and free verse and are ideally suited to performance in a school setting, nurturing a love of language, reading, confidence and self-expression.

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad, running errands in his city, day and night, and high-stacking around the rooftops in search of new mysteries to solve. A fantastic romp through a Dickensian-style city, with a wonderful new hero in the guise of Barnaby.

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad, high-stacking his way across the rooftops of his city in search of adventure and mystery. In each tale, he encounters a supernatural force and must battle the horrors that await him.

Barnaby Grimes is a tick-tock lad, running errands in his city, day and night, and "high-stacking" around the rooftops in search of new mysteries to solve. In this first adventure, Barnaby is attacked one night by an enormous dog. He kills it: but that's not the end of this particular mystery...as Barnaby finds himself swept up in a world of crooked doctors, poor and ill-advised patients, strange tonics, and very expensive furs.

Kitty Marion was sent across the country by the Pankhurst family to carry out a nationwide campaign of bombings and arson attacks, as women fought for the vote using any means necessary. But in the aftermath of World War One, the dangerous and revolutionary actions of Kitty and other militant suffragettes were quickly hushed up and disowned by the previously proud movement, and the women who carried out these attacks were erased from our history. Now, for the first time, their untold story will be brought back to life.

Mark Riddell spent his adolescence in local authority care in Scotland. Born into a Scottish tenement flat, he is forced with the rest of his family to leave his father and watch the slow death of his mother. For the remainder of his early years, his life is characterized by care from half committed relatives, occasional returns to his drunken father's care, and eventually taken into the Scottish care system.

Little Green Raincape is on her way to Rapunzel's party, deep in the wild woods. The way is long and dark, but Green is a smart girl. Smart enough to turn down apples offered by kindly old ladies, smart enough to turn down travel advice from helpful wolves, and above all, smart enough to solve a wealth of classic fairy tale problems - not least mend a lovelorn beast's broken heart. Once Upon a Wild Wood is a richly imagined story packed full of familiar fairy tale characters as you've never seen them before.

If his inventions go wrong, Wendel just throws them away and starts again. So when Clunk, his robot assistant, fills the sock drawer with cups and saucers and makes tea in a Wellington boot, Wendel throws him on the scrap heap and makes himself a new assistant: the Wendelbot. But he gets more than he bargained for, and soon Wendel finds himself on the scrap heap. Can he win back his workshop from the mighty Wendelbot? Let the robot battle commence!

A Charlotte Riddell novella from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection Haunted Houses. In The Uninhabited House, the owner of haunted house River Hall is taken to court by one of her tenants for failing to disclose prior spectral possession.

Welcome to Absurdia: a strange and wonderful land where nothing is quite what it seems. Trees are birds, umbrellas are trees, and the sky is thick with snoring fish. Join one small boy as he tumbles out of bed into a crazy dreamland of wardrobe monsters, dragons - and amazing adventure. With a story to enchant the youngest reader, as well as music and sound effects that will make you giggle, whatever your age, this is an extraordinary achievement and one to savour.

Fifty short stories by women writers who broke the mould.

Lucifer, introduced in Cursed, the first book of the Fallen Angels series, now goes by Lucian and he has a problem. A disturbing problem named Anna Sill. For the past ten years, he's struggled to understand why he has felt compelled to help her. Finally abandoning Anna to her fate, Lucian stubbornly refuses to have anything else to do with the human.

Two tales from the golden age of supernatural fiction.

Young Keepers Cora and Jax are trainees who need to prove themselves or risk being sent back to school. Intent on their task of building a hedgehog highway by making holes at the bottom of fences on a new housing estate, they come upon a deer trapped in the foundations of a building site. Their woodland magic isn't strong enough to help the deer escape, but they will not be able to complete their task if they try to get help for the deer.

Limited Time Only is the podcast for anyone who feels there aren’t enough hours in their life. In each episode Esther & Susie bring to your ears a joyful a mix of chat, comedy sketches & interviews with interesting people. A pick-me-up in podcast form.

The Keepers are a secretive tribe of little people who live in the middle of Whispering Woods, coming out at night to care for the countryside and rewild it when humans (or Ruffins as they know them) are careless with it. Young Keepers Cora and Jax have just finished school and are embarking on a trial, with several friends, to become fully-fledged Keepers. But their first venture out on their own ends in disaster when they become distracted with playing in the Ruffin children's playground instead of concentrating on the task they've been given.

A Charlotte Riddell novella from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection Haunted Houses. When his cousin Geoffrey dies, barrister Hercules Stafford Trevor agrees to act as his young widow’s guardian. But Trevor has troubles of his own when he discovers that the legends surrounding his country house might have more than a grain of truth in them, and it seems these hauntings are destined to become intertwined with the fate of the widow.

From the day my tribe was cursed by a rival shaman 200 years ago, my life has been nothing but a dreary, loveless existence. The one day I can shed my raven form, I'm reminded all over of the pain and loss of those I had to leave behind. I will never subject myself to that kind of agony again—even if it swaggers in with a ridiculous Stetson hat and talks with a cute, southern drawl. Besides, what man would want to be with me when they learn of my past?

River Hall, the uninhabited house in question, is a place of ghosts and secrets, and it simply cannot keep a tenant. Inherited by the too-young Miss Helena Elmsdale after her father’s death, it falls to her aunt, Miss Susannah Blake, to attend to the house. In order to see that it remains rented out, Miss Blake brings the property to Messrs. Craven and Son for management. The lawyers do their best, but there is something sinister at River Hall, and the tenants cannot seem to leave fast enough, threatening to leave Miss Blake and her orphaned niece in dire financial straits.