Showing results by narrator "Sarah Durham" in All Categories

I was the other woman. The mistress. Everyone blamed Doctor Drew Devlin’s death on me. And I’ve paid the price for loving the wrong man. Now, I have dark circles under my eyes because I can’t sleep at night. I lost everything–friends, family, my home and even my freedom. Drew’s devious wife Fern tore my whole world apart. And she thinks she’s got away with murder.

A girl grows up in the north of England amid scarcity, precarity and the toxic culture of heroin chic, believing that she needs to make herself smaller to claim presence in the world. Years later, as a young woman with unattainable ideals, she meets someone who calls everything into question, and is forced to confront episodes from her past. Their relationship takes her from London to Barcelona and the precipice of a new life, full of sensuality.

It’s the ultimate test of endurance: two-hundred-and-fifty miles in the brutal heat of the Sahara, with only the supplies you can carry on your back. Adri is ready. Returning to ultra-running in the wake of a scandal, she needs to prove to herself – and her young son – that she’s a winner. When a fellow runner is badly injured, Adri knows something isn’t right. Yet in a race this extreme, even a dead body can be explained away. But there’s a killer stalking the hot sand. And the problem with running faster than everyone else, is that you’re miles ahead of anyone who can save you...

Everyone has their own version of what happened to the school that day: The survivor, who escaped but is now trapped in a lie. The newspapers, hellbent on turning a tragedy into a spectacle. And the outsider, who claims it never really happened at all… They all want the truth. But who’s ready to face it? As events spiral out of control and conspiracies ignite, the true story is revealed. Piece by shocking piece.

From the outside, Emma has the dream life–a loving husband, a beautiful house, two gorgeous children. But something is keeping Emma awake. Scratching at her sanity at 1am. She’s tried so hard to bury the past, to protect her family. But witching hour loves a secret–and Emma’s is the stuff of nightmares . . .

No Such Thing as Normal is a deeply researched, timely, essential book that will shine a light on the psychiatric industry: its genesis, its obsession with often ineffective, over-medicalised treatments, and its relationship with a pharmaceutical industry driven by profitability rather than meaningful social welfare and change.

I reach out, arms aching to hold my newborn baby, and catch just a glimpse of soft, dark brown hair before someone pushes me back onto the bed. "It’s alive," says the woman who delivered my child before she places something over my face. My last thought is of my baby’s first cry before my world goes dark.

Rhiannon Garth-Jones explores Rome's enduring legacy through three core themes: religion, empire, and culture. Each chapter examines how Rome’s history, governance, and mythology have been reimagined throughout centuries, and how these interpretations continue to shape our modern world.

August, 1940. The war is raging in Europe, but on the home front conflict still seems far away. Dot, living with her mother-in-law and dreading the day that her thuggish husband comes home on leave, is fighting her own battle to contribute to the war effort. Peggy has found confidence as an Air Raid Precaution Warden, despite the jeers of the men she works with - but beneath her pluck she fears for her close-knit family, scattered by the war. And glamorous Vivian, the former debutante, is running away from her own heart and into danger as a volunteer ambulance driver.

Pearl Flowers has been hiding away for so long that she has forgotten what real life is like. Her quiet routine in a woodland cottage in France is a sanctuary, far away from her past life running a beauty salon. But then an unexpected phone call throws her calm world into chaos. Back in the UK, her estranged father Francis is dying. She hasn’t seen him for decades since he pushed her away and destroyed their family. And on his deathbed, Francis leaves her a gift - a diary, written in a code that only Pearl can understand.

1866: Kitty McKenzie's path has taken her from the slums of York to the inhospitable bush of colonial Australia. Yet when she believes her dreams will never be attained, she is shown that sometimes life can be even better than what you wish for. Kitty is gifted land in the far north of New South Wales. Life at the northern property is full of hardships - however, Kitty's strength of will and belief in herself give her the courage most women of her time never realise they have. A decided thorn in her side is the arrogant and patronising Miles Grayson, owner of the adjourning run.

Two weeks before her wedding, a stranger stops Amy in the street and warns her she’s in danger. Then that night, Matt, her fiancé, doesn’t come home. Desperate, Amy calls the police - but when Matt fails to emerge, she’s forced to call off her wedding day. Then another man is reported missing, by a woman called Fiona - a man meeting Matt’s description, who was about to leave his fiancée for her. He was supposed to be moving in with her - but instead, he’s vanished.

Philippa Taylor (Pepper to her friends) has big dreams. When she closes her eyes, she can picture exactly who she ought to be. The problem is, it's about as far away from her real life in a small coastal town in Suffolk as she can imagine. So when her elderly friend Josephine persuades Pepper to accompany her on a trip to Europe, she jumps at the chance to change her routine. And when Pepper bumps (literally) into the handsome Finn in Lisbon, it seems as though she might have finally found what she's been looking for.

Ruby Winter is surprised when her reclusive father invites a strange solider into their house. Intrigued, she tries to eavesdrop on their conversation, but is alarmed when she hears a fight break out. She dashes into the kitchen to save her dad, but he's not the one in trouble. The soldier has been stabbed and is bleeding out on the floor. Refusing her pleas to call an ambulance, her dad urges her to pack a bag—they have to run. As they try to escape her dad is shot and Ruby is chased by one of the soldier's comrades but is hidden by Lucas, a boy she has ignored up till now.

Bari, Italy. 1943. Twenty-year-old Siena knocks on a stranger's door with trembling hands. Her journey from Rome has left her exhausted and afraid, but after her friends were taken away, she had no choice but to flee. Hidden within her suitcase lies the reason for her desperate flight–a tattered leather-bound ledger, its pages filled with secrets Siena will risk her life to protect.

Henry V's second invasion of France in 1417 launched a campaign that would put the crown of France on an English head. Only the miraculous appearance of a visionary peasant girl - Joan of Arc - would halt the English advance. Yet despite her victories, her influence was short-lived: Henry VI had his coronation in Paris six months after her death and his kingdom endured for another twenty years. When he came of age he was not the leader his father had been. It was the dauphin, whom Joan had crowned Charles VII, who would finally drive the English out of France.

Cat panics when she sees a photofit of a murder suspect flash up on the news. It looks exactly like her, and to make matters worse, the victim is her childhood best friend, Charlie. The following day, the police arrive at her doorstep to question her. She hadn't seen or spoken to Charlie in years, but could the secrets of their past finally be coming back to haunt her? Desperate to find out who gave the police her description and to protect her five-year-old son, Cat investigates. She knows she is innocent and will stop at nothing to prove it. But some secrets are best left buried....

Alison Lennon receives the worst news a parent can expect - her son, Ben, has been killed, in what looks at first like a random attack on a dark street in the middle of the night. Only, she knows that he isn't the first victim. Mia Johnstone has just turned eighteen. Ready for the next phase of her life, she should be looking forward to university, studying, partying. Instead, she's thinking about how her boyfriend Ben is the third person close to her has died. Alison believes that Mia killed her son.

After every parents' evening, friends Nina, Bel and Rachel look forward to their regular debrief at the pub. But there will be no clinking Prosecco tonight. They are discussing an anonymous note that has been left in a child's schoolbag: this class has secrets. All the parents tell lies. As more notes are discovered, scandalous accusations are made and the school playground becomes rife with rumours. Who could be revealing the three friends' secrets? Because they thought the only people who knew everything about them were each other....

At twenty-seven, I’m too young to be a widow. I’m trying my best to start over though: new city, new job running my own little shop. I try to fade into the background where I can, but the police won’t let me disappear completely. There are too many unanswered questions about the night my husband died.