Showing results by narrator "Tom Lawrence" in All Categories

A breath-taking debut from an author whose vision is both acerbic and tender. Seb's beautiful, beloved wife Leda has been killed by a swan. With a name like that, with a bizarre family history like hers, it isn't really surprising. Seb has a grip on her story and its aesthetics; he knows how it should go. Except that he doesn't. Sorting through her belongings after her death, he comes across a packet of unopened letters from a man whom Leda has never mentioned.

Following his star turn in I Am a Tree Tim is back for more comic fun. This time he's spending half term cleaning cars, and screaming toddlers have taken over his home. He's not happy. Luckily his friend Flora is on hand to help out and have a joke with. Things start to look up. Until, that is, they encounter a very angry customer and a very wet Rottweiler. But in this comedy, who will have the last laugh?

I knew I was in Paris, I knew that was the Seine beneath me, the sky above, but when I looked around for help, the grand apartment buildings of the Quai Voltaire stared back at me, indifferent. In the sixth arrondissement everything is perfect, and everyone is lonely. This is the Paris of 13-year-old Paul. Shy and unloved, he quietly observes the lives of the self-involved grown-ups around him: his glamorous maman Séverine; her young musician lover, Gabriel; and his fitness-obsessed papa, Philippe.

Tom's heavily pregnant girlfriend, Karin, is rushed to hospital with severe flu. While the doctors are able to save the baby, they are helpless in the face of what transpires to be acute leukemia, and in a moment as fleeting as it is cruel Tom gains a daughter but loses his soul mate. In Every Moment is the story of a year that changes everything, as Tom must reconcile the fury of bereavement with the overwhelming responsibility of raising his daughter, Livia, alone.

Perhaps I would be too late to save them. The last dozen had been spotted on a remote island in the North Atlantic, on a bare ledge of rock, but it was already rumoured the final breeding pair had been killed - their skins sold to private collectors - and the single egg between them needlessly crushed. These were only rumours, I kept telling myself. But as I set out for the Liverpool docks, on that breezy April morning in 1845, I couldn't help hoping that I might be able to reach them in time, the last of the birds.

Help your child progress in their reading journey with this fantastic set of 30 original stories. From mysterious footprints to a hiccupping dragon, exotic world tales to familiar fairy tales, there is a wide range of subjects to help ignite a child's passion for reading. These short, highly accessible stories are perfect for children of five and upwards, or those reading book band orange at school.

A new couple have moved into Hardstone House, and it's just Jake's luck that instead of a cool, footballing grandson they have a granddaughter called Claire, who likes tap dancing and tea parties. But then Claire tells Jake and Jenna that Hardstone House was once a school, with a cruel and heartless headmaster, and she reckons it's haunted. But by whom? And why?

Jamie may be a 12-year-old with his first summer job cleaning cars, and with a hopeless crush on 17-year-old receptionist Kitty - but in reality he is Jamie B., a dynamic superspy on a top secret undercover mission.

Jake is sure he's going to hate the village where he's moved with his mum and twin sister, Jenna. There are only about ten houses and a green - boring. But when Jenna spots the ghost of a cute-looking beagle with a lead in its mouth, Jake and Jenna begin to realize that the village might not be as boring as it first seemed and that there are some very spooky goings-on...not least, the deserted derelict house and the creepy noises that are coming from somewhere inside it....

Jack only wants to feel normal. But how can he? His mum doesn't seem to care, his dodgy uncle scrapes a scruffy kind of living, and they all live together in a run-down railway station. Things start looking up when Jack finds an old saxophone.

Beginning with the Roman army's first recorded encounter with the Gauls and ending in the era of Emmanuel Macron, France takes listeners on an endlessly entertaining journey through French history. Robb conveys with wit and precision what it felt like to look over the shoulder of a young Louis XIV as he planned the vast garden of Versailles, and the dangerous thrill of having a seat at the French revolution. Some of the protagonists may be familiar, but appear here in a very different light—Caesar, Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon Bonaparte, General Charles de Gaulle.

Marvo is a stage magician. His magic is real. Marvo grows up without knowing his parents, without knowing his heritage, without knowing much about life. The magicians have always been with us, since the beginning of civilisation. They fill our heads with the mist, keeping us from witnessing the stark reality of existence. But are things so bad that Marvo will bring it down on all of us, forever? Marvo begins to understand those around him, and his place in the world; he discovers that his remarkable powers can be put to good, or to evil.

Jamie B continues with his fantasy life, finding himself part of a computer game he has devised. As always there's some local criminal activity going on and he'll have to sort it out, catch the villains and maybe even get the girl.

Ned is starting at a new school. There's just one problem: everyone else can do magic. Ned can't. The only thing he can do is play the goosehorn.

Help your child develop in their reading journey with this fantastic set of 18 original stories. From a bear wanting sleep to a balloon travelling to the moon, a trip to the zoo, and dressing up for a school play, there is a wide range of subjects to help ignite a child's passion for reading. These short, highly accessible stories are perfect for children of four and upwards, or those reading book band red at school.

Help your child progress in their reading journey with this fantastic set of 18 original stories. From a wild weather day to an escaped hamster, a goat stuck in the mud to a school trip adventure, there is a wide range of subjects to help ignite a child's passion for reading. These short, highly accessible stories are perfect for children of five and upwards, or those reading book band blue at school.

Help your child make the first steps in their reading journey with this fantastic set of 36 original stories. From toys riding a train to a boy's magic tricks, a naughty cat's escapades to life on a farm, there is a wide range of subjects to help ignite a child's passion for reading. These short, highly accessible stories are perfect for children of three and upwards, or those reading book band pink at school.

Help your child build confidence in their reading journey with this fantastic set of 18 original stories. From a family with superpowers, to a pirate's search for gold, animals that jump high to a rabbit on the loose, there is a wide range of subjects to help ignite a child's passion for reading. These short, highly accessible stories are perfect for children of four and upwards, or those reading book band yellow at school.