Showing results by narrator "Helen Lloyd" in All Categories

February, 1586. When the queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, learns that Ursula is to visit her relatives in Devon, he asks her to find out what has happened to two of his local agents, who have been strangely silent recently. On arrival in the small Devon village of Zeal Aquatio, Ursula discovers that both spies in question have met with mysterious - and fatal - accidents. Or is there more to it than that? What did the two spies find out that got them killed?

It’s 1925. Hitler has published Mein Kampf and Mussolini has shut down the free press in Italy. Three friends meet on a Scottish estate for a weekend of salmon fishing and convivial conversation over brandy and cigars: Winston Churchill, future world leader; "Bendor", 2nd Duke of Westminster; and Coco Chanel, iconic fashion entrepreneur. The narrative develops into a visceral account interspersed with sharp and insightful humor, revealing two men whose deep friendship is divided by their profound political differences, as each of them tries to navigate an uncertain world.

Virginia Woolf’s most famous "stream of consciousness" novel, Mrs. Dalloway, records the events of one June day in 1923 - the day on which Clarissa Dalloway is hosting a party in her London home. Mrs. Dalloway continues to fascinate and challenge, hinting at homosexuality, mental illness, racial prejudice, infidelity, and unrequited love. It presents a perfect picture of London between the wars, in an England where the class system is still firmly entrenched while carrying throughout an undercurrent of rage at the resulting inequalities.

On a frozen January evening in 1944, Nancy Levin and her three-year-old daughter, Emily, flee their East London home as an air raid siren sounds. Not far away, Diana Meadows and her own three-year-old daughter, Abigail, are lost in the blackout as the air raid begins. They hurry to the safety of the underground tube station, but in wartime people will do anything to survive - even at the expense of others.

Tuesday, 8th May 1945: Victory in Europe Day. A day of joyous celebration, as the end of a conflict which had engulfed the world came within touching distance. Millions of people celebrated in the streets throughout Britain. Yet not all was right in the world. Struggles remained ahead - war still raged on between the Allies and Japan. Agreements and treaties were yet to be forged. Lives continued to be lost around the world.

Alice’s husband is missing. Has he left her for another woman, or has something more sinister happened? In a world that is becoming increasingly muddled, Alice is unsure whom she can trust. Even her daughter appears to be lying to her. How much heartache can one person endure?

Two hundred and fifty years ago, humans defeated the shape-changing Bhahdradomen in the War of the Silver Plains. Although they are exiled - or even thought to be extinct - the shape-changers' hatred and jealousy of the humans live on. Now, in the failings of a human king, they find a way to assuage that hatred. Meanwhile the third race, the mysterious Aelyr, although they also consider the Bhahdradomen enemies, keep apart from human realms.

Notes from a Summer Cottage by Nina Burton is a beautifully written nature memoir about the time spent renovating a cottage in the Swedish countryside and all the species that she encountered her during her stay. Within the walls, the ceiling and the floor of the cottage and its surrounding garden, she encounters a host of animals—ants, honey bees, foxes, squirrels, blackbirds, badgers, pigeons, deer and many more—all of whom have made her house and garden their home and all of whom cause Nina to reflect on their role within our world.

Helen Reid has received a devastating diagnosis—and as she contemplates the life she’s lived, she is haunted by a terrible mistake she made in her youth after her boyfriend Rob struck a cyclist with his car. Compelled to find some sort of redemption, she journeys back to her old hometown to track down her ex and finally bring the truth to light. But Rob isn’t quite so ready to face his past, and it soon becomes clear that he’s willing to do anything to avoid the consequences. Will Helen find redemption—or revenge?

When octogenarian Olive Turner is persuaded by her son to move into a retirement home, she congratulates herself on finding the secret to an easy life: no washing up, cooking or cleaning. But Olive isn't one for mindless bingo with her fellow residents, and before the first day is over she's already hatching a plan to escape back to her beloved beach hut and indulge in her secret passion for a very good gin & tonic. Before long Olive's secret is out and turning into something wonderful and new.

After the defeated Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte goes into exile on tiny St. Helena Island in the remote South Atlantic, he and his lover, Albine de Montholon, plot to escape and rescue his young son. Banding together African slaves, British sympathizers, a Jewish merchant, a Corsican rogue, and French followers, they confront British opposition as well as treachery within their own ranks with sometimes subtle, sometimes bold, but always desperate action. When Napoleon and Albine break faith with one another, ambition and Albine’s husband threaten their reconciliation.

The war appears to be over. Helananthe, granddaughter of the mad king, Garnelys, has gathered her forces and reclaimed the Amber Citadel of Parione, defeating its evil Bhahdradomen advisers... but matters are never simple. The destinies of Tanthe and Ysomir, sisters whose journeys from their village home of Riverwynde had a massive impact on the war, have driven them apart. Ysomir is held in the Citadel, accused of killing King Garnelys.

It is 2017, and in England, Violet Bellamy is surprised to find herself a ghost, because as a rational person, she doesn’t believe in them. After a life of timid conformity, she now wants influence.

Mystery writer Lorinda Lucas tosses yet another paperback in the trash, appalled at the gruesome direction of today's crime fiction. She's even more disturbed at the half-starved state of Roscoe, the cat next door. Before Lorinda left for her latest book tour, Roscoe was as plump and pampered as her own two felines. It only takes a modicum of sleuthing to find out that in Lorinda's absence Roscoe's owner, Macho Magee, has acquired a new girlfriend-a harridan who has put the gentle Macho and his pet on a strict diet. And that's only the first disturbing news in Brimful Coffers.

In Ashley Crownover's debut, the classic tale of Beowulf is retold from the point of view of Wealtheow, Queen of the Danes. After a century of silence, Wealtheow provides a woman's perspective on the issues facing her people, raising intriguing literary questions.

Jill Craigie - filmmaker, writer, pioneering feminist, and devoted wife to former Labour leader Michael Foot - led an extraordinary life. Strikingly attractive, fiercely independent, and politically radical, Craigie established a reputation as a filmmaker with her 1944 film Out of Chaos, becoming the first female director to gain national attention.

Kirstie lives in exile on the small Shetland island of Yell after the end of yet another torrid affair. This time, she knows she went too far. Her desperate behavior caused the breakdown of her lover’s marriage. Taking up residence in her grandparents’ croft, which has lain empty since their deaths, wanting time to reflect on her life and disastrous relationships, Kirstie begins to write about her obsessive behavior. What she hasn’t realized is that the island is full of relatives she never knew she had.

We’re living longer, and this is something to celebrate and enjoy. And research shows we can help ourselves to age better. This book will show you how. Maggy Pigott’s uplifting and practical guide explains what to do, why, and how to live a healthier, happier life in eight steps - whatever your age. They include having a purpose, connecting with others, and being physically active. Each step has easy to follow tips, over 150 in all, and inspiring, often amusing, quotations from the ancient world to the present day. v

In Nature of Work: The New Story of Work for a Living Age, Paul Miller, CEO and founder of Digital Workplace Group (DWG), and Shimrit Janes, DWG's director of knowledge, draw on patterns from forests and the natural world to illustrate a dynamic, vital, and more beautiful world of work that our hearts and minds know is possible.

Jacob’s Room was written in 1922 and is Virginia Woolf’s third novel; the first in which she made a radical shift from the established style of prose narrative writing and began experimenting with the modernist "stream of consciousness style" now so firmly associated with her work and that so shook the literary establishment. Jacob’s Room is overwhelmingly centered around feelings of absence and emptiness and is a collection of memories and sensations that chart the life of Jacob Flanders, largely observed through the eyes of others.