Showing results by narrator "Rowena Cooper" in All Categories

On 25th October 1799—his 18th wedding anniversary—cantankerous Somerset parson William Holland begins his diary, chronicling events at the vicarage and in the small farming community of Over Stowey. He would keep it for the next 19 years, candidly recording the small trials of day-to-day life—from chaotic church services and unruly locals to lazy servants and irksome in-laws.

The fifth book in the hugely successful Earth's Children series. Ayla and Jondalar have reached home: the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the old stone age settlement in the region known today as south-west France. Ayla has much to learn from the Zelandonii as well as much to teach them. Jondalar's family are initially wary of the beautiful young woman he has brought back, with her strange accent and her tame wolf and horses.

Clan of the Cave Bear is the first novel in Jean M. Auel's magnificent best-selling epic of life 35,000 years ago. Leave the 21st century and go back to Ice Age Europe. Follow Ayla, a Cro-Magnon child who loses her parents in an earthquake and is adopted by a tribe of Neanderthal, the Clan. See how the Clan's wary suspicion is gradually transformed into acceptance of this girl, so different from them, under the guidance of its medicine woman, Iza, and its wise holy man, Creb. Immerse yourself in a world dictated by the demands of survival in a hostile environment, and be swept away in an epic tale of love, identity and struggle.

Ayla and Jondalar leave the safety of the lands of the Mammoth Hunters and embark on a seemingly impossible journey across an entire continent. Their goal is the Cro-Magnon settlement in what is now southern France where Jondalar lived as a young man. Accompanied by the half-tame Wolf, the superb stallion, Racer, and the mare, Whinney, they brave both savage enemies and the elemental dangers of weather and terrain in their search for the place that will become Home.

The Land of Painted Caves concludes the story of Ayla, her mate Jondalar, and their little daughter, Jonayla, taking readers on a journey of discovery and adventure as Ayla struggles to find a balance between her duties as a new mother and her training to become a Zelandoni - one of the Ninth Cave community's spiritual leaders and healers.

Leaving the valley of horses with Jondalar, the handsome man she has nursed back to health and come to love, Ayla embarks on a journey that will lead her to the Mamutoi; the Mammoth Hunters. But as she settles into this new life among a people at first strange and disturbingly different, Ayla finds herself irresistibly drawn to Ranec, their master-carver. Ultimately, she is compelled to make a fateful choice between the two men.

Nell lives with her grandmother, the local cunning woman and healer, in 17th century Somerset. When one of the minister's daughters falls pregnant, she and her sister attempt to conceal it by accusing Nell of putting a curse on them.

Forced to leave the Clan and her young son, Ayla sets out alone to travel the frigid steppes until she finds the valley of horses. Unable to find people like herself, the Cro-Magnons, she settles there and seeks friendship elsewhere. First she adopts a young filly, then a wounded lion cub. But far to the west, two young Cro-Magnon brothers have begun a journey. One of them is Jondalar, whose destiny is bound inextricably with Ayla's.

Stepsisters Olivia and Emily are at daggers drawn until the arrival of their half-sister, Rosie, when they unite in their hatred of the newcomer. Rosie can look after herself, though, and cunningly throws secret spanners in the works for her sisters.

In 'My Fair Lady', Julie Andrews had the biggest hit on Broadway. As the title role in 'Mary Poppins', she won an Academy Award. And 'The Sound of Music' made her the most famous woman in the world and rescued Twentieth Century Fox from bankruptcy. Three year later, 'Star!' almost put the studio back under, and the leading lady of both films fell as spectacularly as she had risen. Despite many setbacks - including the loss of her singing voice in 1997 - Julie Andrews is still a star.

Tom Loxley is holed up in a remote cottage in the bush, trying to finish a book on 'Henry James and the uncanny', when his dog goes missing, trailing a length of orange twine, tied with firm knots. Tom’s lonely childhood in India taught him to tie knots but not to hold on…. The house belongs to Nelly Zhang, an elusive artist with whom Tom has become enthralled. The narrative spans 10 days while Tom searches for his dog....

When Pee Wee Poston and his wife, Beulah, are offered the chance to swap New York for London, they jump at the opportunity. But life for a black family in inter-war London isn't easy. And when the Nazi bombs arrive, life gets tougher still.

Beverley may be close to ninety, but when her granddaughter announces her plans to leave home and husband for a glamorous actor, she’s already considering how she can stir up a little trouble. And so are the kehua outside. Quite how these Maori ghosts arrived outside the kitchen window is the origin of your writer’s tale. Suffice to say that everyone is haunted by the traumas of the past, that Beverley’s female bloodline carry a weighty spiritual burden - and that murder is at the root of it all....

In a remote Lakeland dale, whitewashed cottages nestle in lush gardens, sheep roam the fells and the Rutting Beck runs crystal clear. In short, it is a Cumbrian paradise. But Melinda Pink, visiting on holiday, knows better. For there are serpents in paradise: dead sheep go unburied, tax dodges and benefit fraud are rife, even the proprietor of the tearooms falls prey to a rumour of salmonella poisoning. And then the village busybody is found caught up in the jetsam of the flooded beck.

Moll Flanders is the epitome of a "bawdy" woman, who makes few excuses for herself and is unashamed of her shady past. Now converted to religion, Moll recounts her history, which includes thievery, prostitution, incest, and deception amongst a list of other necessary evils. Often shocking and always funny, Moll's story is poignant and captivating, and our charismatic narrator is sure to bring joy to a listener's ears and heart.

Born in Newgate Prison and abandoned soon after, Moll Flanders is searching for a secure place in society. Her desire to belong propels her into all kinds of trouble from numerous marriages, bigamy and incest to theft. Charting her progress from an innocent but determined young girl to a contentedly resigned elderly woman, Defoe’s novel casts a light on the splendours and iniquities of life in 18th century England and America.