Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Strevens" in All Categories

Literary Giant seeks young man to push bathchair. Own room in Hampstead, all found, exciting cultural milieu. Modest wage. Ideal 'gap year' opportunity. So orphan Struan Robertson, leaves his native town of Cuik, and arrives in London. His job is to care for Phillip, paralysed by a massive stroke. Struan finds himself tangled in a midsummer's dream of mistaken identity and overwhelming passions. For everyone, it is to be a life-changing summer.

From the instant his fingers touched her back the little cat knew. The boy was someone she would trust. Homeless and hungry, Magnificat is desperate for someone to take her in, so when she sees a kindness in local boy Ben, she is happy to give herself over to him. But a cat isn’t something Ben wants. He’s got enough problems with a prickly relationship with his mum and an absent father; besides, he’s a dog person. He wants an exuberant, loyal, doting companion, not a gentle, self-contained cat.

Recently divorced, Tessa Parker runs a successful B&B in a seaside town. During a surprise visit from Australia, a long-lost aunt lets slip a family secret that unsettles her fragile world.In shock, and feeling betrayed by her whole family, Tessa confides in her ex-husband just as he reveals he has a new woman in his life. Struck unexpectedly by jealousy; balancing her own turmoil against the demands of parenting, Tessa tries to trace her birth father, with devastating results. Yet she fails to see how this is a crucial moment in her children's lives.

Autumn, 1210: A year ago, King John was excommunicated - and now his men have come to take over Hawkenlye Abbey. Abbess Caliste, Helewise’s successor, worries how she is to feed the nuns under her care, let alone conduct her good works. Meanwhile, Helewise has moved into Hawkenlye Manor with Josse, and their lives are full of family and warmth. But after a visit to St Edmund’s Chapel, Helewise’s 11-year-old granddaughter, Rosamund, goes missing - and soon all that they hold dear is threatened....

Sheikh Prince Ibrahim refuses to bow to the duty that has destroyed his family by locking away his emotions and shunning his royal responsibility. Until the desert calls.… One searing kiss is all it takes for Georgie to know Ibrahim is trouble. And she’s had more than enough of that to last her a lifetime! Can Georgie ever truly be with Ibrahim? Or will his duty always get in the way?

England, 1087. On her sister’s wedding day, Lassair meets an attractive and enigmatic stranger who brings a breath of the fascinating outside world to her backwater Fenland village. When he asks Lassair to use her unique talents to help locate a mysterious treasure, she accepts despite the dangers. But this is no ordinary treasure hunt; the object of the perilous search is 500 years old and has a terrifying power of its own….

The second of a new series of young fiction by Jenny Valentine, winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for her debut novel, Finding Violet Park. More funny and endearing family stories featuring the irrepressible 5-year-old IGGY as seen through the eyes of her big sister Flo, the ME of the title. Whether learning to swim, or playing at home, going on a day trip or baking birthday cakes, Iggy and Flo add sparkle to everyday activities.

The first of a new series of young fiction by Jenny Valentine, winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for her debut novel, Finding Violet Park. IGGY AND ME is a series of family stories featuring the mishaps and shenanigans of the irrepressible 5-year-old Iggy as seen through the eyes of her big sister Flo. Funny and endearing, each chapter is a complete and satisfying story in its own right, perfect for newly-confident readers to enjoy alone, or for reading aloud at bedtime.

Isis and Hopi, orphaned when crocodiles kill their parents, are due to perform for the pharoh's tomb-builders near the legendary Valley of the Kings. But the villagers fall under suspicion when the heavily-guarded royal tombs are broken into. Can Isis and Hopi discover the truth about the robberies - in time?

Opening dramatically with the horrors of the 2005 London bombings, this is the profoundly moving story of a country on the brink of civil war and a child's struggle to come to terms with loss.London. On a bright July morning a series of bombs bring the capital to a halt. Simon Swann, a medic from one of the large teaching hospitals, is searching frantically amongst the chaos and the rubble.

A new life in Wales has not turned out to be the rural fantasy that social worker Jess imagined when she left London for a simpler, more fulfilling future. And it seems there's no escape from evil - even in such a beautiful landscape.

The rural idyll of life in a remote Welsh valley has turned sour for the Cordiners. For David, life in the local police force is deathly dull after the exhilaration of working for the Met. For Tessa, the hostility of the local community is a daily torment. Then a young nurse is found dead at a nearby beauty spot, her corpse strewn with wild flowers in some sick ceremony.

After the death of her husband, Ellie needs a change to her life and enrolls in a garden course in Tuscany. Here she begins relationships with her fellow students. Nerine, an eccentric character in her 70s, and the much younger Max. Through the teaching of Salvatore, who runs the course, Ellie finds that universal truths are still potently relavant.

Delilah Darling - Queen Delilah from the Land of Far, Far Away - is desperate to play the part of the gingerbread man in the school play. So when horrible Charlotte Griggs gets the part instead, Delilah is cross. But soon she discovers that there's lots of fun to be had playing the big, bad fox. And beside, in the Land of Far, Far Away, things always have happy endings....

Antmouth is said to be haunted by the ghosts of smugglers, but Ben and Claire are more alarmed by the peculiar living residents. Who are the fish-eyed golfers who seem to be spying on them? Why do people keep vanishing?

1926, Kent. Lady Ansley's old Gaiety Theatre group are reuniting at Wychbourne Court for the weekend to perform the Follies. But, as Chef Nell Drury observes, Lady Ansley is worried. And rightly so, for as the group of actors and actresses - from the pompous Hubert Jarrett to the dashing Neville Heydock - prepare to take the stage, simmering tensions, old scores, fears and buried memories begin to resurface. What happened to Mary Ann Darling, the young Gaiety actress who disappeared 30 years ago? As the performance draws to a close, the real drama is only just beginning....

In 1621, 57 women undertook a three-month journey to Jamestown after responding to an advert placed by the Virginia Company, looking for wives for its tobacco planters in the New Colony. They travelled of their own free will, but the Company was effectively selling them at a profit, having set a bride price of 150lbs of tobacco for each woman. But what did the women want? Why did they make the perilous Atlantic crossing to a dangerous land, where six out of seven European settlers died within a few years?

Eve Halligan is back in her hometown for Christmas after a whirlwind few years touring with her band, the Molotovs. A lot has changed since she left, but two things have stayed the same. One: Eve is head-over-heels in love with Lucien Malikov, the Molotovs’ bad boy lead singer. Two: Lucien is completely indifferent to her. Still, Eve dreams that this could be the Christmas where she convinces Lucien that they’re made for each other. But then childhood friend and local caterer Theo Wright comes back into her life....

One, her job at the Blue Olive deli is dull, but at least she gets to work with her best friend. Two, she lives in a cosy cottage in the pretty village of Halston. Three, she’s in love with her boyfriend, Blake. Isn’t she? Because, despite their history, Blake continues to be the puzzle piece in Tess’ life that doesn’t quite fit. And when she meets intriguing local artist Daniel Cavanagh, it soon becomes apparent that, for Tess, love isn’t as easy as one, two, three.

Felicity Fox is a rarity for a woman living in the early 1800s. Not only does she frequent the 'gambling hells' where most ladies would not dare to tread, she can also beat any man at his own game. It’s no wonder she’s gained notoriety as the 'Queen of Diamonds'. Edward, Earl of Addington, despises gambling and is not exactly enamoured of Felicity Fox either, especially after she tried to swindle his family. Except now the Earl requires assistance from the Queen of Diamonds - and there’s everything to play for.