Showing results by narrator "Nicola Barber" in All Categories

"Kissing you is like new paint and old pain. It is like coffee and car alarms and a dim stairway and a stain and it's like smoke.' ('Placing a Call') How does love change us? And how do we change ourselves for love - or for lack of it? Ten stories by acclaimed author Deborah Levy explore these delicate, impossible questions. In Vienna, an icy woman seduces a broken man; in London gardens, birds sing in computer start-up sounds; in ad-land, a sleek copywriter becomes a kind of shaman.

The start of an epic new series from bestselling author John Connolly, and Jennifer Ridyard. For fans of The 5th Wave and I Am Number Four. Earth is no longer ours. It is ruled by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilised yet ruthless alien species. But humankind has not given up the fight, and Paul Kerr is one of a new generation of young Resistance leaders waging war on the invaders. Syl Hellais is the first of the Illyri to be born on Earth.

When Dido Hoare, antiquarian bookseller and single mother, receives a frantic call for help in the middle of the night, she rushes to her friend (and nanny's) side. Dido has no idea that she is about to enter a world where no one is what they appear to be and there is danger all around. Dido arrives at Phyllis's apartment building to find that the lights in the hallway have all been shattered and that the apartment has clearly been burglarized.

When Timothy Curwen’s check bounces, Dido Hoare is amazed. Curwen had been a good customer, spending freely at her antiquarian bookshop. The morning paper says that Curwen committed suicide, but the police soon suspect murder. When Dido sets out either to retrieve the book or to obtain payment of it, her quest leads her down a twisted trail of cover-up and betrayal surrounding Tim’s death.

Tod has grown up a PathFinder, one of an ancient seafaring tribe. Her mother, who died when Tod was young, had a very different history. She was from a mysterious magykal desert-dwelling family. When Tod's father disappears she is not only alone but soon finds herself swept into the path of an evil sorcerer. Now Tod must choose which of her pasts will help her to survive: PathFinder or Magician.

Taking place seven years after the events of the original Septimus Heap series, TodHunter Moon tells the story of Alice TodHunter Moon, a young PathFinder who comes to the Castle with a Magyk all her own. In this second book, Tod sets out for the Desert of the Singing Sands to retrieve the Egg of the Orm - a journey that will test not only her Magykal and PathFinding skills but her friendships, too.

To escape from bad memories and nightmares in London, antiquarian book dealer Dido Hoare takes time off to visit a childhood friend, Lizzy Waring. Lizzy lives in the picturesque village of Somerset with her husband and his family. The Warings own Monksdanes, an idyllic Georgian mansion; it appears the perfect place for an over-active London native to rest and recuperate. At first Dido is enchanted by the surroundings. But it's not long before she realizes, to her dismay, that the postcard beauty is just a faade - there's a much darker reality below the surface.

Alphege was born the son of a King, whose mother died in childbirth. His father remarried a new queen who also bore him a child. The queen desired for her son to be the rightful heir, so from the very beginning she looked for ways to rid the kingdom of Alphege. One day, Alphege went on a journey to visit his aunt in a far-off land and an evil fairy cast a spell on him that turned him into a green monkey. His father soon died and the queen's son became the new king. Years passed by until the kingdom discovered the truth of the green monkey that appeared in the kingdom.

There once was a princess lost in a forest, terribly distraught, who stumbled upon a talking iron stove in the middle of the forest. The stove told the princess he could direct her back to her father's kingdom if she promised one thing - that she would return and marry him. She was scared, but agreed, and made her way back to her father. Her father did not want his only daughter to marry an iron stove, so they tried to trick the stove by sending first the miller's daughter, and then the swineherd's daughter. He was not tricked, so soon the king relented and sent his daughter.

Wren MacAvoy works as a coal miner for a domed city that was constructed in the mid-19th century to protect the royal blood line of England when astronomers spotted a comet on a collision course with Earth. Humanity would be saved by the most groundbreaking technology of the time. But after nearly 200 years of life beneath the dome, society has become complacent and the coal is running out. Plus, there are those who wonder: Is there life outside the dome? Or is the world still consumed by fire?

Trying to build her fledgling shop and keep her young son and cat fed, Dido Hoare, London's most intrepid antiquarian bookseller, needs some good luck. Her break comes when the aged and daunting Clare Templeton Forbes, the ex-lover of a celebrated American modernist poet, offers Dido her prized personal library - a bookseller's dream come true.

The Watersong Series takes you deep into a new world . . .Beautiful. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Thea, and Lexi have caught everyone's attention, including the eye of practical Harper. But it's her sister, Gemma, they've chosen to be part of their group. Sixteen-year-old Gemma seems to have it all - carefree, pretty, and falling in love with the boy next door. But her greatest passion has always been the water.

It’s five years since psychiatrist Olivia Hofmann’s husband and daughter vanished without trace, and five years since the body of troubled teenager Lisa Manz was found murdered in a quarry outside Vienna. While the trail of Lisa’s killer has gone cold, Olivia receives an anonymous postcard each year on the anniversary of her family’s disappearance. Who is sending the messages, and why are they sorry? When one of her patients claims he has seen Lisa alive, Olivia joins forces with detective Levi Kant, who was taken off the murder case when he was close to finding answers.

In 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. Four years later, Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from the estranged twin sister she hasn’t seen since 1940. Since that one catastrophic summer in Rome, as war was engulfing Europe and Iris was falling desperately in love.... Within days, Ruth is on her way to Moscow, posing as the wife of Agent Fox in a precarious plot to extract her sister from behind the Iron Curtain.

James Patterson's BookShots. Short, fast-paced, high-impact entertainment. The greatest story in modern history has a new chapter.... Posing as newlyweds, two ruthless thieves board the Titanic to rob its well-heeled passengers. But an even more shocking plan is afoot - a sensational scheme that could alter the fate of the world's most famous ship.

Against the backdrop of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, recent Oxford graduate Claire is a mess. She's trapped in a disastrous relationship with a young academic, working a dead-end job, stunned by the emergence of secrets from her mother's past, and seemingly addicted to self-destructive behavior. But like the ceasefire that has brought renewed hope to Belfast, Claire too is afforded an opportunity to reflect, gradually learning to accept herself and to discover her sense of self-esteem and self-worth.

This warm, nuanced, hilarious story about friendship, fortitude - and dancing is impossible not to fall in love with. Jenny's voice is fresh and convincing, and she handles both darker and lighter elements of the story with equal panache.

When Clara Stahlbaum receives a beautiful yet mysterious egg-shaped box from her late mother, she wonders what it means. Searching for answers, Clara soon finds herself in a magical world - the Four Realms - where she meets a host of colorful and curious new friends and discovers the fascinating link between the Realms and her dear mother. But when she learns that the Realms are in danger of being destroyed, Clara vows to help.

When Clara Stahlbaum receives a beautiful yet mysterious egg-shaped box from her late mother, she wonders what it means. Searching for answers, Clara soon finds herself in a magical world - the Four Realms - where she meets a host of colorful and curious new friends and discovers the fascinating link between the Realms and her dear mother. But when she learns that the Realms are in danger of being destroyed, Clara vows to help.

The Watersong Series takes you deep into a new world . . .Beautiful. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Thea, and Lexi have caught everyone's attention, including the eye of practical Harper. But it's her sister, Gemma, they've chosen to be part of their group. Sixteen-year-old Gemma seems to have it all - carefree, pretty, and falling in love with the boy next door. But her greatest passion has always been the water.