Showing results by narrator "Fiona Hardingham" in All Categories

For her 16th birthday, Vaela Sun receives the most coveted gift in all the Spire - a trip to the Continent. It seems an unlikely destination for a holiday: a cold, desolate land where two nations remain perpetually locked in combat. Most citizens lucky enough to tour the Continent do so to observe the spectacle and violence of battle, a thing long vanished in the peaceful realm of the Spire.

After being together for ten years, Sylvie and Dan have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, beautiful twin girls, and communicate so seamlessly, they finish each other's sentences. They have a happy marriage and believe they know everything there is to know about each other. Until it's casually mentioned to them that they could be together for another sixty-eight years... and panic sets in.

Daisy Linden and her sister, Frederica, arrive by airship in Santa Fe, capital of the Texican Territories, determined to search for their missing father. But two surprises await them - the authorities' baffling refusal to help and a not-so-chance meeting with snake-oil salesman William Barnicott. To their joy, the Lindens find that their father has indeed been seen in Santa Fe. To their horror, it was an assignation with a cancan dancer in the dead of night.

A girl with a clockwork heart makes every second count. When Penny Farthing nearly died, the brilliant surgeon Calvin Warwick managed to implant a brass “Ticker”, transforming her into “the first of the Augmented”! But soon it was discovered that Warwick kidnapped and killed dozens of people striving to perfect another Ticker for Penny.

The outbreak began in February. Nations went to war. Governments collapsed. Billions died in the chaos and anarchy that followed. Billions more were infected. They died. They came back. It is now October. Out of the tens of millions who lived in southern England, only 90 people remain. They sought sanctuary behind the ancient walls of the Tower of London, but it was only a temporary refuge. There is no more food to be scavenged from the ruins of the old world. Their water supply is polluted.

Anne Brontë's first published novel, Agnes Grey tells the story of one woman's search for love and happiness within the boundaries of pre-Victorian society. Forced by her family’s declining circumstances to find employment, Agnes Grey takes the only position open to her—governess within a wealthy family—and faces hardships that challenge the boundaries of her experience.

Serving aboard the Ananke, an experimental military spacecraft launched by the ruthless organization that rules Earth and its solar system, computer scientist Althea has established an intense emotional bond—not with any of her crewmates, but with the ship’s electronic systems, which speak more deeply to her analytical mind than human feelings do. But when a pair of fugitive terrorists gain access to the Ananke, Althea must draw upon her heart and soul for the strength to defend her beloved ship.

As a consequence of his actions during the Ludus uprising, Fallon's love, Cai, has been stripped of his decurion rank and cast down to serve as one of Caesar's gladiators. Amid fighting for Cai's freedom, Fallon soon learns Caesar's enemies are plotting against him and planning to get revenge on his fearsome gladiatrices. When Caesar is murdered by these conspirators, Fallon and the girls lose any sort of protection they once had. Fallon also realizes the foreign Queen Cleopatra is now in grave danger.

When accident-prone Helen Grey finds a thong stuffed into the pocket of her boyfriend's best work trousers, it's time for her to move on. His excuse that he needed to dust the photocopier and just thought that it was a rag sounds like a lame excuse. Helen's life is propelled in an unexpected direction after her best friend, Ayshe, sets her a fourteen-day, life-changing challenge. Helen receives a task everyday which she must complete without question.

Daisy and Freddie Linden and their friends arrive in Port Townsend, only to be arrested as spies and brought before the most feared man in the Wild West— “Hanging” Judge Wilson Bonnell. But the unexpected intervention of an old friend plucks them out of the frying pan and tosses them into the glittering whirl of local society, where Freddie wonders if she could be in love at last. But they’re still standing too close to the fire—when a long-sought and familiar figure is spotted on the beach, bending over the lifeless body of the judge.

Serena Meadows and her twin sister, Luna, are identical in appearance - but the similarity ends there. Luna always had a mean streak and, as a teenager, her selfishness culminated in an almighty betrayal from which Serena thought she’d never recover. Years later the twins are reunited by tragedy and Luna is a changed woman. The arrogance and spite of her youth are gone and, at a time when Serena really needs support, Luna sets aside her own life to come to the rescue. But her generosity is not what it seems and before long she does something devastating.

The Crim family is full of notorious criminals. Notoriously inept, that is. Uncle Knuckles once tried to steal a carnival. Great-Uncle Bernard held himself hostage by accident. Aunt Drusilla died slipping on a banana peel. But Imogen is different. She was born with a skill for scandal. A knack for the nefarious. A mastery of misdemeanors.

Once Ananke was an experimental military spacecraft. But a rogue computer virus transformed it - her - into something much more: a fully sentient artificial intelligence, with all the power of a god - and all the unstable emotions of a teenager. Althea, the ship's engineer and the last living human aboard, nearly gave her life to save Ananke from dangerous saboteurs, forging a bond as powerful as that between mother and daughter. Now she devotes herself completely to Ananke's care.

Wendy Darling has found herself once again in the arms of charming Peter Pan, the god-child who desires power above all things. This time, though, Wendy burns not with passion but with a secret: With Hook as her ally, she is there to defeat the evil that lies inside of Peter, the evil that holds all Neverland hostage - the Shadow.

Irréelle fears she’s not quite real. Only the finest magical thread tethers her to life - and to Miss Vesper. But for all her efforts to please her cruel creator, the thread is unraveling. Irréelle is forgetful as she gathers bone dust. She is slow returning from the dark passages beneath the cemetery. Worst of all, she is unmindful of her crooked bones. When Irréelle makes one final, unforgivable mistake by destroying a frightful creature just brought to life, Miss Vesper threatens to imagine her away once and for all.

At 38 and a quarter years old, Paris native Camille has everything she needs to be happy: a good job, a loving husband, a wonderful son. Why then does she feel as if happiness has slipped through her fingers? All she wants is to find the path to joy and fulfilment.

After their escape from Norveg, Agatha and Jaime return with their clan to the Isle of Skye to find that their enclave is now in the hands of the treacherous people of Raasay. They find tenuous shelter with another clan, but disaster soon strikes when the terrifying shadow creatures known as sgàilean escape their magical prison and wreak havoc across the island. Now Agatha and Jaime must call on old and new allies to fight this threat.

The thrilling conclusion to the bestselling Emma Holden suspense mystery trilogy. Emma Holden, now happily married, hopes that the nightmare is finally over. But the biggest danger is yet to come. Sinister accusations and shocking revelations sow mistrust, threatening to tear Emma and her friends apart. Soon, Emma must fight for her life as the horrifying truth behind Dan's kidnap is revealed. If you think you know the truth, then think again.

Deep in the woods of northern England, somewhere between a dilapidated estate and an abandoned Victorian asylum, fifteen-year-old Jane Standen lived through a nightmare. She was babysitting a sweet young girl named Lily, and in one fleeting moment, lost her. The little girl was never found, leaving her family and Jane devastated.

Twelve-year-old Elissa has been raised in seclusion as a devotee of the Mother Goddess. She is a special child, a blessed child, a child who can sing miracles into being. Her voice can heal wounds, halt landslides, cure hunger—and even end wars. But there are those who would use her gift for darker things. And when Elissa finds herself the farthest from home she’s ever been—along with her vain and jealous music tutor, Lucio—she will have to develop the judgment to decide who wants to use her song to heal...and who wants to use her song to hurt.