Showing results by narrator "Adjoa Andoh" in All Categories

Charlie, a curious boy with a dangerous Dictaphone habit, eavesdrops on the eccentric guests of the Mirage Hotel as the African nation of Bwalo prepares for the annual appearance of its Glorious Leader Tafumo. Sean, an Irishman who's given his heart (and the best part of his liver) to Bwalo, struggles to write the great African novel - if only his crazed fiancée and fierce thirst would stop distracting him.

From the best-selling author of The Ice Cream Girls, The Woman He Loved Before, and My Best Friend's Girl, an emotional story about love, identity, and the meaning of family. ‘Where are you coming from with that accent of yours?’ he asks. ‘Nowhere,’ I reply. ‘I’m from nowhere.’ ‘Everyone’s from somewhere,’ he says. ‘Not me,’ I reply silently. Clemency Smittson was adopted as a baby, and the only connection she has to her birth mother is a cardboard box hand decorated with butterflies.

Florida, 1935, and the residents of Heron Key are preparing for the Fourth of July barbecue, little realising how much their world is about to change. Domestic helps Missy and Selma are dismembering the alligator that tried to snatch the baby Missy was watching, before they can get ready for the party. Henry, a returned soldier from WW1, is hoping that his comrades in his construction team will not disgrace themselves in front of an already fiercely judgemental community.

A middle-class woman at her wits' end and a struggling migrant worker with few options for survival. When tensions boil over, who will be the first to snap? Will it be Theodora, finally breaking under the pressure? Or Mona, desperate to find a way out? Two women. Two stories. Who do you believe?

One seagull and four pieces of bread decide the course of one person's life. But is the rest just coincidence? A new novel from Costa Award shortlisted author J. W. Ironmonger. Have you ever experienced a coincidence that seems too strange to be true? And is there such a thing as fate? The Coincidence Authority is a novel about love in a random universe, about two lost souls each with a quest to understand the secret patterns of their lives.

This is a book about memories, love, sex and the power of the imagination to see us through the most difficult times. The women of Reality, Reality are mesmerising, whether in love or in solitude. Jackie Kay’s newest and most luminous of collections is full of compassion, generosity, sorrow, and joy. In 15 extraordinary stories, she celebrates the richness and power of dream-life to inspire, to repair, and to make real.

Jude lives in a henhouse with no roof, in the bankrupt Republic of Squanderland. Purchased for ten million euro at the height of the credit bubble, his henhouse has been rated the asset in Europe most likely to default. To solve this small but symbolic problem and restore confidence in the markets, Europe's leaders need a plan. Sadly, putting a roof on Jude's henhouse quickly escalates out of control. Soon they are committed to building a roof over the entire country, half a mile above the startled voters...

This is the story of the battle between appeasers and anti-appeasers in the period before - and just after - the start of the Second World War, and the formation of the 1940 coalition government which, like the election of 2010, abruptly ruptured all previous political alignments. Based on real events, this is a fascinating and little known tale of idealism, blackmail, and political skulduggery.

Belinda wistfully reflects how much better at sex she is now than when she was in her twenties. She's thought about taking a lover, but ultimately could never do that to her husband Tom. So imagine her despair when she discovers he's having an affair... Nicholson casts an unflinching eye on men's attitude to sex, women, love and family life. This is our own familiar world rendered pacy, funny, emotionally on the button and hugely entertaining.

Jessame doesn't mind being called Messy Jessy or Baddy Addy. Sometimes she is messy and sometimes she is bad, but mostly she's imaginative and loving Jessame. The popular fiction title about a typical little West African girl growing up in an inner city is back, with more of her exciting stories!

Angel's life is out of control. The streets are the only source of income for this lonely teenager and drugs are her only form of escape. Until one night when Brian, a club owner, saves her from a violent and unprovoked attack. Could he really be her knight in shining armour?

When twins Leo and Trevor, separated as babies, are reunited 27 years later, it's a cause of celebration. That is until Leo accuses his brother of sleeping with his woman. Now they are brothers in arms. Only their newly found mother can stop them from ripping each other to bits. But HER terrible secret from the past means that one of them has to die.

Piccallili, Peaches, and Pip are three little princesses who live in a beautiful palace in an enchanted land. Eight lively stories, packed with action and fun, show all the detail of their lives in the palace: their clothes, their toys, their tiaras, and take them on an exciting adventure in which, with the help of their fairy godmother, Miss Sponge, they outwit the horrid Gobblers.

In these delightfully humorous tales of a decidedly blackish hue, 10 follysome toads can never change their beastly habits despite the efforts of goodly witch Madame Rana, who reminds them it's never too late to change. The Toad with Square Eyes develops mutant thumbs and fingers and finds himself on the other side of the screen; Cherry Oddfellow, the Dirty Little Toad, is part girl, part mudslide; and Jeremiah Bratson, the Spoiled Little Toad, finds himself face-to-face with a perfect robot replica.

Eleven-year-old Maggie lives in Fennis Wick, enclosed and protected from the outside world by a boundary, beyond which the Quiet War rages and the dirty, dangerous wanderers roam. Her brother Jed is an eldest, revered and special. A hero. Her younger brother is Trig - everyone loves Trig. But Maggie’s just a middler; invisible and left behind. Then, one hot September day, she meets Una, a hungry wanderer girl in need of help, and everything Maggie has ever known gets turned on its head.

Can't Tell Nathan Caton Nothing tells the story of young, up-and-coming comedian Nathan Caton, who becomes the first in his family to graduate from university - only to opt for a career in comedy - much to his family's annoyance who want him to get a 'proper job' using his architecture degree. Can Nathan persuade his family to support his career choice?

Once upon a time, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories - fantastical yarns of wondrous creatures in faraway places-bewitched children across the world. But times change. Today, Kipling's writing tells us a different tale; of a love of Empire, and the troubling legacy of British colonialism. In Not So Stories, writers of colour from around the world reclaim these stories and remake them into something new. Something different.

Mary Seacole spent much of her life on the front lines of the Crimean War, ministering to the wounded, caring for soldiers, and making her mark on the world of medicine. This fascinating biography honors her life, from her childhood in Kingston, Jamaica, and her encounters with racist Americans to her treatment of cholera patients in Panama and her bitter run-in with Florence Nightingale, who declined to work with her in Crimea because she wasn’t White. But Mary Seacole knew that the sick and wounded needed her compassion and care.

A rainy night in London. Shots are fired into a car which swerves on to the pavement, ploughing into a bus stop. It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost an innocent victim their life. But the reality is far more sinister.... One life is wiped out, and three more are changed forever: the young man whose finger was on the trigger, an aging gangster planning a deadly revenge and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth. Two weeks away from giving birth, how will she deal with a world where death is an occupational hazard?

Cinders, her talking dog, Sparks, a horse called Mouse, and Hansel (who accidentally - on purpose - ate some of a witch’s gingerbread house) continue their quest to find Fairyland. But even the bravest questers get hungry, and when the quartet stop at a market for lunch, calamity and chaos ensue. Cinders is kidnapped by a greedy goblin, Mouse is turned back into a mouse, and Cinders’ fairy godmother, Brian, pairs up with Prince Joderick to rescue her.