Showing results by narrator "Finty Williams" in All Categories

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her 'our little genius'. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells.

A secret project with the Alka Alon Emissary, Ithalia, leads Dara to new troubles and adventures, as the Hawkmaiden assumes new responsibilities. Lady Ithalia wants to use magic to transform her falcon, Frightful, into a giant, so that she and other giant hawks can defend the Five Duchies against dragons in the air. When Minalan purchases 20 hawks and hires a falconer to aid her efforts, Dara is tasked with building a mews to house them in the Westwood...and encounters her most difficult opponent yet: her father.

If you fell in love with Melanie in the million-copy-selling post-apocalyptic phenomenon The Girl With All the Gifts - there's more to the story... Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy. The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world. To where the monsters lived.

Join this all-star cast including as they go on adventures and look for heffalumps with Pooh, Piglet and friends in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Wyn knows falling for Hetta Valstar is a bad idea. She's not only human but the new magically bonded ruler of Stariel Estate. If their relationship gets out, it'll cause a scandal that could ruin their attempts to sort out the estate's crumbling finances. Of course, it doesn't help that Stariel has decided it doesn't like him. But much more than just jealous, sentient estates and Hetta's good name are at stake. Wyn’s past is coming back to bite him. Ten years ago, he broke an oath and shattered the power of his home court, and the fae have been hunting him ever since.

All I wanted was to impress my best friend, Shona, and the other mermaids who live in the sea around Allpoints Island. But what did I do instead? I woke up the kraken, a terrifying octopus-like monster the size of an apartment building. Now he's coming after everything and everyone I love. And who can stop him? You guessed it. Me. Well, me and Shona, and another person too, someone I'd hoped never, ever to see again.

When Emily Windsnap discovers an old diamond ring during a class hunt for trinkets, how is she supposed to know that the ring is half the key to unlocking an ancient curse by Neptune himself? Now, with the ring stuck firmly on her hand, Emily finds herself under a new curse: in just a few days, she'll cease to be half-human and half-mermaid and must say good-bye to one of her parents forever.

Cordelia Carstairs has lost everything that matters to her. In only a few weeks, her father has been murdered, her plans to become parabatai with best friend Lucie have been destroyed, and her marriage has crumbled. Even worse, she is now bound to an ancient demon, Lilith, stripping her of her power as a Shadowhunter. Cordelia flees to Paris, hoping to forget her sorrows. But reality soon intrudes: Tatiana Blackthorn has escaped the Adamant Citadel, and London is under new threat by the Prince of Hell, Belial.

One exceptional boy journeys into the ashes of society to find the cure for a devastating plague in this riveting post-apocalyptic stand-alone set in the same world as the USA Today best-selling The Girl With All the Gifts. Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy. The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world. To where the monsters lived.

When Myriam decides to return to work as a lawyer after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their son and daughter. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau.

Beauty Cookson is no beauty. She's a plain, timid girl who constantly feels inferior to the super-confident, snooty girls at school. Worse than the teasing in the playground, though, is the unpredictable, hurtful criticism from her father. Beauty and her meek, sweet mother live in uneasy fear of his fierce rages, sparked whenever they break one of his fussy house rules.

For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale, children of the famous Will and Tessa, have grown up in an idyll with their loving friends and family, listening to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering all. But everything changes when the Blackthorn and Carstairs families come to London...and so does a remorseless and inescapable plague.

Fourteen-year-old Prue and her sister, Grace, have been educated at home by their controlling, super-strict father all their lives. Forced to wear Mum's odd handmade garments and forbidden from reading teenage magazines, they know they're very different to 'normal' girls. But when Dad has a stroke and ends up in hospital, unable to move or speak, Prue suddenly discovers what it's like to have a little freedom. Sent to a real school for the first time, Prue struggles to fit in.

Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend, Lucie Herondale, and James’ charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s blade. But the truth is far grimmer.

There is a fire and they are in There. They are in there.... Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and runs. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her. Afterwards, Grace must find the identity of the arsonist and protect her family from the person who's still intent on destroying them. Afterwards, she must fight the limits of her physical strength and discover the limitlessness of love.

Robin has made a powerful ally in the Duke of Lancaster. But he has made powerful enemies too: not only his childhood adversary Mortimer, but the sadistic knight Peter de Gray. Returning to England, he is awarded the fiefdom of Fernbrook in Lancashire, where he meets the beautiful noblewoman Joanna. But the wheel of fortune keeps turning and as the years pass Robin and his friends must face trials and tragedies: plague, war and political intrigue are never far away.

On the face of it, Beauty is lucky. She has a mum and dad who love her, lives in a lovely house and goes to a posh girls' school. But for shy, awkward Beauty, the reality is miserable.

She isn't a beauty, and the snobby girls at school have nicknamed her Ugly. Her mum is completely downtrodden by Beauty's fierce-tempered bully of a father. Beauty would give anything for a pet, but her dad won't hear of it in case it messes up their pristine house.

Hetty Feather was given her name when she was left at the Foundling Hospital as a baby. But she always longed to be named after her incredible sapphire-blue eyes. When she is reunited with her mother, she hopes her new name, Sapphire Battersea, will also mean a new life. But things don’t always go as planned.... Follow the twists and turns of Hetty’s adventures as she begins work. She longs to be reunited with her dear Jem, but also finds a new friend, Bertie the butcher’s boy.

Hetty Feather has seen her fair share of adventure, excitement - and tragedy. Following the death of her beloved mama, Hetty is alone in the world once more. She sets off on her greatest challenge yet: the search for her father. But Hetty fears she'll never truly belong anywhere. Even when she is reunited with her childhood sweetheart, Jem, Hetty still longs for adventure - especially when an enchanting figure from her past makes an unexpected reappearance. Could a more exciting future lie ahead for Hetty? Could she cast aside the foundling name she has always hated, and become the brave, bold, bright Emerald Star?

In Chocolate Wars best-selling historian and award-winning documentary maker Deborah Cadbury takes a journey into her own family history to uncover the rivalries that have driven 250 years of chocolate empire-building. Beginning with an account of John Cadbury, who founded the first Cadbury's coffee and chocolate shop in Birmingham in 1824, Chocolate Wars goes on to chart the astonishing transformation of the company's fortunes.