Showing results by narrator "Jane Collingwood" in All Categories

The Mighty Shandar, the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen, returns to the Ununited Kingdoms. Clearly, he didn't solve the Dragon Problem, and must hand over his fee: Eighteen dray-weights of gold. But the Mighty Shandar doesn't do refunds, and vows to eliminate the dragons once and for all - unless sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange and her sidekicks from the Kazam house of enchantment can bring him the legendary jewel, The Eye of Zoltar.

This is the tale of three 14-year-old girls and a volatile combination of lies, jealousy and perversion that ends in tragedy. Except the tragedy is even darker and more tangled than their tight-knit community has been persuaded to believe. Blackly funny and with a surreal edge to its portrait of a northern English town, Jenn Ashworth's gripping novel captures the intensity of girls' friendships and the dangers they face in a predatory adult world they think they can handle.

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan's California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified 'dinery server' on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation....

Anne Neville and her sister Isabel are daughters of the most powerful magnate in 15th century England. Ever ruthless, always plotting, in the absence of a son and heir, Warwick sets about using his daughters as pawns in his political games. Anne grows from a delightful child brought up at the court of Edward IV and his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, intimacy and friendship with the family of Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Her life is overturned when her father turns on his former allies, escapes England and invades with an enemy army.

A young woman's future is torn away in a heartbeat. Herded on to a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope. Jean-Luc thought he had left it all behind. The scar on his face a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi Occupation. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door. On a darkened platform, two destinies become entangled. Their choice will change the future in ways neither could have imagined.

In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7g.Then the magic started fading away.Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery.So it's a surprise when the visions start.

Julius Caesar left his gardens to the citizens of Rome, a peaceful sanctuary across the Tiber. Now the gardens and their sacred grove are dangerous haunts, especially for women alone. 'Don't go to the Grove,' people mutter, but when her husband has to leave Rome, it falls to Albia to supervise his building project in an old grotto. Why has someone buried tattered scrolls by obscure philosophers - and does it involve a worse crime than terrible writing? Soon that puzzle is overtaken.

Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium. But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical community and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way possible. The killer's method is to re-enact bloody scenes from the gruesome side of popular theatre, where characters in plays really die on stage.

This is the definitive biography of Freddie Mercury. Written by an award-winning rock journalist, Lesley-Ann Jones toured widely with Queen forming lasting friendships with the band. Now, having secured access to the remaining band members and those who were closest to Freddie, from childhood to death, Lesley-Ann has written the most in depth account of one of music's best loved and most complex figures.

In the glitteringly ruthless diamond business, Scarlett Drummond Murray is a force to be reckoned with. As stunningly beautiful as the diamonds she works with, Scarlett is determined to make her mark on the industry with her fabulous jewellery creations. But to do so she must battle through a world that is steeped in greed and corruption.

Watch out for cats in boots, three bears who live in the woods and strange unicorns in this magical collection of short stories by Enid Blyton. From lost slippers and fairy curses to imps without names and a dragon called Mr Wumble, there's fairy magic brewing. Who will live happily ever after? These traditional tales are ideal for younger children and for new listeners. Each story stands alone and is the perfect length for listening at bedtime or in the classroom.

Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone? When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change.

A long time ago Magic faded away, leaving behind only yo-yos, the extremely useful compass-pointing-to-North enchantment and the spell that keeps bicycles from falling over. Things are about to change. Magical power is on the rise and King Snodd IV of Hereford has realised that he who controls Magic controls almost anything. Only one person stands between Snodd and his plans for unimaginable power and riches.

When Jess Tidy was Mark Winter's student, she made a shocking accusation. Mark maintained his innocence, but the damage was done. Karen Winter stood by her husband through everything, determined to protect her family. Now, 10 years later, Jess is back. And the truth about that night is finally going to come out....

From the creator of Falco comes Falco: the new generation, featuring her unforgettable heroine, Flavia Albia, in her third novel.In the blazing July heat of imperial Rome, Flavia Albia inspects a decomposing corpse. It has been discovered in lots to be auctioned by her family business, so she's determined to identify the dead man and learn how he met his gruesome end. The investigation will give her a chance to work with the magistrate, Manlius Faustus, the friend she sadly knows to be the last chaste man in Rome.

The Stromark system has fallen into rebellion, and the Sons of Sanguinius have been sent to end the conflict and return the system to the Emperor's light. On Stromark Prime, the Flesh Tearers descend with their most feared warriors – the bloodthirsty Death Company – to tear the heart from the rebellion. But as the murderous Space Marines rampage through Stromark Prime's palace, the world's governor may hold their fates in her hands. Meanwhile on Stromark Secundus, the Angels Encarmine send down a force of veterans to despatch any remaining resistance.

In a world ruled by the Stars, cruel and merciless gods, Elara has been cursed by fate. A prophecy promises she will fall for a Star, but that it will kill them both. Yet when the Star of Wrath and War descends to hunt Elara, the neighbouring kingdom sees an opportunity to take her from her home, the Kingdom of Night, to Helios, Kingdom of Light. Where she strides straight into the arms of an enemy prince. There, Elara is forced to either let Prince Lorenzo train her into a weapon worthy of battling against the tyrannical reign of the Stars, or to accept her fate.

The official autobiography from the Girls Aloud and Strictly Come Dancing star. In 2002 - along with Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding and Nicola Roberts - Kimberley Walsh won a place in the Popstars The Rivals band Girls Aloud, and her life changed forever. Ten years later, after six platinum albums, twenty top-ten singles, a Brit Award, an entry in the Guinness Book of Records and a triumphant sell-out reunion tour, the girls have decided to go their separate ways.

Ten years ago when Lily was just sixteen, she fell in love with someone she really shouldn't have fallen in love with. Now, living in Sydney and engaged to another man, she can't forget the one that got away. Then her past comes back to haunt her, and she has to make a decision that will break her heart - and the heart of at least one of the men who love her.

Entering her thirties, Helen Jukes feels trapped in an urban grind of office politics and temporary addresses - disconnected, stressed. Struggling to settle into her latest job and home in Oxford, she realises she needs to effect a change if she’s to create a meaningful life for herself, one that can accommodate comfort and labour and love. Then friends give her the gift of a colony of honeybees - according to folklore, bees freely given bring luck - and Helen embarks on her first full year of beekeeping.