Showing results by narrator "Charlie Sanderson" in All Categories

This Love is an emotional family drama for fans of Jojo Moyes and Dorothy Koomson, from the best-selling author of Fractured. Sophie stopped believing in happy endings a long time ago, but could this love change all of that? Sophie Winter lives in a self-imposed cocoon - she's a single 31-year-old translator who works from home in her one-bedroom flat. This isn't really the life she dreamed of, but then Sophie stopped believing in dreams when she was a teenager and tragedy struck her family.

Emma Nash may be down, but after months of wallowing, stalking her ex online, and avoiding showering - because who’s going to care? - Emma’s ready to own her newly single status, get out, and chronicle her dating adventures on her private blog. But life online doesn’t always run smoothly. Stumbling upon her mother’s Tinder dating profile, getting catfished, and accidentally telling the entire world why her ex-boyfriend Leon’s not worth any girl’s...um...time.... Okay, those were disasters. But surely nothing else can go wrong?

At Treetops Foundling Home in Victorian Nuneaton, one special little girl brings sunshine and joy wherever she goes. A favourite of her foster mother, Kitty grows into a beguiling young woman but soon attracts the attention of more than one suitor with questionable intentions. She quickly discovers that her beauty is no protection against the peril she finds herself in, as this innocent young girl makes her way in the music halls and theatres of the big city....

Nell is 26 and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away before. Travelling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up, she has the chance to prove to everyone, including herself, that she can be independent and intrepid. Alone in Paris, Nell finds a version of herself she never knew existed. In this collection of 11 unmissable short stories, Jojo Moyes introduces us to a cast of strong, relatable women in the midst of their everyday lives.

From minor matters (tidiness, homework, sleep) to big and important ones (relationships, mental ill health, drugs and alcohol), teenagers and their parents often struggle to talk to each other—and talking is key if your young person is facing new challenges as they leave childhood behind. A well-timed conversation, a listening ear, a non-judgmental and receptive attitude—all these can make an enormous and lasting impact on how safely and happily a teenager navigates this crucial stage of their development. Oh, if only it were that easy.

Ginny's drunken father, devastated by the death of her mother and three siblings, ends up imprisoned for murder. Charlie, Ginny's eight-year-old sickly brother, is taken to the workhouse. Ginny is forced to flee her job and the unwanted advances of a baker. Close to breaking point, her beauty leads her to become Lady's Maid to the difficult Miss Diana at Lamp Hill Hall. However, all Ginny wants is to find her brother.

A charming and evocative tale of family and fortune from the queen of the West Country saga, Linda Finlay. Isabella Carrington has been brought up in a life of privilege in London. Her life seems perfect until her father suddenly announces bankruptcy. To save Isabella from destitution he sends her to stay with family she has never met, far away on a violet farm deep in Devon. Isabella is horrified to find her uncle expects her to work for her keep, packing up the flowers and selling them in the nearby market.

Whitby, 1845. Amber Ainsley works for the wealthy Greenwoods. But when Amber falls pregnant with Mr Barnaby Greenwood's illegitimate child, he casts her out, leaving her homeless and without an income. Amber flees to Whitby where she stays with her uncle until her child is born. Upon discovering this, Barnaby offers to find a family to raise Amber's daughter, to save her going to the workhouse. Broken-hearted but wanting the best for her child, Amber hands her daughter over.

One unforgettable night in 1785, in a theatre in Drury Lane, the heady alchemy of love and murder suddenly fuses the lives of Mimosina Dolcezza, a Venetian actress, and Valentine Greatrakes, prince of London's medical underworld. The Remedy is a ravishing love story that seamlessly weaves fiction with historical fact in rich and detailed prose.

Eve knows what her colleagues had for lunch last April. She remembers everyone who passes through the care home she works at long after they've gone. Like her museum of tiny treasures, her life is small and manageable. And what if you couldn't even remember your name? 'Adam' is found wandering down the central reservation of the M25. He has no memory of how he came to be there. As Eve works with Adam to help him discover who he once was, her world begins to open up. But when Adam remembers his past, can Eve possibly be part of his future?

Harper can't wait for her second year of Spectacular training, where a song can send you on a rollercoaster, a dance can lift you into the air, and you can send notes to your friends via a mechanical dragon.

Flick is a magician out of tricks. Every attempt to find her father has so far failed. Now the police have accused him of stealing the Crown Jewels—and they want Flick's help to work out how he did it. Flick and her best friend, Charlie, travel to Cornwall, where they believe her father may be hiding in an abandoned museum of magic. There they find master illusionist the Great Fox, also hot on the trail. But something else is hidden at the heart of the museum—the Bell System, the most dangerous magic trick the world has ever seen.

Kate Hardy's back from London after reaching a stalemate in the battle to save her little seafront café, The Sardine. Her ex is busy playing the pantomime villain—and he's holding her whole future hostage while he's at it. The perfect distraction arrives when a disaster befalls the not-so-happy couple about to celebrate their wedding at The Pebble Street Hotel.

Anwen Sedge, an eleven-year-old Meadow Witch apprentice, lives with her grandma in a rural village that hasn't seen giants since the Great Beanstalk War. So when a giant falls right onto them, it's quite a surprise. And it's an even bigger surprise when they discover that the giant was dead BEFORE he hit the ground. Anwen, her grandmother, and Anwen's rival, Cerys, will have to plant a magic beanstalk and send a message to the giants in the Sky Kingdom.

Eleven-year-old Bella Bright has just moved into Darkling House in Castleton. On her first day at her new school, she is spotted by a pair of manipulative mean girls, Skylar and Regan. They push her into inviting them to a Halloween sleepover. Another much friendlier girl, Lex, comes to Bella's rescue and offers to join the sleepover to support Bella, who is delighted to be making a real friend. On Halloween night, things start getting spooky for the four girls, when the huge front door appears to shut itself, and their mobile phones lose signal.

After a long absence, 18-year-old Jasper is finally heading home for the holidays - and she's keeping secrets. Arthur, a budding filmmaker, is turning the town of Lake Pristine into a small town story worthy of the big screen. His plans are disrupted by the arrival of the town's golden girl - the antagonist of his school days; a girl he's never forgotten. Jasper Montgomery is back in Lake Pristine for one reason: to say goodbye. But before long small-town tensions start to rise, and a certain brooding film buff starts to look like a very big reason to stay . . .

Meet the Unreliable Nature Writer: a macabre product of late capitalism, climate anxiety and personal loss. Finding herself alone at a wedding, tailed by an unctuous and infatuated fellow guest, she proceeds to have her fun—plunging us into a potpourri of disturbing, darkly funny visions of a near future. Aloof, evasive and sardonic, she will be our guide; her stories will bare truths about how the world we’re changing so violently might affect us in turn.

Tessa (the shapeshifter), Ash (the swordsman), and Calder (the trickster) reunite for a potentially deadly new adventure in Book Two of the award-winning Thieves of Magic series that began with Dreadmarrow and ends with Kingshackle. Desperate to cure her mother of the delusion that she’s a bird, Tessa appeals to the conjurer lord in neighboring Blackgrove. Everything goes wrong, however, when he takes Calder hostage and refuses to help until Tessa and Ash bring him the Gravenwood. They set out to steal this magical tablet while romance blossoms between them.

Murder, romance, and the discovery of the true nature of her high-powered patron disrupt the life of a sheltered courtesan. Beautiful, cultured Gabrielle lives and works at a house of courtesans. After uncovering evidence that her patron has committed murder, she plots to bring him down by allying herself with a secret society of wives who will use any means to avenge the wrongs against them.

It's every bride's worst nightmare, to be left standing at the altar. But that's what happens to Gemma on her wedding day. Her fiancé, Finn, isn't there when she arrives at the church. Everyone thinks Gemma has been jilted. Snippets of gossip circulate among their guests. They'd seemed like the perfect couple. They were so ideally matched. It just shows, you never can tell, can you? But Gemma is certain Finn would never have done this to her. So where is he?