Showing results by narrator "Nicola Barber" in All Categories

From the winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, a brilliantly haunting and suspenseful debut set in modern-day Britain where water is running out everywhere except at The Well - the farm of one seemingly ordinary family whose mysterious good fortune leads to suspicion, chaos, and ultimately a shocking act of violence.

A New York Times best-selling author's compelling portrait of the universal human need for animal companions—from dogs and cats to horses, birds, house rabbits, and even exotica such as lizards and snakes.

Their love was meant to be. When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she's surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRÍs. But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago - and that the passion and power that brought them together could be their ultimate destruction.

Modern technology is terrifying. The average smartphone carries out 3.36 billion instructions per second. The average person can carry out only one instruction in that time. Stop and think about that for a second. Sorry, that's two instructions; you won't be able to do that. But what if modern technology was... literally terrifying? What if there really was a ghost in the machine? Prepare to travel through the bad gateway as acclaimed actor, writer and comedian Tom Neenan (The Mash Report) finds out what horrors may be lurking in our apps and gadgets.

The image is instant. It whirs out of the camera, and they all watch it develop in silence. "Here." He gives the photograph to the perfect, flawless woman without looking at it, by way of apology. When everyone gathers around Luciana to admire it, Gustav clicks again. The unloved look brave. The unloved look heavier than the loved. Their eyes are sadder, but their thoughts are clearer. They are not concerned with pleasing or affirming their loved one's point of view. The unloved look preoccupied.

All Grace Gauthier ever wanted was the security of a good marriage, family, and home. Instead, despised by her aristocratic father's family because of her mother's foreign birth, she's taken a safe position as a governess. Now, unprotected and alone in London, accused of the shocking murder of her employer, she has no one to turn to except the mysterious - and possibly dangerous - Lord Ruthveyn.

The Earth has been invaded by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilized, yet ruthless alien race. Humanity has been conquered, but still it fights the invaders. The Resistance grows stronger, for it is the young people of Earth who battle the Illyri.

Malin has always been different, and when her father dies, leaving her alone, her choice is clear: stay and remain an outsider forever or leave in search of the mythical inheritance she is certain awaits her. Apprenticed to a series of strange and wonderful characters, Malin embarks on a grueling journey that crosses oceans and continents - from the high seas to desert plains - and leads to a discovery that she could never have expected.

This story is, in essence, the novelization of Wollstonecraft's ultimate work, Vindication of the Rights of Women. It follows a girl who grows up in a moderately wealthy English family in 18th century, trying to find love and individuality in a time when such concepts are incomprehensible to society. Mary, the main character, follows life and love through a turbulent series of ups and downs while trying to remain true to herself.

This is a true story about Frances, age 9, who saw fairies by the waterfall behind her house. Nobody but Frances saw them, but when she told her cousin Elsie and their parents, the adults teased them. Why not take a photograph? Elsie (who was fifteen) had the idea. She would paint paper fairies and take their picture with Frances, and none would be the wiser. The girls never meant to fool the world. Who could have imagined that Elsie’s photograph would fall into the hands of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes?

Nothing has been normal since Vanessa Sands learned that her sister was murdered by siren femme fatales of the watery depths and that everything she believed about her family was a lie. Her boyfriend, Simon, has been the only person Vanessa feels she can really trust. But now there are some secrets she can't tell even him. And when Vanessa finds herself in the sights of Parker, Hawthorne Prep's resident charmer, she needs someone to confide in more than ever.

A year after the events that killed her sister and turned her into a siren, Vanessa is desperately trying to put her family back together and reclaim a “normal” life. But no matter how many times she swims, or how much salt water she drinks, she can feel herself getting weaker and weaker. She has no idea how to survive as a siren and she doesn’t want to know the truth about her newly discovered identity. It’s just too horrifying.

In the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, novice Joanna Stafford is summoned back to London to face King Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell... who have made it their mission to expurge the Catholic faith from England.

In 1936, there are paranormal abilities that have slowly seeped into the world, brought to the surface by the suffering of the Great War. The research to weaponize these abilities in England has lagged behind Germany, but now it's underway at an ultra-secret site called Monkton Hall. Kim Tavistock, a woman with the talent of the spill - drawing out truths that people most wish to hide - is among the test subjects at the facility. When she wins the confidence of caseworker Owen Cherwell, she is recruited to a mission to expose the head of Monkton Hall.

Meet Anita Thompson: she's young, she's lovely, she's clever, and she's a witch. A real one. Anita lives in two worlds: the modern world of supermarkets and sports cars, radio and rock-and-roll, where she is a thoroughly modern girl with a thoroughly modern interest in boys and fast living and her own independence. But she also lives in the ancient and rustic world of traditions, cauldrons, and familiars.

Lord Oliver Stonenden gets whatever he wants - except the beautiful and headstrong Katharine Daltry. Katharine is the only woman who has ever denied him, and he cannot forget her. When he sees a chance to aid her cause by seducing a troublesome countess who is threatening Katharine's family, he rises to the occasion.

Posing as newlyweds, two ruthless thieves board the Titanic to rob its well-heeled passengers. But an even more shocking plan is afoot - a sensational scheme that could alter the fate of the world's most famous ship.

The Resistance still fights the invaders, but they are nothing more than an annoyance to the Illyri, an alien race of superior technology and military strength. When caught, the young rebels are conscripted. Part soldiers, part hostages, they join the Brigades, sent to fight at the edges of the growing Illyri Empire.

On his deathbed, King Tyran divides his land, leaving half to each of his two children - so they'll rule together. However, his son, Albrecht, is not satisfied with half a kingdom. And even though his sister, Ursula, is the first born, he decides that as a girl and were-bear, she is unfit to rule. So he invades her land, slaughtering her people and most of the were-beasts, and claims it for himself. As King Albrecht builds his iron rule and an army of beasts to defend his reign, Ursula is gathering the survivors and making plans to seize back the kingdom.

Amid the sumptuous backdrop of the London season in 1905, headstrong Katherine Sinclair must join the ranks of debutantes vying for suitors. Unfortunately for Katherine, she cannot imagine anything more loathsome - or dangerous. To help ease her entrance into society, Katherine’s family has elicited the assistance of the Earl of Thornewood, a friend and London’s most eligible bachelor, to be her constant companion at the endless fetes and balls.