Showing results by narrator "David Dawson" in All Categories

Tonight 19-year-old William Lavery is dressed for success, his first black-tie do. It's the Midlands Chapter of the Institute of Embalmers Ladies' Night Dinner Dance, and William is taking Gloria in her sequined evening gown. He can barely believe his luck. But as the guests sip their drinks and smoke their post-dinner cigarettes, a telegram delivers news of a tragedy. An event so terrible it will shake the nation. It is October 1966, and a landslide at a coal mine has buried a school: Aberfan.

As Skandar and his friends begin their fourth year at the Eyrie, the Island’s unicorns are struck by a terrible curse that threatens to change everything. Between a Commodore determined to eliminate the spirit element for good and a sister hellbent on revenge, nowhere is safe for Skandar. As more unicorns are affected by the curse, the clock is ticking for Skandar and his quartet, who find themselves racing for their lives. Can they stop the curse in its tracks before the Island is lost forever?

Thirteen-year-old Skandar Smith has only ever wanted to be a unicorn rider. To be one of the lucky few selected to hatch a unicorn. To bond with it for life, to train together and race for glory, to be a hero. But just as Skandar’s dream is about to come true, things start to take a more dangerous turn than he could ever have imagined. A dark and twisted enemy has stolen the Island’s most powerful unicorn—and as the threat grows ever closer, Skandar discovers a secret that could blow apart his world forever.

In 1940, David Sparsholt arrives at Oxford to study engineering, though his sights are set on joining the Royal Air Force. Handsome, athletic, charismatic, he is unaware of his effect on others - especially on Evert Dax, the lonely son of a celebrated novelist who is destined to become a writer himself. With the world at war, and the Blitz raging in London, Oxford nevertheless exists at a strange remove: a place of fleeting beauty - and secret liaisons. A friendship develops between these two young men that will have unexpected consequences as the novel unfolds.

Skandar Smith has achieved his dream: to train as a unicorn rider. But as Skandar and his friends enter their second year at the Eyrie, a new threat arises. Immortal wild unicorns are somehow being killed, a prophecy warns of terrible danger, and elemental destruction begins to ravage the Island.

Skandar Smith has always yearned to leave the Mainland and escape to the secretive Island, where wild unicorns roam free. He’s spent years studying for his Hatchery exam, the annual test that selects a handful of Mainlander thirteen-year-olds to train to become unicorn riders. But on the day of Skandar’s exam, things go horribly wrong, and his hopes are shattered…until a mysterious figure knocks on his door at midnight, bearing a message: the Island is in peril and Skandar must answer its call.

To survive their third year of training, Skandar and his friends must complete a series of terrifying trials across the Island’s elemental zones. Friendships, allegiances, and rider-unicorn bonds will be pushed to the limit—only the strongest will make it. Meanwhile, Skandar’s sister, Kenna, has finally reached the Eyrie. But with a forged bond to a wild unicorn, she is alienated and alone. And when a terrible discovery puts the future of the Island in peril, all fingers point in one direction… As suspicions grow and dark forces assemble, Skandar must decide where his loyalties lie.

As Skandar and his friends begin their fourth year at the Eyrie, the Island’s unicorns are struck by a terrible curse that threatens to change everything. Between a Commodore determined to eliminate the spirit element for good, and a sister hellbent on revenge, nowhere is safe for Skandar. As more and more unicorns are affected by the curse, the clock is ticking for Skandar and his quartet, who find themselves literally racing for their lives. Can they stop the curse in its tracks before the Island is lost for ever?

Skandar Smith has achieved his dream to train as a unicorn rider. But as Skandar and his friends enter their second year at the Eyrie, a new threat arises. Immortal wild unicorns are somehow being killed, a prophecy warns of terrible danger, and elemental destruction begins to ravage the Island. Meanwhile, Skandar’s sister, Kenna, longs to join him – and Skandar is determined to help her, no matter what. As the storm gathers, can Skandar discover how to stop the Island tearing itself apart – before it’s too late for them all?

Skandar and his sister Kenna are finally both at the Eyrie, but tensions are high. To survive their third year of training, Skandar and his friends must complete a series of terrifying trials across the Island’s elemental zones. Friendships, allegiances and rider-unicorn bonds will be pushed to the limit – only the strongest will make it. Meanwhile Kenna’s forged bond to a wild unicorn has left her alienated and alone. And when a terrible discovery puts the future of the Island in peril, all fingers point in one direction.

In October 1940, the handsome young David Sparsholt arrives in Oxford. A keen athlete and oarsman, he at first seems unaware of the effect he has on others - particularly on the lonely and romantic Evert Dax, son of a celebrated novelist and destined to become a writer himself. While the Blitz rages in London, Oxford exists at a strange remove: an ephemeral, uncertain place in which nightly blackouts conceal secret liaisons....

Thomas Jerome Newton is an extraterrestrial from the planet Anthea, which has been devastated by a series of nuclear wars and whose inhabitants are twice as intelligent as human beings. When he lands on Earth—in Kentucky, disguised as a human—it's with the intention of saving his own people from extinction. Newton patents some very advanced Anthean technology, which he uses to amass a fortune. He begins to build a spaceship to help the last 300 Antheans migrate to Earth.

A young man. Unconscious in a hospital bed. His life is in the balance from a drug overdose. Attempted suicide or attempted murder? British lawyer Dominic Delingpole investigates, with the help of his larger-than-life partner Jonathan McFadden. Compromising photographs of senior politicians and business chiefs are discovered. Is the young man a blackmailer?

Twelve-year-old Lonny can stop death in its tracks. But there’s a price to pay for his magic. Each time he saves a life, he must sacrifice years of his own. In order to keep his power a secret, he's always stayed away from the nearby town of Farstoke, where the townsfolk might take advantage of a lifeling boy for their selfish and dangerous ends. But when Lonny’s family is left with no money, he and his brother, Midge, are forced to venture into Farstoke in search of work.

Someone is leaving a trail of bodies throughout London, and Detective Anthony Parglietto is determined to end the violence. Then he’ll return to the man he loves. Tough, street-savvy, and used to dealing with lowlifes, Flynn Parker is the last person Anthony thinks he has to protect. Then the Bow-Tie Killer strikes close to home and the world turns upside down. Right is wrong, black is white, and a policeman might become a monster. But in the name of love, justice must be served. In the name of love, pain can be endured.

When spring comes, the people leave their winter cave, foraging for honey and shoots, bulbs and grubs, the hot richness of a deer's brain. They awaken the fire to heat their naked bodies, lay down their thorn bushes and share pictures in their minds. But strange things are happening - inexplicable scents, sounds and violence - and, suddenly, unimaginable creatures are half-glimpsed in the forest: an upright new people of bone-faces and deerskins. What the early people don't know is that their season is already over....

The Enduring Urgency strategy can be used to improve our families and our communities, but it starts in the mind of each person. It is about holding a decade and a day at the same time; seeing who and where you want to be a decade from now and doing everything you can each day to become that person. Enduring Urgency is a strategy used by effective humans throughout history.

Lonny is a lifeling. He has the power to heal any living creature and bring it back from the dead. But he pays a price for this gift - by lengthening the creature’s life, he shortens his own. So Lonny has to be careful, has to stay hidden in the forest. Because if people knew what he could do, Lonny would be left with no life at all.