Showing results by narrator " Katy Sobey" in All Categories

Annie Perry is born beside the coal-muddied canals of the Black Country, at the height of the Industrial Revolution. The youngest in a large Romani family who cannot afford to keep her, when she is eight years old, Annie is sold as a servant to the famous and feared bare-knuckle boxer Bill Perry, The Tipton Slasher. Bill is starting to lose his strength, but refuses to give up his crown. When it looks like a fight might become Bill's last, Annie steps into the ring, fists raised in his defence.

Grace's Mum has found a lump. Her world totally falls apart when she is sent to live with her grumpy old granddad in Yorkshire while her mother goes into hospital to get better. But when Grace meets Rainbow Girl Megan and her pig, Claude, even the school bullies don’t seem so bad. Soon they begin to hatch a plot that will help Grace finally get to see her mum…

Clover Quinn was a surprise. She used to imagine she was the good kind, now she's not sure. She'd like to ask Dad about it, but growing up in the saddest chapter of someone else's story is difficult. She tries not to skate on the thin ice of his memories. Darren has done his best. He's studied his daughter like a seismologist on the lookout for waves and surrounded her with everything she might want - everything he can think of, at least - to be happy. What Clover wants is answers.

Maude is the daughter of witches. She spent her childhood running wild with her best friend, Odette, weaving stories of girls who slayed dragons and saved princes. Then Maude grew up and lost her magic – and her best friend. Storytelling is her only gift that remains. Odette always hungered for forbidden, dangerous magic, and two weeks ago she went searching for it. Now she's missing, and everyone believes she's dead. Everyone except Maude.

One hot summer's day, two-year-old Jessica Preston disappears from the beach. The police are convinced she drowned, but Sandra Preston won't give up hope that her daughter is still alive. How can she? Twenty years later, another child goes missing, and Sandra is approached by a young journalist who raises questions about what really happened to Jessica Preston all those years ago.

Kate Collins has been ghosted. She was supposed to be moving in with her new boyfriend Scott, but all she finds after relocating to Brighton is an empty flat. Scott has vanished. His possessions have all disappeared. Except for his mobile phone. Kate knows she shouldn't hack into Scott's phone. She shouldn't look at his Tinder, his calls, his social media. But she can't quite help herself. That's when the trouble starts. Strange, whispering phone calls from numbers she doesn't recognise. Scratch marks on the walls that she can't explain.

When Cassie Jensen arrives on the intensive care ward in St Catherine's hospital, Alice Marlowe, the chief nurse, is fascinated by this young, beautiful woman who strikes her as familiar, yet she doesn't know why. But then Alice is astonished to discover something about Cassie that she has been keeping secret from everyone, including her devoted husband and family - a secret that changes everything.

As the storm clouds gather over Europe, life at Easterleigh Hall is about to change again. 1937. Evie and her family have struggled to keep Easterleigh Hall, now a hotel, running during the depression, and with war looming, she worries for the children, who have to find their way in a changing world. Bridie is learning her trade at her mother Evie’s side, and is becoming a talented chef. Her cousin James has run away to fight in Spain, leaving the family devastated.

Angie Smith lives in Greenway, Chelmsford, with her elder sister, Doreen, their struggling mother and their drunk, violent father. Bored of her job and of her dull, ordinary boyfriend, Angie dreams of bigger and better things. But then she meets boutique owner Gene Battini. He is older, handsome, charming - and married. She is completely swept off her feet. But little does she know that Doreen is falling for Gene, too, and that their affair will have disastrous consequences.

Cleo loves winter in Wavebreak Bay. As the tourists leave, the temperatures drop, the fairy lights go up and it really starts to feel like home again. It also happens to be the time of year that her best friend Eliot comes back from San Francisco. Though the seasons change, not much else in Cleo's life does. She's in a people-pleasing rut taking the worst shifts at the family restaurant, pet-sitting for her parents and making little time for herself. Cleo has spent so long thinking about everyone around her that she's lost sight of what she wants.

It is 1943, and a month into their service as Land Girls, Bee, Anne and Pauline are dispatched to a remote farm in rural Scotland. Here they are introduced to the realities of 'lending a hand on the land', as back-breaking work and inhospitable weather mean they struggle to keep their spirits high. Soon one of the girls falters, and Bee and Pauline receive a new posting to a Northumberland dairy farm. Barbara Whitton's autobiographical novel paints a sometimes funny, sometimes bleak picture of time spent in the Women's Land Army during the Second World War.

An intense and inspiring story of sporting triumph, from World, Commonwealth and National racing champion and Olympic silver medalist Lizzie Armitstead. On the eve of the 2016 Olympic Games, the biggest moment of her life, Lizzie Armitstead's career was throw n into turmoil. After being cleared to ride the Games at the final hour following a successful court appeal to overturn an alleged missed drugs test, the ensuing leak and backlash threatened to engulf her.

Art expert Emma Lindhal is anxious when she's asked to appraise the antiques in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found. As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants. When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate.

Violet's in her element - cosplay at the ready, she can't wait to feel part of her favourite fandom: The Gallow's Dance, a mega-story and movie franchise. But at Comic Con, a freak accident transports Violet and her friends into the The Gallows Dance for real - and in the first five minutes, they've caused the death of the heroine. It's up to Violet to take her place and play out the plot the way it was written. But stories have a life of their own....

When Sophia wins a postgraduate place at Ivy Drama College, she can't believe her luck. The college is owned by one of the most well-respected young actors in London, Marc Blackwell - who not only founded the college but teaches the students. Known for his strict classes and belief in discipline, Marc has a reputation for being arrogant and aloof, yet Sophia soon finds herself drawn to this cold, fascinating young man. Soon Sophia is embarking on a journey of sexual discovery that promises to explore all that is forbidden between teacher and student.

It's 1915, and Ada, Jessie and Beatrice Saward live in a small Norfolk village with their parents. Their father, Harry, is the station master at Wolferton, the local stop for the Sandringham Estate. With members of the royal family and their guests passing through the train station on their way to Sandringham, the Saward family have a unique position within their small community.

London, 1879. Della Rose scans the crowds until she finds her target. A well-dressed gentleman with a fine gold watch. Stealing it will be easy. Everyone knows she has the quickest hands in the notorious Seven Dials. The gentleman’s name is Cole Winthrop and he’s been watching her for a while, waiting to see whether the scandalous things people say about her are true. Because if they are, he needs her help. Something was stolen from him long ago. And only a thief can get it back. But to do so, Della must first learn how to walk, talk, ride and flirt like a lady.

Life is going well for Maria. Welcomed into the Saward family, she has secured herself a job as a maid for Queen Alexandra and is living with her family in a beautiful cottage on the Royal Sandringham estate. The luxuries and privilege associated with the royal family are a far cry from the poverty and suffering she endured before, though the royals, like the nation, are tightening their belts. But when a mysterious relative turns up, seemingly on the run from the law, Maria's new-found happiness could be under threat.

With Mindful Leadership for Dummies, you'll find accessible and authoritative guidance for cultivating focus, clarity, and insight, becoming the best leader you can be. Packed full of useful tips, this friendly how-to guide will help you use mindfulness as a foundation for your leadership and reap the benefits of a more attentive working life that reduces your risk of burnout while increasing your productivity.

When Caitlin moved from London to New York, she thought she had left her problems behind. But now, down to her last dollar in a foreign city, she is desperately lonely. And then she meets Jake. Handsome, smart, slightly damaged Jake. He lives off-grid, in a lakeside commune whose members practise regular exercise. Before long, Caitlin has settled into her idyllic new home. But as the commune tightens its grip on her freedom and her sanity, Caitlin realises too late that she might become lost forever....