Showing results by narrator "Joan Walker" in All Categories

The Shrigley Abduction is a compelling narrative, a story of deception and the lure of 'high society', with a strong Byronic character at its heart. Wakefield was sentenced to three years in Newgate, an experience which profoundly affected him. Upon his release he founded the New Zealand Company and became principally responsible for the colonisation of that country, where he is now a prominent figure. Ellen, on the other hand, died in childbirth at the age of 19.

In "The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit," a bad rabbit steals a carrot from a good rabbit and scratches him in the process. When a hunter mistakes the bad rabbit for a bird, the bad rabbit inadvertently receives his just desserts.

An unnamed Visitor travels to Berlin with a camera looking for reckonings of her own. The city itself is a character - vibrant and post-apocalyptic, flat and featureless except for its rivers, its lakes, its legions of bicyclists. Here in Berlin, she encounters a people's history: the Cuban teen taken as a POW on a German submarine only to return home to a family who doesn't believe him, the young Jewish scholar hidden in a sarcophagus until safe passage to England is found, the female lawyer haunted by a childhood of deprivation, and more.

Benjamim, a young man on the cusp of fatherhood, discovers a disturbing family secret: before his father was born, his paternal grandfather had a child with Benjamim's mother. With both men dead, Benjamim turns to three of their confidantes to piece together his family history: Haroldo, his grandfather's best friend; Isabel, his grandmother; and Raul, a friend from his father's youth. Through their conflicting testimonies, full of blind spots and contradictions, Benjamim will gradually learn of the secrets and conflicts that shattered his wealthy family.

Eddie and Eva meet on the eve of the Second World War. Eddie only wants to be a flyer, to find escape in the clouds from his own complicated family. However, the Battle of Britain makes a pilot's life a dangerous way to flee reality. Eva has her own passionate longing: to become a painter. When Eva's Jewish mother disappears to Germany, she is left alone with her elderly father. Both Eddie and Eva come of age at a time that teaches them that happiness is always fleeting, but there are things worth living - or dying - for.

1911. As Emma packs her trunk to join the ocean liner Olympic as a stewardess, she dreams of earning enough to provide a better life for both her sisters. With their photograph tucked away in her luggage, she promises to be back soon - hoping that sickly Lily will keep healthy and wild Ruby will behave. But neither life at sea nor on land is predictable, and soon the three sisters’ lives are all changed irrevocably.

Louise has had to watch her husband, Andrew, start a new family in the four years since he left her. The ‘other woman’ is now his wife - but Louise isn’t ready to let Caz enjoy the life that was once hers or to let go of the man she still loves. As Louise starts to dig into Caz’s past, the two women’s pretence of civility starts to slip. But in trying to undermine each other, they discover more about the man they both married. And when Andrew is murdered at a family party, both women are found standing over the body. It’s always the wife. But which one?

Shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year Arrest Me, for I Have Run Away is a stunning short story collection on human nature and identity. Stevie Davies' latest work, it is bound to captivate and charm the listener.

In "The Tale of Mr. Tod", the Flopsy Bunnies have been kidnapped by Tommy Brock the Badger and removed to a house owned by Mr. Tod, a fox and Tommy's archenemy. Benjamin Bunny and his cousin Peter Rabbit set out to rescue them, but when Mr. Tod arrives home to find Tommy asleep in his bed, a fight ensues. Will the Flopsy bunnies be rescued?

Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes includes well-known nursery rhymes such as "Goosey Goosey Gander", "This Little Piggy", and "Three Blind Mice", rewritten to refer to Beatrix Potter's own recurring characters. Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes has delighted children and adults alike since its release in 1922.

In "The Tale of Ginger and Pickles", a yellow tomcat and a terrier are shopkeepers in a small village. Though the mice customers make Ginger the cat's mouth water and Pickles the dog finds his rabbit shoppers faintly enticing, the two control their impulses and even extend credit to their customers. But how long can this combination last?

"The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse" is an adaptation of the Aesop fable "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse" by Beatrix Potter. In it, a country mouse named Timmy accidentally ends up in the house of Johnny, a town mouse. After experiencing all that the town has to offer, Timmy decides he prefers his quiet life in the country. But how will country life suit Johnny when he comes to visit?

In "The Tale of Tom Kitten", three cats must wash and dress for tea. However, when their mother is grooming him, young Tom Kitten is very naughty and scratches her! How will his mother punish Tom for being so naughty?

In "The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher", a frog who lives in a slippy-sloppy house alongside a pond collects worms on a rainy day, and sets off on a lily-pad boat to go fishing. During this trip, he encounters all sorts of obstacles, including a large trout who tries to devour him.

In The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies, Benjamin Bunny and his cousin Flopsy are the parents of six children called the Flopsy Bunnies. While raiding a heap of rotting vegetables, the family is discovered by old Mr. McGregor, who throws them all into a sack. Will the Flopsy bunnies escape? The 14th of Beatrix Potter's 22 charming tales of animals in amusing situations, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies has delighted children and adults alike since its release in 1909.

Marguerite had been living a comfortable but dull existence in a suburban town with her straitlaced lawyer husband. When he dies, she realises that life has passed her by. Marcel had been in a loving relationship with Nora since they left Algeria 60 years before. Now that he has lost her, he has lost his way. Marguerite and Marcel live in two very different worlds - one rich, one poor. They never should have met. And yet their paths cross at a retreat, and a connection forms....

Summer, 1914. Young Englishwoman Vivian Rose Spencer is in an ancient land, about to discover the Temple of Zeus, the call of adventure, and love. 1000 of miles away a 20-year-old Pathan, Qayyum Gul, is learning about brotherhood and loyalty in the British Indian army. Summer, 1915. Viv has been separated from the man she loves; Qayyum has lost an eye at Ypres.

Amber Whittington-Jones is dying. In her last days she begins to write down her story in an attempt to make sense of her life, to explain to herself, and the one person who still might understand, why she made her choices. But for all her insight, Amber cannot foresee the events that are about to unfold, events that will once again bring her family to its knees and force the past out into the light.

It's 1939 and little Dot May Dun is playing with her brothers in the quiet lanes of their Derbyshire village. The grown-ups' talk of war means very little to Dot but things are starting to change in the village, for good. When a prisoner of war camp is built close to Dot's village, and a Yankee base is stationed nearby, Dot makes friends with the most unlikely of soldiers. But her friendships are threatened when telegrams start to arrive in the village and the real impact of war bears heavily on this close-knit mining community.

A woman who has made her way in society without family or fortune, Lena is about to realize her first big success as an artist...until her business partner makes off with her money, leaving her with little more than her hopes - and a dead body in her studio. Now Lena is at the mercy of a strikingly handsome stranger demanding answers she dare not reveal....