Showing results by narrator "Penelope Rawlin" in All Categories

Ever dreamed of starting over? Issy Randall can bake. No, more than that - Issy can create stunning, mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe’s bakery she has undoubtedly inherited his talent. So when she’s made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment and open up her own café. It should be a piece of cake, right?

Natasha Kapoor's life is at a turning point. Leaving London for the magical Cornish coast to attend the funeral of her beloved grandmother, this trip will reunite her with her large and complicated family. As she and her family sort through her grandmother’s possessions and prepare to sell her idyllic coastal home, Natasha is given the long-lost diary of her aunt Cecily, who died in a tragic accident at the age of fifteen. Returning home Natasha must get back to normality.

You may not know Betty Gow's name—but 'the Lindbergh nanny' is infamous. In 1932, all eyes are on Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the most glamorous and intriguing couple in America. But who was paying attention when, one evening in early March, their baby son was stolen from the family home? The Lindbergh nanny is the first person to discover Charlie missing...and the last to see him that night. With the world watching on, Betty must discover the truth about what really happened to young Charlie, to clear her own name—and to find justice for the little boy she loves.

Princess Ellie is pony-mad! She loves helping out at the stables and riding her ponies. It's so long since she learned to ride on Shadow, her Shetland pony, that now her feet touch the ground when she's riding him. The King thinks she looks silly and decides to sell Shadow. But Ellie can't bear to lose him. Can she invent a plan to save Shadow?

Gotrek Gurnisson was the greatest monster slayer of the age, who met his doom at the End Times. The heroic duardin stepped forth into the Realm of Chaos to fight the daemons gnawing at the world's ending and satisfy his death oath, leaving behind his companion Felix Jaeger. Now Gotrek has returned, having outlived the old gods and the Old World. Spat from the ruinous depths with his redemption unfulfilled, he emerges into the Mortal Realms, a strange new world where gods walk the earth and dark forces are ascendant. Nothing is as he remembers.

Every Season the beaux mondes of the Regency would hire a house in the heart of London's fashionable West End at a disproportionately high rent for often inferior accommodation and yet No.67 Clarges Street, a town house complete with staff, remains vacant from year to year.

Schoolteacher Sophie Lawson has fled to the Cotswold countryside after a tragic break-up and is throwing herself into dating and organising Cranswell's annual Christmas concert. The festive fun is marred by the arrival of a handsome but surly musical director, tricky pupils and concert preparations falling into disarray. Disaster strikes, but the show must go on. Will the concert bring Christmas harmony to Cranswell and will Sophie end the year on a high note?

Dark, magical and unsettling, Folk is a debut of breathtaking imagination which introduces the remote, unforgiving island of Neverness and its singular inhabitants. Take a torch, the last to be lit, and follow the jostle of fat, spitting lights as the men and women of Neverness spread out along the gorse edge. Every year they gather while the girls shoot their arrows and the boys hunt them out. The air is riddled with spiteful shadows - the wounds and fears and furies of a village year.

Now, you obviously, would never, ever look up your exes on Facebook. Nooo. And even if you did, you most certainly wouldn't run off trying to track them down, risking your job, family and happiness in the process. Posy Fairweather, on the other hand...Posy is delighted when Matt proposes - on top of a mountain, in a gale, in full-on romantic mode. But a few days’ later disaster strikes: he backs out of the engagement. Crushed and humiliated, Posy starts thinking.

Every morning, I sit at the same table of my favourite café, sip my cappuccino, and watch them. The woman has no idea I’m watching, day after day, unravelling the secrets of her life. I see the way she smiles when he arrives, how she glances over her shoulder… like someone who is hiding something. She thinks she’s in control, but has no idea I’m on to them… I know a lot more about the man. For a start, he’s not who he pretends to be – his lies are as plain as the nose on your face. There’s more to this story than meets the eye, a lot more than I’ll ever let on.

When 17-year-old Stella Whittaker is offered the chance to study at the Academy of Music in Vienna it's a dream come true, made possible by old family friends, Rainer and Marthe Kraus, who offer her a place to live. Seduced by the elegant beauty of the city, Stella explores the magnificent palaces, gardens, and fashionable coffeehouses, and after a chance meeting in an art gallery, falls in love with Harri Reznik, a young Jewish doctor.

Trapped on an alternate Earth, the combined crews of a crashed Russian spaceship, a British expeditionary force and a group of strays from the future must work together to survive, escape and discover what led them to this point. All are from parallel universes where small changes in history led to different realities, and the tensions between the groups are rising.

Everything about Joe seemed perfect, and Alice was the happiest she'd ever been. Then one day Joe saw a message on her phone and discovered something that changed everything. Although it was from an old love, he ignored Alice's explanations and desperate pleas. And soon the violence and abuse began. As she attempted to prove to Joe that he really was her world, Alice gave up everything that mattered to her, including her family, her friends and her job. But still it wasn't enough.

Glasgow, 2025. Dr Amanda Maclean is called to treat a young man with a mild fever. Within three hours, he dies. The mysterious illness sweeps through the hospital with deadly speed. This is how it begins. The victims are all men. Dr Maclean raises the alarm, but the sickness spreads to every corner of the globe. Threatening families. Governments. Countries. Can they find a cure before it’s too late? Will this be the story of the end of the world - or its salvation?

Special Agent Will Trent has something to hide. Something he doesn’t want Dr Sara Linton – the woman he loves – to find out. He’s gone undercover in Macon, Georgia and put his life at risk. And he knows Sara will never forgive him if she discovers the truth. But when a young Macon patrolman is shot and left for dead Sara is forced to confront the past and a woman she hoped never to see again. And without even knowing it, she becomes involved in the same case Will is working on. Soon both of their lives are in danger.

Issy Randall, proud owner of The Cupcake Café, is in love and couldn't be happier. Her new business is thriving and she is surrounded by close friends, even if her cupcake colleagues Pearl and Caroline don't seem quite as upbeat about the upcoming season of snow and merriment. But when her boyfriend, Austin, is scouted for a possible move to New York, Issy is forced to face up to the prospect of a long-distance romance. And when the Christmas rush at the café - with its increased demand for her delectable creations - begins to take its toll, Issy has to decide what she holds most dear.

When a travelling skycircus arrives in Brackenbridge, Lily and Robert can't wait to step aboard.... But there's something sinister about the hybrid children who appear as part of the act. And before Lily and Robert can do anything, they're captured by shadowy figures and whisked off in the mysterious flying circus to somewhere far, far away.... Treachery, tightropes and trickery combine in this incredible third Cogheart adventure....

A decade after Nocturnes first terrified and delighted listeners, John Connolly, best-selling author of 13 acclaimed thrillers featuring private investigator Charlie Parker, gives us a second volume of tales of the supernatural. From stories of the monstrous for dark winter nights to fables of fantastic libraries and haunted books, from a tender account of love after death to a frank, personal and revealing account of the author's affection for myths of ghosts and demons, this is a collection that will surprise, delight, and terrify.

After burst pipes destroy Esme's city-centre flat, she temporarily relocates to a delightful and small cottage in a village on the edge of town. The change is a big one, but Esme soon settles in and, as the art gallery she co-owns with her business partner, David, continues to thrive, life is sweet. Until Elliot—an ex whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for years—moves in next door, along with his perfect new girlfriend, Morgan. Suddenly, Esme's past is right on her doorstep, or at least just over the fence.

Princess Ellie is pony-mad! So she's excited about visiting Prince John, as she can't wait to meet his ponies, Toffee and Fudge. She's enchanted by the snowy mountains, too, but when they go for a ride they soon discover that snow isn't always fun - it can be scary. Will Ellie and her friends have to spend the night in the freezing white wilderness?