Showing results by narrator " Katy Sobey" in All Categories

Pandora—Dora—Condron wakes one morning to discover her 17-year-old daughter, Ellie, has not come home after a party. The day Ellie disappears, Dora is alone as her husband, Eamon, has already left for the day in his job as a long-distance lorry driver. So Dora does the usual things: rings around Ellie's friends...but no one knows where she is. Her panic growing, Dora tries the local hospitals and art college where Ellie is a student—but then the police arrive on her doorstep with the news her daughter's handbag has been discovered dumped in a layby.

Sixteen-year-old Bessie works long hours as a weaver in Blackburn, helping to support her family. Meanwhile, her older sister, Peggy, works as an apprentice at the Girls' School, hoping for a more prosperous future as a schoolteacher. Jennet and Titus Eastwood have always made decisions for their daughters' futures. But as the sisters near adulthood, they are determined to make their own choices. And with temptation in the way, will the girls find love - or infatuation - leads them astray?

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....

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.

If Melody hadn't run out of deicer that day, she would never have slipped and banged her head. She wouldn't be left with a condition that makes her sing when she's nervous. And she definitely wouldn't have belted out the Arctic Monkeys' 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' in assembly at her son's school. If Dev hadn't taken the kids to the zoo that day, then the accident wouldn't have happened. He wouldn't have left Flynn and Rose without a dad. Or shattered the love of his life's heart.

When World War II breaks out, Carrie Anderson sets up a bookstall at her local train station in the hope of providing a sense of escapism for travellers, troops and evacuees. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and armed with a colourful array of Penguin paperbacks, Carrie’s business soon booms. And when she gifts a book to a dashing officer, an act of kindness becomes the beginning of Carrie’s very own love story. But as war rages on, and Mike is posted abroad, Carrie’s world is turned upside-down.

Vega Jane is 14 when she is secretly given a map that reveals a mysterious world and dangerous creatures beyond the walls of Wormwood, a place no one has ever left - or wanted to. Until now. The map makes her question everything she has ever been told about the place she calls home. Her friend, Delph, and her dog, Harry Two, are the only ones Vega trusts. Trapped by secrets and lies, they want freedom and truth. But she will have to fight for freedom. And the truth may cost Vega her life.

Pregnant Victoria Valbon was brutally murdered in an alley three weeks ago - and her killer hasn’t been caught. Tonight is Stella McKeever’s final radio show. The theme is secrets. You tell her yours, and she’ll share some of hers. Stella might tell you about Tom, a boyfriend who likes to play games, about the mother who abandoned her, now back after 14 years. She might tell you about the perfume bottle with the star-shaped stopper, or about her father....

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.

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 Jennet and Titus Eastwood are forced to move from their idyllic cottage into the centre of Blackburn to find work in the cotton mills, their lives are changed in ways they could never have imagined, and their new home on Paradise Lane is anything but. Then Titus is arrested and sent to prison for attending a Reform meeting. Jennet is left to fend for herself, and things go from bad to worse as she finds herself pregnant and alone - with another man's child.

Yasmin would give anything to have a friend...and do anything to keep one. The first time I saw you, you were standing at the far end of the playing field. You were looking down at your brown, straggly dog, but then you looked up, your mouth going slack as your eyes clocked her. Alice Taylor. I was no different. I used to catch myself gazing at the back of her head in class, at her silky, fair hair swaying between her shoulder blades.

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.

Liv Green loves losing herself in a good book. Her everyday reality is less romantic, cleaning houses for people who barely give her the time of day. But when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero and mega-best-selling author Essie Starling, she can't believe her luck. When Essie dies unexpectedly, Liv is left with an astonishing last wish: to complete Essie’s last ever novel. To do so, change-averse Liv will have to step away from the fictitious worlds in her head and into Essie’s shoes.

Will is sleepwalking through life - he’s working in a dead-end job and volunteers at a crisis line, hiding behind the phone and helping others to avoid sorting out his own life, which is stuck in a rut. Annie thought she had a five-year plan all figured out with her steady job and even steadier boyfriend. But when everything starts falling apart, she reaches out for help and just needs someone to listen. Will enjoys talking to the woman who calls herself Pia, and together they start to encourage each other to do brave things and rebuild their lives.

There's a new girl in class at Knights Haddon, and she isn't like anyone the other girls have ever met before. Janet is cool and confident, so Edie is thrilled when they become friends, and when her friendship with Anastasia becomes rocky, Janet is there for her. But when mischief begins to unfold, Edie begins to think Janet may not be all she seems, and suddenly events take a dangerous turn.

Orphan Edie is sent by her art-dealer guardian to Knight's Haddon School, on a secret mission to find out whether Anastasia, a Russian princess, is being persecuted by the other girls. But what Edie uncovers instead is a dangerous mystery that only the girls themselves can solve.

To some, Emri – the adopted heir and daughter of two queens – is just a living reminder that her birth father tried to usurp the Edaran throne. About to come of age, and faced with changes beyond her control, she must also grapple with a Court visit from her estranged cousin, Melisande. But when they’re attacked by a magical force and spirited away, they must put their differences aside when Emri comes face to face with a goddess she’s always considered a myth: Lady Winter.

Kitty Marchland has always known that her family isn't like others. But when her father uproots them to a remote cottage in the woods, she realises that her parents are keeping secrets from her - secrets that could unravel everything. Years later, Kitty starts to question what really happened out in the forest. When the police revisit a suspicious death, she must examine her most painful memories - and this time, there’s nowhere to hide.

The scent of freshly baked biscuits, lemon and aniseed reminds Elettra of her mother's kitchen. But her mother, Edda, is in a coma and the family bakery is failing. Elettra has many unanswered questions about Edda's childhood - the only clue is a family heirloom: a necklace inscribed with the name of an island. Elettra buys a one-way ticket to that island, just off the coast of Sardinia. Once there, she discovers a community of women, each lost in their own way, and eventually finds a way back to the past and herself. She also falls in love again: with friendship, baking and adventure.