Showing results by narrator "Eleanor Bennett" in All Categories

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams is one of the three most important American dramatists of the 20th century, alongside Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill. Acclaimed for their lyrical language, dark themes and vivid portrayal of the American South, his works have spawned several Oscar-winning films and been translated and performed worldwide. Collected here are some of the best, beginning with the play that launched Williams' career: The Glass Menagerie.

Thirty-nine-year-old Glanna Pascoe—also known as 'the Rainbow Painter'—runs the Hartmouth Gallery in Ferry Lane Market in Cornwall. She is just getting her head and broken heart around being single, childless and sober when Cupid flies in, shooting arrows all over the place. Meeting the mysterious and fascinating Isaac Benson, famous local artist and recluse, allows Glanna's disillusioned heart and attitude to soften, and she begins to learn more about herself than she ever thought possible.

1897. Twelve-year-old Peggy Devona is a Whisperling: someone who can speak with the dead. It's a rare skill that she tries to keep secret from the rest of her quiet village, who fear anyone different. But when her best friend is accused of murder and thrown in prison, Peggy realises she must use her abilities to save Sally—and solve the case. Travelling to her uncle's psychic emporium, she finds herself surrounded by new friends, new enemies...and new spirits.

Kellen does not fully understand his unique gift, but helps those who are cursed, like his friend Nettle who was trapped in the body of a bird for years. She is now Kellen's constant companion and his closest ally. But the Unraveller carries a curse himself and, unless he and Nettle can remove it, Kellen is a danger to everything—and everyone—around him....

When soap actor Sabrina Swift loses her way due to a public scandal, she packs up her life, heads to Cornwall and finds herself running a gift shop in the quaint and quirky Ferry Lane Market. Changing her looks and identity to keep her anonymity, the newcomer starts to make friends and enemies as she walks a frosty path in the established marketplace community.

The Hollow sisters—Vivi, Grey and Iris—are as seductively glamorous as they are mysterious. They have black eyes and hair as white as milk. The Hollow sisters don't have friends—they don't need them. They move through the corridors like sharks, the other little fish parting around them, whispering behind their backs. And everyone knows who the Hollow sisters are. Because one day the three Hollow sisters simply disappeared. And when they came back, one month later, with no memory of where they had been, it was as if nothing had changed.

Malaya, 1955. Lydia Cartwright returns from visiting a sick friend to an empty house. The servants are gone. The phone is dead. Where is her husband, Alec? Her young daughters, Emma and Fleur? Fearful and desperate, she contacts the British District Officer and learns that Alec has been posted up country. But why didn't he wait? Why did he leave no message? Lydia's search takes her on a hazardous journey through war-torn jungle. Forced to turn to Jack Harding, a man she'd vowed to leave in her past, she sacrifices everything to be reunited with her family.

Sparking myths and legends from Asia to Europe, Africa to North America, dragons are the most universal and awe-inspiring of magical creatures. Whether they are fearsome, rampaging monsters or benevolent sages with much to teach humanity, dragons bring creation, destruction, and adventure in stories told all around the globe. In this landmark collection, award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan combines nearly thirty never-before-seen short stories and poems, written by modern masters of science fiction and fantasy, and illustrations by acclaimed artist Rovina Cai.

It’s 2032 and Britain is facing yet another heatwave. Temperatures are breaking all records, and now government curfews are in place to ensure people stay indoors out of the sun. But it’s also the school holidays and Polly Carraway is fed up. When a late night beach swim goes horribly wrong, she’s relieved to be sent away, with her troubled brother Joel, to stay with their aunt, whose house is on the banks of a reservoir. On arriving Polly’s shocked to see Truthwater Lake is drying up. As the water level drops, a lost village emerges.

Mercy Lake likes to fix things. To fix people. Trapped inside during daylight hours, hostage to her phobias, she uses the cover of night to watch the people in her town. And if someone needs her help, she steps in - secretly and with compassion. When Mercy meets Louis, her lonely, unusual life is suddenly filled with excitement. Because Louis likes intervening in other people's lives too, only he prefers a more direct - even violent - approach. As they grow closer, Mercy is enchanted but frightened by his actions. How many lines is he willing to cross? And how much is he prepared to risk?

The hungry Forest is moving forward like an army, a green and constant threat to the humans living in and on an increasingly crumbling Wall. Feather, accompanied only by her scaled ferret, Sleek, must avoid the Forest's tentacles, and the many dangerous creatures it shelters, to return the community's precious spyglass to its rightful place. Along the way, she develops her resilience, and meets other people living on the Wall, whose stories and experiences open her mind, and those of her community, to new horizons.

To the horror of young gravedigger Ned, body-snatchers have been visiting his churchyard in the dead of night. Until now, he'd been daydreaming about another visitor - Obedience Wellrest, daughter of the manor. Meanwhile, 16-year-old Obedience has troubles of her own: her loving but overbearing father, and his wish to see her married to Phineas Mordaunt, a rich man of science. But when Mordaunt starts to poke his nose into her family history - in particular, the ruinous research of her late Uncle Herbert - Obedience enters into a dangerous game of death.

Once upon a time, a young forest princess became friends with a lonely demon boy. He gifted her a ring, a worthless trinket . . . or so he thought. Because no sooner did he slide it onto her finger than the demon queen and forest king declared war. Years later, Cassia is a crucial force in her father's army, wielding her ring of light. Then battle-hardened Zeru abducts her, planning to steal back the ring to fix his childhood mistake. Terrified, and more than a little mistrusting, Cassia is forced to travel with Zeru to a place they both believed only existed in storybooks.