Showing results by narrator "Rachel Atkins" in All Categories

After the unexpected death of his wife, Guy and his young son, Felix, deal with their grief in different ways. Touching, funny, and bittersweet, this is a story about love, loss, and loyalty. Sometimes a bit of earth can mend a broken heart.

Chris Beckett's thought-provoking and wide-ranging collection of contemporary short stories is a joy to listen to, rich in detail and texture. From stories about first love, to a man who discovers a labyrinth beneath his house, to an angel left alone at the end of the universe, Beckett displays both incredible range and extraordinary subtlety as a writer. Every story is a world unto itself - each one beautifully realized and brilliantly imagined.

In a heartbeat everything can change. This is the gripping, true story of how a young woman was murdered and a family lost a daughter. Like most young girls her age Nadine lives a life filled with family, friends and thoughts about the future. At seventeen she meets Gerold and they fall in love. But a darkness gradually falls upon their relationship and after almost three years Nadine calls the relationship off. Gerold does not accept this decision and keeps contacting her, despite her rejecting his advances.

Louisa's salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nursemaid, chaperone, and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially 16-year-old Nancy, an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories. But then a nurse - Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake - is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret....

It's the dawn of the Swinging Sixties. The Cold War is at its height and support for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is building. The Berkshire Constabulary's Detective Gwen Crockford is promoted to Woman Police Sergeant in Newbury – the town at the heart of Britain's atomic weapons program. Gwen's initial reservations that her posting in rural Berkshire will be boring soon prove to be unfounded. A serial sex attacker on the loose, an attempted murder at Greenham Common US Airforce Base, and a charismatic heiress with a family secret keep things interesting for the capable sergeant.

This is a singular memoir: an excavation of mother love, a candid account of the agonies and absurdities of the cancer experience and a doggedly optimistic paean to life. When Genevieve Fox finds a lump in her throat, she turns up for the hospital diagnosis in a party frock and fancy hair. I can't have cancer, she thinks. I've done my hair. But there is another reason she can't countenance cancer. Genevieve was orphaned to it at the age of nine.

The Queue tells the unforgettable story of three strangers, nineteen-year-old Abbie, 40-year-old Mike and 63-year-old Janet, who meet in Southwark Park on 17th September 2022 on a day that will change their lives forever. Over the next twenty-four hours, alongside 250,000 others, friendships are formed, celebrities are spotted and rom-com dreams are ignited. As the unlikely trio wind along the Thames, edging ever closer to Westminster and the Queen, it's clear that they have unknowingly become a part of history.

Kent, 2019. With her marriage in tatters, school teacher Lizzie Armstrong moves to sleepy Elm Heath for a fresh start and her pupils and the community soon steal her heart. So when the school is threatened with closure Lizzie knows she has to fight and she looks to the school’s founder for inspiration. What makes Esther, born and bred in London, a proud Suffragette, suddenly leave the city and escape to Elm Heath? And when Lizzie uncovers Esther’s heartbreaking secret, could it give her the strength she needs to save not just the school, but her new beginning too? 

The Cities Classics Collection: London, Paris, New York allows you to step into the vibrant streets of three of the world's most iconic cities through a carefully curated collection of literary masterpieces. From the foggy alleys of London to the grand boulevards of Paris, and the buzzing avenues of New York, these stories bring to life the essence of urban life, capturing the triumphs, tragedies, and timeless experiences of the people who shaped these cities.

The Awakened Life: Wicca and Witchcraft teaches you how to look inside yourself and let the God and Goddess empower you with spirituality, knowledge and self-esteem, and help you appreciate the profound beauty of living in tune with nature. Along your path, you'll learn about the many types of witches, traditions and deities of the Craft. You'll learn about the magickal tools and objects and how to use them.  

‘One of the best novels of the year so far’ The Times A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Unlike anything I’ve read. Haunting and huge, and funny and sensuous. It’s wonderful’ Tessa Hadley ‘I just enjoyed it so very much’ Philip Pullman It is the 17th century and a wall is being built...

I've always known Jack was different. Ever since he was eight years old and he killed his father. He was protecting me, just like I've always protected him. But now he's eighteen and this time he's gone too far. Steve is dead. He was a good man, and god, we could have been really great together—but now he's bleeding out on our kitchen table. I must keep my boy safe. No one can ever know what he's done. What he's capable of. And I won't let him get caught. I'll do whatever it takes to keep him safe, keep him with me. Even if it means becoming a monster myself.

A man lies half-drowned on a Cornish beach at dawn in the furthest days of this century. The old woman who discovers him, once a famous concert violinist, is close to death herself--or perhaps a new kind of life she can barely contemplate. Does death still exist at all, or has it finally been obliterated? And who is this strange man she's found? Is he a figure returned from her past, a new Messiah, or an empty vessel? God or the Devil?

Two women. An open road. The trip of a lifetime. Thea is confident, sorted, determined to have fun, but there are sorrows beneath the surface of her life. Denise is struggling under the weight of her many commitments and in desperate need of some excitement. When these polar opposites meet, and unexpectedly become friends, they realise they're both looking to escape.

Eleven days in the life of a mother as she tries to navigate herself and her family through the aftershocks of a scandal. Six years ago, aged 15, Rosalind's daughter, Stephanie, ran away with teacher Nathan Temperley, triggering a media frenzy and resulting in Temperley's arrest and imprisonment. Although the family - Rosalind; her husband, Dan; Stephanie; and son Freddy - don't talk about what happened, their lives have been shaped by it and everything that came after.

Graham Carpenter has big dreams of being a serious journalist, but he doesn’t quite have the skills to match. Starting a new job as local cub reporter for the Butterthwaite newspaper is Graham’s big chance. With pad and pencil in hand, he’s willing and ready - what could possibly go wrong? Follow Graham’s (mis)adventures as he tries to land the ultimate scoop. In the first week of the job he gets a lucky break and an unexpected story lead when there’s whispers of royalty coming to town, but can he get the front page?

'My name is Alice. And my son is a murderer.' Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime. Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs. Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control.... They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child? 

Forty-four-year-old Londoner Olivia Holmes has a demanding office job, a big mortgage and an underwhelming love life. So, when she and two distant cousins inherit a ramshackle vineyard, she just may have found a wonderful distraction from her everyday existence. However, there’s a catch.

The Essential Classics: Volume 8 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Emma Gregory, Lucy Scott, Mark Meadows, and Rachel Atkins. From the quiet introspection of Persuasion, where Anne Elliot faces the complexities of love and second chances, to the thrilling escapades of The Scarlet Pimpernel, this volume offers a diverse array of experiences. The Mysteries of Udolpho will immerse you in gothic suspense, while The Provincial Lady offers a humorous and sharp look at the life of a woman in the early 20th century.

On the day the comet came, a girl named Heloise was born. She would live a fine life and inherit a fortune but would meet a cruel, untimely death. Years later, strange dreams plague Katya Nemcová, a teenager burdened with a rare and curious gift. Memories come to Katya in her dreams - images and stories from a past that isn't her own. Are these ghosts real? And what of the memory she seems to have of Heloise's treasures, two centuries old?