Showing results by narrator "Taryn Ryan" in All Categories

They find her just as the sun is beginning to rise in the early morning mist. They had begun at dawn, the group of searchers keen to get going. A missing child spurred everyone on. In the end, it was a flash of color, a bright neon pink that caught her eye. They had been looking for pink. Nothing tests your faith like being a mother. The first time your children walk to school alone, their first sleepover, when they finally fly the nest. As a parent, you have to believe that everything will be ok.

Riga, 1943. Cycling the streets to deliver fresh loaves, Zenta passes empty houses, curtains open, doors unlocked, their occupants forced out by Russian or German hands. Above the newly built town hall, a Nazi flag waves in the breeze. Since her brother became a soldier and her sister joined the resistance, Zenta is all her parents have left. Then one morning her sister returns. Tired, worn, with a newly rounded belly, Estere is as determined as ever to fight for their freedom.

Agnes has run her family's restaurant, The Shark Biscuit, for the last six years, ever since her father's health took a turn and she had to step in to keep the doors open. Now she's crippled with guilt because it's her fault it's closing. One more night and she's free. Harrison loves squaring off against the infuriating yet enchanting Agnes, but in six hours he will no longer be by her side, day after day. When Agnes' ex-boyfriend brings his entire family in for dinner to show support, thinking it will win her back, she begs Harrison for help. Pretend to be her boyfriend.

When Julia Hudson is involved in a near-fatal accident, the lives of her children – nurse Flo and her twin sister, high-flying lawyer Ari – are sent into freefall. As they sit vigil by their mother’s bedside, the sisters discover that Julia, who has always preached unwavering principles and integrity, has been keeping a terrible secret. A secret that shatters everything they’ve ever believed about their family. But the twins have each other… or do they? Because Julia is not the only one keeping secrets…

"Your son is missing," they say, and life as I know it is over. "Where would he go?" the police ask. "Where would he be?" my daughter begs. My heart races as images flash in my mind. The cabin we rent every autumn, surrounded by fiery-red maple trees. Voices raised. Tears falling. A marriage falling apart. And worst of all my husband telling our child, Theo, to run. The rest is a blank in my memory. If I close my eyes I can almost see it. A betrayal that has left me alone, in tatters, grieving for what we had.

They say it takes 28 Questions to fall in love. Then what? ‘Reader, imagine yielding to someone with a power so strong she has the ability to slice time. Before. Her. After.’ When first-year music student Amalia stumbles into her Oxford college bar, she has no idea that everything is about...

I stare at the photo of my beautiful daughter. Her hair is shining and her face is lit up with a smile. The man with her looks so happy too. But my mother’s instinct is screaming. I know something is terribly, terribly wrong. And I know what I have to do… I wish I could hold her tight. See if she still wears the same perfume she always wore. But my daughter blames me for her father’s death. She won’t even talk to me… I just know she isn’t really safe with her boyfriend, Garth. I will keep my distance and I will just watch her. For now.

Adelaide, 1931: Telephone switchboard operator Frances’ life is difficult as sole provider for her mother and adopted uncle. But it’s thrown into turmoil when she overhears a suspicious conversation on the phone, planning a murder. If a life is at risk, she should tell the police; but that would mean breaking her confidentiality clause and would cost her the job. And Frances soon begins to doubt the evidence of her own ears - it was a very bad line, after all. She decides to put it behind her and meets slightly dangerous nightclub owner Jack.

Sybylla Melvyn is well known to the tens of thousands who have read her first work, MY BRILLIANT CAREER. In this sequel, however, the REAL Sybylla emerges - a little older now, catapulted from bush obscurity to overnight fame. The publication of her novel has been a success, fashionable Sydney society lionises her and innumerable suitors pay court. Once again Sybylla recounts her experiences with spirit, sensitivity and forthrightness, emerging as an irrepressible, undaunted young woman, and a most exceptional Australian heroine.

It’s the wedding of the year – for all the wrong reasons… I vow to make you pay for what you did. Twelve years ago, school friends Sofia, Ellie and Rose made a vow. They promised never to talk about that fateful night. Never to tell anyone what they did. Since then, they’ve all followed...

The year is 2086. Climate collapse, famine and war have left the world in ruins. In the shadow of the Alpha-Omega regime - descendants of the super-rich architects of disaster - 16-year-old Boo Ashworth and her uncle risk everything to save what's left of human knowledge, hiding the last surviving books in a secret library beneath the streets of Hobart. But Boo has a secret of her own: an astonishing ability to memorise entire texts with perfect recall.

Caroline twitches aside her curtains to see the new family moving in. A mother – beautifully dressed in expensive clothes – and two young children. Where is her husband, she wonders? And why are they moving in to the smallest house on the street? They really don’t seem the type. But Caroline believes it’s important to be welcoming. It’s important to know everything that’s happening on West Street.

'I find it impossible to read [Wood's recipes] without feeling a burst of fresh energy for the kitchen. . . essential nourishment for the reader every bit as much as for the cook' NIGELLA LAWSON To award-winning novelist Charlotte Wood, cooking is 'creativity in its purest form', nourishing the...

When June Marlow was arrested for the murder of her husband nearly thirty years ago, she feared she would never see her daughters again. Terrorised by the man who claimed to love her, and too ashamed and humiliated to admit to years of abuse, June was found guilty, despite her claim that she’d acted in self-defence. Now as June’s release date nears, she’s excited to be reunited with her girls. But the little girls she left behind are now grown up, and while Lu is desperate for June’s homecoming, longing to feel her mother’s arms around her once again, her sister, Cole feels differently.

Paige and Nick are happy. They have a beautiful home, a loving family, and most importantly, they would do anything for each other. Now, they are having a baby, and it feels like all their dreams are coming true. But joy turns to despair when they discover that Paige has a rare, life-threatening heart condition and they lose their longed-for child. Heartbroken, the couple must accept the reality that they may not become parents after all. Just as they begin to come to terms with their loss, Paige unexpectedly falls pregnant again.

When tragedy brings biological sisters Jessica Williams and Reeve Elliot together, the initial shock of learning of each other’s existence is quickly replaced by a commitment to be there for each other. As the bond between the two women deepens, their relationship is tested in ways they’d never have imagined. When Jess’s past comes back to haunt her, the nightmare that is Reeve’s present intensifies.

Detective Dawn Grave is a career cop - a workaholic, hiding from a tumultuous past. A recent threat to her sister's life forced Dawn back to the place where her nightmares began. She's since managed to overcome most of her demons, but a local murder investigation threatens to unearth a secret she's worked hard to keep buried. When a woman's remains are found in croc-infested waters, mauled and unrecognisable, Dawn finds herself working alongside a ghost from her past. One who could be the lynchpin she needs to solve the case. Or her prime suspect...

It’s a dream come true for Frances Palmer: a voyage from Australia to England on the Empress of the Sea, together with her fiancé, Jack Sullivan, and her uncle Sal, a.k.a. ‘Salvatore the Magnificent’. They’ve been hired to entertain the passengers with magic tricks and daring stunts. But all is not well below deck, with jealousy and larceny ruffling the cheerful atmosphere. Frances and Jack soon find themselves in stormy seas, together with newfound allies.

A FARMING LIFE shares the uplifting stories of women from six rural families as their resilience is tested by personal loss, illness, fractured relationships, natural disasters and the challenges that come with working in a traditionally male-dominated world. These women are all hands-on farmers - in fact, most are responsible for managing their own farms - and their defiance, tenacity and genuine humility shines through, as does their hope for the next generation of young women already lining up to follow in their footsteps.

2019: Bethany Kristensen faces her toughest challenge to date, skippering the family charter business. With rivals doing their utmost to undercut her prices and reputation, the Kristensens' operation hangs by a thread. Winning the tender for a new scientific research program headed out to the farthest edge of the reef is her last chance to keep the business going. But when rumour and vandalism turn to outright sabotage, things take a drastic turn...