Showing results by author "Mary Hooper" in All Categories

It is 1650 and a baby lies raw and cold, dead before it even drew breath. A young servant girl, terrified and alone, is accused of its murder and sent to the gallows. Protesting her innocence in the chill air of a December morning, Anne Green is hanged. Moments later, her lifeless body is lifted down from the scaffold and carried to the College of Physicians for brutal dissection.

London, 1861. Each day Grace must find a new way of earning enough money to pay the rent for the bleak, cold room that she and her sister live in, and to buy them enough - just - to eat. But there is a different danger threatening Grace, a danger linked to an event in her past that she is desperate to forget. Grace has caught the eye of the Unwins, an unscrupulous family whose shady business dealings are those of death and mourning.

Megan is fifteen. One day she finds out in the worst possible way, the worst possible news - she is pregnant. What will she do? How will her friends react? How will her ex-boyfriend react? How will her mum react? How would YOU react? Should Megan keep this baby? In this thought-provoking story, Megan tries to make sense of something that, whichever way she turns, will change her life - for ever.

When Katie's sister, Gillian, announces that she is marrying the appalling Christopher, Katie is horrified. When she realises she will have to be a bridesmaid, she feels sick! She is to have a boring teacher for a brother-in-law, and she'll have to wear a frilly blue dress.... Katie's promise to be on her best behaviour at the wedding goes horribly wrong as she tumbles headlong into the wedding cake before the celebrations have even begun.

Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry's work is back-breaking and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame.

A new couple have moved into Hardstone House, and it's just Jake's luck that instead of a cool, footballing grandson they have a granddaughter called Claire, who likes tap dancing and tea parties. But then Claire tells Jake and Jenna that Hardstone House was once a school, with a cruel and heartless headmaster, and she reckons it's haunted. But by whom? And why?

Lucy has been forced to run away from home, as she fears for her safety from her drunken father. She is taken on as a maid at the house of Dr Dee, court magician, upon whom Elizabeth I relies heavily, even down to advising the date of her coronation. The household is strange and sinister, and Lucy has a nose for intrigue.... And she has more than enough to satisfy her: Lucy stumbles across a plot to assassinate the queen and has to find means to warn her....

Kitty is living a happy, carefree life as a dairymaid in the countryside. The grand family she is employed by looks after her well, and she loves caring for the gentle cows and working in the cool, calm dairy. And then, of course, there is Will, the river man who she thinks is very fond of her, and indeed she is of him. Surely he will ask her to marry him soon? Then one-day disaster strikes: Will disappears. So when Kitty is asked to go to London to pick up a copy of Pride and Prejudice, the latest novel by the very fashionable Jane Austen, Kitty leaps at the chance to track down Will.

Lucy is still working for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, and her romance with Tomas, the queen’s fool, seems to be flourishing – or it is until Mistress Juliette, the new lady-in-waiting, arrives and Tomas pays her far too much attention for Lucy’s liking. But then Lucy realises that Juliette is telling lies and is not what she appears to be. Lucy fears for the safety of the queen, but how will she convince Tomas of her fears when he just teases her and tells her that she is simply jealous?

Jake is sure he's going to hate the village where he's moved with his mum and twin sister, Jenna. There are only about ten houses and a green - boring. But when Jenna spots the ghost of a cute-looking beagle with a lead in its mouth, Jake and Jenna begin to realize that the village might not be as boring as it first seemed and that there are some very spooky goings-on...not least, the deserted derelict house and the creepy noises that are coming from somewhere inside it....

Lucy has become a firm fixture in the household of Dr Dee, court magician and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. In return for saving the queen’s life, Lucy has been told that she is to work as a spy for Her Grace and that she is to remain where she is and await further instruction... And then Lucy hears ghostly cries in the house. Convinced that the doctor and his companion, Mr Kelly, are planning a new deception, Lucy sets out to uncover the magician’s dark secrets.

When Amber and her mum move to a new town, Amber hopes she can hide her embarrassing secret: She's a witch - and she wishes she weren't. Amber just wants to be normal, like the other girls at her school. But when her new friend Georgie gets herself into a tricky situation, Amber knows she's going to have to step in with some magical intervention!

Katie thinks looking after a baby will be easy. But after Emily has covered herself in sticky golden syrup, newspaper print, scrambled egg, a few leaves and plenty of boot polish, Katie has changed her mind! And a week in a holiday camp sounds awful to Katie she’s sure she’ll be bored stiff! But then she meets Antonia, whose family wins all the competitions, and suddenly Katie finds lots of opportunities for her family to show off their talents!

Spook-spotter Amy is delighted when her best friend Hannah invites her to stay in an old castle. Her head fills with visions of ghosts and vampires - while Hannah is more interested in the wildlife sanctuary in the castle grounds. But there are surprises in store for both of them....